Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
-Chase Freedom Visa–For a limited time only earn 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points when you spend $500 in 3 months plus 2,500 points for adding an additional user and making a single purchase in 3 months.
There is no annual fee for Chase Freedom!
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2015 Q1:
Chase Freedom has just announced that the bonus categories for 2015 Q1 will be grocery stores, Starbucks, and movie theaters!
You’ll earn 5 points per dollar or 5.5 points per dollar if you have a Chase checking account.
The rest of 2015 has yet to be announced.
Activation for Q1 will begin 12/15/14.
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2014 Q4:
You can activate your Q4 Chase Freedom 5% categories and start spending today.
Although they are called “5% categories” you really get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be cashed out for 5% cash. For $1,500 in spending you will earn at least 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points. If you or your spouse has a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ink Plus, or Ink Bold card you can transfer Freedom points over to one of those cards and then transfer them at a 1:1 ratio into much more valuable airline miles (United, British Airways, Southwest, Korean, Singapore, etc) or hotel points (Hyatt, etc). The $1,500 quarterly limit is per Freedom card, so if you’re like me and you have downgraded Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card s into multiple Freedom cards then you can spend $1,500 on each Freedom card.
If you have a Chase checking account you will also earn a 10% bonus on all points earned. That means you’ll earn a whopping 5.5 points per dollar in these categories or 8,250 points each quarter. Those points post iun February for the previous year.
1. You can shop from millions of items on Amazon.com
2. You can buy an Amazon.com email gift card or you can buy a physical Amazon.com gift card. Once you have the gift card code you can save it to your Amazon account via this link where it will never expire.
Or give an Amazon gift card as a holiday gift and you can be sure that the recipient will be able to get something they’ll love while you earn 5-5.5 points per dollar spent!
3. You can buy gift cards from Amazon for lots of other stores as well:
-You can buy gift cards for clothing, shoes, and accessory stores on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for grocery, gourmet, and floral stores on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for restaurants and coffee shops on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for department stores on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for travel on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for books, music, and movie theaters on Amazon.com
-You can buy gift cards for Home Improvement on Amazon.com
You can’t use Amazon gift cards to buy gift cards to other stores, but you can earn 5-5.5 points per dollar with Freedom!
4. You can shop for shoes and clothing on Zappos.com or you can buy a gift card from Zappos.
5. Shop at department stores such as:
Find more valid department stores here.
Some stores like Kohl’s and Sears also sell gift cards to other stores.
Of course if you have an Ink Plus or Ink Cash card you will earn 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent all year round on telecom, cable, internet, as well as everything from office supply stores, which includes gift cards to other stores and prepaid cash cards that can be used anywhere.With the Bold/Plus cards that’s capped at $50,000 per year and with the Cash card that’s capped at $25,000 per year. Plus the Ink Visa cards earn 1% cash back on top of 5 points per dollar for $200+ purchases at Staples and other stores with Visa Savings Edge. The cards also earn 2 points per dollar year-round at gas stations and either hotels (Bold/Plus) or dining (Cash).
But Freedom has the advantage of earning 5.5 points per dollar through 12/31/15 if you have a Chase checking account.
So, where will you use your Freedom card this quarter?
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40 Comments On "Chase Freedom Announces 2015 Q1 Bonus Categories, Where Will You Complete Your Freedom Q4 Bonus Spending?"
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But will spending at Amazon Payments BEFORE 10/13 count towards this?
@Misterstuf:
Unfortunately, no.
It did last year for discover @Misterstuf:
do any of these dept stores(except Zappos) sell gift cards or gas cards
Hi Dan.. My wife and I each closed our Chase Sapphire cards 6 months ago to avoid the annual fee. How long b4 we can apply for a sign up bonus (24 months?) ? I have the Chase Freedom and want to transfer to Southwest (suggestions).
Kohls sells gift cards including gas cards
@DanR NYC: Now’s the time to open an Ink Plus.
http://www.dansdeals.com/index.php?s=ink
do additional user cards get their own $1500 of bonus spending (in addition to the $1500 bonus spending by main cardholder)?
thanks!
@chanie: No
Any issue with just buying a $1500 Amazon gift card, and applying it to my acct for future use? (Will they sell a $1500 GC or do you need to buy 3 x $500?)
@milechazzer:
I see they offer option of $.50 to $2000
Would they let you use your gift credit balance to buy GC for another store?
@chana k. Thanks !
CAn i order on bloomingdales.com and get bonus or is it in store only?
Dan, does Amazon count as grocery? How is it 5x?
Thanks.
@Ash:
Both.
@Lilia:
Amazon is a Q4 category.
Grocery is Q1.
Will walmart qualify for q1 grocery store??
Anyone know which crown heights food stores are included in grocery category by chase?
Would they allow an application for a freedom, if i have one already?
whats the trick to downgrade a sapphire preferred (after one year) to a freedom, they told me on the phone i could only change it to a “none” plain sapphire
I got a letter today from Chase saying they are stopping the 10% extra rewards from having a checking account also… Did anyone else see this?
@CHAIM999:
HUCA.
@Jordan:
I’ve written about that several times and it’s mentioned in this post.
Dan I am having difficult time deciding how to maximize my freedom cards this quarter. I rarely shop at the dept stores or amazon or Zappo. In the past I have purchased visa gift cards in 7-eleven but how do I duplicate that this quarter?
Dan,
Is this 20,000 bonus points for new cardholders only or for existing holders?
used freedom at Nordstrom=7 points from UR & 5 from freedom = +12% discount & conservatively points at 1.5 = 18% discount.
Plus had Nordstrom card from amex $20 point link
$695 Ferragamo shoes on sale for $418 – 20 – approximate $66 of points
Total = $332 shipped to NJ so no tax 🙂
Groceries?! *does happy dance* 😀
thanks Dan for the post!
hey dan thanks just got it! wondering two things 1 about the united card and the passes can i used them in brussels??? and alsoo really confused pls help! citi asked me to sign a paper that they want to send to irs to confirm my income! am i messed over????
Dan, quoting you: “…so if you’re like me and you have downgraded Sapphire Preferred cards into multiple Freedom cards…”
i never have a freedom card. so if i apply now with the $200 sign up bonus and then a week later i call to downgrade my sapphire card to freedom, will they let me do that? in other words, you can have multiple freedom cards?
Any idea how long it will last?
(I have a lot of pulls and many new accounts with chase and in general. Getting this approved with recon will be tough, so maybe its better to wait a while)
Getting the last few cards approved was extremely difficult.
@MH: Buy shoes from Payless and you’ll have $400 more in your pocket.
Had some q, called chase. so basically you can do one or the other. if downgrade, no bonus. if bunus, no downgrade but close an account. I chose to forgo bonus and took downgrade.
Chances of a promo soon on VGC?
I just opened an ink plus card and tried to transfer my freedom points through it,to my united card but they said it couldnt be done. I HUCA a few times. I had to upgrade my sapphire card to preferred status(and pay the yearly fee). Any reason why i couldnt transfer through my ink card(such as it being too new)?
This means that there will only be one quarter with 5% on gas?
@berach:
Why does it mean that?
@Dan: because last year and year before the first and 3rd quarter were gas
Good news Discover first quarter is 5% on gas
@Dan: because last year and year before the first and 3rd quarter were gas
Good news Discover first quarter is 5% on gas
@Dan, I signed up for the Freedom card in beginning of September, I’m still within 90 days. Will chase honor the extra bonus points for spending $500 within he first three months?
Do I have to call them to have that done?
When will I see that posted to my account?
I’m new to this and don’t fully understand how this whole points system works.
@Joe: no its a superstore not a grocery
Anyone who opened a Freedom in the last 90 days can get the extra 10,000 points. Ask for it through the secure chat on your login
How do I know which grocery stores will be included in the 5% for the 1st Q 2015?