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Chase Freedom Flex and Freedom are excellent no annual fee cards thanks to their quarterly 5% categories. You can read about the differences between those cards here. While they call it 5% cash back, you’ll really get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be worth much more than 5% cash.
If you max out the $1,500 in bonus spending per quarter you will earn at least 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points over the course of a year (7,500 points per quarter at 5 points per dollar spent). My wife and I have 6 Freedom cards, which makes it all the more lucrative!
Today is the final day to activate Chase Freedom Q2 5% categories. If you activate today you will retroactively receive 5 points per dollar for all bonus spending since the beginning of this quarter!
Q2 spending is valid from 4/1-6/30 for:
- Gas stations: This includes most 7-Eleven stores and gas stations that sell gift cards for other stores as well. You can lookup how a store is categorized here. My local GetGo gas stations earn sweet rewards on gift card purchases, making this quarter even more lucrative.
- Home Improvement stores. This includes large chains like Home Depot and Lowe’s and smaller home improvement stores. These stores sell gift cards to other stores as well.
Tomorrow, you’ll be able to register for 2021 Q3 spending which will be valid 7/1-9/30 for:
- Grocery stores. This includes large grocery chains and small local grocery stores. These stores sell gift cards to other stores as well. You can lookup how a store is categorized here.
- Select streaming services, including Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube TV, and ESPN+.
You can check your current 5% earnings here by clicking on “Your Dashboard.”
You can currently earn a $200 signup bonus in the form of 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points for spending $500 on the Freedom Flex Mastercard.  Plus you’ll earn 3 points per dollar on drugstore and dining purchases and 5 points per dollar on all Travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Read more about the Freedom Flex card here.
While Chase Freedom Flex is a great card for the bonus categories, it’s not a great card for everyday spending. However the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card also has no annual fee and the same signup bonus, plus it’s excellent for everyday spending thanks to 1.5 points per dollar that can be earned everywhere with no limit, though it doesn’t have rotating 5x categories! Read more about the Freedom Unlimited card here.
The no annual fee business version of Freedom Unlimited is the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card Card, which offers $750 in the form of 75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $7,500 within 3 months plus 1.5 points per dollar spent. Read more about the Ink Unlimited card here.
Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and Ink Unlimited alone can’t transfer points into much more lucrative airline or hotel miles, but if you or your spouse has an Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. Those cards also allow you to redeem your points for paid travel or other select consumer categories and business categories at a value of 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point. The Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or Ink Unlimited card can also keep your points alive for free if you do close one of those premium cards.
The value of the points will be based on where you use them, but if you use those points for a trip worth where they are worth 2 cents each then you’ll have effectively earned 10% back on those “5 point categories.” The sky is the limit of the value of airline miles as they aren’t tied to the cost of a ticket. That’s good for people in the know and bad for those who are not. 1 mile can be worth 0.25 cents or it can be worth 25 cents, it all just depends on how you use them!
Where will you make your Q2 and Q3 purchases?
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11 Comments On "Last Day To Register For Chase Freedom Q2 Spending, New Q3 Bonus Categories Announced!"
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I prefer the freedom unlimited. I figure the unlimited 1.5X when combined with unlimited 3X on drugstores that sell gift cards are a no brainer.
For whatever reason i am too nervous to apply for an INK. This is the next best thing to hit those gift cards.
Of course no reason (other than 5/24) not to get both 🙂
just my 2 cents
Business cards don’t count against 5/24 rule
No kidding, referring to flex and unlimited.
Hi Daniel,
I am still getting five points per dollar at the grocery due to the freedom flex signup bonus. Will I get 10 ppd during Q3?
I have the same question – although it would be 9x at best (4 bonus points for the signup bonus plus 4 bonus points for the quarter plus 1 base point), not 10x.
I second this
Yes, me too.
Bingo wholesale category changed to Groceries (at least the Spring Valley/ Monsey location for sure)
So ppl could stack up more the next upcoming 3 months with this card and other cards as well…
If you have the freedom unlimited that was opened when it was the 1st year 5% back on groceries you could use it up as well.
If you have a discover card with quarterly categories you don’t get anymore the 5% this category as bingo changed their category to groceries so you’ll not get anymore the 5% for wholesale clubs by bingo.
(This is how I figured it on my most recent discover transaction and when I click in I saw groceries so I called them up and the adjust it to me for this time and I look it up and ya it was changed).
Dan you could update it on posts where ppl who have this card or the unlimited first year could stack up now when shopping for summer/camp….
Bingo in BP coding as a grocery as well
Q1 spending was for Walmart stores etc. At the end of the quarter ibough Walmart gift cards directly from Walmart to get to the max out on the $1500 and ot worked of course. I plan on buying grocery store gift cards at the end of this quarter to max out as well.
Does Costco count as a supermarket?