Chase Freedom Flex Categories: 5% Cash Back Q1 2024 Announced

Here are the quarterly bonus categories for the Freedom Flex card:

2024 Quarterly Bonus Categories for Chase Freedom Flex
Q1 (Jan. 1-March 31)	Grocery stores (excluding Walmart® and Target®), fitness clubs and gym memberships, and self-care and spa services

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Related: Chase Freedom Flex vs. Freedom Unlimited

Most cards earning 5% cash back, including the Chase Freedom Flex, only earn 5% cash back in specific rotating categories up to a quarterly maximum and only when the rewards are activated. The Chase Freedom Flex earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in categories that rotate quarterly (requires activation), 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases. This means you can earn a maximum of $75 cash back with the 5% categories each quarter.

This list of qualifications means cardholders must pay attention and put in a bit of extra effort to earn a maximum reward. Here are three suggestions:

• Plan purchases around the quarterly rotations. It can be more rewarding to hold off on a purchase if it falls in a later bonus category. Likewise, stocking up on nonperishable items you need during a particularly rewarding quarter may be worthwhile, assuming you can safely pay down the entire balance before the end of the billing cycle.
• Activate bonus categories as soon as possible. On the first day of each quarter, be sure to activate rewards by logging into Chase’s app or website and following the instructions.
• Beware of the spending cap. In the case of the Chase Freedom Flex, only the first $1,500 spent in the bonus categories earns the 5% cash back.

There’s a small, yet crucial step for getting that 5% cash-back rate. You must activate the bonus categories on the card each quarter. To do so, log into your Freedom Flex account and click on the small print where it says details next to where it says 5% cash back and the current months in the quarter.

After you click on details, you’ll get to a screen with a button to click that activates or opts you into that quarter’s 5% bonus earnings.

Other ways to activate include:

• Email: Provide Chase with an email address and you’ll receive an email when it’s time to activate with a button to click.
• Mobile App: You can tap a button within the Chase mobile app.
• Phone: You can call the number on the back of your Freedom Flex card.
• Chase branches: Visit any physical Chase bank location and ask a personal banker.
• ATM: Chase checking customers can activate with one click while making a cash withdrawal at an ATM.

Now that you’ve activated the 5% bonus categories, it’s time to go shopping. If your spending doesn’t align well with the eligible 5% spending categories, it’s time to think outside the box. Perhaps fulfill some of your shopping needs with the bonus categories in ways you may not normally have considered.

For example, if the bonus categories include grocery stores, many supermarkets will typically sell gift cards to places like Amazon, restaurant chains and retail stores. So you might want to put a few bucks on a gift card to cover your next night out to dinner or a gift for a special occasion. Or, if you have the storage space, max out that $1,500 cap buying household staples like paper towels, toilet paper and cleaning products for the year.

It’s important to know that it only makes sense to maximize the bonus categories if you can pay your credit card in full and on time every month. If you’re spending above your means just to maximize the quarterly bonus categories, you’ll pay far more in interest than the value of any rewards earned.

After you’ve reached the $1,500 cap for the quarter, all other spending in the eligible bonus categories will earn 1%—a rate that can easily be bested by other cash-back cards. Your Chase account includes a graphic that measures how much you have left before you’ve hit your maximum earnings. This is particularly helpful if you paired your Freedom with another Chase card. When you’ve reached that spending cap, you can switch to using a card that earns a higher rate than the 1% you’ll get on the Freedom Flex for purchases outside of the bonus categories.

Related: Should You Have Multiple Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited Cards?

If you own both the Chase Freedom Flex℠* and the Discover it® Cash Back and want to see which card offers bonuses in which categories for the quarter, or if you’re trying to decide which card to apply for, it can be helpful to see a side-by-side comparison.

2024 Quarterly Bonus Categories for the Chase Freedom Flex and the Discover it Cash Back

Earning cash back on a no-annual-fee credit card is a terrific money-saver—5% cash back sure beats 1% cash back. Of course, you should never buy things you don’t need simply to earn rewards and there is likely to be a time when the categories for a particular quarter simply won’t match up with your spending habits.

But when you can hit that $1,500 spending cap, you’ll earn $75 that quarter for your efforts—meaning it’s possible to earn a maximum of $300 for the year just on the 5% categories. For a card with no annual fee, that’s a great value. Advanced points and miles players will likely combine those earnings with a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards®-earning card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®*, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card* or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card where those rewards could be worth up to 25% to 50% more if used to book travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal or transferred to hotel and airline partners.

Related: Credit Cards That Complement the Chase Freedom Flex