Chase Freedom Flex Card
No annual fee
15,000 Ultimate Rewards points. Marketed as $150.
$500 initial spend
($250 net value, .50/$)
Signup Bonus Chart5x Rotating Set of Categories (≈8.5%)
5x Travel purchased on Chase Website (≈8.5%)
3x Restaurants (≈5.1%)
3x Drugstores (≈5.1%)
1x Everywhere Else (≈1.7%)
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
If you are willing to put in some extra effort, the Chase Freedom Flex Card is a great way to earn some extra Ultimate Rewards points each year. It earns the most valuable reward rate of any personal credit card—5x Ultimate Rewards points (valued at 8.5 cents per dollar)—on a set of categories that changes every three months. While earning 5x Ultimate Reward points is fantastic, these bonus rewards are limited to $1,500 of spending each quarter and it takes extra effort to maximize the value of the rewards you earn each year. Earn 5-10% in Rewards with Rotating Category Cards.
In addition, the Chase Freedom Flex also earns the same valuable uncapped bonus category rewards as the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card.
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Old Freedom Card
This guide describes the current version of this card—the Chase Freedom Flex. The older version was simply called the "Chase Freedom Card". It was a Visa instead of a Mastercard. Many people still have the old card which earns 5x rewards on the same set of categories each quarter, but doesn't earn the bonus category awards on restaurants, drugstores, and travel bought through Chase. You can no longer convert to or sign up for the older version of this card.
Introduction to Ultimate Rewards
Ultimate Rewards is the name of Chase's own rewards program. Ultimate Rewards Guide
- Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to many different frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs. his gives you the flexibility to take advantage of award space on over a hundred different airlines. In many cases, you can choose to book a flight through one of several different partner programs, allowing you to take advantage of whichever program requires the fewest miles and fees for your trip.
- Unlike the other "transferable" point programs, you can redeem your Ultimate Rewards Points for good value, without needing to hassle with frequent flyer tickets. Ultimate Rewards points can be converted into Hyatt hotel points, which can easily be used for award nights at point values typically over 1.7 cents each. If you have the Sapphire Reserve Card, you can "cash out" your points at 1.5 cents per point. And you can get similar value using your points to purchase Southwest Airline tickets.
- We value Ultimate Reward points at 1.7 cents each. Because you can take advantage of award space and "sweet spots" from many different frequent flyer programs, Ultimate Reward points are worth more than any single type of airline miles. If you highly valuable premium-cabin award tickets, Ultimate Reward points are worth even more. If you want to avoid the hassles associated with frequent flyer tickets, they are worth a little less. How Much are Points Worth?
- You need a Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred Card to get full value from your Freedom Flex Card. Only these annual-fee-based cardholders can transfer their Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt or airline partners. In addition, Sapphire Reserve cardholders can "cash out" their points at 1.5 cents each and Ink Preferred and Sapphire Preferred cardholders can cash them out at 1.25 cent each, rather than than at the base rate of 1 cent per point.
While you can still typically get the most value for your points through good-value frequent flyer tickets, you can easily get good value, with much less effort, through these other types of redemptions. And you can sometimes get as much as 3 cents in value on better-than-normal Hyatt redemptions.
Even if you use them like cash, the reward rate on any purchase with the Chase Reserve / Chase Unlimited combo is 2.25 cents per dollar, the reward rate on travel and restaurant purchases with the Sapphire Reserve is 4.5 cents per dollar, and the signup bonus for the Sapphire Cards is worth $750.
For example, you can transfer the points earned from your Freedom Flex card to your Sapphire Preferred account and then cash them out for 1.25 cents each, transfer them to Hyatt for a free hotel night, or transfer them to an airline program to use for frequent flyer tickets. But, if you don't have one of these cards, your Freedom Flex points are only worth 1 cent each.
Collecting the Signup Bonus
- This card is primarily interesting for its lucrative bonus category reward rates, not for its signup bonus. The normal 15,000 point signup offer is valued at $260 (at 1.7 cents per point), assuming that you have another Chase card (Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred) that lets you transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to airline and hotel partners.
- You can earn signup bonuses from multiple different Chase Ultimate Rewards cards. You are limited to only one version of the Sapphire card (every 49 months), but there is also the Ink Preferred, Ink Cash, Ink Unlimited, and Freedom Unlimited cards.
After subtracting the opportunity cost of using the card for $500 of spending, the calculated net value for the initial year is $250 (50 cents per dollar spent). Your value may be higher or lower, depending on how much you value the Ultimate Rewards Points. Introduction to 'Transferable' Reward Points.
If you are just interested in a signup bonus, you probably don't want to waste a Chase 5/24 slot on this card. There are better signup offers available. Dealing with the Chase 5/24 Rule.
Notable Benefits
- Access to Chase's Luxury Hotel and Resort Collection. Along with other Chase cards, you'll get access to Chase's luxury hotel program. When you use the program to book one of the participating hotels, you'll receive a set of valuable benefits, including free breakfast, late check-out, and a hotel-specific amenity (which is typically a $100 hotel, restaurant, or spa credit). Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks.
- Access to Mastercard luxury hotel program. When you book at one of the participating hotels, you'll get an number of valuable benefits, like free breakfast, a $100 hotel credit, a room upgrade, and late checkout.Take Advantage of Luxury Hotel Programs for Valuable Extra Perks
- Free ShopRunner membership. Like all World Elite Mastercards, your card entitles you to a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which provides free two-day and return shipping from around 150 of the largest online retailers. ShopRunner
- DoorDash and Hello Fresh discounts. Cardmembers who have a DoorDash membership get $5 off their first two orders each month when paid for by their Mastercard. If you don't have a free membership from Chase, you can get your first three months membership for free through Mastercard. You also get a 5% credit back on each HelloFresh purchase.
Bonus Categories
The Chase Freedom card is the best of the "rotating category" cards. Earn 5-10% in Rewards with Rotating Category Cards
- Rather than earning bonus rewards on a fixed set of categories, the Chase Freedom card has a different set of bonus categories every three months. For example, here’s the Chase Freedom calendar for 2017:
- The bonus rewards are capped each quarter. If you spend the maximum of $1,500 each quarter, you can earn 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points each year, valued at $510.
- Unless you expend some effort, it can be hard to reach these theoretical maximums. During any given quarter, it might be hard to take full advantage of the available category(s). You may not naturally have an opportunity to spend $1,500 or you may be already earning bonus rewards in a category from another card. So the extra rewards you would earn will be lower.
- In return for these extra rewards, you need to deal with the extra complexity of remembering to use these cards for a shifting set of categories, registering for each quarter’s promotion, and trying to maximize your category spend (but not waste points by spending more than the quarterly maximums).
- If you aren't going to reach the $1,500 per quarter limit naturally, you can take some steps to increase your bonus category spending.
- Time your purchases for upcoming bonus categories. The card’s categories are announced ahead of time, so you can often postpone a purchase until a category becomes active, or purchase something ahead-of-time while a category is still active.
- Max out your categories with gift cards. Many of the merchants in supported categories sell gift cards, which will count as a purchase within the bonus category. You can buy these gift cards to max out your quarterly bonus and then use them for purchases at other merchants or other times. For example, you could earn bonus rewards at home improvement stores for gift cards that you will later use at Amazon.com or for a gift card from the same store that you can use during a different time of the year. Maximize Your Category Bonuses using Gift Cards.
- If you don't have the Freedom Unlimited card, the Freedom Flex provides a useful set of bonus categories.
- It is a great card to use for drugstore spending. You'll earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points (valued at 5.1 cents per dollar) on a category of spending that is not available from many other cards. Best Credit Cards for Retail Purchases.
- It might be your best option for restaurant spending. You'll earn 3x Ultimate Reward points. The Amex Gold offers potentially more valuable rewards, but they comes with expensive annual fees and the reward points can be harder to use. Best Credit Cards for Restaurant Spending.
- It can be a good option for some travel spending. If you purchase the travel through the Chase website, you'll get 5x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar, valued at 8.5 cents per dollar. However, you'd likely get a better a deal on hotels and rental cards on other websites and the card doesn't provide free travel insurance. When you buy travel elsewhere, you'll just earn the same 1x Ultimate Rewards points you'd get on any other non-bonused purchase. Best Credit Cards for Travel Spending.
- You don't want to use this card for your everyday spending. You'll earn higher rewards from a good general-purpose reward card. Get a Great General Purpose Reward Card and Use It for All of Your Spending.
Getting Rid of the Card
- You need to be careful or you could lose your Ultimate Rewards points when you cancel your card. Before you close your card, you need to transfer your points to another card that earns Ultimate Rewards points. You could also transfer them to the Ultimate Rewards account of another person in your household. If you can't transfer your points, you probably want to keep your card or transfer your points to your favorite travel partner.
- We recommend holding onto your Freedom cards rather than cancelling them. Chase's 5/24 rule can make it difficult to get a new Chase card when you want to. Keeping your card preserves the option of getting a new card through a product change, rather than a new application.
- Chase doesn't make retention offers. Unless something has changed, you don't need to bother checking.
You can product change between the Sapphire Reserve ($550), Sapphire Preferred ($95), Freedom Flex ($0), and Freedom Unlimited ($0) cards.