Chase made headlines earlier this month with the announcement of new bonus categories for the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card. They also released a new product that really got people’s attention. The new Chase Freedom Flex℠ MasterCard offers the same 5% rotating quarterly bonus categories as the Chase Freedom®, plus three additional year-round bonus categories. Did I mention you get all of this with no annual fee?

The new card went live on September 15, 2020, and with the new addition, Chase will no longer offer the Chase Freedom® Card. If you’re a current Chase Freedom cardholder, you can keep your card, with no changes. You can also call Chase to product change your Chase Freedom to the new Freedom Flex to take advantage of the new bonus categories. One thing to note is that you won’t be eligible to receive the welcome bonus on a product change, whereas you are eligible if you apply for a new card.

Who is this card for?

The Chase Freedom Flex is a terrific card for many different types of credit card users. 

For the beginner, this no fee card is a great way to dip your toes in the points/miles game without any risk. Whereas for a power-user, this can be a great addition to your Chase credit card portfolio and fill in some point-earning gaps. 

You can apply for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ Card here.

Card Features

Bonus Offer

You’ll earn 20,000 bonus points, or $200 cash back, after you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months after account opening.

Annual Fee

This card has no annual fee.

Earning Rates

Essentially, the new Freedom Flex is the same as the old Freedom card, but with some great additions. 

Quarterly Bonus Categories

The Freedom Flex earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases at merchants in the card’s quarterly bonus categories. The bonus categories are usually pretty strong, with gas stations, grocery stores, and Amazon.com showing up every year. Below is the full calendar from 2023.

To qualify for the 5x rewards, you need to sign-up each quarter to activate the bonus categories.

Year-Round Bonus Categories

The card also offers the following year-round bonus categories:

• 5% cash back on travel purchased through the Chase Travel Portal
• 3% cash back on dining
• 3% cash back at drugstores

5% Back on Travel

To earn 5% cash back, cardholders must purchase travel through the Chase Travel Portal. In my experience, rates for hotels and airfare are often the same when booked through the portal versus direct so this is a win. Just remember that hotels will usually not honor elite benefits on travel booked through any third-party travel portal.

3% Back on Dining

This new bonus category is kind of a head-scratcher from Chase’s perspective, but it’s certainly a nice benefit for cardholders. Chase’s premium Sapphire Reserve card earns 3% on dining but has a $550 annual fee. So it’s a little odd that Chase decided to give 3% back on dining (including takeout and delivery) for a card with no annual fee. And while there are lots of other cards that offer 3% or higher on dining purchases, this card is a great way to maximize returns from a no fee card.

3% Back at Drugstores

My favorite new bonus category is 3% back at drugstores. There are so many cards that offer great benefits on travel and dining, but almost nothing for drugstores. The Bank of America® Cash Rewards credit card lets cardholders choose to earn 3% cashback at drugstores. But that’s only on up to $2,500 in combined purchases each quarter. Since the Chase Freedom Unlimited has no earnings cap, this becomes the new go-to card for drugstore purchases.

First Year Gas Bonus

In addition, new cardholders can earn an extra 4% cash back (for a total of 5%) on gas station purchases during your first cardmember year. This benefit caps out after spending $6,000 but if you reached the cap, you’d earn 24,000 extra Ultimate Rewards points!

Redeeming Points

Points earned from the Chase Freedom Flex are worth 1 cent apiece when redeemed for cash back, gift cards or travel. In the examples below, let’s assume you earned 30,000 points in a year on the card. If redeemed for cash back, that would be worth $300. However, if you pair this card with another eligible card in Chase’s Ultimate Rewards® program, and transfer points to that card, you can really supercharge the card’s value. 

For more information on Chase’s flexible points program, check out The Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

For Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders, points are worth 1.5 cents per point when redeemed in the Chase Travel Portal. That means those same 30,000 points would be worth $450 (30,000 points x $0.015).

Chase Sapphire Preferred / Ink Business Preferred

Cardholders of the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, also improve their effective return rate, just not quite as much. With these two cards, points are worth 1.25 cents per point when redeemed for travel through the Chase Travel Portal. So with these cards, 30,000 points are worth $375 (30,000 points x $0.0125).

Moving your points to any of these cards gets you way more value than the 1 cent each you’d get by redeeming them for cash back. But the Chase Travel Portal isn’t your only option. You can often get even greater value by transferring points to any of Chase’s 14 travel partners!

For example, you could transfer 70,000 Ultimate Rewards points to United Airlines to fly first class from New York to Los Angeles. Tickets often sell for around $1,750, so the value of those 70,000 points is around 2.5 cents per point ($1,750 / 70,000 points). That’s full cent per point above the travel portal value!

For more information on Chase’s flexible points program, check out The Complete Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards®.

Card Benefits

Low Intro APR

0% intro APR for the first 15 months on purchases, then a variable APR of 14.99% – 23.74%.

Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance

If your trip can’t start, is cut short or interrupted by sickness, severe weather or other covered situations, you can be reimbursed for prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip.

Purchase Protection

This benefit covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account. As always, make sure you read the fine print for benefit terms and conditions. 

Extended Warranty Protection

With this benefit, you can extend the time period of the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by one additional year. This applies to eligible warranties of three years or less.

Cell Phone Protection

When you pay your monthly cell phone bill with your card, you can get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year if your cell phone is damaged or stolen. Coverage is limited to 2 claims in a 12 month period and each claim has a $50 deductible.

DoorDash Delivery

Get 3 free months of DashPass, which gets you free delivery and reduced service fees on all orders over $12. After that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at 50% off for the next 9 months.

Bottom Line

It’s great that Chase is making positive changes to their credit card lineup, especially when many other banks are get more conservative. The Chase Freedom Flex℠ card is a solid addition and builds nicely on the benefits of the old Freedom card. This new card has even better earnings rates than some other cards that charge hundreds of dollars in annual fees.

And if you’re already part of the Chase Ultimate Reward eco-system, then adding this card to your portfolio is a no-brainer.

Apply here for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ Card.