Registration is now open to activate the 5x category bonus earning with your Chase Freedom Flex℠ and Chase Freedom® cards. For the first quarter of 2021, the bonus categories are purchases at Wholesale Clubs, on Internet, Cable and Phone services, and select streaming services.

As usual, the 5x earning rate only applies to the first $1,500 in spending in those categories. If you max out your bonus category spending for the quarter, you’ll get 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points are worth $75 in cash. But you can get much more value by transferring to any of the following credit cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred – #1 travel card for beginners
• Chase Sapphire Reserve – great for frequent travelers
• Ink Business Preferred – highest Chase sign-up bonus for business customers

Once your points have been transferred to one of the above cards, you can amplify the value even further! If you transfer the points to Chase’s travel partners like United Airlines, Southwest or Hyatt, you can get way more value than the original $75.

7,500 points could be enough for a one-way flight to lots of great destinations!

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

Key Things to Remember

• You need to activate the 5x earning rate by March 14, 2021
• The promotion runs from January 1, 2021 to March 31, 2021
• The promotion is valid on purchases at Wholesale Clubs, on Internet, Cable, & Phone services, and select streaming services

How to Activate

Unfortunately Chase doesn’t automatically enroll you into the bonus category earning promotion each quarter. To activate, you can go to the Chase Activation website and enter your last name, zip code and the last four digits of your credit card.

Alternatively you can log into your Chase Freedom or Freedom Flex account and activate from there.

You can also sign-up one time to have Chase send you a reminder email each quarter. That email contains a button for easy 1-click activation.

Bottom Line

All of the above applies to both the old Freedom and brand new Freedom Flex card. Remember that the Freedom Flex also offers 5% cash back on travel booked through the Chase travel portal, 3% on dining and drugstore purchases and 1% on everything else.

These categories are an exact match to the first quarter categories from 2020. Most people should do well this quarter since the categories definitely align with the country’s pandemic spending habits. The emphasis on being at home is evident with bonus points on internet and both cable and streaming TV services. People are also stocking up at wholesale clubs, like Costco, Sam’s Club or BJ’s.

If you find yourself struggling to reach the $1,500 maximum this quarter, remember that you can buy gift cards to the wholesale clubs to use during the rest of the year. As long as you know you’ll end up using those gift cards, you might as well get the full bonus this quarter.