Chase Freedom is an excellent no annual fee card thanks to its quarterly 5% categories. 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).
Tomorrow 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:
- 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.
- 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.
On 6/15, you’ll be able to register for 2019 Q3 spending which will be valid 7/1-9/30 at:
- 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.
- Streaming services: This includes Netflix, Hulu, Sling, Vudu, FuboTV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora and Spotify.
While Chase Freedom 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 is excellent for everyday spending thanks to 1.5 points per dollar that can be earned everywhere with no limit. You can also earn 3 points per dollar on up to $20K of spending for the first year that you have the card.
The no annual fee business version of Freedom Unlimited is the Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card Card, which offers $500 in the form of 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points after spending $3,000 within 3 months plus 1.5 points per dollar spent.
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 a Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card card then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. 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 purchases?
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19 Comments On "Last Day To Register For Chase Freedom Q2 Spending; New Freedom Q3 Bonus Categories Announced"
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Those are completely useless for me. 🙁
Grocery and gas stations are my favorites 🙂
Grocery, yes. Gas, no. I could easily spend $1000+/month on grocery but gas, for even someone who commutes a lot it still only adds up to $250/month maybe $300 rarely. This only brings it for 3 months to 1/2 the quarterly spend limit. I feel gas cashback is overrated. I’ll take it over nothing but it’s a pretty weak quarter. Maybe if you drive for Uber it’s good. And the streaming cashback is a joke, even if you subscribe to lots of streaming services it would take a long time to reach the quarterly limit.
I guess gift cards are the only way to maximize Q3.
$1000+$250=$1250 and then another $250 to go פרוטה ופרוטה מצטרפת!!
That’s always the way to maximize 😉
Grocery is this quarter. I don’t have a car, rarely go to 7-11 and can get GC at staples for 5 ppd any time.
I get free gas for buying discounted GCs in CLE 🙂
Don’t you have a tesla or are you a different Dan who lives in CLE?
DW isn’t giving up her Odyssey anytime soon.
Me too. I guess my Freedom cards will be spending three months in the sock drawer.
Hey Dan,
Can you please explain that last bit of knowing how to use the points.
I’m new to the chase sapphire and freedom points. What’s the best way to maximize.
Good luck finding a 711 or gas station in new york that takes credit cards for gift cards, if you know of such place please let me know
Another “Perk” of living in NYC. So happy I left and I now live in a sunny + no income tax state.
any idea if costco gas is included in this?
Works for me
I used over a half of the Grocery spend on gas cards purchases and with this quarter ill be set for the year rolling on 7.5% back on gas and I have more room for spend on the chase biz cash.
For grocery I still have a load of gift cards from the latest wave of Gyft promos which set me with over 15% back at “whole paycheck foods” from dec until the end of the summer.
can someone explain to me if the freedom unlimited also qualifies for the 5% bonus?
thank you
@yehdan – no, that is a completely different card and does not have the rotating bonus categories.
thanks lee, wasnt sure,
i do have the CSP, so im thinking of downgrading to the freedom.