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Just a quick reminder to make sure that your category bonuses on the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom cards are activated. From October 1, 2023 until December 31, 2023, you can earn 5% back on up to $1,500 in purchases at warehouse clubs, with select charities, and when using PayPal. When you activate your quarterly bonus categories by December 15, 2024, you will earn 5% retroactively on all of your spending since the beginning of the quarter.
PayPal is great and should make it easy to maximize this category for most people. If you have a legacy Chase Freedom card, that card was issued as a Visa, making it easy to use at Costco in-store. But you should be able to use either variant of the Chase Freedom for Costco purchases online. If Sam’s Club is your warehouse club of choice, you can use either variant in-store and online, as Sam’s Club accepts both Visa and Mastercard.
Get the Chase Freedom Flex℠ welcome bonus
Chase Freedom Flex℠: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus get a 5% gas and grocery offer up to $600 cash back. (Earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.)
Our take on the welcome bonus: This is the best offer we’ve seen on this card. Getting a $200 bonus after spending $500 on the card is good, but getting five percent cash back on up to $12,000 of spending on gas and groceries makes this card both one of the best gas cards and one of the best grocery cards for new cardmembers.
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Card highlights:
Annual fee: $0
Rewards: 5% in rotating categories (up to $1,500 in combined purchases per quarter); 5% travel through Chase; 3% dining; 3% drugstore; 1% all other purchases
2023 Chase Freedom cash back category overview
Chase has announced its fourth quarter bonus categories for 2023. Here is the complete cash back calendar for the Chase Freedom card for 2023.
| Q1 2023 January – March | Q2 2023 April – June | Q3 2023 July – September | Q4 2023 October – December |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery Stores, Target, Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships | Lowe’s, Amazon.com | Gas stations, EV charging, select live entertainment | PayPal, Wholesale Clubs, and Select Charities |
Fourth quarter, 2023 category bonuses
The fourth quarter Chase Freedom 2023 category bonuses include warehouse purchases, PayPal and select charities. Here’s what Chase includes within each of these categories.
PayPal– Includes purchases made using your Chase Freedom card with PayPal. Purchases made using PayPal at merchants in the current 5% quarterly categories will be awarded a total of 5% Cash Back rewards. Must have/open a PayPal account. Payments made through the Xoom transfer service are not eligible for 5%. Please note, Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions made with your Chase Freedom card on PayPal may be prohibited or not eligible for 5%.
Wholesale club purchases – Merchants in this category operate warehouse-style retail stores, sell in bulk, and concentrate on price appeal. These merchants sell a full range of household goods and merchandise, groceries, furniture, electronics, appliances, and auto supplies. These merchants may or may not have membership requirements. Delivery service merchants will be included if they classify as a wholesale club merchant. Gas, fuel, wholesale specialty service purchases such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement will not qualify in this category. Mastercard not accepted at Costco warehouses or at gas stations.
Select charities – Chase provides a list of charities included in the “select charities” category. Here is the list:
- American Red Cross
- Equal Justice Initiatives
- Feeding America
- Habitat for Humanity
- International Medical Corps
- International Rescue Committee
- Leadership Conference Education Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- National Urban League
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund
- United Negro College Fund
- UNICEF USA
- United Way
- World Central Kitchen
- GLSEN
- Out and Equal
- Sage
How to activate Chase Freedom cash back categories
You can activate your Chase Freedom cash back bonus categories without even logging into the Chase website. All you need is the primary cardmember’s last name, the last 4 digits of the Chase Freedom credit card and the billing zip code. Simply head to chasebonus.com to activate once categories are announced.
You may also receive an email with a one-click link to activate your cash back categories.
Once you have activated your Chase Freedom Flex categories, you’ll receive a confirmation email letting you know that you have activated your categories.
If you want more details on the specifics of the categories, the confirmation email you receive contains a link to the “Merchant List.” At this link, you’ll find details about what each bonus category includes. For categories that include “select” merchants, you’ll find a list of merchants participating in the quarterly category promotions.
When do I need to activate?
Typically, Chase allows you to activate your bonus categories on your Chase Freedom card from two weeks before the cash back quarter begins until two weeks before it ends.
Even if you forget to activate your cash back categories until late in the quarter, as long as you activate your categories before the activation deadline, you will earn 5% cash back for all eligible purchases (up to $1,500) that you made during the quarter.
About the Chase Freedom Flex
The Chase Freedom Flex℠ is Chase’s take on the 5% rotating category card, offering increased rewards in limited-time categories that are announced quarterly. The Freedom Flex has no annual fee.
The Freedom Flex offers 5% back on up to $1,500 spent each quarter in rotating bonus quarterly categories. Categories have historically included purchases at grocery stores, Amazon.com, gas stations and big box retailers. In addition, the card offers 3% cash back on restaurants and drugstore purchases and 1% cash back on everything else. All rewards are earned as Ultimate Rewards points, but can be redeemed for cash back.
In addition to cash back rewards, the Chase Freedom Flex℠ offers a generous suite of benefits for a card with no annual fee. The card protects your purchases with Purchase Protection, Extended Warranty Protection, and Cell Phone Protection and it offers protection for your travels with secondary auto rental collision damage waiver insurance and trip cancellation/interruption insurance.
Historical cash back categories
There is no guarantee that Chase will offer any particular bonus category until it is announced, but knowing what Chase has historically offered can give you an idea of what might be coming in the future.
Here are the previous 5% categories for both the Chase Freedom Flex card and original chase Freedom card.
Chase Freedom cash back calendar for 2022
- January-March: Grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target purchases)
- April-June: Amazon.com and select streaming services
- July-September: Gas stations, car rentals, movie theaters and select live entertainment
- October-December: Walmart and PayPal
Chase Freedom cash back calendar for 2021
- January-March: Wholesale clubs, select streaming services, phone, cable and internet services
- April-June: Gas stations and home improvement stores
- July-September: Grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target purchases) and select streaming services
- October-December: Walmart and PayPal
Chase Freedom cash back calendar for 2020
- January-March: Gas stations, Internet, cable and phone services and select streaming services
- April-June: Grocery stores, fitness club and gym memberships, select streaming services
- July-September: Amazon.com, Whole Foods Market
- October-December: Walmart and PayPal
Chase Freedom cash back calendar for 2019
- January-March: Gas stations, tolls and drugstores
- April-June: Grocery stores and home improvement stores
- July-September: Gas stations and select streaming services
- October-December: Department stores, PayPal and Chase Pay
Frequently asked questions
You can activate your quarterly categories at any time after they are published and before the next quarter’s categories are published. If you activate your quarterly categories before the end of the quarter, you will retroactively earn cash back rewards for eligible purchases.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.