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Update #2 (8/17/20): I can now confirm that the first year grocery bonus stacks with the quarterly bonus on the Freedom card for 9x at Whole Foods this quarter. See a screen shot after the highlighted update in yellow in the original post below.
Update #1: Some data points indicate that some people who have recently applied for the Chase Freedom and Freedom Unlimited via referral have been able to get matched to this offer including the grocery bonus (Note: The referral offer does not show the 5x grocery bonus). See this report from Doctor of Credit. It’s not immediately clear whether applying now via referral would still get a match – there’s obviously the risk that they will decide to stop matching.
Chase has upped the ante: There are new offers out on the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards today and they are without a doubt the best I’ve ever seen on these cards: get the usual $200 back (20,000 Ultimate Rewards points) after $500 in purchases in the first 3 months plus get 5% / 5x back on groceries (excluding Walmart and Target) for the first year on up to $12,000 in spend. That’s up to an 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points at the grocery store in year 1. That’s a great deal on a card with no annual fee and finally makes the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited worth considering for a 5/24 slot.
The Offer & Key Card Details
Click the card details below to go to our dedicated card page for more information and to find a link to apply.
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
Up to 30K points / $300 cash back ⓘ Affiliate Earn an additional 1.5% on all purchases (up to $20K spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back.No Annual Fee This card is likely subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Recent better offer: Unlimited Double Cash Back for 12 month (expired 1/11/24) FM Mini Review: Great for 3x categories and 1.5X everywhere else. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 5x travel booked through Chase Travel℠ ✦ 5X Lyft through March 2025 ✦ 3x dining ✦ 3x drugstores ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Free DashPass for up to 3 months upon activation ✦ $10 monthly credit for non-restaurant DoorDash orders See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
None This card is no longer availableNo Annual Fee Information about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy. FM Mini Review: Great for 5X categories. Good companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred. Earning rate: 5X Lyft through March 2025; 5X in rotating categories on up to $1,500 spend per quarter (Q4 2024: McDonalds, PayPal, Pet Stores & Selectr Charities). Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Free DashPass for up to 3 months upon activation ✦ $10 quarterly Instacart credit ✦ 3 months free Instacart+ See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
Quick Thoughts
This is a fantastic deal and as good as we’ve ever seen on the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. Either of these cards are now worth considering despite using up a 5/24 slot.
| Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
The kind of “standard” offer on the Freedom cards has been for $150 back (15,000 Ultimate Rewards points), though we’ve had a $200 offer (20,000 Ultimate Rewards points) listed for quite a while. This new offer maintains that previous 20K bonus on either card and adds 5x on up to $12K in grocery store spend in year 1. That’s a very nice bonus indeed.
Given that the Freedom Unlimited card ordinarily offers 1.5x everywhere, the bonus is really an additional 3.5 points per dollar on up to $12K in spend — or an additional 42K in points over what you would otherwise earn for that spend. That’s a really nice additional bonus on a card with no annual fee, especially given the fact that it should be very easy for most people to earn that entire bonus. On the other hand, assuming you would have earned 1x on the Chase Freedom, it’s like an additional 4x on that $12K in spend — 48K points more than you’d ordinarily earn on that spend (assuming that grocery stores are not a quarterly category).
To that last point, I’m not entirely sure how this will work if you elect to apply for the Freedom card and grocery stores are a quarterly category. Will you then receive stacking bonuses of 5% / 5x for the quarterly bonus and an additional 4% / 4x for this grocery bonus? I’m not entirely sure, but I’m sure we’ll find out early since Whole Foods is one of the quarterly bonus categories this quarter. Still, any way you slice it this will be a great bonus.
Update: I can confirm that the bonuses stack. We purchased $1,000 in Amazon gift cards at Whole Foods (and some fruit) and earned 1x base points + 4x points from the third quarter category bonus + 4x first year grocery bonus points as shown below (note that the screen shot also includes 20K points earned from the welcome bonus).
Consider also that since Chase is currently offering the Pay Yourself Back feature on Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards, these bonuses are even more valuable for many cardholders. For example, if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve in your household and you earn the welcome bonus on this card before the end of September, you could move the 20K bonus points earned here to your Sapphire Reserve account to pay yourself back for $300 in groceries or home improvement purchases (at 1.5c each). A return of 5x at the grocery store is therefore worth at least 7.5% back if used toward groceries as long as the pay yourself back feature lasts — an excellent bonus for grocery store spend.
The additional 40K+ points one stands to earn if you can max out grocery spend combined with the 20K welcome bonus points means that this card comes with a total bonus that beats out most other cards in the Ultimate Rewards lineup if you’re spending $12K per year on groceries.
Keep in mind that Chase markets the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited cards as cash back cards and thus the bonuses are framed in terms of cash back — $200 cash back after spending $500 in the first 3 months and 5% back on groceries — but those amounts are given in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for cash. If you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Ink Business Preferred in your household, you can move points earned on the Freedom Unlimited to one of those cards and then transfer on to travel partners if you prefer to use the points with airline or hotel partners. Hyatt fans can no doubt see huge value in being able to rack up easy points via this card and then transfer them to Hyatt.
Overall, I’m pretty excited about this. I currently have the Freedom Unlimited, but my wife doesn’t and is under 5/24. I think this card is worth a 5/24 slot, especially considering the fact that she is not yet eligible for a new welcome bonus on a Sapphire card. Getting this card now will position her to eventually consider downgrading her Sapphire Reserve to a Freedom card when she is ready for a new Sapphire bonus. Since I had no intentions of burning a 5/24 slot any time soon, I expected it would be several years before she’d end up with more than one Freedom card. The points here are just easy peasy and hard to ignore.
This card may not make sense for those who can both get approved for and meet the spending requirement of an Ink Business Preferred (given the big bonus there) or those who would rather split their grocery spend over multiple welcome bonuses. On the other hand, with issuers in general tightening up on approvals, I think this represents an opportunity for a card that is generally easier to get than the ultra premium Chase cards and may be more realistic for some in the current environment.
I think Greg and I predicted a few months ago that we may yet see better offers on these lower-end cards if the pandemic wore on — while I’m disappointed that we aren’t on the other side of things yet, I’m glad to see this prediction come true as it will hopefully mean easy points for some enthusiasts hungry for a good offer.
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My new freedom flex doesn’t show the 5x groceries anywhere even though it was on the promotion. Does grocery spend 5x stack with the 20k signup bonus? Or take effect after the $500 minimum spend?
They stack. If you want assurance about the 5X part of the offer, send Chase a secure message to verify it.
[…] Awesome: 5x groceries + 20K welcome bonus on Chase Freedom & Freedom Unlimited […]
[…] Awesome: 5x groceries + 20K welcome bonus on Chase Freedom & Freedom Unlimited […]
I already have a CF card – the same account number as my husband’s CF card. I would love to jump on a new CF to stack the new bonus with the Whole Foods bonus. Problem is, we’ve had these CF cards for so long, that I can’t remember if I am an authorized user on my husband’s card (in which case I *think* I am eligible for the SUB?) or if he is an AU on my card (in which case I *think* I would not qualify for the SUB?) Does anyone know how to figure out who is the AU? I’ve poked around on our account online and can’t seem to find it anywhere. Thanks!
When you say “our account online”, whose account is it? I know that’s the question you’re asking me — I mean whose login is it? Do you have other Chase cards in that login and know whose they are? That’s whose account the Freedom is (authorized users don’t get their own login on Chase cards to my knowledge).
I guess another way you could find out is call and ask whether you’re the primary cardholder or AU. I imagine a phone rep can tell you that. If they say they can’t, ask if you can product change the card. If you’re not the primary cardholder, you won’t be able to do that. If they proceed forward with the PC, you can stop them before it’s done and you’ll know it’s your account. Still, I think just calling and asking would do it if you can’t figure it out from the login.
When I login to my account, I see my biz cards, my reserve card, and this CF card. When I login to my husband’s account I see his CFU card and this CF card. Hmmmm… I think I’ll give a ring and see if they can tell me what’s up. Thanks Nick!
[…] especially if paying with a newly-opened Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited card which are earning 5x at grocery stores. Even if just going for cashback from a portal, the lower rate might be worth it for the […]
Does Chase consider Walmart Neighborhood Market stores as grocery category?
no
[…] Update 8/17/20: The 5x stacks with the 5x rotating categories for a total of 9x (e.g this quarter is 5x on Whole Foods so these purchases earn 9x). Hat tip to FM […]
Anyone know if instacart would code as groceries for the CFU? TIA!
I’m not positive, but it has on our Amex Gold card, even when ordering from a warehouse store (BJ’s Wholesale).
@Nick Reyes, Costco seems to be an exception to the warehouse coding on Instacart via Amex Gold, however.
So if you can max out the 12K grocery spend at Whole Foods by Sept 30 you will net 108K UR?
No. Freedom quarterly bonus categories are capped at $1500 in spend or 7500 points.
Nick would it not have been a better move to just buy $1000 GC from Amazon itself. Earning 5x there and saving the 5x grocery bonus. It seems like you are wasting 1x by only getting 9x when you could get 5×2, or am i missing something?
Also end of article says “ The additional 40K+ points one stands to earn if you can max out grocery spend ..” 12k x 5 =60k
As Matt says, the quarterly categories on the Freedom are capped at $1500 spend, so Whole Foods or Amazon this quarter is only good up to $1500 spend. The grocery bonus that is part of the current sign up bonus is good for a year or $12K spend.
Moving backwards, starting with your second question: You’re counting the base earning in your calculation — it’s not 60K “bonus” points. You get 40K+ bonus points from the $12K spend. I have it non-exact because it depends whether you get the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. The Freedom ordinarily earns 1x at grocery stores when they aren’t a quarterly category, so you’re earning an extra 4x on $12K grocery spend in the first year (48K “extra” points over the first year + 12K that you’d ordinarily get at 1x for that spend). The Freedom Unlimited ordinarily earns 1.5x, so you’re getting 42K bonus points + 18K points you’d ordinarily earn on $12K spend. The 12K or 18K isn’t a bonus, it’s just the base earning.
As for “wasting” 1x, the answer is no. That’s just the base earnings. So I’m earning the same total bonus points just on less base spend.
In essence, your plan is that if I spent $1500 at Amazon first (for the quarterly bonus) and then $1500 at Whole Foods after that (towards the first year grocery bonus), I’d end up with 15,000 points for $3,000 in total purchases. Instead, if I spend $1500 at Whole Foods (presumably buying Amazon gift cards), I’d end up with 13,500 points — with only $1500 in spend required.
If I spend another $1500 on any 1x category — Amazon, my mechanic, my wife’s hairdresser, etc — I’d end up with the same 15,000 points on $3K spend. I’m not giving anything up — I’m giving myself the opportunity to put that other $1500 spend on a card that earns better than 1x. In essence, I’m earning the “bonus” points more efficiently since I’m knocking out both bonuses with a single purchase.
Does that make sense?
Ah yes. So then the total UR generated by 12K grocery spend could be 86K? SUB 20K + 13500 Q3 WF bonus(1500 x9) + 52500(remaining grocery bonus of 10500 x5).
I wonder if there is any way to get them to match on a ten year old freedom that used to be a fairmont card? :0)
Do you know if you can still refer to an Unlimited if you only have a Freedom?
Yes. Our new Freedom card generates a referral link for the Freedom Unlimited — but note that the current referral offer does not include the grocery bonus.
[…] is the only slot in the wallet where I included a limited-time bonus category, but with 5% back on up to $12K in grocery store purchases in the first year at the moment (excluding Walmart and Target) on top of the regular welcome bonus, either of these annual-fee-free […]
[…] I saw the new offers on the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards last week, I was pretty excited. We had the ability to add one of these cards in my household and the offer […]
Did I miss it? Is there a limit on the number of chase cards Chase will allow you to have?
I do not think there is a hard limit on how many chase cards you can have. On the other hand, Amex does have a limit on how many credit cards you can have. max 4 credit cards and 10 charge cards at the moment.
Total earn for the year if you just did 12k grocery spend on the card would be 80k points, no? 5x 12k = 60k and 20k bonus additional, correct?