The all-new Chase Freedom Flex Mastercard is now live. Within Chase’s family of Ultimate Rewards cards, this one replaces the Freedom Visa. The Freedom Visa was a good card thanks to its rotating 5X categories, but the Freedom Flex is better. Much better. In addition to offering 5X categories that change each quarter, the Freedom Flex offers 5X for travel booked through Chase, 5X for Lyft, 3X for dining, and 3X at drugstores. That’s a powerful combination.
Chase is currently offering best-ever welcome bonuses for their Freedom card lineup. Both the Freedom Flex and the similar Freedom Unlimited offer three components to their offer: 1) 20,000 points after $500 spend; 2) 5X earnings at grocery stores for the first 12 months (on up to $12K of spend); and 3) 0% APR for 15 months. With either offer, if you spend the full $12K at grocery stores, you’ll end up with at least 80,000 points. It’s convenient too that the Freedom cards are great companions to the Sapphire Preferred, which is currently sporting a 80,000 point offer. See: Chase Sapphire Preferred 80K Offer – Should you go for it?
To get the most value from your points, you’ll want to have a premium Ultimate Rewards card in your household. With the Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred you’ll be able to use points to purchase travel at a value of 1.25 cents per point. With the Sapphire Reserve you’ll be able to purchase travel at a value of 1.5 cents per point. With the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve you can use Chase’s Pay Yourself Back feature to essentially cash out points for 1.25 cents per point (Preferred) or 1.5 cents per point (Reserve). With any of these premium cards, you’ll gain the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel partners.
The Freedom Flex card does charge foreign transaction fees, so leave it at home when traveling internationally. But within the US, the Freedom Card is a great choice for earning 3X to 5X rewards in selected categories.
Chase Freedom Flex Application Tips
Chase Application Tips
Call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status |
Should you apply?
In my opinion, the Freedom Flex is an excellent choice in many cases, but it’s especially good if you or a household member has (or plans to get) the Sapphire Reserve card. Use the Freedom Flex to earn 5X for travel booked through Chase, 5X in rotating categories, and 3X for drugstores and dining. Move your Freedom Flex points to the Sapphire Reserve account to get at least 1.5 cents per point value from all points. When you earn 3X to 5X with the Freedom Flex and redeem at 1.5 cents value with the Sapphire Reserve, you get a 4.5% to 7.5% return on your spend.
Are you eligible?
To apply for the Freedom Flex card, you must not currently have the same card (it’s okay to have a different Freedom card), and you must not have received a welcome bonus for the Freedom Flex in the past 24 months. Of course, since the card is new, this shouldn’t be a problem for anyone yet!
More critically, to get this card you must be under 5/24.
| 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. |
Application status
After you apply, call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status.
Reconsideration
If your application is denied, I recommend calling for reconsideration (1-888-270-2127). It’s surprising how often denials can be changed to approvals just by asking.
Chase Freedom Flex Perks
Travel Protection
- Auto Rental Coverage: Chase offers secondary auto rental CDW (collision damage waiver) when renting within your country of residence (presumably it is primary for rentals in other countries).
- Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance: If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
Purchase Protection
- Extended Warranty: “Extends the time period of U.S. manufacturer’s warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less.”
- Damage and Theft Protection: “Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.”
- Cell Phone Protection: Up to $800 per claim and $1K per year against theft or damage with a $50 deductible when you pay your monthly bill with the card (max of 2 claims per year)
Other Perks
- DoorDash DashPass: Complimentary DashPass subscription for 3 months on DoorDash and Caviar. After that, you are automatically enrolled in DashPass at 50% off for the next 9 months – activate by 12/31/2021.
- Lyft credits: Get a $10 credit for every 5 Lyft rides you take in a calendar month.
- Boxed Rewards: Earn 5% back in Boxed rewards for future purchases.
- Free Shoprunner Shipping
- Fandango points: Double VIP+ points for movie tickets purchased via the Fandango app or at Fandango.com.
Chase Freedom Flex Earn Points
Welcome Bonus
The welcome bonus for this card is advertised as cash back, but the rewards are actually delivered as Ultimate Rewards points. Here’s the current offer:
| Card Offer |
|---|
Refer Friends
Referring friends is often a good way to earn extra points with Chase products, but referral offers come and go over time. When referral offers are available, Chase sends emails to eligible cardholders with the offer details. Cardholders can also look for Chase friend referral offers here.
Bonus Spend
| Card Info Name and Earning Rate (no offer) |
|---|
This is the most interest aspect of the card. 5X bonus categories change every 3 months. 5X rewards are capped at $1500 in spend per 3 months. It’s often possible to maximize your 5X earnings by buying gift cards. For example, during a quarter in which the card offers 5X at grocery stores, you can buy $1,500 in gift cards at grocery stores and then spend those gift cards at your leisure.
In addition to the rotating 5X categories, this card offers 3X to 5X earnings, uncapped, in the following categories of spend:
- 5X Travel Booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5X Lyft (through 3/31/22)
- 3X Dining (restaurants and food delivery)
- 3X Drugstore
Chase Freedom Flex Redeem Points
Cash Back
Cardholders can redeem points for 1 cent each either as statement credits or as cash back. Cash back can be taken as a statement credit or via check or ACH transfer.
Pay Yourself Back
If someone in your household has the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve card, then you can take advantage of the Pay Yourself Back feature by moving your Freedom points to the Sapphire card. The basic idea is that Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cardholders can exchange Chase Ultimate Rewards points for statement credits against certain categories of purchases. For example, at the time of this writing, you can redeem points, at full travel value, to offset restaurant, grocery, food delivery, home improvement store, and select charity purchases. With the Sapphire Preferred card, points are worth 1.25 cents each. With the Sapphire Reserve card, points are worth 1.5 cents each.
Travel
Redeem points for travel: 1.5 cents per point
This option requires that someone in your household has the ultra-premium Chase Sapphire Reserve card. First move (combine) points from your no-fee card to the Sapphire Reserve account. Next, log into Chase under the Sapphire Reserve account, and go to the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to book your travel. A $500 flight would usually cost 50,000 points if you used points attached to the no-fee card, but with the Chase Sapphire Reserve it would cost only 33,333 points.Redeem points for travel: 1.25 cents per point
This option requires that someone in your household has a premium Ultimate Rewards card: Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Business Preferred. First move (combine) points from your no-fee card to one of these premium cards. Next, log into Chase under the account that now has the points, and go to the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to book your travel. A $500 flight would usually cost 50,000 points if you used points attached to a no-fee Ultimate Rewards card, but with the Chase Sapphire Preferred it would cost only 40,000 points.Details about booking travel through Chase
You can use the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal to book airfare, hotels, cruises, activities, and car rentals. Airfare purchased through the portal still earns airline miles and elite qualifying miles. Hotels booked this way do not earn hotel rewards. Worse, hotels booked through the portal often won't offer you elite benefits even if you have status.Travel protections apply
When you pay with points for travel, Chase's automatic travel protections do apply. So, you can be covered for things like car rentals, trip delays, trip cancellation & interruption, lost luggage, etc. The coverage you receive will be based on which card's rewards were used to book the trip. For example, if you have both a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Sapphire Reserve, you would want to move your Ultimate Rewards points from the Preferred to the Reserve and then use the Reserve points to book your trip. You will get both better value (1.5 cents per point) and better travel protections. See: Sapphire Reserve Travel Insurance.Transfer points
Move points to premium or ultra-premium card first
You cannot transfer points directly from a no-fee Chase Ultimate Rewards card to airline and hotel partners, but you can move points first to a premium card (Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred, for example) or ultra-premium card (Sapphire Reserve) and then transfer the points to airline or hotel partners. Points can be transferred to the loyalty accounts of the primary cardholder or any authorized user on the account. Points can also be transferred to the loyalty account of a joint business owner, but they do need to be an authorized user on the associated business account.Transfer Partners
| Rewards Program | Best Uses |
|---|---|
| Aer Lingus Avios | Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Aer Lingus (Avios.com) rather than British Airways, Qatar, or Iberia. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Air Canada Aeroplan | Redeem for Star Alliance flights and/or flights with Air Canada partners (such as Etihad). No fuel surcharges; $39 CAD award booking fee; 5,000 points to add stopover on one-way award. See: Air Canada Aeroplan: Everything you need to know. |
| Air France KLM Flying Blue | Monthly Air France Promo Awards often represent very good value. Air France miles can be used to book Sky Team awards, including Delta awards. Air France often offers very good business class award pricing between the US and Europe & Israel. |
| British Airways Avios | While flights on British Airways itself often incur outrageously high fuel surcharges, many BA partners charge low or no fuel surcharges. Excellent value can be had in redeeming BA points for short distance flights. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| Emirates Skywards | The best use of Emirates miles has been to fly Emirates itself. Unfortunately fuel surcharges can be steep. See: Emirates Sweet Spot Awards - First class from 30K miles round trip. |
| Hyatt | Use for Hyatt free nights, free suite nights, lounge upgrades, or suite upgrades. Hyatt points are often worth at least 2 cents each, but they’re sometimes worth far more. Bonus: award nights are not subject to resort fees. |
| Iberia Avios | Iberia offers very low award prices on their own flights and a very reasonable 25 Euro cancellation fee. Partner awards can offer good value under some circumstances as well, but these are usually nonrefundable. Fuel surcharges are sometimes lower when booking with Iberia rather than British Airways, Aer Lingus, or Qatar. It's possible to move points (Avios) between Iberia, British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Qatar. See also: Avios Sweet Spots for Award Tickets. |
| IHG | IHG dynamically prices their awards and sometimes offer very good value. IHG Premier and IHG Premier Business cards offer the fourth night free on award stays. |
| JetBlue | JetBlue points offer the most value when cheap ticket prices are available and when award taxes are high relative to the overall cost of the ticket (more details can be found here). The JetBlue Plus Card and the JetBlue Business Card offer a 10% rebate on awards, so you can get more value by holding one of these cards. |
| Marriott Bonvoy | 5th Night Free awards. Opportunities to get outsized value exist but can be hard to find. |
| Qatar Privilege Club Avios | Qatar has reasonable award prices for flying Qatar itself. Points are now transferable 1 to 1 to British Airways (and from there to Aer Lingus or Iberia) |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | Use to book Singapore Airlines First Class awards (generally reserved for their own members), Alaska Airlines economy awards, or for Star Alliance awards (including United Airlines). |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | Award flights are fully refundable. Point values vary due to certain taxes not being charged on awards, but tend to average around 1.5 cents per point. |
| United MileagePlus | United offers free award changes and free cancelations. Like Avianca and Aeroplan, United never charges fuel surcharges for awards. Unfortunately, United charges many more miles for international first class awards. Good uses of miles include United's Excursionist Perk awards and (sometimes) dynamically priced United economy awards. |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | Virgin Atlantic offers a few great sweet spot awards including US to Europe on Delta One business class for 50K points one-way. See: Best uses for Virgin Atlantic points (Sweet Spot Spotlight). |
Other ways to redeem points
You can also use points to pay some merchants directly (Amazon.com, for example or via Chase Pay). Don't do this. These options offer very poor value. Further, they may compromise the security of your account (i.e. if someone hacks into your Amazon account, they might spend your Ultimate Rewards points - causing you a headache in getting your points reinstated).
Chase Freedom Flex Manage Points
Combine Points Across Cards
If you intend to cancel a Chase Ultimate Rewards card, you should first combine your points with a card you intend to keep active. Once you cancel, you will forfeit any unused points in that account (See: My 90,000 Ultimate Rewards Points mistake). A product change should not affect your balance, but some people prefer moving points before a product change as well just to be safe.
Share Points Across Cardholders
Why this is valuable:
- You earn points with the card offering the best return on purchases and then use points with the card offering the best redemption rate.
- Only one member of your household needs to maintain a premium card for transferring to partners or booking travel (though note that the primary cardholder can only transfer points to partner loyalty programs in the name of the primary cardholder or authorized users).
How to Keep Points Alive
Chase Freedom Flex Lifecycle
How to meet minimum spend requirements
Keep, cancel, or product change?
Is this card worth keeping in the long run? Yes! It has no annual fee and it offers great 3X and 5X reward categories. If you decide to cancel anyway, make sure to first redeem any remaining points or move them to another Ultimate Rewards card.
Related Cards
Ultimate Rewards Consumer Cards
| Card Offer and Details |
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Ultimate Rewards Business Cards
| Card Offer and Details |
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If I convert my Freedom Unlimited to a Flex, will it be possible for me to convert the Flex back to a UR-earning Visa in the future, or am I stuck with the Flex since it’s a Mastercard?
Good question. I’m not sure.
Has Chase stated how long the current offer (20K + Grocery) will be valid until?
Sorry, I missed this question. No, we haven’t heard anything from Chase about a deadline for the current Freedom offers.
if you convert over do you get the 12x at grocery is that only for new members
No. You have to sign up new to get that
I got the sapphire preferred card in the last 12months. Can I still get the flex card with its bonus?
Yep. No problem
[…] It is true that Chase will be phasing out the old and trusty Chase Freedom Card. And they have introduced the better Chase Freedom Flex card. This will be the new rotating 5x quarterly card going forward. But wait, this is not all on the earning side. You get 3x on Dining and Drugstores, 5x on Lyft through March 2022, 5x on booking travel on the Chase travel portal and of course 1x on everything else. But wait, there is more! Earn 5% cash back on grocery store purchases on up to $12,000 spent in the first year. Wait, there is more! 20,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for signup bonus and all Mastercard World Elite benefits (such as $800 cell phone insurance). This is pretty rich for a no annual fee card.Here is a Chase Freedom Flex Complete Guide. […]
My Flex application first went of a verification page and timed out after about 45 minutes of spinning. I assume Chase is deluged with applications.
Do I need to reapply? Will I have two credit pulls if I do?
Thanks for your interest in Chase credit cards. Your session timed out so we ended it for your protection.
Please visit chase.com/credit-cards to start again. If we can help you in any way, please contact us.
I’d recommend calling to check the status of your application. If it can’t be found then apply again. Call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status
So can you apply for the Flex if you already have the Freedom card? Or do you have to cancel the Freedom card first?
You can hold both cards
Yes, you can apply for the Freedom Flex while still holding onto the Freedom Visa and/or the Freedom Unlimited.
Can you please explain the “creating a loop” strategy to combine UR points? In your example, why transfer the points back to Joe’s Freedom Unlimited once they are successfully transferred to Suzy’s Sapphire Reserve? Isn’t the goal to get all points into one premium card and not vice versatility?
LOL, you’re right, there’s no real point to that last step. The idea was to show how you can easily move points from any card in the household to any other via a loop. So if Suzy wanted to move points to Joe for some reason, this is how she could do so.
In my mind I keep going back and forth, How is the first $12,000 spend calculated? If I spend $6,000 on non grocery purchases and $6,000 on grocery purchases am I done with the 5% sign up offer or do I still have $6,000 to spend on groceries (assuming this is all under 12 months)
The $12K limit on 5X earnings is specific to grocery spend. So, in your example you would have $6K left to spend on groceries