Freedom cards back with 5x grocery store spending bonus for 1 year

13

Last year, we saw a 5x grocery store spending bonus offer on both of the no-annual fee cards that earn Ultimate Rewards and once again this year that same offer is back, with both the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited now featuring welcome offers good for 20,000 points with $500 in purchases plus 5x on grocery for the first 12 months on up to $12,000 in purchases. That’s a solid deal that gets a bit better this quarter: since grocery is a 5x quarterly category on the Freedom Flex card, you can actually earn 9x this quarter on the first $1500 in purchases. While that’s less exciting than some of the recent multipliers we’ve seen from Amex, it is nonetheless a great deal for the Chase ecosystem.

grocery store spending bonus

The Offers & 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
Chase Freedom Unlimited
20K points + 15 months 0% APR
Earn 20,000 points (worth $200 cash back) after spending $500 in the first 3 months + 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 19.24% - 27.999%.

No Annual Fee

This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Even though this card is marketed as a cash back card, it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points which are redeemable for 1 cent each, or can be combined with other Ultimate Rewards-earning cards to get even more value. This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

Info about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.

Alternate offer: Extra 1.5% cashback on up to $20,000 in purchases within the first year (up to $300 cash back)

Recent better offer: 20K points + 5x grocery stores for the first year on up to $12K in qualifying purchases

FM Mini Review: Great for 3x categories and 1.5X everywhere else. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred.


Card Type: Visa Signature or Platinum

Base
Travel
Dine
Other

Earning rate: 5x travel booked through Chase ⚬ 5X Lyft through March 2025 ⚬ 3x dining ⚬ 3x drugstores ⚬ 1.5X everywhere else

Noteworthy perks: Free DashPass for up to 3 months upon activation ⚬ $10 quarterly Instacart credit ⚬ 3 months free Instacart+ ⚬ $10 monthly GoPuff credit (through 12/31/23)

See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide

Card Offer and Details
Chase Freedom Flex
20K points + 15 months 0% APR
Earn 20,000 points (worth $200 cash back) after spending $500 in the first 3 months + 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 19.24% - 27.99%.

No Annual Fee

Be sure to select the card you want after clicking through. This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Even though this card is marketed as a cash back card, it actually earns Ultimate Rewards points which are redeemable for 1 cent each, or can be combined with other Ultimate Rewards-earning cards to get even more value. This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.

Info about this card has been collected independently by Frequent Miler. The issuer did not provide the details, nor is it responsible for their accuracy.

Recent better offer: 20K points + 5x grocery stores for the first year on up to $12K in qualifying purchases

FM Mini Review: Great for 5X and 3x categories and World Mastercard benefits. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred.


Card Type: Mastercard World

Base
Dine
Shop
Other

Earning rate: 5x travel booked through Chase ⚬ 5X Lyft through March 2025 ⚬ 3x dining ⚬ 3x drugstores ⚬ 5X in rotating categories on up to $1,500 spend per quarter (Q2 2023: Amazon, Whole Foods In-Store and Lowe's)

Noteworthy perks: Free DashPass for up to 3 months upon activation ⚬ Cell phone protection ⚬ Lyft credits ⚬ $10 quarterly Instacart credit ⚬ 3 months free Instacart+ ⚬ $10 monthly GoPuff credit (through 12/31/23)

See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide

Quick Thoughts

When this deal ran last year, I said that one of these offers would be worth a 5/24 slot. In 2021, I’m less certain of that, but I think they would be a potentially great deal for someone looking for a simple no-fee card with strong return in year one. Keep in mind that you do need to be under 5/24 to be approved.

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.

Remember 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.

The way Amex has thrown around huge multipliers on the Platinum cards, 5x for a year seems less exciting than it once did, but given the lost cost of admission here this could be a great way to get into the Chase ecosystem. And it’s a solid return on grocery spend, particularly if you are able to pair one of these cards with a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve for the Chase Pay Yourself back feature.

Again, keep in mind that the extra 4x at grocery stores with this first-year offer will stack in quarters where grocery is a rotating 5x category on the Freedom Flex. This quarter is a grocery quarter, so you would earn 9x on the first $1500 in grocery purchases between today and the end of September. Spending $1500 at the grocery store in that timeframe would yield 33,500 total points: 20K from the initial welcome bonus and 13.5K from 9x on that spend. Considering that’s just $500 per month in grocery spend, that’s an excellent return.

Overall, I find these offers less exciting given the big offers we’ve seen on other cards recently, but now could be an excellent time for a student or rewards card newcomer to step into a Freedom or Freedom Unlimited given the great first-year bonus.

 

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

13 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Shane A Levine

Any idea if there’s a way to track your grocery spend in the 1st year? Thanks!

Mike Chicago

I think the 5x grocery offer SUB may be ending soon. I was looking for it on the Chase website today, but no longer see it. It was there a few days ago. Referral links still showing it for now.

Kayexelate

Nick, do you know if the “5x Ultimate Rewards points (worth 5% cash back) on grocery purchases for 1st year” is only available as part of the SUB? I just product changed my Sapphire Preferred (AF coming up in 1 week, already got my SUB last year) to the Freedom Flex, but the rep said he’s not seeing the 5x on grocery showing up. Maybe it’s only available to new applicants of the card, and not if you product change? He wasn’t sure, but made it seem like that is the case.

Mike Chicago

yes, its part of the SUB so not available to product changers

Mike B

Nick, I currently have two basic no-fee Freedom cards. Would it be possible and make sense to turn one of these into either a Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited card or maintain them as they are? If so, which is the better option?

Derek

Wait. Isn’t 5x + 5x = 10x???

Wouldn’t the Chase Freedom Flex earn 10x points this quarter with this welcome offer?

Derek

That makes sense now. Thanks for the clarification.

anonymous

These cards are a clear win compared to “other big offers we’ve seen on other cards recently.” Those other big offers all include a big annual fee. These do not.

anonymous

Fair points, but I’m considering only the return on spending, not the value of included bonuses. Appreciate the math, though.

Obviously there’s a plethora of great bonuses out there, if one is only after that initial injection of cash or value, and doesn’t consider how they’re going to somehow make use of the “pre-paid credits” such as AmEx doles out.

Last edited 1 year ago by anonymous
Mary Jane

Hi Nick, great article, as usual. I have the regular Freedom card with the quarterly rotating categories. Do you think they might apply the year bonus to this card, as well?