How I use my Chase Freedom Flex

Offering heightened cash back on rotating bonus categories each quarter as well as rewards on travel and a few everyday categories, the Chase Freedom Flex® is a solid no-annual-fee cash back credit card. To boot, this Chase card offers introductory APRs on both purchases and balance transfers.

To gather insider information on the Chase Freedom Flex, we interviewed an everyday cardholder – Atlanta resident, Kelly G. If you’re considering applying for this card and are wondering what an actual Freedom Flex cardholder thinks of its offerings, keep reading.

No annual fee

Since the Chase Freedom Flex doesn’t charge an annual fee, you don’t have to worry about earning enough cash back each year to offset the cost. This is one of the reasons Kelly loves her Chase Freedom Flex card.

“With other rewards cards I’ve tried in the past, I always felt like I wasn’t getting the most cash back I could because I had to account for the annual fee,” says Kelly. “With the Chase Freedom Flex, I don’t have to worry about offsetting that cost, which is one of the reasons I chose this card.”

Rotating rewards categories

For Kelly, the main value of the Chase Freedom Flex comes from the 5% cash back rewards offered in popular rotating bonus categories each quarter (after activation and up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1%). These categories can include streaming services, home improvement stores and grocery stores, just to name a few. Unfortunately, Chase Freedom Flex bonus categories aren’t published all at once, like the Discover bonus categories are, so you can’t exactly plan ahead. But, if you leave room in your budget to spend within the 5% category each quarter – as Kelly does – the rewards can definitely prove to be valuable.

“I try to tailor my spending to the specified categories for the quarter, so I can earn as much cash back as possible,” Kelly says.

What’s also nice about the Freedom Flex is that it offers a consistent 5% back on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, 3% back on dining and drugstore purchases and 1% back on everything else. Plus, through March 2022, you can earn 5% back on Lyft rides.

Travel benefits

The Chase Freedom Flex offers a few standard travel benefits that Kelly appreciates. Besides the 5% back on Ultimate Rewards travel purchases, you receive trip cancellation and interruption insurance as a cardholder.

According to Kelly, if your upcoming trip is canceled or cut short (due to illness, severe weather and other covered reasons, we’d like to note), you can receive reimbursement, which helps her rest easy and not worry about losing money due to unforeseen circumstances. Cardholders can receive up to $1,500 per person or $6,000 per trip for prepaid and non-refundable fares.

The Freedom Flex also offers car rental insurance, which applies to rentals purchased with your card. You receive secondary coverage for damage or theft up to the cash value of the car.

Shopping benefits

“As someone who shops often with the Chase Freedom Flex card, I feel secure in my purchases,” Kelly says. “I really love how Chase offers great purchase protection for the first 120 days after making a purchase. This gives me peace of mind if an expensive product is damaged or stolen.”

As Kelly notes, items purchased with the Freedom Flex are covered by purchase protection for 120 days after the purchase is made. If the item is damaged or stolen, you can file a single claim for up to $500, and there’s a $50,000 maximum claim limit per account.

Further, the Freedom Flex also offers extended warranty protection. If a product you purchase with the card has a three-year-or-less U.S. warranty, if you can extend the warranty by one year.

Welcome bonus

Kelly also recommends the Chase Freedom Flex for its easy-to-earn sign-up bonus. New cardholders can earn $200 in cash back by spending $500 in their first three months of card ownership.

“The sign-up bonus also drew me to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex,” Kelly says. “Having to spend $500 in the first three months was easy, considering that’s only $167 per month.”

Taking into account the card’s lack of an annual fee and attainable spending requirement for the welcome bonus, the Freedom Flex can certainly be a manageable card for many.

Bottom line

The Chase Freedom Flex is a great cash back option for those looking to spend moderately each quarter within popular rotating categories. Along with a reasonable sign-up bonus, generous rewards in everyday categories and the lack of an annual fee, the Freedom Flex can easily be worth it to the average spender.

However, for those who worry about keeping up with rotating categories, a flat-rate cash back card may be the better option. While the Chase Freedom Flex has a lot of great benefits, it’s important to compare other rewards cards before you decide which is the right fit for yourself.