Chase Freedom Flex® review

Chase Freedom Flex overview

Offering a unique cash back program that should excite foodies, frequent travelers and fans of cash back variety alike, the Chase Freedom Flex charges no annual fee and offers cash back in an array of rotating categories.

But unlike its predecessor, the popular (and now-retired) Chase Freedom card, the Freedom Flex also carries bonus cash back in some categories year-round, allowing cardholders to enjoy consistency in a few key spending categories and variety in others throughout the year.

Thanks to its generous rewards rate, the Freedom Flex could be a good fit if you want to earn travel rewards without an annual fee, or are considering adding a premium Chase travel card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card to your wallet.

That said, the card’s rotating categories may not always line up with your spending habits. Some larger spending categories like groceries and gas may only pop up for a single quarter each year (if at all), limiting the card’s rewards potential as a standalone option.

Why you might want the Chase Freedom Flex

If you get a kick out of strategizing how to maximize your rewards, you’ll love the Freedom Flex. The card offers terrific variety with its rotating bonus categories, encouraging you to plan out purchases and adjust your spending habits to reap big rewards.

Your cash back redemption options are flexible, too, and you can even redeem your earnings for travel through Chase Travel℠ portal without sacrificing rewards value.

If you plan on making any big purchase with your Freedom Flex card, you’ll also appreciate the card’s intro APR offer, which gives you a chance to chip away at large expenses over time or pay off a large debt to minimize interest, but  also earn big rewards on new purchases.

Meanwhile, the card’s sign-up bonus should be easy to reach and its Mastercard benefits include some nice travel and purchase protection perks, as well as credits for select food delivery and online shopping services.

Great cash back rates and variety

As its name implies, the Freedom Flex comes with a flexible cash back rewards program that offers a combination of year-round and quarterly rotating bonus categories.

To start, you can enroll in a different bonus category each quarter and earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in spending in that category. After you meet the $1,500 quarterly cap, your rewards rate drops to 1% back on purchases in that category.

Chase announces its bonus categories on a quarter-by-quarter basis. The Chase cash back calendar typically offers a good amount of variety, and the 2021 calendar included a mix of practical categories like grocery stores and gas stations, as well as a few more niche options, like select streaming services.

Chase 5% cash back calendar 2023

For Q4 2022, Freedom Flex cardholders can earn bonus cash back on Walmart and PayPal purchases.

Additionally, cardholders earn 5% back on travel booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal, 3% back on dining purchases (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and 3% back on drugstore purchases. These are solid ongoing rewards rates for a card with no annual fee.

If you were to maximize your cash back earnings in every quarterly bonus category by spending $1,500 on eligible purchases, you’d earn a total of $300 cash back in a year. Assuming your spending matches that of the average consumer, you stand to earn an additional $167 per year when you factor in the Freedom Flex card’s year-round bonus categories of travel, dining and drugstore purchases, as well as the 1% cash back you’d earn on general purchases. That’s close to $500 per year in cash back.

Valuable, easy-to-earn sign-up bonus

Along with the rewards you can earn in its bonus spending categories, the Freedom Flex gives you a chance to score a large sign-up bonus in your first year: $200 cash back if you spend $500 with the card in your first three months. Not only is this a great sign-up bonus for a no-annual-fee card but $500 is also a very low spending requirement. To meet the spending requirement in the first three months, you would need to spend only $167 per month, which should easily be doable given the variety of bonus categories offered.

Flexible cash back redemption

The Freedom Flex also offers several different ways to redeem your rewards. Though marketed as a cash back card, the Freedom Flex actually earns flexible Ultimate Rewards points.

You can redeem points for cash back in the form of a statement credit or direct deposit, travel, gift cards, Amazon.com purchases and more. Plus, there’s no limit to how many points you can earn, and your points never expire.

That said, the value of your points varies based on how you redeem them. Here’s a look at the Freedom Flex card’s rewards redemption options and the point value you’ll get with each:

Chase Freedom Flex redemption options

You can also use the Chase Pay Yourself Back feature to redeem points to pay for some or all of your purchases in select categories and get paid back with a statement credit. You’ll still earn points on these purchases, and your points may be worth more when you redeem in certain categories. For a limited time, Freedom Flex cardholders, for example, can redeem at a value of 1.25 cents per point when they opt to donate to eligible charitable organizations.

Pair your Freedom Flex with another Ultimate Rewards card to maximize rewards

Things get especially interesting when you pair the Freedom Flex card with another card that earns Ultimate Rewards. You can transfer Chase points into a common pool from multiple cards that earn rewards in different categories, allowing you to maximize earnings by using the card that earns the most on a given purchase.

If you have a premium Chase card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Sapphire Reserve or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can get extra value out of the points you earn with the Freedom Flex by redeeming points for travel through Chase Travel℠. The Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred both offer a value of 1.25 cents per point when you redeem for travel this way, and the Sapphire Reserve gives you 1.5 cents per point in value.

Pairing the Freedom Flex with a premium Chase Ultimate Rewards card would also allow you to transfer points to one of Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners and possibly enjoy even greater point value.

Finance larger purchases and transfer balances with an intro APR

The Freedom Flex also features an introductory APR on new purchases and balance transfers, which could be a big help if you have a large expense like a home repair looming or need to consolidate some debt without gaining more interest. For balance transfers, you will have to pay a fee of $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer (whichever is greater) in the first 60 days. Not only can you pay off your balance slowly without racking up interest charges, but you’ll also earn at least 1% back on your new purchases – even more if they line up with one of the card’s rotating 5% cash back categories.

The terms are pretty straightforward: You get a 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for your first 15 months as a card member, after which you’ll be subject to the card’s standard variable APR between 19.99% to 28.74%, based on your credit score.

Other cardholder perks

Unlike the retired Freedom card, which ran on the Visa card network, the Freedom Flex is a Mastercard credit card. This shift to a Mastercard World Elite product brings many new benefits to the Freedom Flex. The card also features some familiar Chase perks. Highlights include:

• Cell phone protection: Pay your monthly cell phone bill with the card, and any phones listed in your bill are covered up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year against theft or damage. A $50 deductible per claim applies.
• Complimentary DashPass subscription: DashPass gives you unlimited free deliveries on DoorDash orders over $12. The Freedom Flex offers a free DashPass membership for three months. After that, you’re automatically enrolled at a 50% discount for the next nine months (subscriptions typically cost $9.99 per month), though you can cancel before that if you like.
• Bonus cash back on Boxed purchases: Boxed is a membership-free wholesale retailer that sells groceries, household goods, personal care items and more. The Freedom Flex gets you 5% cash back on all Boxed purchases, which can be used for future Boxed purchases.
• Complimentary ShopRunner membership: ShopRunner gets you two-day shipping and free returns at more than 100 online retailers.
• Purchase protection: For eligible purchases made on your Chase Freedom card, you can be covered against theft or damage for the first 120 days ($500 max per claim, $50,000 max per account).
• Extended warranty: Extend eligible manufacturers’ warranties of three years or less by an additional year.
• Car rental insurance: If you charge your rental car to your card, you can receive secondary coverage in the case of damage or theft up to the car’s cash value.
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance: In case you have to cancel or cut a trip short due to severe weather, illness or another covered situation, you can be reimbursed for non-refundable purchases.

Why you might want a different card

The Freedom Flex card’s cash back variety and flexible rewards redemption options are great. Still, if adjusting your spending habits to maximize rewards sounds like more of a headache than it’s worth, the Freedom Flex may not be the right card for you. And since you won’t have any choice in Chase’s quarterly categories and won’t know them too far in advance, you may struggle to plan out your spending to maximize rewards.

Quarterly categories can be hard to maximize

Depending on what’s included in the quarterly bonus category, it may be tough to reach the Freedom Flex card’s 5% cash back spending cap of $1,500. For example, most cardholders would struggle to spend $1,500 on select streaming services or gas station purchases in three months. If that winds up being the case, you’ll be stuck with a great rewards rate on purchases you don’t make often for three months, severely limiting the card’s cash back potential and overall appeal.

The card’s $1,500 quarterly spending cap may also hold you back in other categories, such as grocery store purchases. In this category, you may exceed the $1,500 quarterly spending limit, at which point you’ll be limited to earning just 1% back on those purchases. If you were to opt instead for a card that offers a slightly lower – but consistent – cash back rate, you may earn more over the course of a year than you would with the Freedom Flex.

For cardholders who would rather earn simple, consistent rewards, having to plan out spending ahead of time-based on an ever-changing cash back calendar may be a deal-breaker. In that case, a card that sticks to bonus cash back in specific spending categories relevant to you or a flat-rate cash back card may be a better fit.

Strict approval odds

If you apply for the Freedom Flex, you’ll need good to excellent credit (above 670) to qualify. That could put a damper on your plan if you have fair or average credit and are looking for a card that earns rewards in a variety of popular categories.

You’ll also have to keep in mind the Chase 5/24 rule: If you’ve opened five or more credit card accounts with any issuer within the last 24 months, you most likely won’t be approved for a card with Chase.

Tip: If you want a better sense of your odds of approval before you apply, you can take advantage of Chase prequalification tools on the Chase website with no impact to your credit score.

How does the Chase Freedom Flex compare to other cash back cards?

The Freedom Flex offers a ton of variety in how you earn cash back, but the card’s 5% cash back categories may not always line up with your spending habits. Here are a few alternatives worth considering:

Chase Freedom Unlimited®	Discover it® Cash Back	Citi Double Cash® Card
Rewards rate Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, our premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more. 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service. 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.	Rewards rate Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places you shop each quarter like grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, and more, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. Plus, earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.	Rewards rate Earn 2% on every purchase with unlimited 1% cash back when you buy, plus an additional 1% as you pay for those purchases. To earn cash back, pay at least the minimum due on time. Plus, a special travel offer, earn 5% total cash back on hotel, car rentals and attractions booked on the Citi Travel℠ portal through 12/31/25.
Welcome bonus Earn an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back. That’s 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.	Welcome bonus Intro Offer: Unlimited Cashback Match for all new cardmembers – only from Discover. Discover will automatically match all the cash back you’ve earned at the end of your first year! There’s no minimum spending or maximum rewards. You could turn $150 cash back into $300.	Welcome bonus Earn $200 cash back after you spend $1,500 on purchases in the first 6 months of account opening. This bonus offer will be fulfilled as 20,000 ThankYou® Points, which can be redeemed for $200 cash back.
Annual fee $0	Annual fee $0	Annual fee $0
Other things to know Easily transfer rewards to other Chase Ultimate Rewards cards Redeem for travel, cash back, merchandise, gift cards and more Rewards don’t expire	Other things to know Redeem rewards for gift cards (ranging from $5-$200 in $5 increments), donations, credit to your account, direct deposit and more	Other things to know Redeem rewards for check, statement credit, gift card or direct deposit

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited

If you’d rather earn more on general purchases than track and enroll in rotating bonus categories, the Freedom Unlimited is a great option. It offers the same year-round bonus cash back categories (5% back on travel, 3% back on dining and 3% back on drugstore purchases) as the Freedom Flex, as well as 1.5% cash back on general purchases. The card also pairs with premium Ultimate Rewards cards in the same way as the Freedom Flex, so it makes sense for fans of travel rewards. Currently, the Freedom Unlimited card’s sign-up bonus is an extra 1.5% on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) — worth up to $300 cash back. That’s 6.5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 4.5% on dining and drugstores, and 3% on all other purchases.

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Discover it® Cash Back

Like the Chase Freedom Flex, the Discover it® Cash Back offers 5% cash back in rotating bonus categories that you must enroll in each quarter (on up to $1,500 in purchases per quarter, then 1% cash back). It also offers 1% cash back on general purchases. While the card lacks the year-round bonus categories available on the Freedom Flex, it comes with a unique introductory bonus: Discover will match all the cash back you earn at the end of your first cardmember year.

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Citi Double Cash® Card

If you want to keep things ultra-simple and earn cash back at the same rate on every purchase, no matter what you buy, the Citi Double Cash Card is one of the best flat-rate cash back cards on the market. You’ll earn up to 2% cash back on everything you buy (1% back when you make a purchase and an additional 1% back as you pay for those purchases). You can also redeem your rewards as ThankYou points in the Citi ThankYou Travel Center for airfare.

How to use the Chase Freedom Flex:

• Take advantage of the card introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers to pay off large expenses over time or consolidate any large debt while avoiding interest charges.
• Enroll in a bonus category each quarter to earn the full 5% cash back on your first $1,500 in spending.
• Time your purchases strategically to max out the spend cap in bonus cash back categories each quarter.
• Check out other ways to earn Ultimate Rewards points – like referring a friend to the card or shopping through the Chase Travel℠ portal.
• Pair the Freedom Flex with another Ultimate Rewards card and redeem points for travel.

Is the Chase Freedom Flex right for you?

The Chase Freedom Flex charges no annual fee and offers a ton of variety in how you can earn and redeem rewards, making it a great all-purpose rewards card that will hold extra value for budding travelers.

Earning rewards does require some strategizing on your part, though, so if that sounds like more trouble than it’s worth, you may be happier sacrificing some rewards potential in favor of consistent, predictable returns.