Chase Freedom Flex benefits guide

Depending on how you spend, you can earn plenty of cash back with the Chase Freedom Flex℠. This card rewards rotating categories throughout the year — such as purchases you make at wholesale clubs, grocery stores or gas stations — in which you’ll earn 5 percent cash back (on up to $1,500 in purchases per quarter after activation, then 1 percent).

But that’s only one benefit of this cash back credit card. The Chase Freedom Flex also offers solid cash back rewards outside of its rotating categories, along with an introductory APR offer and easy-to-earn welcome bonus. Let’s dive into this card’s benefits.

Chase Freedom Flex at a glance

The Chase Freedom Flex comes with plenty of perks without charging an annual fee, meaning you won’t have to worry about racking up enough rewards to cover the yearly cost.

The Freedom Flex also comes with a 0 percent intro APR on both purchases and balance transfers for 15 months After this intro period ends, the Freedom Flex’s variable APR of 19.49 percent to 28.24 percent kicks in.

And in terms of a welcome bonus, you’ll earn $200 cash back after spending $500 on purchases with your card within the first three months from account opening.

Rewards

The Freedom Flex offers cardholders the opportunity to earn a steady stream of cash back, plus a variety of ways to redeem the rewards you earn.

Earning rewards

You’ll earn 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in rotating bonus categories each quarter, then 1 percent. You must activate your bonus categories each quarter to earn the 5 percent cash back.

Although each year may be different, the 2023 Chase Freedom bonus categories are as follows:

Just remember, there is a limit on these 5 percent cash back purchases: You’ll only earn 5 percent on the first $1,500 you charge in these rotating categories. After you hit that limit, you’ll earn 1 percent cash back on these purchases until the next quarter starts.

You’ll also earn 5 percent cash back on travel purchases made through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, 5 percent back on Lyft rides through March 2025, 3 percent back on dining and drugstore purchases and 1 percent back on everything else.

Redeeming rewards

The cash back you earn with Chase does not expire as long as you keep your account open. You also don’t need to earn a minimum amount of cash back to redeem it.

You have several options when redeeming your cash back: Receive it as a statement credit or a direct deposit to your checking or savings account, shop at Amazon.com, get gift cards or book travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Travel benefits

If you travel frequently, the Freedom Flex offers multiple perks for you. First, you’ll earn that 5 percent cash back rate whenever you book flights, reserve hotel rooms or make other purchases through the Chase portal.

The card also comes with trip cancellation/interruption insurance, which pays out up to $1,500 a person and $6,000 a trip for prepaid, non-refundable fares if you must cancel or shorten your trip because of sickness, severe weather or other covered reasons.

And if you rely on ridesharing services when traveling, you can take advantage of 5 percent cash back on all Lyft rides. The Freedom Flex is offering this perk through March 2025.

Shopping benefits

The Freedom Flex also comes with shopping perks, including purchase protection. If you purchase a product with the card and it is damaged or stolen within 120 days, you can file a single claim for up to $500 and claims of up to $50,000 per account. Chase purchase protection will either reimburse you or replace the damaged or stolen item.

The card also offers extended warranty protection that extends the U.S. warranty of covered items by an additional year. The original warranty, though, must be three years or less.

Maximizing the Chase Freedom Flex card

The key to squeezing the most value out of this card is to focus your spending on the rotating categories each quarter. The more you spend in these categories, the more cash back you’ll earn (specifically, up to $75 each quarter if you max it out).

Because the Freedom Flex also provides a consistent 3 percent back on purchases made on dining or at drugstores, you can also maximize the value of this card if you routinely use it to make purchases at these venues.

Another way to get more out of this card? Pair it with a higher-earning Chase credit card, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve card. You can pool the rewards you earn from the Freedom Flex with these other cards and boost your rewards value when booking travel through the Chase portal (25 percent with the Preferred and 50 percent with the Reserve).

Bottom line

The Chase Freedom Flex is a good fit if the card’s rotating cash back categories match your spending patterns — or if you’re looking for a cash back credit card with a solid intro APR offer on purchases or balance transfers.

And if you pair this card with a high-earning Chase travel card, you can further maximize the value of your Chase points.