This site is part of an affiliate sales network and may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Zachary Abel is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Freedom Flex® 2026 category bonuses
Q2 must be activated by 06/15/26
We love the Chase Freedom Flex® for this exact perk: rotating, quarterly 5x bonus categories. Activate here
What does that mean?
It means that every 3 months Chase Freedom Flex® releases a new list of bonus categories that earn 5x throughout the quarter. It’s an incredible way to multiply the number points you make on purchases, or strategize for the future. Here are the upcoming Q2 2026 categories
-
- Amazon, Chase TravelSM, and Feeding America
I would definitely consider getting a Chase Freedom Flex® in order to enjoy the native category bonuses the card offers in addition to these quarterly, rotating category bonuses.
What are the new Chase Freedom Flex® 5x rotating, quarterly categories?
- You must activate by 06/15/26
- The spending is capped at $1500
- This means that your earning potential is maxed at out 7500 points or $75 cashback
- You must activate this perk each quarter, starting the 15th of the month prior ( September ), up until the 14th of the last quarterly month ( December ).
- If you have a Chase Freedom Flex®, you’ll get $1500 per card.
- Best of Main Cast
*Reader Referral
Information about this card has been collected independently by Monkey Miles. Card issuer is not responsible for the information or accuracy.
Chase Freedom Flex®
Chase Freedom Flex® is an all out beast of card. Hands down, it’s one of the best on the market and offers a rotating 5x category bonus that allows helps you earn a ton of points.
Make sure you pair this card with a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Ink Business Preferred® for max value
Welcome Offer
$200 or 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months see card benefits for terms
Note this is a non-affiliate reader referral offer
Annual Fee
$0
Points Earned
Cash Back or non-transferrable Ultimate Rewards unless paired with a premium Chase card
- Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
- 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate.
- Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
- 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
- dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service,
- Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back.
- You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
- No annual fee
- Member FDIC
Additionally, you’ll get World Elite Mastercard benefits, including
- Mobile Phone Insurance – Up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year on mobile phone protection
- theft and damage on users listed on the phone bill paid by the cardholder
- Lyft – $10 in credit for every five rides taken in a calendar month
- This gets applied to the next ride
- 1x per month
- ShopRunner – free membership
- 2 day shipping at over 100 stores
- Fandango – 2x VIP+ points on movie tickets bought on the Fandango app or Fandango.com
- Mobile Phone Insurance – Up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year on mobile phone protection
The best offer we’ve consistently seen is via reader referral= $200 after $500 spend in 3 months + an additional 5x category for 12 months
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists what the highest offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
When you carry a Chase Sapphire Preferred® or Chase Sapphire Reserve®, the The Chase Freedom Flex® works exceptionally well in tandem.
It gives you the ability to earn 5x on rotating category bonuses each quarter which really expands your ability to earn points faster.
The base rate on the card is 1x though, so I’d recommend using this for the rotating category bonuses, but using a card that earns 1.5x or 2x for all your non-bonus spend. Like a Capital One Venture X, Venture Rewards, or Chase Freedom Unlimited
What have the past Chase Freedom Flex® bonus catagories?
Just so you have an idea, here’s a look at what we’ve seen incentivized in the past.
2025
Here’s a look at 2024
Heres’s a look at 2023:
Here’s a look at 2022
Here’s a look at the 2021 calendar
And the 2020 categories
When Do the new bonus Categories start? The 1st of every quarter
You’ll need to register for these bonus categories by March 14th, 2023. As long as you register by that date, all of the purchases made in these categories will earn 5%/5x points.
How we use Chase Freedom Flex® to get closer to lie-flat seats and 5 star suites.
If you’re like me and carry a Chase Premium credit card like the Chas Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, or Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card then you can combine your Chase Freedom Flex® points into those accounts in order to transfer them into valuable partners.
This is by far the most advantageous usage of Ultimate Rewards, but also increases the value when redeemed in the Chase Travel center. For instance, if you move them into a Chase Sapphire Reserve® account, your points will instantly be redeemable for 1.5 cents per point, a 50% increase over redeeming them in the Freedom Chase Travel Center.
Take a look at our Best Uses of Chase Points
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.