Credit Cards

Chase Freedom Flex(SM)Full Review

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The Chase Freedom Flex(SM)

The Chase Freedom Flex(SM) is an all out beast of card. Hands down, it’s one of the best on the market and offers category earn rates that beat out many cards that come with a big annual fee. If you don’t have a Chase Freedom Flex(SM), get it. I challenge you to find another card on the market that offers up to 3x to 5x rates earn rates on various categories, offers World Elite Mastercard benefits, Mobile phone insurance, and comes without an annual fee. It doesn’t exist.

Learn More

*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(SM)

4.8
4.8/5

The Chase Freedom Flex(SM) 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 + 5x on combine gas and grocery store purchases ( up to $12k ) 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

 

  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn $200 or 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months 
    • 5x on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (not including Target® and Walmart®)opens overlay to offer details** on up to $12,000 spent in the first year (that’s $600 cash back!)
    • 5x on Bonus Quarterly Categories – each quarter members can activate a 5x category bonus on purchases up to $1500 per quarter on the selected categories
    • 5x on Travel purchased through Chase Travel
    • 3x on Dining  including take out/eligible delivery services.
    • 3x on Drugstore
    • 1x unlimited cash back on all other purchases.

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

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 (SM) 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

 

A full breakdown of the benefits:

  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn $200 or 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months 
    • reader referral offer has an extra 5x category ( fluctuates between gas and grocery stores for 6 months, capped at $12000 )
  • 5x on Bonus Quarterly Categories – each quarter members can activate a 5x category bonus on purchases up to $1500 per quarter on the selected categories
  • 5x on Travel purchased through Chase Travel
  • 3x on Dining  including take out/eligible delivery services.
  • 3x on Drugstore
  • 1x unlimited cash back on all other purchases.
  • 0% interest for 15 month on new purchases

In addition to all of those…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

Pairing Chase Freedom Flex with  Chase Sapphire Preferred® ( or Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Ink Business Preferred®) makes your points transferrable

The Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card is a cash back card when held on its own. This means you’ll earn your points or rewards in the form of Ultimate Rewards which can be used as cashback/statement credit or within Chase Travel at a penny a point. However, since its in the family of Ultimate Reward cards, if you hold a Premium Ultimate Reward card, you can transfer your points from the Chase Freedom Flex(SM) to one of the premium cards 1:1.

This would give you access to Chase’s great list of transfer partners so you could potentially get even more value.

Learn More

*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(SM)

4.8
4.8/5

The Chase Freedom Flex(SM) 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 + 5x on combine gas and grocery store purchases ( up to $12k ) 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

 

  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn $200 or 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months 
    • 5x on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (not including Target® and Walmart®)opens overlay to offer details** on up to $12,000 spent in the first year (that’s $600 cash back!)
    • 5x on Bonus Quarterly Categories – each quarter members can activate a 5x category bonus on purchases up to $1500 per quarter on the selected categories
    • 5x on Travel purchased through Chase Travel
    • 3x on Dining  including take out/eligible delivery services.
    • 3x on Drugstore
    • 1x unlimited cash back on all other purchases.

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

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 (SM) 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

 

Explaining the cashback to Ultimate Reward aspect futher.

The Chase Freedom Flex is technically a cashback card, meaning the Ultimate Rewards you earn can’t be transferred into the partner programs that we so often speak about. However…if you carry either a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Ink Business Preferred you can move them into one of those accounts and then transfer.

Below is a picture of the new Singapore Suites – a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards (available when this card is paired a premium Chase credit card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred )

a bed with white sheets and pillows in an airplane
courtesy of Singapore Airlines

The Sign up Bonus: $200 bonus or 20k Ultimate Rewards

Oh yeah, there is a lucrative sign up bonus as well. You’ll get $200 in the form of 20k Ultimate Rewards after you spend $500 in 90 days after card opening.

There is a reader referral offer that fluctuates and offers an extra 5x bonus category. Go here to see that

0% interest for 15 months

The Chase Freedom Flex comes with an introductory 0% Interest rate on all purchases for the first 15 months. After that, you’ll need to check what the prevailing rate is on the card. I would be very aware of utilizing this benefit. It’s a great way to get a free loan, but at the same time credit card interest rates are egregious and we never ever recommend carrying a balance.

What are the sign up rules for the Chase Freedom Flex(SM)?

This is a new product so, even if you hold the Chase Freedom, which this card is replacing, you can apply for the Chase Freedom Flex(SM).

5/24

  • Almost all of Chase’s cards are a part of their 5/24 rule. This means that you can not sign up if you have opened more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months.

How can the Chase Freedom Flex(SM) help you achieve you travel goals?

First off… our travel goal here at MM is to travel in the best possible way to anywhere our heart desires. I, pre pandemic, traveled around 125k to 150k miles a year and tried to review as many new hotels, and airline cabins as possible. It drives my desire to eek out every point out of every dollar I spend. That desire also aligns with readers who aren’t so bothered by the best cabin, hotel, and prefer to stretch your points out in low to mid range hotels. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, you want to earn as many points as possible and this card helps you do that quickly. Personally…I’ll be looking to use my points on flights like Lufthansa First Class

A quick example of how you can earn 60k points by spending $500 a month in your first year.

This is without a single purchase on dining, pharmacies, or travel. All of which would earn you 3x

  • Spend $500 in first 90 days = 20k Ultimate Rewards
  • 5x Rotating category bonuses = 30k Ultimate Rewards
    • $1500 per quarter or $6k a year multiplied by 5x earn rate

a screenshot of a phone

Learn More

*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(SM)

4.8
4.8/5

The Chase Freedom Flex(SM) 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 + 5x on combine gas and grocery store purchases ( up to $12k ) 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

 

  • No Annual Fee
  • Earn $200 or 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months 
    • 5x on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (not including Target® and Walmart®)opens overlay to offer details** on up to $12,000 spent in the first year (that’s $600 cash back!)
    • 5x on Bonus Quarterly Categories – each quarter members can activate a 5x category bonus on purchases up to $1500 per quarter on the selected categories
    • 5x on Travel purchased through Chase Travel
    • 3x on Dining  including take out/eligible delivery services.
    • 3x on Drugstore
    • 1x unlimited cash back on all other purchases.

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

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 (SM) 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

 

Overall:

This is a no brainer card. There is no annual fee and you get an overwhelming amount of benefits and ability to earn a ton of points.

Personally, I’d recommend pairing this with either a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred. The would mean your annual fee would be under $100 and your earn rates would be fantastic with the ability to transfer to partners. If you’re looking oustide airlines, one of my favorite redemptions has been the Alila Uluwatu in Bali, booked with Hyatt points – transferred from Chase.

 

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with lines and symbols

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 3x on dining
    •  including eligible delivery services for takeout
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel Portal
  • 2x on all other travel
  • $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Chase Travel
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Primary rental car coverage is my favorite

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.

21 Comments

  • Sean Westlake February 24, 2024

    Earn $200 cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex credit card. I can be rewarded if you apply here and are approved for the card.
    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/72H0Z79QLS

  • Declan February 23, 2024

    I’d appreciate anyone who uses my referral link!

    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/1ZY319P33Y

  • John January 18, 2024

    Thank you for your support! Earn $200 cash back with Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex credit card. I can be rewarded if you apply here and are approved for the card.

    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/ZG1JBE05BX

  • William January 2, 2024

    Chase Freedom Flex: Earn $200/20k points after spending $500 in the first 3 months + 5%/5x back at Gas and Grocery for the first 12 months.

    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/Q9ZF1UYCAX

    Best of Luck Everyone! Thank You So Much!

  • […] combined purchases across the targeted categories, per card, and run for 3 months. If you have a Chase Freedom Flex(SM) you’re familiar with rotating 5x category bonuses and these work in the same way. This […]

  • Chris O. February 28, 2023

    Ready to pick up your own Chase Freedom Flex card and earn bonus money? Consider using my referral code:

    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/1820X1RFTQ

    Cheers!

  • Katie December 21, 2022

    Hi Travel Friends! I just started learning about points and miles this year from Monkey Miles and Zach! I’ve been working on accumulating points and am hoping to do my first redemption next year on a trip to Paris! I would love if you use my referral link if you’re considering these cards! Thanks and happy traveling!

    Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex: Earn $200 cash back:
    https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18o/12OW21PHNT
    -I got the Freedom Flex as recommended here and it’s been so nice to get 5x points in the rotating categories! And you can’t beat $0 annual fee!

  • Laura Weis November 5, 2020

    Loved the Allila Villas Ulluwatu. Enjoyed Allila Ubud as well but very different properties and no where near as stunning as Uluwatu. Definitely going for the Flex. Thanks for the great article.

  • William Hemmer October 30, 2020

    What about using the card in Bali, Indonesia?

    • Miles October 30, 2020

      Freedom Flex does incur foreign transaction fees

  • William Hemmer October 30, 2020

    Does it have foreign transaction fees?

  • Yen October 15, 2020

    Freedom Flex looks great. I wanna apply. Does it have referrals?

  • Mark w October 14, 2020

    Thanks brother. About to apply and hope you get an affiliate bonus.

  • Whitney October 14, 2020

    This is great to know about, thank you. I’m going to have to switch cards from the Freedom to the Freedom Flex.

  • Ann September 21, 2020

    Would you recommend converting the Chase Freedom to the Flex? Or applying new and then canceling the freedom? Thinking about that sign up bonus!

    • Miles September 21, 2020

      I like the way you’re thinking! I would definitely advocate signing up for the new Flex over converting, but I”d also think heavily regarding cancelling the Freedom. It carries no fee, adds length to your credit history, and also gives you the opportunity to double up on 5x rotating categories. For instance, Q4 of 2020 includes paypal. If you have bills totaling more than $1500 that you could use PayPal to pay, it would behoove you to have two cards to earn 5x on. Just an example but you may have instances in the future where it could come into play. Just my two cents

  • Miles Muncher September 17, 2020

    Freedom Flex / does this MasterCard have a foreign transaction fee?
    I want to transfer over from Sapphire Reserve ($450/yr annual) since of my travel has paused. Thanks

    • Miles September 17, 2020

      It does but I would recommend downgrading your Reserve to a Preferred so you can transfer points, use it when abroad with no fee, and the Flex for the higher category bonuses

  • Sil September 17, 2020

    Quite literally JUST picked up the Reserve with the 80k offer a minute before reading this… Freedom Flex is next now that the UR transfer is possible. Glad I didn’t throw away that mailer for it… Woooohoooo!

    • Sil September 17, 2020

      **PREFERRED! Bahahahaha in no world have I picked up the Reserve, geez Louise.

      • Jms November 24, 2020

        New to the “taking advantage of my credit situation” world, can Canadians get approved for this card/most of the cards you review? Do you have any Canadian recommendations?

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