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The Chase Freedom Flex
After losing $200m in its first quarter on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Jamie Dimon famously said “I wish we’d lost more.” Not that he’s squandering money, but in his mind the money they lost upfront was merely an investment that would reap profit down the road. Are we seeing round 2 of this philosophy? The new no annual fee Chase Freedom Flex is so incredibly rich to users, I just can’t imagine them making money on the card out of the gate.
These are the bennies I’m most excited about – yes, there are this many.
- No annual fee
- 5x on Travel via Chase
- 3x on dining and take out
- 3x on drugstores.
- 5x rotating quarterly bonuses
- Mobile Phone insurance
- AND you get Mastercard World Elite benefits plus a slew of other benefits.
The Chase Freedom Flex replaces the now retired Chase Freedom. Usually when things like this happen, we get a mild product change with a couple marquee improvements and many benefits muted or discontinued. Not this time.
The Chase Freedom Flex is an all out beast of card. Hands down, it’s one of the best on the market. Not only does it carry forward many of the old Freedom benefits, it include new earn rates that beat out many cards that come with a big annual fee.
If you don’t have a Chase Freedom Flex, get it. If you have a Chase Freedom, convert it. In fact, I’d say this is the biggest move Chase has made in the credit card arena since the introduction of the Chase Sapphire Reserve in 2016.
Why?
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.
A full breakdown of the benefits:
- No Annual Fee
- 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
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 )
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.
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 do you mean cashback vs Ultimate Rewards?
The Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card is a cash back card. So by its very nature you’ll earn your points or rewards in the form of Ultimate Rewards which can be used as cashback/statement credit. However, since its in the family of Ultimate Reward cards you can transfer your points from the Chase Freedom Unlimited to one of the premium cards 1:1 and then transfer them to partners.
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.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase Ink Business Preferred
What are the sign up rules for the Chase Freedom Flex?
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. I would note that Chase has made their approvals more stringent as a result of Covid and the economic impact.
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 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
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.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
A Monkey Miles favorite for beginners and point pros alike – a staple of our wallet that earns Premium transferrable Ultimate Rewards. $95 annual fee
♥ Earn 80k Bonus Points after $4k Spend in 3 months + $50 grocery credit
♥Points are transferrable to over dozen partners, or redeemable for 1.25c in Chase travel
♥2x on travel
♥2x on dining
♥1x on all purchases
Learn more
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.
What about using the card in Bali, Indonesia?
Freedom Flex does incur foreign transaction fees
Does it have foreign transaction fees?
Freedom Flex looks great. I wanna apply. Does it have referrals?
Thanks brother. About to apply and hope you get an affiliate bonus.
This is great to know about, thank you. I’m going to have to switch cards from the Freedom to the Freedom Flex.
Would you recommend converting the Chase Freedom to the Flex? Or applying new and then canceling the freedom? Thinking about that sign up bonus!
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
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
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
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!
**PREFERRED! Bahahahaha in no world have I picked up the Reserve, geez Louise.
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?