- Intro Offer
-
$200 Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 19.99% – 28.74% Variable
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
-
670 – 850
Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1% – 5% 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 Ultimate Rewards®, 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; Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
The Chase Freedom Flex℠* lives up to its name, offering a flexible spread of credit card benefits and rewards, with 5% cash back on rotating categories each quarter. This card has no annual fee and also boasts 3-5% unlimited cash back on its “always-on” categories of dining, drugstores and travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards (Chase’s online travel-booking portal).
With past 5% bonus categories spanning everything from grocery stores to online retailers to gas stations, most consumers will find ample opportunities to unlock extra rewards with their everyday spending. The welcome bonus, introductory APR offer, and extra cardholder perks are also top of the line for a no-annual-fee card, making this a great addition to your wallet.
Here’s what you need to know about the Chase Freedom Flex and how to take advantage of everything this versatile cash-back card offers.
Rewards and welcome bonus
The Chase Freedom Flex offers 5% cash back on travel purchases made through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 5% on up to $1,500 on combined purchases in quarterly bonus categories when you activate, 3% on dining at restaurants, 3% on drugstore purchases and 1% on all other purchases. Earning 3% to 5% cash back with a no-annual-fee card is excellent, and even though the top rates are reserved for only a few categories, travel and dining do take up a large portion of many budgets.
For the welcome bonus, you earn $200 after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months, which is one of the lowest spending thresholds with regards to welcome bonuses.
Rotating quarterly bonus category
Through June 30, 2023, the rotating bonus rewards categories include purchases at Amazon and Lowes. You can activate Q2’s bonus categories from now until June 14.
Past common bonus categories include: select streaming services, gas stations, home improvement stores, internet, cable and phone services. Less common bonus categories include: Amazon.com and Whole Foods, department stores and wholesale clubs.
Quarterly categories offer 5% back on the first $1,500 in the combined purchases each quarter before dropping down to 1%. That means if you spend $2,000 on purchases in your quarterly category, you’ll earn $80 -- $75 from the first $1,500 at a 5% cash back rate, plus $5 from the remaining $500 at the 1% cash back rate.
Here are Chase’s rotating bonus categories for 2023. We’ll update the calendar as Chase announces new categories each quarter.
| Quarter | Categories |
| Q1: January – March | Grocery stores (excluding Walmart) and Target Fitness clubs and gym memberships |
| Q2: April – June | Amazon.com Lowe’s |
| Q3: July – September | To be announced |
| Q4: October – December | To be announced |
How to activate Chase Freedom Flex bonus categories
The 5% cash back in bonus categories doesn’t kick in automatically. You’ll need to activate your bonus cash back each quarter before the activation deadline.
Usually, Chase combines two or more spending categories and announces them 15 days before the start of the quarter. You can enroll anytime before the quarterly deadline (usually two weeks before the end of the quarter). If you forget to activate it until month three of the quarter, you’ll still retroactively earn the 5% rewards on eligible purchases. The deadline for activating the first quarter’s categories has passed. You can activate the rotating categories for April to June from March 15 to June 14.
Here are a few ways you can activate your bonus categories:
ATM or physical branch: If you’re withdrawing cash, you can activate your bonuses at the ATM. Or you can do so at any Chase physical branch.
Chase mobile app: Click this link to activate quarterly bonuses in the app.
Email: If you’ve linked your email address to your Chase account, you’ll receive an email when it’s time to activate new categories. You can activate the new categories by clicking the link in your email.
Online: Log into your account on Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal or via your Chase online account to find the activation page. You can also use the direct activation link.
Phone: You can call Chase customer service or the phone number on the back of your credit card to activate your bonus categories.
Rewards redemption
As a cash-back rewards credit card, the most common way you’ll redeem your points will be either direct deposit into your checking or savings account or a statement credit, effectively reducing the amount you owe on your credit card. You can use your rewards to shop at Amazon or PayPal for a value of 0.8 cents each, or redeem them for gift cards from over 175 brands. There is no minimum to redeem for cash back, and rewards do not expire as long as your account stays open.
You can also redeem your points for travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal at a value of 1 cent per point, but this option isn’t necessarily better than straight cash back if the Freedom Flex is your only Chase credit card.
The game changes, however, when you also have a premium (i.e. annual fee-charging) Chase travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Those cards give you a higher redemption value when booking travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal -- 1.25 cents per point for the Preferred and 1.5 cents per point for the Reserve -- as well as the ability to transfer your points directly to airline and hotel partners. Because Chase allows you to freely transfer your points between Ultimate Rewards-earning cards, you can earn 5% cash back from your Freedom Flex and then transfer those points to your Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, unlocking even more value for your points.
Introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers
This card’s usefulness expands beyond its rewards program and welcome bonus -- you can finance a purchase or initiate a balance transfer with 15 months of 0% introductory APR. After that, the APR jumps to 19.99% to 28.74% variable. While this isn’t the longest introductory APR available, it’s a pretty solid offer.
If you’re not planning on transferring a balance right away, you might be better off with a different card, however. That’s because the 3% ($5 minimum) balance transfer fee (standard across the industry) goes up to 5% ($5 minimum) after the first 60 days of account opening.
Additional card benefits
For a no-annual-fee card, the Chase Freedom Flex has a host of useful benefits. Here are the perks you should take advantage of to get the most value out of your card:
- Instacart: Cardmembers get a complimentary three-month Instacart+ membership -- which grants benefits like $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on eligible orders -- and $10 in statement credits each quarter through July 2024. After your three free months, your membership will auto-renew at the standard rate unless you cancel.
- DoorDash: Get a complimentary 3 months of DashPass -- which grants free delivery and reduced service fees on orders -- on DoorDash and Caviar, then half off your subscription for the next nine months. After the first 12 months, your membership will auto-renew at the standard rate unless you cancel. You must activate this benefit by Dec. 31, 2024.
- Fandango: Receive a $5 Fandango reward for every $20 spent on Fandango tickets or Fandango’s streaming service.
- Shoprunner: Get a complimentary ShopRunner membership, which grants free two-day shipping and free returns at certain stores, through March 31, 2024.
- Cell phone protection: You’re covered for up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year against theft or damage when you pay your bill with your credit card. There’s a $50 deductible per claim and you’re allowed a maximum of 2 claims in a 12-month period.
- Purchase protections and extended warranty protections: You’ll get purchase protection against damage or theft on new purchases up to $500 per claim ($50,000 maximum per account) for 120 days, plus a one-year extension of the manufacturer’s original warranty timeframe on eligible warranties.
- Travel benefits: The Chase Freedom Flex comes with a variety of useful travel benefits, Including auto rental collision coverage, trip cancellation insurance and travel and emergency assistance services.
Alternative cards
Discover it® Cash Back
The Discover it® Cash Back* is another popular cash-back card that offers a 5% cash back rotating quarterly category upon activation (on up to $1,500 in quarterly purchases, then 1%). The spread of past categories casts a wide net, as does that of the Freedom Flex. But unlike with the Chase Freedom Flex, if you forget to sign up at the beginning of the quarter and remember later on, you won’t retroactively earn cash back on purchases during that time. And you’ll still have to manually activate each category when the time draws near.
You’ll get a similar intro APR offer, but the welcome bonus is by far better with the Discover it® Cash Back. See our full review of the Discover it® Cash Back card for more details.
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
The closest card to the Chase Freedom Flex is the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and it’s not just the name that’s similar. The Chase Freedom Unlimited offers almost identical rewards, with two key differences. The first difference is the Unlimited’s 1.5% rate for all purchases that fall outside of a bonus category, compared with the Flex’s 1% rate. The second difference is that the Unlimited doesn’t have the rotating 5% bonus categories.
See our full review of the Chase Freedom Unlimited for more details.
Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card
The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card* has a rotating category, too -- but with a little more control. This card offers 3% cash back in the category of your choice, with options like gas, online shopping, dining, travel, drug stores, or home improvement/furnishings. You’ll also earn 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs (on up to $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases, then 1%)
You can change your custom category selection once a month. This card also offers a similar welcome bonus to the Chase Freedom Flex.
How Chase Freedom Flex℠ compares to other cards
- Intro Offer
-
$200 Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 19.99% – 28.74% Variable
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% Intro APR on Purchases for 15 months
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1% – 5% 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 Ultimate Rewards®, 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; Unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
- Intro Offer
-
Cashback Match™ Intro Offer: Unlimited Cashback Match – 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.
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 16.99% – 27.99% Variable APR
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% for 15 months
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1% – 5% Earn 5% cash back on everyday purchases at different places each quarter like Amazon.com, grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations, up to the quarterly maximum when you activate. ; Earn 1% unlimited cash back on all other purchases – automatically.
- Intro Offer
-
Earn an Additional 1.5% Cash Back Intro Offer: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back!
- Annual fee
- $0
- APR
- 19.99% – 28.74% Variable
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% Intro APR on Purchases for 15 months
- Recommended Credit A credit score is used to indicate an applicant’s credit worthiness and may provide guidance about account eligibility. It does not necessarily guarantee approval for any financial product.
- Good – Excellent
- Rewards rate
-
1.5% – 5% Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 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% on all other purchases
FAQs
Cash-back credit cards offer cardholders rewards on their spending in the form of statement credits or cash. A statement credit is a reduction in the amount due to the credit card company on your monthly bill. Note that rewards are not always available the month you earn them -- they are usually applied to your balance by credit card issuers after one or two billing cycles.
The redemption process for cash-back credit cards is either automatic or otherwise very simple. Some cards automatically apply cash rewards to your statement balance each month. Others require you to log in and redeem available rewards points for statement credits. Most points don’t expire, but you will lose them if you close the account before redeeming them.
Cash-back credit cards generally fall into four primary categories: flat-rate, tiered, rotating or choose your own.
Flat-rate cards offer the same rate for every purchase. Tiered cards offer a different rewards rate for different categories of spending. Rotating category cards offer different rewards each quarter, determined by the card issuer. Choose-your-own category cards allow you to choose your rewards category.
To choose the best cash-back credit card for you, the most important thing is to have a clear idea of how you’re already spending money each month. Once you identify the categories where you have the highest, most consistent spending, use the charts in our list to determine which card will net you the highest return. Consider other features of the cards, too, such as APR, sign-on bonuses and foreign transaction fees. Make sure you get something that fits with your lifestyle and spending habits.
Your credit card choice may also be affected by your credit score. Most of the cards we recommend require a good or excellent credit score, which is typically around 670 or higher. If you don’t meet the credit criteria required, there are credit cards available that are specifically for those trying to rebuild credit, like secured credit cards. Alternatively, you can look into the best credit cards for no credit and the best credit cards for bad credit.
Our approach
We review the cards that are in the highest demand and offer the best benefits. We scour the fine print so there aren’t any surprises when you open an account. We find the key factors that make a card stand out and compare them to other top cards. That way, readers can opt for a different card with similar features if our pick isn’t right for them. Our reviews are regularly checked and updated to incorporate new recommendations, as well as to reflect changes in offers and the market.
*All information about the Discover it® Cash Back, Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card and Chase Freedom Flex has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
