Chase Freedom Flex Categories for 2023: Get the Most Out of Your Rewards
During the first quarter of 2023, cardholders can take advantage of 5% cash-back bonus on groceries, Target purchases and fitness clubs and gym memberships. This is a change from the first quarter of 2022, which included eBay instead of fitness clubs and gym memberships and excluded Target.
Credit card cash-back rewards are an easy way for Chase Freedom Flex cardholders to save money. Each quarter, new cash-back bonus categories are added to the calendar to notify cardholders that it is time to activate the latest offers. Here’s what you can look forward to during these first few months of the year.
Chase Freedom Flex Categories Bonus Calendar for 2023
The rewards categories vary year to year, and Chase announces them quarterly.
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter One Bonus Categories January-March |
– Grocery stores, excluding Walmart – Target – Fitness clubs and gym memberships |
– eBay – Grocery stores, excluding Target and Walmart |
| Quarter Two Bonus Categories April-June |
Coming soon | – Amazon purchases – Streaming services, including Apple Music, Disney+, ESPN+, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, Spotify, YouTube Premium and more |
| Quarter Three Bonus Categories July-September |
Coming soon | – Gas stations – Car rental agencies – Movie theaters – Select live entertainment |
| Quarter Four Bonus Categories October-December |
Coming soon | – Walmart – PayPal purchases |
Maximize Your Cash Back
To maximize quarter one’s bonus cash-back offers, cardholders might want to put their Chase Freedom Flex card at the front of their wallet so they won’t forget to use it at the grocery store and Target. However, it’s important to note that grocery items purchased at Target will only qualify for the 5% shopping reward at Target, not additional 5% grocery store shopping rewards.
Additionally, cardholders who have a fitness club or gym membership will want to swap out their current payment method for their Chase card to gain those rewards during this first quarter.
Other Freedom Flex Cash-Back Rewards
In addition to cash-back bonuses for Chase Freedom Flex categories, cardholders also benefit from the following year-round Chase Freedom Flex card rewards:
| Cash-Back Amount | Category |
|---|---|
| 5% | Chase Ultimate Rewards® travel purchases |
| 3% | Dining, whether eating out or ordering in |
| 3% | Drugstore purchases |
| 1% | All other purchases |
How Freedom Flex Bonus Cash-Back Offers Work
Cardholders earn 5% on the cash-back bonus category on up to $1,500 in bonus category purchases. Any additional spending on bonus category purchases over $1,500 continue to earn 1% through the remainder of the quarter.
The maximum cash-back bonus that can be earned during the quarter is $75 — 5% of $1,500 — plus 1% of any bonus category purchases over the $1,500 limit. This, of course, is in addition to cash back earned on non-bonus category purchases.
Chase Freedom cash-back bonuses must be activated each quarter. Otherwise, cardholders will only earn the standard 1% for category purchases.
How To Activate Cash-Back Bonus Categories
To get the 5% cash-back rather than the usual 1% to 3%, cardholders must activate bonus offers via the Chase Mobile app, online, by email or over the phone. Cardholders can also go through the Chase Freedom card activation process at any Chase location or ATM.
Cardholders with more than one Freedom Flex card must activate each card.
Cardholders can activate new bonus offers beginning the 15th of the month prior to the new quarter. They have until the 14th of the last month of the new quarter to activate. So for quarter one 2023 cash-back categories, you can activate as early as Jan. 1 but no later than March 14.
Activation is retroactive for the quarter as long as the activation deadline is met. Cardholders who activate by March 14 will earn the 5% cash-back bonus on all applicable purchases made from Jan. 1 through March 31, not just those made after they activate.
Cardholders can sign up for quarter two bonuses beginning March 15.
While it may seem tedious to activate new bonus offers each quarter, Chase does this to ensure cardholders stay up-to-date on the bonus category changes.
How To Redeem Cash-Back Rewards
Total cash-back bonus points are included in the Rewards Summary section of the Freedom Flex statement and are broken out by category.
Every Freedom Flex cash-back dollar earns 100 Chase Ultimate Points. Chase Ultimate Points can be redeemed for cash back as a direct deposit or a statement credit. Cardholders receive one cent per point. Chase Ultimate Points also can be used for:
- Over 150 types of gift cards
- Bookings through Chase Ultimate Rewards for events and travel
- Shopping through Chase merchandise purchases
- Purchases at Apple Ultimate Rewards Store
- Purchases at Amazon and PayPal
Cash-Back Card Comparison: Chase Freedom Flex® vs. Discover it® Card
The Discover it® card is another cash-back card that works much like the Chase Freedom Flex card and offers similar bonus categories. It also caps bonus spending at $1,500 per quarter.
One thing Discover it cardholders prefer over the Freedom Flex card is the fact that Discover releases its bonus categories yearly rather than quarterly. However, the Discover it card must be activated quarterly, just like the Freedom Flex card.
Chase Freedom rotating categories change quarterly, just like Discover. Here’s a comparison of the entire 2022 Discover cash-back calendar and the Freedom Flex calendar so you can compare.
| Discover it Card Bonus Categories 2022 | Chase Freedom Flex Card Bonus Categories 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter One Bonus Categories January-March |
– Grocery stores, excluding Target and Walmart – Fitness club and gym memberships |
– eBay – Grocery stores, excluding Target and Walmart |
| Quarter Two Bonus Categories April-June |
– Gas stations – Target |
– Amazon purchases – Streaming services |
| Quarter Three Bonus Categories July-September |
– Restaurants – PayPal |
– Gas stations – Car rental agencies – Movie theaters – Select live entertainment |
| Quarter Four Bonus Categories October-December |
– Amazon purchases – Digital wallets, including Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay and Garmin Pay |
– Walmart – PayPal purchases |
Notice that restaurants were a bonus category for the Discover it card in quarter three. Freedom Flex cardholders get 3% all the time on restaurant purchases.
Discover also offered a cash-back bonus for Amazon purchases from October through December, making it a perfect time to earn cash back on holiday shopping. Chase, on the other hand, announced Walmart and PayPal cash-back categories for quarter four, so if you did your holiday shopping at Walmart or with your PayPal account, you could rack up the rewards.
Either way, these cash-back cards both offered bonus categories that could help those looking to save as much as possible on everyday expenses.
Good To Know
Unlike the Freedom Flex card, Discover card cash-back offers are not retroactive for the quarter upon activation. For example, if a Discover it cardholder activates bonus categories on Jan. 15th, they do not get the bonus for any category purchases made Jan. 1-14. With Freedom Flex, they do.
Overall Comparison
There is little overlap in bonus categories between the two cards during any given quarter. Does it make sense to have both cards to really take advantage of those 5% cash-back bonuses?
Here is a quick comparison of the Freedom Flex card and the Discover it card:
| Chase Freedom Flex Card | Discover it Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Reward type | Cash-back | Cash-back |
| Cash-back rate | – 3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services – 3% on drugstore purchases – 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards® – 1% on all other purchases – 5% for select categories every quarter |
– 1% on all purchases – 5% for select categories every quarter |
| Cash-back bonus activation | Required quarterly — retroactive for all category purchases for the quarter | Required quarterly — purchases made prior to activation do not earn the bonus |
| Points expiration | Do not expire | Do not expire |
| Bonus cash-back maximum purchase amount | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Credit required | Good to excellent | Good to excellent |
| Annual fee | None | None |
| APR |
New Discover it card cardholders get a 100% cash-back match on first-year purchases with no minimum spending requirements and no limit to rewards.
A perk to carrying the Freedom Flex card is that it is a World Elite Mastercard with its own exclusive features, such as discounts at certain retailers, cell phone protection up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year — with a $50 deductible — if the card is used to pay the phone bill, and a complimentary ShopRunner membership.
Final Take
From January through March 2023, the Chase Freedom Flex card rewards users with 5% cash back on groceries, Target purchases and fitness clubs and gym memberships up to $1,500. Cardholders have until March 14 to activate bonus categories to get cash back on applicable purchases for the quarter.
Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
The information related to the Chase Freedom Flex card was collected by GOBankingRates and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card. Product details may vary. Please see the issuer’s website for current information. GOBankingRates does not receive commission for this product.
Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Jan. 24, 2023.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by Chase. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Chase.
