It is January 1st, 2025 now and it is time to break out the Chase Freedom Flex to earn 5x points on select categories. If you haven’t picked it up yet, it is one of the best no annual fee cards out there. If you haven’t done so already, activate the offer now.

Why This is Such a Great Card

The Chase Freedom Flex is an incredible no annual fee card which offers 5% cash back on rotating categories each quarter. Now, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Sapphire Reserve, or the Ink Business Preferred, you can earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points instead of cash back. I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents per point which increases your return from 5% to 8.5%.

You can earn 5 points per dollar on the first $1,500 spent across all categories each quarter for a total of 7,500 points. Maximizing each quarterly bonus means you can earn up to 30,000 points each year. That’s a crazy good deal especially considering this card has no annual fee.

Registration is open and the bonus goes into effect today, January 1st. If for whatever reason you forget, you have until March 14th to activate this. All you have to do is go to https://www.chasebonus.com/ enter in your last name, ZIP code, and the last 4 digits of your card. Its as simple as that.

What’s in Store for Q1 2025

This quarter should be pretty simple to max out your bonus points.

• Grocery Stores

  • Merchants in this category include supermarkets, merchants that offer a full-service grocery line of merchandise including a deli and bakery as well as smaller grocery stores. Some merchants that sell grocery items are not included in this category; for example, larger stores that sell a wide variety of goods and groceries, such as warehouse clubs, discount stores and some smaller merchants such as drugstores, and merchants that specialize in only a few grocery items. Purchases made at gas stations from merchants who also operate grocery stores are not included in this category. Delivery service merchants, such as Instacart, will be included if they classify as a grocery store merchant.

• Fitness Clubs and Gym Memberships

  • Merchants in this category include health clubs, exercise, or athletic facilities requiring membership and offering access to services related to physical fitness, such as fitness clubs, fitness centers, fitness studios, gyms, aerobics, cardio fitness and other services such as yoga and cross fit training in physical merchant locations. Merchants that specialize in offering virtual and other at-home fitness services, personalized or therapeutic services such as massage therapy, dietary and weight management counseling and personal training, are not included in this category. In addition, certain lodging, hotel, motel, resort and central reservation services offering access to third party facilities that include fitness clubs or gyms are not included in this category unless they classify as a fitness club or gym membership merchant. Purchases of fitness or athletic equipment or apparel, other sporting goods, dietary food, health food or similar supplements, will not qualify in this category.

• Hair, Nail, and Spa Services

  • This category includes hair care, nail care and spa services, such as massages, spa treatments, manicures, tanning, and barber and salon services, purchased at merchant locations that specialize in providing these services. These services are typically provided by licensed professionals, however, services provided by medical professionals or in medical facilities will not qualify. Purchases of hair care, nail care and spa services at merchants that classify their location in another category, for example spa services purchased in a hotel or airport, will not be included unless the merchant classifies the transactions in this category. Purchases of related products and services, for example hair and skincare products purchased at a salon or an overnight stay at a spa, will also not be included unless the merchant classifies the transactions in this category.

• Norweigian Cruise Lines

  • This category includes cruise fare purchased directly with Norwegian Cruise Line. Purchases through third party vendors or travel agencies, such as sightseeing activities, excursions, and tourist attractions, are not included.

Most people should be able to max out this offer at grocery stores pretty easily. If you don’t spend $1,500 a month on food at the grocery store, you can always pick up gift cards for various merchants which count towards the spending. This is something I usually do anyway for things like Amazon so that I can get 4x points with my American Express Gold.

Keep in mind that this card does impose a 2.7% foreign transaction fee so try to only use this in the US or its value proposition decreases by more than half.

Bonus March Category

In honor of the 15th anniversary of Chase Freedom’s 5% bonus they will also be offering an additional spending category one month in each of the four quarters. Q1’s surprise category will come in March where you can earn 5% on Insurance Payments and Tax Preparation Services. You still will only earn 5x points on the first $1,500 spent.

Wrapping Up

The Chase Freedom Flex is one of the best no annual fee cards out there. Earning 5x points on the first $1,500 spent at Grocery Stores, Fitness Clubs and Gym Memberships, Hair, Nail, and Spa Services, and Norwegian Cruise Lines is an easy way to rack up a ton of points. This is another great card in your arsenal to always earn more than 1 point per dollar on all purchases.

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