Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card Review

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Overview

Chase is well known for its nationwide banking network and popular credit cards such as the . You don’t have to bank with Chase to apply for the credit cards it issues. The Chase Freedom Flex credit card is one of two main offerings in the Freedom category, designed to earn cash back on your everyday purchases.

You’ll find that rewards credit cards often come with a long list of rules and restrictions that make earning rewards complicated. Chase makes it simple by offering flat cash-back rates of 3% or 5% for select categories and 1% for all other purchases made with the Freedom Flex credit card. 

In addition, there is no annual fee when you have a Chase Freedom Flex credit card, which is good news if you plan on using the cash back as a way to offset your card spending.

This Chase Freedom Flex review takes a deep dive into what the card has to offer so you can decide if it’s worthy of a spot on your credit history — and in your wallet.

Who Is the Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card Best For?

Simply put, the Chase Freedom Flex card is best if you enjoy finding the best deals and rewards. If you like couponing, cash-back sites, shopping on Rakuten and don’t mind investing a little time to keep updated on the latest rewards promotions, the Chase Freedom Flex card is for you. 

Besides the standard rewards categories, the Freedom Flex card puts out a quarterly calendar offering bonus earnings of 5% on select categories. Check your email or turn on notifications via the Chase app to stay on top of the following quarter’s rolling categories — you’ll need to activate them by a particular date to start earning more cash-back rewards and 5% earning will apply to the first $1,500 in total combined purchases each quarter.

If this all seems like too much work, you may prefer the , which doesn’t have rolling categories and offers 1.5% instead of 1% cash back on general purchases.

Features of the Chase Freedom Flex Card

Here’s more on the Freedom Flex card’s strengths:

Sign-Up Bonus

Most rewards cards offer lucrative sign-up bonuses to encourage browsers to apply. The Chase Flex credit card starts you off with a sign-up bonus of $200 once you meet the spend requirement of $500 or more within the first three months after approval.

Intro APR 

Another sign-up bonus the Chase Freedom Flex credit card offers is an introductory annual percentage rate of 0% for newly approved cardholders. You won’t pay interest on balance transfers or purchases for the first 15 months. After the intro period a rate applies. This could come in handy if you’d like to pay off a high-interest credit card debt or need to make a major purchase. You’ll have some breathing room to pay off the amount for over a year with no interest charges.

Keep in mind that you’ll save on interest, but there’s a fee for transferring a balance. It’s 3% or $5 (whichever is greater) for transfers made in the first 60 days or a fee of 5% or $5 for transfers made after the initial 60 days.

Earning Cash-Back Rewards

The Chase Freedom Flex credit card may not have the simplest rewards structure, but even beginners can catch on quickly. Besides the first-year bonus category of grocery purchases, travel (when booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal) will also earn 5% cash back. Drugstore buys, restaurant spending, takeout and select food deliveries all earn 3% cash back. All other purchases qualify for 1% cash back.

While the rewards aren’t groundbreaking, they don’t expire, nor do they come with spending caps — you can earn an unlimited amount of cash back on your spending.

And now to what makes the Freedom Flex different from the Freedom Unlimited card: the revolving categories. Chase issues a quarterly calendar of bonus categories that earn you 5% back instead of the standard 1%. The offer is for a limited time and isn’t publicized far in advance. Look out for an email offer for the quarter’s categories. Once you receive the notice, you’ll need to activate the category before you can start earning the bonus rewards rate.

Redeeming Points

You’ll notice that the rewards you earn are called points. For every 100 points you earn, you can redeem them for the equivalent of $1 in cash back. For example, a points balance of $500 is valued at $5 when it’s time to redeem your points.

There is no minimum required before you redeem points. If there’s only 20 points in your account, you may redeem them. In addition, your rewards don’t expire if you prefer to accrue a sizable balance first.

Good To Know

Points can be redeemed for cash, gift cards, and travel when booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards website. You can also pay for online shopping through participating retailers or by using the Amazon Shop With Points program. However, Amazon’s Shop With Points program devalues your points. You’ll only receive 80 cents per 100 points.

Other Chase Freedom Flex Perks

Besides the sign-up bonuses, no annual fee and revolving 5% rewards categories, there are other card perks available. You’re eligible for free credit monitoring and access to your credit score through Chase Credit Journey. Plus, travel and buyer protections such as extended warranty coverage, purchase protection for damaged or stolen items, trip cancellation insurance and coverage for auto rental collision damage are included for free.

Fees

As mentioned, the Chase Freedom Flex has no annual fee. There are other fees to be aware of, such as balance transfer fees of 3% to 5% and foreign transaction fees of 3%.

As for interest charges, the card’s APR is , depending on your creditworthiness. Plus, late fees can cost as much as $40. These fees tend to be high but can be avoided with a good budget and a responsible spending plan.

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Other Options

It’s hard to provide a one-size-fits-all guide to a particular credit card. Your credit card needs can be far different than someone else’s. To give you a better idea of what’s available, here’s a comparison of the Chase Freedom Flex and other Chase credit cards you might consider. 

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Chase Freedom Unlimited

Questions about the differences between Chase Freedom Unlimited and Flex are common. When comparing these two Freedom cards, the biggest difference lies in the amount of effort you want to put into earning cash back. 

If you don’t mind monitoring and activating bonus categories every quarter, the Chase Freedom Flex is the right option. However, if you’d like to keep it simple, Chase’s Freedom Unlimited pays 1.5x on all purchases that don’t fall into travel, dining or drugstore purchases — without having to do anything.

Otherwise, both cards offer the same introductory APR and point structure. It all depends on whether you can take advantage of the bonus rolling categories.

Chase Freedom Flex vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred

The Chase Freedom Flex is a cash-back credit card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a travel rewards credit card. Although they both overlap in some ways, such as earning points on spending and the ability to redeem points for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards website, the similarities end there.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card has an annual fee of compared to for the Freedom Flex. However, the Sapphire Preferred card’s sign-up bonus is far more lucrative. You’ll earn 80,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months, valued as $1,000 in travel when booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Final Take

If you’re ready to step up your points-earning game, the Chase Freedom Flex offers revolving quarterly categories that can help you on your mission. You’ll need to stay on top of the calendar and activate the offers to earn the points, but it isn’t too complicated to do so. 

Even if you’re not ready to add bonus categories or you find that the categories don’t work with your card spending, you can earn 5x points on travel booked through Ultimate Rewards, 3x on dining and drugstores and 1x on all other purchases. Depending on how much card spending you do, the points can add up to a sizable cash-back reward.

Information is accurate as of October 10, 2022.

Editorial Note: This content is not provided by Chase. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by Chase.

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