Today is the first day of a new quarter and a new set of 5 percent categories for the Chase Freedom card (one of my favorite credit cards).

Although the Chase Freedom is technically a cash back card, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred or Ink Plus card you can transfer points from your Freedom account into one of those accounts and then can transfer those points to various travel partners.

This quarter (April 1, 2018 – June 30, 2018), the Chase Freedom 5% categories are Grocery stores (not including Walmart and Target), PayPal and purchases made using your Freedom card with your Chase Pay digital wallet during check out.

Chase provides some clarification on what is included or excluded in each category.
•   Grocery Stores: Does not include purchases made at Walmart^® or Target^®, discount, or warehouse club stores, except for purchases made with these merchants using Chase Pay or PayPal (a 5% category).
•   PayPal: Includes transactions made using your Chase Freedom card with PayPal for purchases or sending money. Eligible transactions only qualify for a total of 5% Cash Back rewards. Purchases made using PayPal at other current 5% quarterly categories will be awarded a total of 5% Cash Back rewards on up to $1,500 in combined purchases.
•  Chase Pay: Includes purchases made using your Freedom card with your Chase Pay mobile wallet during checkout. Eligible purchases only qualify for a total of 5% Cash Back rewards. Purchases made using Chase Pay at other current 5% quarterly categories will be awarded a total of 5% Cash Back rewards on up to $1,500 in combined purchases.

The 5% only applies to the first $1,500 spent on combined purchases each quarter. This means if you spend $1,500 on a combination of grocery stores (not including Walmart and Target), PayPal and Chase Pay this quarter you will receive a total of 7,500 points (1,500 plus a bonus of 6,000 points).

Don’t Forget to Activate

Please note, that in order to earn the 5% you must activate the offer each quarter (by text, email or other methods). If you have a Chase Freedom and have signed up for email reminders you should have already received an email asking you to activate this quarter’s categories. If you have not yet activated the 5% for this quarter, you can register now or any time during the registration period and earn the full 5% for the entire quarter retroactively. Registration for this current quarter ends on June 14, 2018.

How to Maximize the 5% Bonus

This is a pretty easy quarter to maximize the bonus.  If you were not planning on spending a total of $1,500 on your Chase Freedom on grocery stores (not including Walmart and Target), PayPal and Chase Pay services this quarter, you can maximize the bonus by using Chase Pay to earn 5% on everything.

Overview of the Chase Freedom Credit Card

For anyone not familiar with this card, the Chase Freedom credit card is a great no annual fee card that earns you points that can be indirectly transferred to frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs. Chase Freedom is technically a cash back card only and points earned using the Chase Freedom cannot be directly transferred to airlines and hotel programs. However, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Ink Business Preferred or Ink Plus card you can transfer or combine your points from your Chase Freedom account to one of those cards and then from there to the various Ultimate Rewards travel partners. See related post How To Combine or Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Between Accounts.

While the Chase Freedom® normally offers 1% cash back on all purchases, every quarter there are certain bonus categories for which you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in bonus categories each quarter. This means if you spend the full $1,500 each quarter in those 5 percent categories you can earn a total of 30,000 points a year (6,000 points + extra 24,000 bonus points).

The 5 cash back categories vary each year. You have to register each quarter for the bonus and then you can earn the 5% on up to $1,500 on purchases for that quarter.

If you already have the Chase Freedom you are currently able to earn a referral bonus for referring the Chase Freedom to friends/family using Chase refer-a-friend.

If you do not have the Chase Freedom, this would be a great time to apply since the sign up bonus is higher than normal. (Warning: If you are thinking of applying for the Chase Freedom, please note Chase will deny applicants for the Chase Freedom if they are subject to the Chase 5/24 rule for credit card approvals but you might be able to bypass 5/24 if you have a selected for you offer on chase.com. See this post for more information about the 5/24 rule.)

Please note we do not have credit card affiliate links but if you apply through our referral link we will earn a referral bonus if you apply and are approved.