Chase Freedom Flex Review | Bankrate (2024)

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The Chase Freedom Flex℠ should be one of your top choices if you want a winning combination of bonus rewards and rotating cashback.

The Freedom Flex boasts no annual fee, solid cardholder perks, a terrific blend of everyday bonus categories, and one of the most flexible cash back rewards programs available. On their own, each of these benefits are impressive, but together they make this card one of the best cash back credit cards on the market.

However, quarterly categories may not be the best fit for you based on your spending habits. Learn more about how the Freedom Flex stacks up against other rewards credit cards and if it makes sense for you.

• Rewards

  • 5 percent cash back on activated bonus category purchases each quarter (up to $1,500 in purchases, then 1 percent) and Chase Travel℠ purchases
  • 5 percent cash back on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
  • 3 percent cash back on dining (including restaurants, takeout and eligible delivery services) and drugstore purchases
  • 1 percent cash back on all other purchases

  Expert Appraisal: Exceptional
  See our expert analysis

• Welcome offer

  • Earn a $200 cash bonus after spending $500 within your first three months

  Expert Appraisal: Exceptional
  See our expert analysis

• 0% APR offer

  • 0 percent intro APR on purchases for 15 months
  • 0 percent intro APR on balance transfers for 15 months
  • 20.49 percent to 29.24 percent variable ongoing APR

  Expert Appraisal: Typical
  See our expert analysis

• Rates and fees

  • Annual fee: None
  • Balance transfer fee: $5 or 3 percent of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater in the first 60 days; $5 or 5 percent after the intro period
  • Cash advance fee: $10 or 5 percent of each advance
  • Foreign transaction fee: 3 percent of each transaction
  • Late payment fee: Up to $40
  • Returned payment fee: Up to $40

  Expert Appraisal: Typical
  See our expert analysis

• Other cardholder perks

  • Zero Liability Protection
  • Purchase Protection
  • Extended Warranty Protection
  • Free Credit Score and Identity Restoration with Credit Journey
  • Fraud Monitoring
  • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver
  • Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance
  • Travel and Emergency Assistance Services
  • Cell Phone Protection

  Expert Appraisal: Good

The Chase Freedom Flex card is great if you’re new to cash back because it offers boosted rewards rates in several categories (in addition to its rotating categories) and has a relatively attainable welcome offer. Its generous intro APR may also appeal to cardholders needing to make large purchases or consolidate debt.

Rewards: Offers a wide variety of boosted and rotating categories

Even cardholders who prefer the ease of flat-ratecash back cards can appreciate the Freedom Flex. While most cash back cards earn rewards at either a flat rate on all purchases, or in specific or rotating bonus categories, the Freedom Flex offers the best of all worlds, with a boosted rewards rate year-round in select categories and quarterly in others, with a decent flat-rate on all purchases.

The card’s backbone is its rotating 5 percent cash back on up to $1,500 in each quarter’s activated bonus category spending (then 1 percent back). Chase’s bonus categories are announced quarterly and usually feature everyday or seasonal expenses. For the first quarter of 2024, you’ll earn boosted rates at restaurants, hotels, and on purchases with Amazon and Whole Foods.

While the card’s 5 percent cash back categories rotate quarterly, you can earn in other popular categories year-round. For instance, cardholders can earn an unlimited 5 percent cash back on Chase Travel℠ purchases and 3 percent back on drugstore and restaurant purchases, including takeout and eligible delivery services.

Other rotating category cards, like the Discover it® Cash Back, offer similar bonus categories, but the Freedom Flex sets itself apart with the additional year-round rewards categories it shares with the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

Welcome offer: Best return for your spending available

The Chase Freedom Flex’s current welcome offer clocks in at $200 after you spend $500 in your first three months of card ownership. This bonus offers one of the best returns on spend for a card with no annual fee. For instance, a handful of competitors require you to spend anywhere from $1,000 to $2,000 to earn a comparable bonus.

A $200 cash back return for spending $500 in your first three months is ideal if you’re a low-spender. You'll earn 40 percent back if you meet the spending requirement on top of any cash back rewards you earn while earning the bonus.

Intro APR: Standard intro offer with potentially low ongoing APR

Although this card’s introductory APR isn’t the most outstanding offer available to new cardholders, it gives the Freedom Flex a competitive edge compared to other cash back cards. You may also qualify for a relatively low regular APR when you open your card, helping you keep interest charges low after the intro period.

Bankrate’s take:Interest rates have climbed high due to rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, and there are possibly more rate increases to come. It may be a good idea to secure a card with an intro offer and low ongoing APR sooner rather than later.

Cardholders can find a lot to love with the Chase Freedom Flex, but they may also find the card’s activated rotating categories high maintenance, especially with the quarterly spending cap. You also might face a lot of fees if you happen to miss a payment.

Categories: Rotating categories may be hard to maximize

Quarterly rotating category cards can be limiting if you want to earn rewards on everyday purchases year-round. You may struggle to find outstanding value with the Chase Freedom Flex if you spend primarily in categories outside drugstores and dining purchases. Although 5 percent back is a great rewards rate, you’ll need to lean into the rotating categories every quarter or consistently make Chase Travel℠ purchases, otherwise you may be leaving a lot of rewards on the table.

For a simpler way to maximize your earnings, consider a rewards card with consistently boosted rates in your top spending categories. If you’re unsure what your top categories are, track your expenses for a month or two to see where you spend most of your money. Once you have a better understanding of your spending, you can determine if a tiered rewards card or a flat-rate card is a better fit for you.

Rates and Fees: No breaks for first-time mishaps

Although the Chase Freedom Flex doesn’t charge an annual fee, it charges for almost everything else, unlike other issuers. The Discover it® Cash Back, for instance, charges up to $41 for late payments and returned payments, but it won’t charge you for your first late payment. If you’re a first-time cardholder or still relatively new to credit, you may need more time to develop positive credit card habits. If this is the case, a more forgiving card could be better for you.

Spending caps: Limits your earnings at the card’s best rewards rate

If you plan to maximize Chase’s rotating categories, you might be disappointed with its $1,500 spending cap for earning 5 percent back (1 percent for all spending afterthis). Some categories may be easy to maximize, while others may prove more difficult, making it difficult to create a rewards strategy based on your typical spending.

The card’s ongoing rewards in reliable categories can help compensate for this inconsistency. But if you are a rewards strategist, you’ll want to strategically spend in the rotating categories and pair multiple rewards cards together to maximize the earning potential of the Freedom Flex.

Bankrate credit cards writer Ryan Flanigan uses the Chase Freedom Flex as one of his go-to cards.

This new version of the former Freedom card is amazing. It took all the best parts — like the rotating bonus categories — and added more useful 3 percent categories. The intro offer also gave a year of bonuses for grocery and gas spending, meaning this was the only card I used for a long time. I max out the rotating bonus category every quarter to generate 30,000 points annually, which I can use in a variety of ways. The point return for no annual fee card makes this a no-brainer and a go-to for many situations for me. If you want a one-and-done card, look no further.

— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards

Bankrate’s take:Consider pairing the Chase Freedom Flex with the Chase Freedom Unlimited and the Sapphire Reserve. This combo creates the powerful “Chase Trifecta,” which offers a better category scope, redemption options and rewards value potential than competing stacks.

The Chase Freedom Flex card is at the top of the cash back game. Its familiar rotating categories are great if you’re a reward maximizer who enjoys shopping around for the most value, while year-round earning categories ensure you can always find ways to earn significant cash back.

However, this card — and other rotating category cards — are limited by a lack of flexibility that can make maximizing cash back difficult. If you want to choose your categories, or at least reliably predict them for the whole year, you might be more comfortable with a different cash back card.

The information about the Chase Freedom Flex℠ has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the card issuer.

We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.

Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).

We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:

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