Card Review: Chase Freedom Flex Card

In late 2020, Chase revamped one of the customer favorites: the Chase Freedom Card. It was a great introductory card that featured 5% rotating categories and earned valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points, making a tier 2 card according to my credit card categorization. Even though it was originally advertised as a cashback card, UR points are transferable to various travel partners, and the fact that the card did not come with an annual fee made it incredibly popular. Now, the new card is called the Chase Freedom Flex Card, and Chase rebuilt the card with additional benefits, only to make it more competitive in the credit card market.

The Chase Freedom Flex Card is a great introductory card to the Chase ecosystem.

Multipliers & Sign-Up Bonus: Worth up to $400

Keeping the traditional 5% rotating categories from the original Freedom Card, the Freedom Flex Card earns 5% back on the first $1,500 spent on rotating categories, and they change every quarter. You would need to activate your card a few weeks before every quarter to take advantage of the 5% earning rate. Chase is Lyft’s travel partner, and cardmembers earn 5% on Lyft rides, though this is to end in March of 2022. Also, if you were to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, you can earn 5% back. Keep in mind that the prices on the travel portal, which is owned by Expedia, may not be the cheapest rates available.

If you’d like to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/PL5X261A75

For Q2 of 2021, cardmembers can earn 5X back on gas station and home improvement purcases. Photo credit: www.chase.com

The revamp added two 3% categories to the card: dining and drug stores. Being able to earn 3% back on dining expenses with a no-annual-fee card is hands down amazing. Compared to a dining-focused card like the AMEX Gold Card, which has an annual fee of $250 and earns 4X Membership Rewards (MR) points, the Freedom Flex earns 3X UR points. The Freedom Flex Card may earn 1% less, and the AMEX Gold Card comes with monthly dining benefits like Uber Cash, but the high price tag of premium cards for an additional 1% may not be worth it. Earning 3% on drugstore purchases can be helpful when you need to buy medicine or toiletries, but I assume many people won’t earn tons of UR points shopping at drugstores.

Earning 3X back on dining purchases with a no-annual-fee card makes the Freedom Flex Card very competitive.

The current sign-up bonus offers a $200 bonus after spending $500 in the first three months with the card. Since $1 equals 100 UR points, the $200 bonus would be translated to 20,000 UR points. Since I personally value each UR point at 2 cents per point, the 20,000 UR points would be worth up to $400.

Annual Fee & Benefits

The Chase Freedom Flex Card does not have an annual fee, which makes the card very competitive. The previous version of the card was a Visa Signature card, but with the update, the Freedom Flex Card is now a Mastercard and is equipped with World Elite benefits. The best benefit in my opinion is cell phone insurance. By paying your cellphone bill with the Freedom Flex Card, a cardholder can get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against theft or damage.

Pay your phone bill with the Freedom Flex Card and get your cell phone automatically insured!

Reinforcing the partnership with Lyft, a cardmember will receive $10 in credit for every five rides taken in a calendar month. The $10 credit will be automatically applied to the next ride and is capped at once per month. Also, if you like to shop online, the card comes with 5% cash rewards on Boxed purchases and a free ShopRunner membership, which allows you to receive two-day shipping and free return shipping at eligible retailers.

Get groceries delivered using Boxed!

With Chase’s partnership with DoorDash, cardmembers can get three complimentary months of DashPass (normally $9.99/month). If you don’t find it useful after the promotional period, you must cancel it. Otherwise, it will auto-renew. However, you can still get the remaining nine months for 50% off and pay $4.99 per month. Don’t forget to register for the complimentary DashPass access before December 31, 2021, if you wish to try it.

DashPass will save you money on delivery fees, which can be over $5 sometimes.

Lastly, the card comes with basic trip cancellation and interruption insurance and Fandango benefits, enabling cardholders to earn more points for movie tickets.

Redeeming UR Points

UR points can be redeemed towards a statement balance at one cent per point, but the true beauty of the card shines when UR points are transferred to Chase’s travel partners. Be aware you need a non-cashback Chase card, such as the Sapphire Reserve Card, the Sapphire Preferred Card, or the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card, to initiate the transfer. The transfer partners include 10 airlines (JetBlue, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Southwest, United, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Iberia, and Aer Lingus) and three hotel programs - Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott.

Transfer partners open doors to travel the world. Where will you go?

In general, transfer ratios are 1:1, but sometimes, there are transfer bonuses, allowing you to exchange more partner points and miles for fewer UR points. My favorite transfer partner is Hyatt, which is unique to Chase. For example, if you are planning on spending a night at the Grand Hyatt Vail in Vail Colorado, you can either pay 25,000 Hyatt points by transferring 25,000 UR points to your Hyatt account or pay $595.09 in cash.

This specific redemption yields a great rate of 2.38 cents per point. There are many more cases to prove how valuable UR points could be, but it’s important to evaluate your financial health and travel style to fully maximize the points.

Summary

The Chase Freedom Flex Card is a great no-annual-fee card that earns versatile UR points and offers rotating 5% categories as well as 3% dining and drugstore multipliers. It is equipped with many valuable benefits such as cell phone insurance thanks to its World Elite Mastercard perks. The sign-up bonus is $200 or 20,000 UR points with a low spending requirement of $500. If you hold non-cashback cards from Chase, you can further increase the value of your hard-earned UR points by transferring them to one of Chase’s 13 airline and hotel transfer partners. I strongly recommend the Freedom Flex Card if you are looking for a long-term keeper card that can earn you tons of UR points from everyday spending.

If you’d like to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/PL5X261A75