Pros
- No annual fee
- $200 initial bonus
- Ongoing rewards of 1 - 5% cash back
- 0% for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers
Cons
- Doesn't really offer cash back
- Rotating bonus rewards categories
- Earning limit in bonus categories
- 3% foreign transaction fee
Chase Freedom Flex℠
Transfer Fee: Either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater in the first 60 days (5%, min $5 after)
- Plus, earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
- 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
- 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, the premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more
- 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
Rewards Details
- Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
- Plus, earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
- 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
- 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, the premier rewards program that lets you redeem rewards for cash back, travel, gift cards and more
- 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open!
Additional Info
- 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% - 29.24%.
- No annual fee - You won't have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Flex℠ card
- Keep tabs on your credit health - Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, real-time alerts, and more.
- More Details & Reviews About Chase Freedom Flex℠
Is Chase Freedom Flex Worth It?
Chase Freedom Flex℠ is worth it for people who spend a lot on travel, dining and drugstore purchases, as well as those who enjoy having a high cash back rate in bonus categories that rotate every quarter. The card’s rewards can easily save the average person more than $1,000 over the first two years, according to WalletHub’s calculations.
Chase Freedom Flex gives 1 - 5% cash back on purchases, along with an initial bonus of $200. Chase Freedom Flex isn’t completely rewards-focused, though. It also offers low introductory APRs. To top it off, there’s a $0 annual fee. Chase Freedom Flex is only available to people with good credit or better.
What You Need to Do to Make Chase Freedom Flex Worthwhile
Since Chase Freedom Flex has a $0 annual fee, any spending on the card saves you money and makes using it worthwhile, as long as you pay your balance in full each month and don’t accrue interest. The exception is during the card’s introductory APR period of 0% for 15 months. You can carry a balance without owing interest during this period as long as you make your minimum monthly payments on time.
In order to maximize the value of the card, you should ideally spend at least $500 in the first 3 months after opening an account in order to earn the card’s 200 initial bonus. That should be easy to do by just charging essential purchases to the card.
Below, you can find more information to help you decide whether or not it’s worth applying for Chase Freedom Flex.
Chase Freedom Flex Review Highlights
$200 Initial Bonus
At $500 over the first 3 months, the amount one needs to spend to qualify for the Freedom Flex sign-up bonus makes it far more accessible than many of the market's best credit card deals. As a result, this is a steal for light-spenders.
Several 5% Cash Back Offers
Freedom Flex currently offers 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Up to $1,500 spent per quarter in rotating bonus categories from the Chase Freedom Flex bonus calendar also earn 5% cash back, when activated. Plus, for a limited time, you can earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
3% Back at Restaurants and Drugstores
Chase Freedom Flex bonus rewards extend beyond limited-time offers with this 3% earning rate, which also applies to pickup and delivery orders.
No Annual Fee
The absence of an annual fee is perhaps the Freedom Flex card’s biggest draw, enabling it to serve as an affordable alternative to the highest yielding offers on the market. The absence of fixed costs also helps the offer’s rewards structure avoid too much scrutiny. Expectations tend to be a lot lower and people more forgiving when perks aren’t being paid for directly.
Booking Flexibility
The fact that Freedom Flex is ostensibly a cash back credit card would seem to indicate that you should redeem for a simple statement credit or check. And while you can certainly do so, the fact that you won’t sacrifice value when redeeming for things like Amazon.com purchases and gift cards differentiates the offer from many other rewards cards. Points tend to be slightly less valuable when redeemed for travel, however, according to WalletHub’s Chase Ultimate Rewards Program Review.
0% APRs for a Long Intro Period
Freedom Flex offers an introductory purchase APR of 0% for the first 15 months. Combined with the ability to earn rewards on purchases, this interest-free term provides powerful money-saving potential to new applicants with big-ticket expenses in their future.
The one thing you have to be careful about in this regard is to not spend more than you can afford to repay by the conclusion of the intro term. Revolving a balance beyond this point would trigger finance charges that would quickly negate your savings.
Plus, the card also offers an intro APR of 0% for 15 months on balance transfers. That gives you some time to pay off credit card debt without it getting more and more expensive along the way.
Chase Freedom Flex Review Lowlights
Rotating Bonus Categories
Each quarter, you need to sign up for new bonus categories in order to earn one of Freedom Flex’s 5% cash back rates. You could possibly make this pay off if you’re diligent and strategic, but few people want that kind of burden from their rewards credit card. Besides, you only even have the potential to rake in $25 per month and $300 per year via the Flex card’s quarterly 5% earning rate.
Balance Transfer Fee
Currently, Freedom Flex comes with an introductory balance transfer fee of 3% (min $5) for transfers completed in the first 60 days after opening an account (5% after that). So if you want to reduce the cost of an existing balance and get out of debt faster, make sure to crunch the numbers before pulling the trigger.
3% Foreign Transaction Fee
It’s kind of ironic. The card is called Freedom Flex, but users are far less free to travel internationally than people packing no foreign transaction fee credit cards, which are rapidly growing in number.
While consumers are incentivized to use credit cards instead of cash when traveling abroad by much lower currency-conversion costs and better theft protection, the roughly 90% of cards that charge a 2% to 4% international surcharge complicate the decision. If you regularly travel internationally or pay international merchants, you may want to consider a more fee-friendly offer.
Other Things to Consider About Chase Freedom Flex
Cardholders Earn Reward Points, Not Direct Cash Back
Freedom Flex is fully marketed as a “cash back” credit card. The problem with that is it’s not. Freedom cardholders actually earn points that can be redeemed for cash at a rate of 1 cent per 1 point. So, at the end of the day, you will get cash back. But Chase could always move the goalposts and effectively devalue the points you hold in your account. An issuer can’t do that when earnings are expressed in terms of dollars and cents from the start.
Helpful Secondary Benefits
Chase Freedom Flex benefits include rental car insurance, trip cancellation/interruption insurance, extended warranty protection and more.
Chase Freedom Flex vs. The Competition
Chase Freedom Flex℠ Review Methodology
This Chase Freedom Flex℠ review is based on WalletHub’s proprietary 100-point credit card rating system. By using a consistent methodology to evaluate the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and all other cards, WalletHub’s credit card experts make it easy for people to compare their options and find the best credit cards for their needs.
The WalletHub rating system uses 16 key metrics grouped into seven categories: Fees, Rewards, Two-year Cost, Interest Rates, Approval Requirements, Special Features, and Reviews. Each metric has a maximum number of points allocated to it, based on the metric’s importance as determined by our editors. The points are added up to create an overall rating for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ out of a maximum of 100 points, which is then converted to a 5-point scale.
Ratings for each category reflect how close Chase Freedom Flex is to WalletHub’s definition of a 5-star credit card, which is based on market conditions and what we believe are reasonable terms. We compare Chase Freedom Flex to that standard to give a numerical approximation of how reasonable and competitive its terms are compared to other cards.
To learn more about how WalletHub rates credit card offers, check out our full credit card review methodology.
Expert Thoughts on Chase Freedom Flex
To help people learn more about The Chase Freedom Flex, WalletHub's editors posed the following questions to a panel of experts. You can meet our panelists and read their responses below.
1.What type of person should consider a credit card with rotating quarterly categories?
2.Is it generally better to have one credit card with rewards and 0% introductory APRs, or a rewards card and a 0% card?
3.Why aren’t there as many advertisements for the Chase Freedom Flex as there are for many other popular credit card offers?
WalletHub experts are widely quoted. Contact our media team to schedule an interview.