Credit Card News
Chase Reveals Q2 2024 Freedom 5%(+) Bonus Categories
Chase has announced its bonus category picks for the second quarter of 2024 — including some interesting twists.
About the categories:
As April approaches, Chase has revealed what categories Freedom and Freedom Flex cardholders can earn bonuses on. From April 1st through June 30th, customers can earn 5% (or more) in three categories: Amazon.com, Hotels, and Restaurants. Similar to how Chase embraced a “New Year, New Me” theme last quarter, the bank notes that graduations, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Pet’s Day are taking place during Q2 and invites cardholders to celebrate by earning bonuses.
Starting with the first bonus categories, cardholders can earn up to 5% back on purchases from Amazon.com during the quarter. Purchases at Whole Foods Market will also qualify for this category.
Skipping ahead to the Restaurants category, this will include sit-down or eat-in dining, including fast food restaurants as well as fine dining establishments. However, locations that happen to sell food or beverages such as sports venues, theme parks, and others will not qualify.
This is also where Chase is taking things to a new level. For those with the Freedom card (which is no longer available to new applicants), they’ll be able to earn 5% back on purchases in the category. However, since the Freedom Flex already earns 3% back on dining, those cardholders will be able to earn 7% back next quarter. That’s a 1% plus 2% for the category bonus and an additional 4% for the quarterly bonus.
Finally, during Q2, cardholders will be able to earn 5% back at Hotels. Specifically, hotels, motels, bed & breakfasts, and inns will qualify. However, they must be booked directly with the hotel in order to qualify for the bonus — with the exception of booking with Chase Travel.
Speaking of Chase Travel, with the Freedom Flex offering 5% back on travel purchased made using the site, cardholders who book hotels with Chase Travel in Q2 will earn a total of 9% back (1% base, 4% category bonus, and 4% quarterly bonus).
As always, cardholders will need to activate this quarterly bonus by going to ChaseBonus.com. The bonus is also capped at $1,500 in combined category spending. This means that, at most, cardholders can earn $75 back from this offer (not including the Flex’s stacking possibilities with dining and Chase travel).
My thoughts:
At first glance, these selections seemed pretty straightforward — although I thought it was odd that they’d choose categories that were already featured as part of the Freedom Flex in one form or another. I honestly didn’t think that Chase would make these categories extra lucrative, allowing cardholders to earn up to 9% back in some cases. To me, that makes this upcoming quarter’s bonus picks an absolute win. In fact, for the first time since I started comparing them, I think Chase easily bests Discover’s bonus categories.
Anyway, if you’re a Chase Freedom or Freedom Flex customer, be sure to activate this quarterly bonus by June 15th.
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