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It’s the middle of June and that means that we’re only a couple of weeks away from a new quarter which, in turn, means that the new bonus categories for the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card (review) and the legacy Chase Freedom credit card have now been published.
Chase Freedom/Freedom Flex® 3Q 2022 bonus categories
The registration website for the Chase Freedom quarterly bonus categories has now been updated and in the third quarter of 2022 the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card (review) and the legacy Chase Freedom credit card will offer 5% cashback (or 5 points/dollar) on up to $1,500 of spending in the following categories:
- Gas stations
- Car rental agencies
- Movie theatres
- Select live entertainment
Don’t forget that these quarterly bonus categories are in addition to the permanent bonus categories that the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card offers – Travel (booked through Chase), Drugstores & Dining) – so make sure you’re making the most of those as well.
Thoughts
There are a few points to make here but the key ones surround what will and what will not trigger the bonus in each category (you’ll find a full list of this quarter’s approved merchants here).
The gas station bonus category is mostly self-explanatory although it’s worth pointing out the good news that gas stations from Costco, BJ’s, Walmart, and Sam’s Club all make the list among the more usual candidates like Chevron, Shell, Texaco, etc…
When it comes to the car rental agencies, keep in mind that you have to book directly with a rental company (and not a 3rd party) if the bonus is to be triggered. Booking through portals like Expedia and Priceline is likely to see a cardholder only earn 1% cash back even if the end supplier is a rental agency approved by Chase.
The list of movie theaters/movie theatre chains that will trigger the 3Q bonus looks pretty comprehensive so I think that a cardholder would probably have to be visiting a pretty niche/boutique theatre for the change not to trigger the 3Q bonus.
As far as the live entertainment category goes, this is the exhaustive list that Chase has supplied:
To my eyes that seems to cover pretty much every major type of live entertainment that will matter to most people (although a few specialist live shows that some consider “entertainment” have not made the list ).
Overall, there’s quite a bit of good news here.
- For the first time in a long, long, time, Chase has published more than two bonus categories…and that’s great.
- The fact that the price of gas is going crazy and that gas stations often sell a lot more than just gas should make it relatively easy for anyone who wants to maximize their earnings to do just that.
- This quarter will cover the longest school vacations of the year so with kids needing to be kept entertained, having the live entertainment category and the movie theatre category as bonus categories for 3Q is going to be very useful for a lot of families.
I’ll now end this section with a brief word of caution: While having the opportunity to earn 5% cash back (or 5 UR points/dollar) on car rentals is very nice, keep in mind that the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card (review) only offers secondary cover when used to pay for car rentals. Anyone who also holds a card that offers primary rental car cover (like the card_name) should probably consider the merits of accepting fewer points from their car rental in exchange for considerably better cover.
Bottom Line
Chase has now revealed the Q3 bonus categories for its Freedom cards so we now know that between 1 July and 30 September 2022, holders of the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards will be able to earn 5% back (or 5 points/dollar) on spending made at Gas stations, car rental agencies, movie theatres, as well as on spending made with select live entertainment providers.
Anyone holding a Freedom Flex® credit card or a legacy Freedom Credit Card should now head over to the registration page and make sure that they’ve registered their card(s) so they’re ready for the moment the bonus categories go live.
