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With just over two weeks left in the third quarter of 2025, Chase has revealed the 4Q 2025 category spending bonuses for the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card and the legacy Chase Freedom credit card (no longer open to new applicants). Registration for the new bonus categories is now open.
Chase Freedom Flex® credit card 4Q 2025 bonus categories
The registration website for the quarterly bonus categories has now been updated and in the fourth quarter of 2025 the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card and the legacy Chase Freedom credit card will offer 5% cashback (or 5 points/dollar) on up to $1,500 of combined spending in the following categories:
- Old Navy
- Chase Travel
- Department stores
- PayPal (December only)
These bonus categories are in addition to the permanent bonus categories that the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card offers, and that’s why something here seems a little odd – the Freedom Flex card already earns 5% back on travel booked through Chase as part of its standard benefits package, so why is Chase Travel suddenly a quarterly bonus category?
Yes, these bonus categories also apply to the legacy Freedom Card which doesn’t usually earn 5% on purchases made through Chase Travel, but that’s a card that Chase doesn’t issue anymore, so it seems strange that the bank would come up with a bonus category just for that card.
Another oddity here is the inclusion of Old Navy as a standalone bonus category as that seems very niche.
Is this a continuation of Chase somehow persuading select merchants to pay to appear as their own bonus category (like seems to have happened in 4Q 2024 when McDonalds appeared as a standalone category)?
On a more positive note, it’s good to see the department stores category return this holiday season (it was missing in 4Q 2024) and this should help quite a few cardholders with their quest to maximise the cash back on offer.
The last thing that seems worth a comment is that PayPal is making a reappearance as a 4Q bonus category, but only for December.
Chase is calling this a “December birthday bonus category” (presumably referencing the fact that today is the 5th anniversary of the release of the Freedom Flex card?) and it’s just as well that this is being included because without this “bonus”, most holders of the Freedom Flex card would probably only really have one useful bonus category this quarter – department stores.
Overall, the department stores category and the PayPal categories should make it relatively straightforward for cardholders to max out the cash back being offered this quarter, but this isn’t exactly an inspired set of categories that Chase has come up with and, sadly, this seems to be the new norm.
Bottom Line
Chase has confirmed that the 4Q 2025 bonus categories for the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card and the legacy Chase Freedom credit card will be Old Navy, Chase Travel, department stores and for December only, PayPal.
Registration will remain open through 14 December (here) and bonus points will be earned for spending between 1 October and 31 December 2025 (1 December – 31 December 2025 in the case of PayPal).
What do you think of the 4Q 2025 bonus categories for the Freedom Cards?
