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The second quarter of 2019 is now over which means that we have a new set of Chase Freedom bonus categories live as of today. These new bonus categories offer Chase Freedom credit card holders the chance to earn 5% cash back through 30 September 2019.
I’m going to cut right to the chase here (no pun intended) – the new 3Q Chase Freedom bonus categories are poor. Actually, poor doesn’t really capture exactly how disappointing these bonus categories are. For a lot of people they’re dire.
In 1Q the Chase Freedom card offered 5% cashback (or 5 Ultimate Rewards Points/dollar if cardholders also have a Sapphire branded Chase card) on the first $1,500 spent at gas stations, at drugstores, and on tolls.
In 2Q Chase tempted Freedom cardholders with bonuses at grocery stores and home improvement stores.
Now, for 3Q 2019, the Chase Freedom card is offering 5% cashback (or 5 Ultimate Rewards Points/dollar) for spending at gas stations (again!) and on ‘select streaming services’.
Registration (by 14 September 2019) is required if you’re to make the most of these bonuses…but I don’t imagine anyone is getting overly excited about them.
The cash back/points can be earned between 1 July and 30 September 2019 but I doubt many people will be maxing out the $1,500 of spending which attracts the cash back without the help of a few gift card purchases here and there.
As with most promotions, there are a few things you need to be careful about.
The following will not trigger a ‘gas station’ bonus:
- Airline Fuel Companies
- Car Repair Shops
- Convenience Stores where gas is not sold
- Grocery Stores
- Dairies / Farm Stores
- Home Heating Companies
- Oil and Propane Distributors
- Marinas Superstores
- Warehouse stores
- Discount stores
- Truck Stops
And only the following streaming services are valid for the ‘streaming service’ bonus:
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Sling
- Vudu
- Fubo TV
- Apple Music
- SiriusXM
- Pandora
- Spotify
Note that Amazon is not included.
Think You Can’t Max This Out?
If you’re struggling to spend $1,500 in the two categories on offer this quarter (and I suspect that’s exactly what a lot of people are thinking) consider bringing forward some spending.
Most gas stations will sell you gift cards to various eateries, shops and stores and, as long as these are establishments you would normally frequent, the gift cards can be used to increase your Freedom Card spending during this quarter without having you make any spend that you would not otherwise have made.
Bottom Line
Overall this a poor offering from Chase this quarter and we can only hope for much better things for 4Q.
Once again we only have two bonus categories to work with and, just like last quarter, one of the bonus categories is very niche. Worse still, the niche category isn’t one in which it will be easy to rack up enough spend to maximize the bonus earning son offer this quarter.
Bring on the gift card spending!
How will these bonus categories work for you and what do you think of them?
Click here to visit the Chase Freedom Quarterly Activation Page
[…] this promotion comes at a time when the Chase Freedom 5% bonus categories are looking somewhat woeful so it’s nice to have an alternative promotion in which to rack up some […]