The Chase Freedom Flex® card is about to get a lot more useful (apparently)

Ever since it was launched, the Chase Freedom Flex® credit card has charged users a foreign transaction fee if they made the mistake of using their card outside of the US, so this has always been a card to use domestically and not when you’re traveling abroad. But is this about to change?

What’s being said

We now have quite a few reports which say that the Freedom Flex® card will stop charging cardholders a foreign transaction fee from 20 September.

The first I heard of this was when a reader kindly posted the information in the comments section of our review of this card (thanks Tim) and since then, I’ve seen this reported by DoC and Forbes.

Despite what some sites are suggesting, however, there has been no open-to-all announcement from Chase to confirm this and there’s no mention of the FX fee going away on the Chase Freedom Flex® card page. The source of this news appears to be a letter sent out to cardholders which says that the fee is going away.

I have no reason to disbelieve these reports, but I want to be clear about the fact that as I don’t hold this card (I hold the legacy Chase Freedom Card), I have no way of verifying this information independently.

So, with that said, let’s move on.

Thoughts

Assuming the reports are accurate, this is a genuinely useful change and a slightly surprising one to see come to a $0 annual fee Chase card.

Sure, there are Chase co-branded cards that come with a $0 annual fee and don’t charge foreign transaction fees (e.g. the IHG One Rewards Traveler credit card), but Chase’s own no annual fee cards all come with the sting of a fee if you use them abroad, so this is new.

So what would this mean?

Well, the first thing that I thought of is that we’ll now have a no annual fee card that will earn 3% back on dining all over the world without incurring fees.

Better yet, someone who has the Ink Business Preferred® card and the Flex card can earn 3 Ultimate Rewards points/dollar on dining abroad without having to pay an annual fee for any of the Sapphire cards or paying an FX fee.

Uniquely (I think), holders of the Flex card will also now be able to earn 3% back at drugstores abroad without incurring fees and, if they also hold one of the Sapphire cards or the Ink Business Preferred® card, they’ll be able to earn 3 Ultimate Rewards points/dollar at drugstores abroad without having to pay a fee.

What I think may be more interesting, however, is something to which we don’t yet have an answer: What does this mean for the quarterly rotating categories?

The Freedom Flex card earns 5% on up to $1,500 of spending each quarter in rotating bonus categories so with the foreign transaction fee removed, will these categories actually pay out abroad or will Chase add a clause which will restrict the quarterly bonus spending to to US locations/retailers only (like the clauses we often see alongside Amex Offers)?

Right now, for example, the 3Q bonus categories include gas stations and select live entertainment and there’s nothing in the terms which of the bonus categories to suggest that transactions outside of the US wouldn’t trigger the bonuses. The 3% FX fee that the card currently charges, however, makes it uneconomical to try this out.

But what if Chase didn’t put in any new restrictions?

Suddenly, we would have a no annual fee card which, every now and again, would earn 5% back (or 5 Ultimate Rewards Points) on up to $1,500 of domestic and foreign spending in some very useful categories.

I, for example, would be very happy if I was able to earn 3 points/dollar on gas station and live entertainment spending abroad. I’d be equally happy if I could earn 3 points/dollar at foreign department stores (department stores is often a bonus category in 4Q).

Also, given that they have appeared as quarterly bonus categories in the past, how great would it be to be able to earn 5 points/dollar (on up to $1,500 of combined spending, of course) at supermarkets, hotels, and restaurants outside of the US? I’d love that.

Somewhere around 15 September, Chase will let us know what the 4Q Freedom bonus categories will be and I’m going to be watching that announcement very closely to see if we get any new restrictions added.

If we don’t, the Freedom Flex® card will, for me, go from being a good card to hold to a  great card to hold.

A reminder of the negative news

While the removal of the foreign transaction fee on the Flex card would be very good news, we have already had some other news confirmed and that news is less good.

From 20 September 2026, the same date as the card is apparently losing its FX fee, Chase is removing the cell phone protection benefit from the Freedom Flex.

If you’ve been paying your phone bill with this card just for the cover it gives you, you’ll need to move that bill to another eligible card before the date rolls around.

Bottom line

If the reports are true (and they probably are), this is a credit card change that should please quite a few people.

No annual fee + no foreign transaction fee + and 3% back on dining and at drugstores outside of the US is a combination a lot of people will get real value from, whether they take the rewards as cash back or, paired with a Sapphire card or the Ink Business Preferred® card, as Ultimate Rewards points.

Sure, losing cell phone cover on the same day takes a little of the shine off the news, but for most miles and points fans I think this will be seen as a net positive .. but I’d really like Chase to come out and confirm this for those of us who don’t (yet) have the card.

For now, if you hold the Flex card, keep an eye out for the letter which, apparently, holds this news, and if you’ve already received it, let us know in the comments, because the more confirmation we see, the more confident I can be that this is really happening 😁