How to Maximize Chase Freedom 5x Categories Q2 2025


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The Chase Freedom Flex Credit Cardย and the old discontinued Chase Freedom Credit Card offer a 5% bonus of up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter. As a result, you will earn 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points if you can max out this offer. I value Chase points at 1.6 cents per point when combined with Chaseโ€™s flexible points-earning credit card, so 7,500 points are worth about $120. However, if you want simple cash back, 7,500 Chase points equal $75.ย 

How to Maximize Chase Freedom 5% Bonus Categories
Photo Credit: Chase

Can You Have Two Freedom Cards and Earn a 5% Bonus Twice Per Quarter?

Chase Bank does not allow you to have two Freedom Flex credit cards with new applications simultaneously. However, you can have multiple Freedom Flex cards if you can product change from another Chase credit card. For example, suppose you already have a Freedom Flex credit card. In that case, you can downgrade yourย Chase Sapphire Preferred Credit Cardย to a Freedom Flex credit card, allowing you to have two Freedom Flex credit cards and earn 5% in bonus categories on each card.ย 

Furthermore, if you have the old Chase Freedom (not available for new applicants) andย the Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card, you can have both cards at once and earn 5% in bonus categories on each credit card. Therefore, this will increase the maximum amount of Ultimate Rewards points you can earn by 5% to a total ofย $3,000ย per quarter ($1,500 max per card). You must activate the 5% bonus offer on both credit cards below.ย 

Chase Freedom 5% Bonus Categories Calendar 2025

Below is the Chase Freedom 5% categories and calendar for Q2 2025:

  • Valid from April 1 through June 30, 2025.
  • 5% Bonus Categories for this quarter are:
    • Grocery Stores (excluding Walmart and Target)
    • Norwegian Cruise Line
    • Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships
    • Hair, Nails, & Spa Services
    • Tax Preparation & Insurance (Bonus birthday category for March only)
  • You must activate the offer by June 14, 2025.
  • Direct Link to Chase Freedom 5% Calendar & Activation Link

How to Activate Chase Freedom 5% on the Chase Website

  • Go to the official Chase Bonus website.
  • Provide your Chase Freedom card information.
  • Click the green Activate your 5% button.

How to Activate Chase Freedom 5% on the Chase Mobile App

  • Launch the Chase mobile app and log in to your account.ย 
  • Then, tap on an eligible Chase Freedom credit card.ย 
  • Scroll down until you see the 5% cashback section.ย 
  • Tap onย See details & activate.
  • Finally, tap onย the Activateย button to activate the 5% bonus category, and thatโ€™s it!

How to Maximize Chase Freedom 5% Bonus Categories For Q2 2025

You should do organic spending as much as possible. You have three (3) months to take advantage of this 5% bonus category offer, so thereโ€™s no need to rush things.ย 

Amazon

  • Amazon is a famous online shopping center, and any purchases viaย Amazon.comย are eligible for this category.ย 
  • Amazon.comย carries many products, from digital downloads to items sold through the Amazon marketplace, and services such asย Amazon Primeย subscriptions are all included in this category.ย 
  • For those of us who enjoy buying gift cards, you can find a lot ofย gift cards on Amazon. You can reload your Amazon gift card balance and purchase Amazon gift cards or other gift cards to places like Best Buy, Texas Roadhouse, Starbucks, Bath & Body Works, Uber, DoorDash, Hotels.com, Southwest, Visa, etc. These purchases are all eligible for the Amazon category.
  • A word of caution about purchases fromย Amazonโ€™s Whole Foods Market: Data points show that those purchases are excluded from Chaseโ€™s Amazon category.ย 
  • Chase Freedom cards earnย Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR)ย points that you can redeem to shop with Amazon. Hereโ€™s how you do this:
    • If you have not linked your Chase Freedom card with Amazon to use the Shop With Points feature, you canย link and enroll your card here.ย 
    • Look for Amazon Shop With Points promotions available for Chase Ultimate Rewards points and enroll in the offer.ย Amazon Shop With Points Promotions and Offers
    • Once your Amazon account enrolls in a particular Shop With Points promotion, you can use just 1 Chase point to pay for some parts of your Amazon purchases and have the remaining balance charged to your Freedom card. It will allow you to stack theย Amazon Shop With Pointsย discounts and earn a 5% bonus on any remaining balance at the same time.ย 

Select Streaming Services

  • Only subscription services paid for with the following select merchants will qualify for this offer:
    • Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube TV.
  • If you are paying month to month for subscription services mentioned above, you can switch your payment method to have it charged to your Chase Freedom card instead.
  • If thereโ€™s a streaming service that you have been wanting to get to watch your favorite TV shows, sports, or movies, you should consider using your Chase Freedom to pay for the subscription plan and earn a 5% cashback bonus. Plus, you can also sign up for one of those selected streaming services through a cashback portal such as Ebates/Rakuten and earn more cashback in addition to the Chase 5%. Here are Ebates/Rakuten cashback samples for selected streaming services:
    • Disney+ annual subscription โ€“ $12.50 cash back
    • Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ Bundle โ€“ $8 cash back
    • Hulu โ€“ $1 cash back
    • ESPN+ โ€“ Up to $10 cash back
    • Sling โ€“ Up to $15 cash back
    • Apple Music โ€“ $4 cash back
    • SiriusXM โ€“ Up to $5 cash back
    • Pandora โ€“ $7.50 cash back
  • For example, you want to sign up for the Disney+ streaming service. If you do not have an Ebates/Rakuten account, you can join for free. If you join and spend $, you will receive an additional $ bonus plus the 5% bonus from Chase. Hereโ€™s how you would do it:
    • Activate your Chase Freedom 5% bonus categories first. Click here to activate.
    • Go to Ebates/Rakuten portal site.
    • Sign in with your account. If you do not have an account, you can join for free. Plus, after you join and spend $, you will get an additional $ bonus from Rakuten.
    • Search for the Streaming Service you want to sign up for. **Do not go to the streaming service website directly if you want cashback from Rakuten.
    • Click Shop Now.

How to Track Your Chase Freedom 5% Bonus Spending

  • Sign in to yourย Chase account online.ย 
  • After that, click on your Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Flex credit card.
  • You should now see 5% cashback towards the top.
  • Click on Details, and you will see your spending progress bar there.ย See the following picture.

How to verify if a purchase qualifies for the Chase Freedom 5% bonus category?

Chase makes it really simple to find out how many reward points you earn from a purchase once the transaction successfully posts to your account, without having to wait until your credit cardโ€™s statement is closed:

  • Viaย Chase onlineย or the Chase app, log in and click on your Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Flex credit card.ย 
  • Then, click on the purchase or transaction in question.ย 
  • Scroll down until you see theย Total pointsย underย Rewards earned with this transaction.ย 

Chase Freedom 5% Categories Current and Past Bonus History

The table below shows the Chase Freedom categories history for the 5% bonus offer for your reference:

Yearly QuartersCategories
Q2 2025Amazon.com
Select Streaming Services
Q1 2025Tax Preparation & Insurance (Bonus Birthday Category for March Only)
Grocery Stores (excluding Walmart & Target)
Norwegian Cruise Line
Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships
Hair, Nails, & Spa Services
Q2 2024Amazon.com
Hotels
Restaurants
Q1 2024Grocery Stores (excluding Walmart & Target)
Fitness Clubs & Gym Memberships
Self-Care & Spa Services
Q4 2023PayPal
Wholesale clubs
Select charities
Q3 2023Gas stations and electric vehicle charging
Select live entertainment
Q2 2023Amazon.com
Loweโ€™s
Q1 2023Target
Grocery stores
Fitness clubs and gym memberships

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