Chase Freedom Flex: 10% Back On Grocery For First Year ($1,200 Bonus On $12k Spend)

The Offer

Direct link to offer (try incognito to find this offer; check the offer details well to ensure the offer you see if the one you want to signup for)

Chase is offering a special signup bonus on the Chase Freedom Flex card:

• Earn 10% cash back on grocery store purchases (excluding Target and Walmart) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.

The card also offers 0% APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months.

 

Card Details

• No annual fee
• Card earns the following points rates:
  • 5% on rotating Quarterly Categories on up to $1,500 in total purchases (e.g. Q4 2020 will be PayPal and Walmart)
  • 5% on Travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • 3% on Dining 
  • 3% on Drugstore 
  • 5% on Lyft through March 2022
  • 1% unlimited cash back 

Our Verdict

We’ve seen a somewhat similar offer for $200 + 5% on groceries. Maxed out, this 10% offer would be better. We’ve also seen Grocery as a semi-frequent 5% quarterly category; it’s likely to come back during the coming year and would stack nicely for 14% back on up to $1,500 spent. It’s possible there will even be two quarters with the 14% earn, $1,500 on each.

Ultimately some people will prefer the old $200 bonus while others will easily maximize this 10x offer and prefer this $1,200/120,000 points back. That’s a $1,080 bonus (108,000 Ultimate Rewards) after discounting the regular 1% earn.

Keep in mind while these cards talk about cash back you actually earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. This means if you have an annual fee card such as Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Ink Plus or Chase Ink Preferred then you can transfer these points to travel partners. Sapphire Reserve cardholders can also use these points for the Chase Pay Yourself back feature to make them worth 1.25¢ each; or they can redeem them at 1.5¢ each via the Chase Travel portal.

The 0% APR also sweetens the deal as an interest-free loan, though it’s not as useful as on business cards because carrying a balance on a personal card can put a temporary significant downgrade to your credit score. There is a chance that this offer will become available via referral links at some point which would be sweet, but it’s hard to know.

I’m considering signing up for this offer as I’m under 5/24. However, I do already have a Freedom Flex and I can’t recall at the moment whether Chase approves new Freedom cards for those who already have one. the terms say they won’t approve you if you already have the card. You can product change away a current Freedom Flex and then become eligible to apply after a few days. 

Unfortunately a lot of readers won’t be eligible for these cards/bonus due to the Chase 5/24 rule. We will still be adding this to our list of the best credit card bonuses.

Hat tip to reader Eric V

Update: a reader shares a consistent link to get the 10x deal to show.