Chase Freedom Flex℠ review: Plenty of value packed into one card

The choice between the Chase Freedom Flex and the Freedom Unlimited will likely come down to how much planning you want to put into earning rewards. The Freedom Flex can be a great fit if you get a kick out of strategizing ways to maximize your rewards. But if you favor ease of use, the Freedom Unlimited is likely a better choice for you.

While both cards boost rates in the same year-round categories, the Freedom Flex offers a 5 percent cash back rate on the first $1,500 you spend per quarter in a variety of rotating categories (upon enrollment, then 1 percent). You won’t have control over the categories Chase offers, which may cause you to struggle to maximize your earnings in any given quarter.

Conversely, with the Freedom Unlimited earns 1.5 percent cash back on purchases outside the boosted categories with no need to keep track of the Chase cash back calendar or enroll in specific categories. 

The Citi Custom Cash is a simpler alternative to the Chase Freedom Flex. You’ll automatically earn 5 percent cash back in whichever eligible category you’ve spent the most in each billing cycle (on the first $500 spent per billing cycle, then 1 percent). Enrolling or activating categories is unnecessary, making the Custom Cash a flexible category cash back credit card.

While using the Custom Cash as your standalone rewards card could mean leaving cash back on the table in other spending categories, you’ll have a chance to earn at the highest cash back rate available in several categories without paying an annual fee. Categories include restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, select travel, select transit, select streaming services, drugstores, home improvement stores, fitness clubs and live entertainment. These categories are consistent and somewhat controllable, while the Freedom Flex categories rotate and aren’t known until shortly before they become active, making planning spending difficult.

You could pair the Freedom Flex with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to take advantage of the Preferred card’s 25 percent bonus on Ultimate Rewards when redeemed for travel in the Chase Travel℠ portal. Alternatively, the Preferred lets you transfer to one of Chase’s many travel partners as another way to boost point value. By pooling all your Chase points onto the Preferred, you also reap the benefits of more earning categories and a more competitive redemption value.

Another great option is to pair the Freedom Flex with a flat-rate cash back card that offers a higher rewards rate on general purchases. The Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card is among the most valuable flat-rate cash rewards cards. It not only earns one of the highest flat rates available — an unlimited 2 percent cash rewards on purchases — but is also one of the rare flat-rate cards with a welcome bonus: a $200 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases within the first three months of account opening. This can cover the gaps in spending that wouldn’t earn bonus rates on the Freedom Flex.

Minimalist spenders who still want to earn significant cash back rewards can do well with the Chase Freedom Flex. It offers boosted rates in various categories throughout the year regardless of how much you spend.

The Freedom Flex is an excellent option for rewards strategists who want to maximize their spending to match the card's rotating bonus categories or pair it with another card to earn boosted rates across categories. With the card's combination of yearly and quarterly bonus rates, rewards strategists can optimize their rewards in a variety of ways.  

The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The most recent BLS data estimates average total spending in 2022 was $72,967 per consumer. We then narrow our focus to which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards, subtracting expenditures like housing, vehicle purchases and education. This gives us a total “chargeable” annual spend of around $22,500.  

Some of the major spending categories that contribute towards the annual spend include:

• Groceries: $5,700
• Dining out: $3,600
• Entertainment: $2,400
• Gas: $3,100
• Apparel and services: $1,900

Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 22 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value.

With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract its annual fee.

We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners. 

We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

We break down these tiers as follows:

• Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
• Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
• Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
• Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
• Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

You'll need a good to excellent credit score (a FICO score of 670 or higher) to qualify for the Freedom Flex. Luckily, you can check if you prequalify for the Freedom Flex and other Chase cards via the issuer's website or Bankrate's CardMatch tool. This check only requires a "soft pull" of your credit and will not impact your credit score.

You’ll also be unable to get this card if you’ve opened 5 new credit cards with any issuer in the last 24 months, known as the “Chase 5/24 rule”.

The Chase Freedom is an older version of the Freedom Flex and is no longer open to applications. The Freedom features the same rotating quarterly cash back categories as the Freedom Flex, but lacks the Freedom Flex card's year-round bonus categories (Chase travel, dining and drugstore purchases).

If you already have the Chase Freedom, you can change to the Freedom Flex to earn cash back in these new bonus categories. However, you won't be eligible for the Freedom Flex card's sign-up bonus or introductory APR offer. To take advantage of these, you'll need to put in a fresh application for the Freedom Flex and face a hard pull of your credit report.

No, the Ultimate Rewards points you earn with the Chase Freedom Flex do not expire for the life of your account. However, you'll lose any unused points if you close your account.