How I Plan To Max Out 3 Freedom Cards This Quarter
The third quarter is upon us which means new 5X, or 5%, back categories! I love when new quarters kick off because it gives me a chance to rack up a ton of Ultimate Rewards with our 3 Chase Freedom Flex cards. We have acquired these cards by signing up for them, as well as, by downgrading from the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve cards. I wanted to take a look at the 5X earning categories for this quarter and then deep dive what my plan to maximize them was.
Chase Freedom Flex 3rd Quarter 5X Categories
Here are the bonus categories for Chase Freedom Flex and the discontinued Chase Freedom card. From July 1 through September 30, 2022, Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cardmembers can earn 5% (5X) cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases on the following:
- Gas Stations
- Rental Car Agencies
- Movie Theaters
- Select Live Entertainment
You can activate the bonus categories on this page.
Turning It From 5% Back Into 5X Earning
The Freedom Flex is a cashback earning card but when paired with an Ultimate Rewards earning card that cashback can become Ultimate Rewards points. You just need to transfer the points from your Freedom account over to one of these Ultimate Rewards earning cards:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
- Chase Ink Business Preferred
- No Longer Available Chase Ink Plus
Deep Dive On Chase Freedom Flex 3rd Quarter Categories
I have $4,500 in spend I need to accomplish this quarter and the categories listed above to do it. Let’s take a look at each category and see where I think there is room to put in the work.
Car Rentals
We can rule out car rentals since I would prefer to use a card with primary rental insurance vs getting 5X earning on my rentals. A card like the Capital One Venture X will give you superior earning there too (when booking through their portal).
Movie Theater
Movie theaters can be used for some of it, I mean I did see Top Gun Maverick twice (no spoilers!), but that will be a small portion of the total balance. Man do I miss MoviePass though.
Live Entertainment
This one could be pretty big for people. There are not many cards that earn a bonus on live entertainment. If you have an upcoming concert or sporting event then this can add up quickly with how expensive those things can be. Even more so if you have a season tickets payment coming up, which I assume would work.
This category also includes theme and amusement parks like Six Flags and Disney. I know people’s ears are ringing with the mention of Disney but that doesn’t excite me much. Not because I am a Disney hater, which I am, but because you can get 5X, or better, with discounts and promos. An example is buying Disney gift cards with the Chase Ink Cash or other cards while stacking it with Dosh cash back etc. I think you can do even better then this with a little legwork this quarter too.
Gas Stations
That brings me to the last section, gas stations. This is where I will do my heavy lifting. Gas is extremely expensive right now, topping $5 most places, and that will knock off a chunk for us. Even though my wife doesn’t drive as much for work anymore we still go through quite a bit of fuel, plus, you know, I am a dashing fool and all.
I want to focus on what is inside the gas stations though. Many gas stations, or places that code as gas stations like some 7-11 stores, sell items inside as well. They often carry 3rd party gift cards and gebit cards etc. This is where my damage will be done. Especially if you have a chain like Speedway that runs promotions and gives points for many of these purchases.
Speedway will often have offer discounts on restaurant gift cards or bonus points on the purchase etc. And if they sell Disney gift cards you could buy them at your gas station, get the 5X Ultimate Rewards, plus earn the store’s reward points. This all assumes you have a station that offers a points program of course.
If you don’t then another option may be to check your grocery store fuel centers. Maybe they sell some store branded gift cards that you could purchase. Think buying a Kroger gift card at the Kroger fuel center and then using that for groceries in store. There is room to play around for sure if you can find one that works.
There are a lot of options in the gas category if you just dig around a little bit.
Final Thoughts
The gas category is one of my favorite 5X quarters, only seconded by grocery, each and every year. I plan on being able to rack 22,500 Ultimate Rewards points this quarter which will be added to my yearly quest for $25,000 and 750,000+ points. It also takes away some of the sting from this quarter’s crappy Amazon category. You can get 5X on that all day, every day. Snooze fest!
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Just 3? I have 7 of those, and I will max them out this quarter, of course
No Speedways here and some gas stations won’t let you buy G/C with a CC, if they even have G/C! Had to read the article because Discover easily beats Freedom this quarter. Doubt I’ll be able to hit the max with the slim pickings. Grocery is best, along with PP, then Home Improvement (Lowes has more G/C than drug stores or gas stations) or Amazon (nice roundtrip buying the right G/C). Grocery points get me $1 off per gallon so I don’t care whether the gas cash back is 3% or 5%. There’s a Wawa here that sells Ebay cards and that was great back when you could swap that for a G/C that you want.
Glad somebody can profit this quarter.
Was tired of having so many gift cards but I guess as long as they don’t expire it is okay to get a few more.
Tough if you aren’t using them fairly quickly and make sure you don’t misplace any! 🙂
Can use a card with rental coverage to check out a car then switch payment when turn it in
I would still be nervous they find some BS thing to charge my card for so I probably wouldn’t for a few extra points but I am sure others would find it worth it.
Drug stores are my second favorite category after grocery stores. None of the gas stations in my area sell worthwhile gift cards.
Makes sense. If I didn’t have Speedway I would pick pharmacies next too.