Chase Freedom 5% Bonus Category Calendar 2024
Chase announced its bonus 5% cash back categories for the first quarter of 2024 — grocery stores, fitness club and gym memberships and self-care and spa services.
We’ll review the bonus cash back categories for the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and the Chase Freedom®, what you need to know to earn 5% cash back and how the Chase 5% cash back calendar compares to Discover’s 5% cash back calendar.
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Note, the Chase Freedom® card is no longer open to new applicants as of Sept. 14, 2020.
| Chase 5% cash back calendar 2024 | |||
| Jan – March | April – June | July – Sept | Oct – Dec |
| Grocery stores, fitness club and gym memberships and self-care and spa services | TBA | TBA | TBA |
Here’s what you need to know:
- You’ll need to activate the bonus categories to earn 5% cash back. Chase allows you to add reminders to your calendar. Easily activate via ultimaterewards.com or chase.com/freedom, or by calling the number on the back of your card.
- To take advantage of the Q1 bonus categories, you must activate the categories by March 14, 2024.
- The Q1 2024 categories are active from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2024.
- You can earn the 5% cash back rate on the first $1,500 in combined purchases in the bonus categories each quarter (upon activation), then 1% cash back in those categories.
How the 2023 calendar compares to 2024
See how Chase’s 2023 cash back calendar compares to the upcoming 2024 calendar:
| Chase 5% cash back calendar 2024 | |||
| Jan – March | April – June | July – Sept | Oct – Dec |
| Grocery stores, fitness club and gym memberships and self-care and spa services | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Chase 5% cash back calendar 2023 | |||
| Jan – March | April – June | July – Sept | Oct – Dec |
| Grocery stores (excluding Walmart), Target, fitness clubs and gym memberships | Lowe’s and Amazon.com | Gas stations, EV charging and select live entertainment | PayPal, wholesale clubs and select charities |
Unfortunately, Chase has not featured restaurants as a bonus category since 2017. Given that the Chase Freedom Flex℠ already offers a substantial bonus on restaurant purchases, it seems unlikely to reoccur as a category.
Chase cash back calendar vs. Discover cash back calendar
The Discover it® Cash Back is another cash back card that allows you to earn bonus cash back on rotating categories. As you can see from the chart below, these cards tend to offer similar categories at similar times of the year. One major difference, however, is that only the Discover it® Cash Back featured restaurants as a quarterly category in 2023 (but the Chase Freedom Flex℠ offers a bonus on dining purchases year-round).
Aside from that, there are some small differences in the cards’ categories — for example, Chase had wholesale clubs as a category in December 2023, while Discover offered a bonus at Amazon and Target. This might make one card a better choice for some users than others. However, these smaller categories vary a lot from year to year, making it hard to predict which card will be a better fit for the upcoming year.
Read our Discover it® Cash Back card review.
Here’s how they compare for 2024:
| Chase vs. Discover 2024 cash back calendar | ||
| Chase | Discover | |
| Jan – March | Grocery stores, fitness club and gym memberships and self-care and spa services | Restaurants and drugstores |
| April – June | TBA | TBA |
| July – Sept | TBA | TBA |
| Oct – Dec | TBA | TBA |
Alternative to quarterly bonus category cards
An alternative to Discover and Chase quarterly is the Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card, which provides cardholders a more flexible rewards program.
You’ll 3% cash back in the category of your choice. 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs for the first $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club quarterly purchases. 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Rather than being stuck with a preselected category each quarter, you can choose a category that works best for you. If you don’t pick a category, you earn 3% cash back on gas purchases as a default option, so you don’t have to worry about enrolling at all.
The 3% cash back categories include:
- Gas and EV charging
- Online shopping, including cable, internet, phone plans and streaming
- Dining
- Travel
- Drug stores and pharmacies
- Home improvement and furnishings
The information related to the Chase Freedom® has been independently collected by LendingTree and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card prior to publication.