5% Quarterly Categories - Q4 2026

Chase possibly just announced the best quarterly categories we’ve ever seen for the Chase Freedom Flex® Credit Card!

​Those categories for Q4 will be:​

  • Grocery Stores (excluding Walmart® and Target®)

  • Dining

  • American Red Cross

​This announcement marks the first time grocery stores and dining are both 5% quarterly categories at the same time since Chase began marketing Freedom categories 16 years ago!

​Remember though - 5% cash back is advertised, but cash back rewards are tracked as points.

​Here’s how you could maximize

​The Chase Freedom Flex® already earns 3X on dining purchases as a fixed category.

​Chase allows a fixed category and a 5X rotating category to stack on top of each other to earn a total of 7X points per dollar.

​We know the math seems off there because 3 + 5 = 8, but the way Chase stacks everything together is:​

1X Base Point

+ 2X Dining Points

+ 4X Rotating Points

7X Total Points

​You can more points on rotating categories for up to $1,500 of combined spending from October through December.

​For some, spending will be maximized on dining alone - but if you don't spend too much at restaurants, then using the card for both dining and grocery stores is a solid option as well!

Even better though - if you have multiple OG Freedom cards or additional Chase Freedom Flex® cards, then you can effectively have more 5X earning potential.

​Daniel here - my wife Jackie and I have 2 Chase Freedom Flex® cards and 2 OG Freedom cards between the two of us.

​That means we can earn up to 7,500 points per card in Q4 for a total of up to 30,000 points across those 4 cards.

​Just remember to activate the quarterly categories inside of your account!

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