Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex 2021 Q2 Bonus Categories Include Gas Stations and Home Improvement Stores
The 2021 second quarter bonus categories for the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex credit cards have been announced.
Bonus Categories
Freedoms’ second quarter bonus categories include:
- Gas Stations
- Home Improvement Stores
All purchases made in these categories earn 5% cash back – or my favorite, 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent – on up to $1,500 in combined purchases.
Bonus earnings on the bonus categories begin, April 1, 2021, and run through June 30, 2021.
If you haven’t received your activation email yet, you can activate the second quarter categories here.
You can view all merchants that fall into the gas station and home improvement stores categories at this link.
How to Play This Quarter’s Categories
How beneficial these categories are will depend on your specific situation. Below we highlight how these categories can help to earn cash back/points even if you don’t drive a lot or own a home.
Gas Stations
Gas stations seem to be Chase’s go-to category for the Freedom bonus categories recently…Chase added it as a bonus category for February 2021 and now we’re seeing it for all of Q2.
No matter. The Plays are still the same. And with a little effort can be fairly lucrative when trying to max out this quarter’s $1,500 spend.
How lucrative the gas station bonus category can be really depends on your individual situation. If you commute long distances, you may be able to max out the $1,500 in quarterly spend just by filling up your vehicle’s gas tank. If you live in a major city and use mass transit, you may never even see a gas station, making this bonus category completely useless.
If your situation is the latter, or somewhere in between, there is a workaround. Many gas stations sell gift cards, too, making that another way to maximize the quarterly bonus categories.
Pick up gift cards to retailers from which you’ll be buying anyway (Target, Amazon, Petco/Petsmart, Macy’s, any number of restaurants, etc.) and earn the bonus points/cash back for that spend.
And, some grocery store gas facilities sell their own grocery gift cards, fee-free, making it easy to indirectly earn the 5x bonus on your grocery spend for the quarter.
Home Improvement Stores
Anyone who owns a home – and especially those who enjoy tinkering and home projects – knows spending $1,500 over a three month period can be accomplished quite easily.
I won’t get into all the products that can be purchased at home improvement stores – that’s fairly self-evident.
However, what might not be so obvious is that many home improvement stores sell a variety of third-party gift cards, too.
If your preferred gas stations don’t sell third-party gift cards, be aware that home improvement stores offer the gift card option for maximizing this quarter’s $1,500 spend.
Get the Freedom Flex Card
The Chase Freedom cards are a great – no-annual fee – way to earn cash back or the extremely valuable Ultimate Rewards points.
While the original Chase Freedom card is no longer available for new applicants, the Freedom Flex card is, and you can read our review here.
And use the link below to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex card if you don’t already have it in your credit card arsenal. Applications approved via the link below will provide us with a referral bonus of Ultimate Rewards points. You don’t have to use our link to apply, but we appreciate when you do.
Chase Freedom credit card application link
Wrap Up
Chase is helping those who are planning more home improvements this spring, as well as those with plans for driving vacations spring and early summer with increased cash back and points earning opportunities with gas stations and home improvement stores as the Freedom cards’ bonus categories.
And, of course, you can always use either category – depending on what’s available in your area – to buy third-party gift cards to boost your cash back/points earning for this quarter.
