Chase Freedom’s 2019 Third Quarter Bonus Categories are Gas Stations (Again) and Streaming Services
The 2019 third quarter bonus categories for the Chase Freedom credit card are out and points/cash back earning for spend on those categories can now be activated.
Bonus Categories
Freedom’s third quarter bonus categories include:
- Gas Stations
- Streaming Services
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 at the bonus categories will begin July 1, 2019, and run through September 30, 2019.
You can activate the first quarter categories here.
While there definitely are better categories, gas stations typically hold promise for maxing out the $1,500 in quarterly spend when a little effort is put forth.
How to Play This Quarter
Gas Stations
I’m not sure I’ve seen a Freedom bonus category repeated so quickly – we just saw the gas station category in the first quarter of this year.
No matter. The Plays are still the same.
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.
Streaming Services
This category is pretty straight forward. You’re not going to earn a huge amount of cash back/Ultimate Rewards points paying your streaming bills, but with the proliferation of streaming services into the average household, most should be able to earn something.
Here are the streaming services Chase will count toward the 5%/5x earning this quarter:
- Netflix
- Hulu
- Sling
- Vudu
- Fubo TV
- Apple Music
- SiriusXM Radio
- Pandora
- Spotify
If you subscribe to Netflix and Hulu, for example, your monthly bill for both is likely around $26.
Change your payment method for both to the Freedom card for July – September and you’ll save about $4 over that period, or earn about 390 Ultimate Rewards points. I’ll take the points, thank you.
As you can see, this category isn’t a huge earner, but it’s better than nothing.
The Chase Freedom Credit Card
The Chase Freedom credit card is a great way to earn Ultimate Rewards points which can, ultimately, be used to travel for free.
Or, if cash back is your thing, it really couldn’t get any easier to earn 5% cash back. Just use your Freedom card in the quarterly bonus categories and bam! some easy cash back.
If you don’t have a Freedom card, read our review for all the card’s details and ways to maximize the card for your benefit.
Review: Chase Freedom Credit Card
