Happy October! It’s not just time to take those Uggs out of your closet so you can walk to Starbucks for a pumpkin spice latter, but it’s also time to put the Chase Freedom back in your wallet and use it for spending once again.
Why I Love The Chase Freedom Card
The Chase Freedom® Card (review) is one of my favorite no annual fee credit cards, as it offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories, for up to $1,500 of spending per quarter. Most people use this as a cashback card, meaning the 5x points really translates into 5% cashback in these categories.
The best part is that in conjunction with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review), Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), or Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card (review), points earned on this card can be converted into Ultimate Rewards points, and be transferred to the Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners. Since I value one Ultimate Rewards point at significantly more than one cent, that’s my preferred use of those points.
Live: Chase Freedom Q4 2019 Bonus Categories
On September 15, 2019, Chase opened registration for the fourth quarter 2019 bonus category. The Chase Freedom® Card Is offering 5x points on the first $1,500 spent on Chase Pay, PayPal, and department stores, between October 1 and December 31, 2019.
Since it’s October 1, this is a reminder of that, so you can start using your card for the right purchases.
How To Register Your Chase Freedom Card
Registration is easy — just go to the registration page and enter your last name, billing zip code, and the last four digits on your card, and you’ll be registered.
What Qualifies As A Department Store
While the PayPal and Chase Pay category is straightforward, perhaps there’s more confusion about what qualifies as a department store.
See here for a list of which merchants qualify as department stores, and which don’t. I’d note that the department stores category roughly includes what you’d expect, though doesn’t include Walmart, Target, Kmart, discount stores like TJ Maxx, electronic stores, general merchandise and variety stores, and gift cards purchased at any locations other than department stores on the inclusion list.
My Take On Chase Freedom Q4 2019 Bonuses
Personally I’m a big fan of the Q4 2019 bonus categories:
- There are quite a few popular merchants that accept Chase Pay
- You can send a payment through PayPal by credit card for 2.9%, which is well worth it for the 5x points
- Personally I almost never shop at department stores, but if you do, that can be useful for holiday shopping
I should have no trouble maxing out the fourth quarter bonus categories.
How To Make Chase Freedom Point Even More Valuable
Just to recap, you earn points on the Chase Freedom® Card, and each point can be redeemed for one cent cashback.
However, if you have this card in addition to one of the cards that accrues Ultimate Rewards points, you can transfer these points to Ultimate Rewards. Cards that accrue Ultimate Rewards Cards include the:
So 5% cashback converts into 5x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar with one of the above cards.
Chase Freedom Bonus Summary
The Chase Freedom® Card is one of the best no annual fee cards out there, and I do everything I can to max out the 5x points category every quarter.
Personally I think the Q4 2019 bonus categories are excellent, and easy enough to maximize thanks to Chase Pay and PayPal.
So if you’ve sock-drawered your Freedom Card, it’s time to put it back in your wallet and use it for spending.
What do you make of the fourth quarter 2019 Chase Freedom bonus categories?
Ben are you planning to write a post about the numerous Hotel deals available in Hong Kong right now to compensate for low occupancy rate?
This cards could be used for these hotels in Hong Kong
Where can I buy vanilla gift cards with chase pay? Anyone know?
Chase Pay at 5X?? Isn’t Chase in the process killing this application? One last hurrah it seems.
BTW, these categories for 4Q are kinda lame.
If you can find them, Best Buy has VGC and takes Chase Pay. Works for me!
I thought Chase Pay was going away, at least their app?
The Chase Pay app is being discontinued, not the Chase Pay service.
Chase Pay with Samsung Pay integration, my friends.
Chase Pay bonuses won’t be very useful for most people soon… they’ll be able to do selected gas station pumps?
Let me guess Walmart and Target aren’t considered to be “department store”‘s
Chase Pay is being shut down
Maybe I can just send myself $1500 via Paypal.
Weird
So can I essentially use chase pay for gas to get 5X?
@Julia, Why would anyone use Chase Freedom internationally when it’s much better to use cards to no foreign transaction fees?
Also, Chase Pay is still a thing?
Interesting that theyd promote Chase pay after already announcing they are ending it in a few months.
The app never works with my freedom card (though it does with every other chase card i own, oddly). Tried reinstalling multiple times.
Most useless collection of bonus categories yet. I guess my Freedom card gets a three month vacation.
Like it better when department stores included Walmart and Target.
Don’t know why people are claiming these are bad categories. Paypal is accepted by lots of online retailers as a form of payment, which makes it relatively easy to max out the bonus. For me, and I would think for most people, paypal is much better than the categories for the past 2 quarters, where I barely used them.
Finally a category I will easily max out. I am using PayPal checkout all the time now since they offer free returns on purchases made with PayPal.
Would be helpful if they mentioned which department stores do qualify.
Nordstrom, Macy’s, Kohls, Sears, Dollar Tree? ;(
Specifics of what constitutes a “department” store would be a great help.
Okay, say if the Chase Pay doesn’t work anymore the app, but retailers still service Chase pay, then it’s not going to work right? And how were you able to get the calendar officially when Chase haven’t even released it publicly yet?
I’ve had the Freedom since 2005, although it was actually a different product (can’t place the name). It gave 5% on grocery stores and gas stations (not just during a quarterly bonus).
Anyhow, over the last couple of years I’ve found the categories to be pretty *blah*. These categories might be slightly easier that the past couple, but I don’t really have any plans for big purchases at department stores. PayPal would normally be relatively easy, but I’m on the road nearly every week for the next few months and generally don’t buy a ton online in these periods.
Hard pass. See you in January.
Discover 5% at Amazon always useful.
Unclear about hard pass for PayPal – this is the definition of arbitrage.
Just FYI… If you shop at Walmart, you can use ChasePay so long as you use the Walmart Pay feature in the Walmart app. You just add ChasePay as a payment method. So while swiping your card at Walmart won’t count as a ‘department store’ you’ll get the full 5X if you take the step to set up Walmart Pay.
Department stores? They must be joking.
Does Venmo fall under paypal?
Jerry — I tried following your advice but I don’t see the option to choose ChasePay in the Walmart app. The only add payment options are credit or debit cards. Help! Thank you.
This phrase has me somewhat confused: “Gift cards purchased at any locations other than department stores on the inclusion list.”
Does this mean, for example, if I buy a Macy’s gift card at Home Depot then it does not count as a Dept Store purchase? (Makes perfect sense)
Or is this referring to any and all gift cards being excluded from the bonus?
My favorite way to use the Chase Pay bonus is to buy Walmart gift cards online at Walmart.com using Chase Pay at checkout. I get the 5% bonus plus I use the gift cards at Murphy gas and get the 3 cents off/ gallon. Double dip. I would hate to see the Chase Pay bonus no longer apply to the Walmart gift card purchases.