This Credit Card Just Added 5x at Supermarkets and 5 More Categories

In this video, we are going to talk about the new 5x point earning categories for the Chase Freedom in quarter one of 2025. Now, supermarkets is one of them, like you saw in the title, but there are several other categories. And then in March, they have some special categories just for that month, too. I don't think they've ever done that before, at least not in my memory. So we are going to be looking at about six different categories that you will be able to earn 5x chase points per dollar or 5% cash back on. Let's get into it. Hey, credit warriors. My name is Ben Hedges, a.k.a. The Credit Shofu. And on this channel, I cover the U.S. credit card market and how to earn cash back and credit card rewards points for free travel. If you like the sound of that, do subscribe to the channel. And this video is brought to you by Silo. They are doing the best signup bonus I've ever heard of. More on that later. OK, so the Chase Freedom Flex and the Chase Freedom, which is another older freedom card that's not open to new applicants, but many people are still grandfathered into. These two cards earn 5x chase points slash 5% cash back because you can redeem it either way. We'll talk more about that later on one thousand five hundred dollars in spending per quarter in different categories that change throughout the year. The quarterly categories for the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Flex in the last quarter of twenty twenty four are McDonald's, PayPal, Vets and Charities. So those are the ones that are active now. You still have time to max them out before the end of the year. Remember, you can earn 5% or 5x points on up to one thousand five hundred dollars in spending in the quarter. And as you can see here, I have not spent anything in those categories. Do I look like the kind of guy to eat at McDonald's? No, I am not. Anyway, so those are the ones that are active now. It is too late to activate them if you didn't do that already. But if they are active on your card, you can earn 5x or 5% cash back until the end of the year. OK, now let's take a look at the categories for the first quarter of twenty twenty five. And they are Norwegian Cruise Lines, grocery stores excluding Walmart and Target, gyms and fitness clubs and hair, nail and spa services. Now, the main thing to get excited about is, of course, grocery. OK, that is a category that a lot of people can max out very easily. Norwegian Cruise Line is very, very specific. I guess if you booked a cruise, you would probably max out the category, right? You're going to spend probably at least a thousand dollars on a cruise. But the amount of people booking cruises and on that specific cruise line, I think is going to be pretty small. Then we have gyms and fitness clubs, which probably most people who use them just pay a monthly fee of, say, $100. Actually, the average here in New York is $75 per month. OK, the average gym membership. But that's probably distorted by Planet Fitness charging like $15 a month for people who never go to the gym. So I'm saying 100 is going to be more accurate. I remember paying 120 per month in New York City at a really nice gym. So, you know, let's just go with 100. All right. And so that's going to work out at about $300 for the quarter. That doesn't get you anywhere close to But I guess if you have that and then you have some grocery spending, it could all add up. Then we have hair and nails, etc., which I think is only really going to be a category for women. OK, us guys, it's like $20 for a haircut. It doesn't really make a dent in maxing out that $1,500. Women, though, really will spend like $75 on hair, $100 on nails, maybe a few times a month. So it could be something similar to gyms and fitness clubs or maybe a little bit more for women. So anyway, there's something for everyone there. But most people will probably be able to fall back on the grocery category to max it out. All right. Now, what about this extra couple of bonus categories that we talked about that will be online for March only? But first, guys, I know you're watching this because you're into making a good return on your money. But how can we do that when the Fed keeps lowering interest rates? Those of you with money in savings accounts are going to feel the pressure. I just got this email from my Amex so-called high yield personal savings account saying that my rate was decreasing down from 4.3 to 4 percent. Now, you may think that you can beat that with U.S. treasuries, but those rates have gone down, too. There is no longer anything over 5 percent. But I have a way that you can get a 7.3 percent rate on U.S. treasuries for a whole year. Today's sponsor, Silo, is an innovative platform for investors in U.S. government and U.S. corporate bonds. You could call them the Robin Hood of bond investing. 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All right, let's now get into these two unusual bonus categories that are for March only. So Chase haven't exactly announced this with a big fanfare, but in the in the small print under the categories for quarter one of twenty twenty five, it says this starting March 1st through March 31st, you will earn five percent cash back on a birthday surprise category, tax preparation and insurance. Now, I don't know whose birthday this is celebrating. Is it the anniversary of the founding of J.P. Morgan Chase? I'm not sure. Or maybe it's J.P. Morgan's birthday. Who knows? But anyway, tax preparation is certainly something that I spend over a thousand dollars every March on in preparation for April's deadline and insurance. I'm not sure why that is a category for March. Do people typically have to renew their insurance around the same time they file taxes? I don't know. Maybe some people do or some businesses do. But if you're lucky enough to have a big insurance bill at that time, then, yeah, use this card. Then there's just one more thing that we're not sure of right now. And that is if these categories are included in the one thousand five hundred dollar limit or if they have their own extra limit. My guess is they are included in the one thousand five hundred limit, which is the less good of the two possible scenarios. But hey, I assume it's that way. And maybe we'll get pleasantly surprised in the lead up to March when they announce more about this. But at a minimum, with grocery and tax prep, I'm 100 percent sure that I can max out both my freedom cards this coming quarter. And I have both the freedom flex and the older freedom card that I'm grandfathered into. And yes, that is right. You can have two freedoms. Actually, I used to have three, but I didn't usually max them out. So I canceled one of them. So for me, my limit is three thousand dollars in spending in the categories. And for that, I will get a total of fifteen thousand chase points worth one hundred and fifty dollars in I transfer them to the Inc. Business Preferred and book travel through the travel portal and around three hundred dollars if I get two cents per point transferring them out to airlines and booking business class flights. All right, guys, don't forget to activate your categories in your chase app, and I hope you max them out, too. Thanks for watching this. And don't forget to lock in your three thousand dollar bonus only with Silo while it still lasts at silomarkets.com It's down in the links below. Please subscribe if you're new and we'll see you next time. Bye bye.