Q1 2025 Chase Freedom Categories
New year, new chances to earn points!
If you’re looking to rack up Ultimate Rewards points for travel, there’s no better time than now to check in on the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex bonus categories. These cards offer fantastic opportunities to earn 5x points on certain categories each quarter — and who doesn’t want more points for travel?
Let’s dive into the details!
What are the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom Categories?
For Q1 2025, the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards offer 5x points in the following categories:
- Grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target)
- Fitness Clubs and Gym Memberships
- Hair, Nails, and Spa Services
- Norwegian Cruise Lines
These categories are nearly identical to the 5x categories on the Freedom and Freedom Flex as Q1 2024 – with one change: Norwegian Cruise Lines is now part of the mix.
How many points can I earn from the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom 5x categories?
Chase allows cardholders to receive 5x Ultimate Rewards points on the quarterly categories up to $1,500 worth of spend. In most cases, that will equal 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points (1,500 x 5 = 7,500) across all eligible categories.
There are some exceptions, however, when the elevated 5x category is also an always-elevated category on the Freedom Flex – that happened in both Q2 and Q4 2024. In these situations, you can earn up to 7x on those specific categories. More points for travel!
Chase allows credit cardholders to have both an original Freedom and a Freedom Flex. If you have both the original Chase Freedom and the Chase Freedom Flex, you can earn up to 15,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the 5x quarterly categories. And, if you’re travel hacking using a two-player mode like we are, you can earn up to 30,000 points quarterly from these cards and their 5x categories.
Can I use the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Flex for travel hacking?
The original Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex are not good for travel hacking in and of themselves. You can use your Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase travel portal if you only have one of these two cards. But this isn’t the best way to use your Ultimate Rewards points.
To make the best use of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you need a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or the Chase Ink Business Preferred. These cards can transfer to Chase’s Transfer Partners, which include fourteen different loyalty programs.. The Ultimate Rewards points you earn on the original Freedom and Freedom Flex can be combined with one of those cards and then transferred to one of Chase’s Transfer Partners for a much better redemption than if you book directly through the Chase travel portal.
How can I maximize my points from the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom Categories?
As always, it’s important to remember that you should never spend money just to earn points. After all, spending more than necessary to earn rewards doesn’t save you money on travel in the long run. But with a little planning, you can make the most of these 5x categories.
There are ways to get the maximum amount of points from the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom 5x categories by planning ahead. It’s important to note that you can earn the maximum 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points on $1,500 of spend in total category spend, not $1,500 on each of the four individual categories for Q1.
Norwegian Cruise Lines
Let’s get this one out of the way since I assume the fewest amount of people will be using this one as their max out category. If you were planning on booking a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines in the next few months, great! Get that reservation in before the end of March and enjoy your 7,500 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. Know with certainty that you will take a Norwegian cruise at some point but don’t know when? You could purchase a gift card directly with Norwegian and use it once you’ve decided on a date and route for your cruise.
It is important to note that only purchases made directly with Norwegian Cruise Lines will earn the 5x. If you purchase a cruise through a travel agency or third partner, you will not get the 5x Ultimate Rewards points – even if the actual cruise is on a Norwegian cruise ship.
Fitness Clubs and Gym Memberships
This category includes health clubs, exercise, and athletic facilities, particularly those that require membership. Think Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Equinox, and the like. Boutique or local facilities, such as those for yoga, Crossfit, or pilates, may be eligible, but it depends on how the merchant has coded for credit card expenses. If you’re wondering if your gym would earn 5x on the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom categories, look at a previous month’s charge for that gym or studio (on any Chase card) to see how it codes.
Companies that provide at-home fitness services (like a Peloton subscription) are not included and will not earn 5x on the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom categories. Purchases of fitness apparel, protein powder, athletic equipment, etc. also do not qualify for 5x in this category.
If you pay a monthly membership fee, make sure you switch it to the Chase Freedom or Freedom Flex for January through March 2025. And, if you aren’t going to max out the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom categories, consider pre-paying your future gym membership on this card. Other cards will earn 1, 1.5, or 2x points maximum, so why not capitalize on the category when you can?
Hair, Nails, and Spa Services
This category includes salons, barbershops, manicures, pedicures, massages at a spa, etc. – as long as the location specializes in this service. If you book a spa service at a hotel, for example, it may not code as this category, unless the hotel explicitly codes its spa services separately than the typical hotel charges. If you purchase items like hair products at a hair salon, it may code as 5x – it’s all dependent on how the merchant codes itself.
Similar to with the gym category, take a look at how these services have coded previously on your Chase credit cards. If you have an appointment on any of these services already booked, make sure you have your Freedom or Freedom Flex ready to go at check out.
To max out this category (assuming you won’t hit the maximum $1,500 spend otherwise), you could purchase gift cards for your regular salon or manicure location. If you regularly get massages, see if your massage spot offers a subscription where you can pre-pay in advance.
Again, don’t spend money you don’t need to – but if these are services you will use in the future and your budget can handle you prepaying several months in advance, this will earn you more points for travel than if you just pay it on a monthly basis.
Grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target)
In our opinion, this is the best option of the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom categories. Chase explicitly calls out that Walmart and Target are not included in the 5x earnings for Q1 2025. In addition to these retailers, club stores/wholesalers (like Costo and Sam’s Club), drug stores that sell food items, or discount stores are not included in the 5x grocery category. Large grocery chains like Kroger, Mariano’s, Publix, H-E-B, and Safeway will all code as grocery and earn 5x in Q1. Wondering if your super-local spot will earn you 5x? Check your credit card statement and see how the merchant is coded.
Regarding delivery services (like Instacart), Chase writes, “Delivery service merchants, such as Instacart, will be included if they classify as a grocery store merchant”. For us, Instacart has always coded as a grocery store merchant. So if you shop through Instacart, make sure you’re using the Freedom or Freedom Flex for 5x this quarter.
For many families, spending $1,500 on groceries in three months is easy given the price of food. If that’s the case, great! You can use your 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points on travel for your family and don’t need to think about it.
But if that $1,500 isn’t your quarterly spend on groceries, you can still max out your earnings from this particular category. First, if you always got to the same grocery store, see if they have gift cards. Stock up for your future spend in quarters where you aren’t earning 5x on groceries. Or, see if your grocery store sells gift cards. The one we frequent the most sells Amazon, Target, REI, Apple, AirBnb, Uber, and many more gift cards. Stock up on those that you’ll definitely use – particularly those at places that will only earn you the baseline amount of points on one of your other credit cards.
Shop through Instacart? Buy Instacart gift cards for future purchases.
How we’re earning the maximum amount of points from the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom categories
As I previously mentioned, P2 and I each have an original Chase Freedom and a Freedom Flex. So between the two of us, that’s four cards that can each earn 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points – 30,000 total for future travel.
P2 has a gym membership, so he likely will pre-pay for future months’ spend. But that doesn’t even get us close to the $1,500 limit on one of the cards. Some of our spend will go towards the Hair, Nail, and Spa services, but similar to the gyms, our annual expenditure isn’t close to $1,500 in that area either. And we definitely are not spending any money with Norwegian Cruise Lines.
For our family of three, we do not spend $1,500 in a quarter on groceries. But since we’ve welcomed our baby, we found ourselves relying more on the convenience of Instacart. As we wrote above, we could just buy Instacart gift cards until we hit the maximum and call it a day. With our four cards, that’s $6,000 worth of potential spend on the Q1 5x categories (4 times $1,500). Let’s just say we spend $1,000 on the Gyms and Hair/Spa/Nails Services categories. That leaves us with $5,000 to spend to achieve the maximum amount of points.
I do plan to buy Instacart gift cards – with a twist. I will buy the Instacart gift cards through the United MileagePlus X app. When you make a purchase through the MileagePlus X app on a Chase card, it codes as the category of the merchant. Instacart is 1 mile per dollar for gift cards through United MPX.
So in this example, I’ll buy $5,000 worth of gift cards to Instacart through MileagePlus X. That earns me 25,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. It also earns me 5,000 United miles – as it would for anyone who uses United MileagePlus X. And because I hold a United Gateway credit card, I earn an additional 25% miles on MPX purchases, so that’s another 1,250 miles. This is true for any United credit cardholders – even when you use another credit card on the United MileagePlus X purchase.
But wait – there’s more! When I finally go to make the purchase through Instacart, I will activate Rakuten, an online shopping portal that earns cash back or American Express Membership Rewards points. Typically Rakuten is 1% cash back (or 1x American Express MRs). So on $5,000 worth of Instacart spend through Rakuten, I’ll earn 5,000 Membership Rewards points.
Not bad, huh? In addition to the maximum 30,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points we’re earning from the Q1 2025 Chase Freedom 5x categories, we’re also earning 6,250 United miles, and 5,000 American Express Membership Rewards points.
Conclusion
The Q1 2025 Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex categories are packed with opportunities to earn big for travel hacking. By planning ahead and making smart purchases, you can maximize your points for future travel. Just remember to spend wisely, and don’t forget to take advantage of gift cards, subscriptions, or prepaying when appropriate.
Happy point earning!
