Q4 Chase Freedom Categories
It’s the start of a new quarter. Which means it’s also the start of new 5x categories on the Chase Freedom and Chase Freedom Flex. If you aren’t aware, the Q4 Chase Freedom Categories are McDonald’s, PayPal, Pet Stores and Vet Services, and Select Charities. On the Freedom and Freedom Flex, you can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in these categories. Or, even better, you can earn up to 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points from these cards if you happen to hold a travel card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
I’ll be the first to admit that I had higher hopes for what the Q4 categories would be. Last year, wholesale was a Q4 5x category, so I stocked up on things at Costco for the year (paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc.) to capitalize on my earning. In previous years, Target has been a 5x category, which we hadn’t yet seen through Q3 2024. So I wondered if we’d see Costco or Target. But alas, it wasn’t mean to be.
While these aren’t the categories I personally was hoping for, it’s still possible to maximize your points earnings in these categories.
Here’s how.
Activating the 5x categories
First things first. Make sure you activate these categories for 5x from October 1 to December 31. After you activate, you will retroactively receive points on bonus categories to the start of the quarter on any purchases you made prior to activation. You must hit activate by December 14th at the latest to earn the 5x points. Otherwise, you will only earn 1x per the regular Freedom earnings. If you have both a Freedom and a Freedom Flex, you will need to hit “activate” on each card separately.
About the Q4 Categories
As mentioned, the Q4 Freedom Categories are McDonald’s, PayPal, Pet Stores and Vet Services, and Select Charities. It’s an interesting mix, with some as narrow as McDonald’s as opposed to say, restaurants as a whole. PayPal can be used on a variety of online retailers, so it comes at a pretty good time for holiday shopping. The Select Charities can also correspond with end-of-year giving, but make sure you check if the charity you’re planning to donate to is actually included. I have a recurring monthly donation to a local animal rescue on my credit card that I made sure to switch to my Freedom in Q4 last year. I didn’t read the fine print before doing this. My donation did not earn the 5x, so I only earned 1x Ultimate Rewards points.
Now, I would never encourage anyone to spend money that they don’t need to purely to get points for travel hacking. However, these categories have a few options where you can earn the maximum amount of Ultimate Rewards points on up to $1,500 worth of spend on the bonus categories. Let’s go through how you can maximize your Ultimate Rewards point earnings. I’ll also cover some ideas of how you can stack your earnings and earn even more points and miles than the 5x from the quarterly bonus categories.
McDonald’s
Okay, so it’s not the best 5x category. But, the Freedom Flex earns 3x on restaurants in all quarters. So if you do go to McDonald’s this quarter, use your Freedom Flex instead of your Freedom for 7x. Yes that’s right, 7x Ultimate Rewards points. How does that work? Chase explains it as follows. 1x (on all purchases) + 2x (additional on restaurants) + 4x (bonus category) = 7x. I definitely won’t be hitting the maximum of $1,500 on McDonald’s alone.
Pet Stores and Vet Services
Unfortunately for me, both of my dogs’ annual vet appointments are in Q2, so I can’t get 5x on those. And hopefully we won’t have any emergency vet visits in Q4. If you do have any vet appointments, make sure to use that Freedom or Freedom Flex for 5x.
Stores like PetCo and PetSmart would earn 5x, as would Chewy for online purchases. One way to capitalize on points and miles this quarter is to purchase a Chewy gift card through the United MileagePlus X app and earn 2 United miles per dollar. You could then load the Chewy gift card to your Chewy account for future purchases. In this example, let’s say you purchased a Chewy gift card for $200 through MileagePlus X on your Freedom. You would earn 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the Freedom and 400 United miles for the same purchase. If you have any United credit card, even though you didn’t use it on the purchase, you’d earn an additional 100 miles as a 25% kicker just for holding the card. Then if you shopped through Rakuten, you’d earn 200 American Express Membership Rewards points for using the full $200. So to recap for a $200 purchase, you’d earn 1,000 Chase URs, 400 (maybe 500) United miles, and 200 American Express MRs. Not bad!
If you’re like us and have your dogs’ food on auto-ship, you can apply the gift card to your auto-ship. If you really aren’t coming close to exhausting the $1,500 quarterly maximum, try loading up your Chewy account for 2025. That way, you’re earning 5x on auto-ship or future purchases rather than the probably 1, maybe 2x from your regular cards as pet supplies aren’t typically an elevated credit card category.
Select Charities
This one is a unique category. On the one hand, it’s nice to earn points from your giving. But it’s a pretty small group to actual earn from. Per Chase, you can earn 5x on donations to the below organizations:
- American Red Cross
- Equal Justice Initiatives
- Feeding America
- Habitat for Humanity
- International Medical Corps
- International Rescue Committee, Leadership Conference Education Fund
- NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- National Urban League
- Thurgood Marshall College Fund
- United Negro College Fund
- UNICEF USA
- United Way
- World Central Kitchen
- GLSEN
- Out and Equal
- Sage
Make sure you’re donating directly with these organizations to earn the 5x rather than donating through a third-party.
PayPal
And finally, the most likely category to max out.
With a variety of retailers accepting PayPal online, this category fits nicely with Q4. Whether you’re shopping for holiday gifts online or taking advantage of Black Friday sales, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to use PayPal. Make sure you add your Freedom or Freedom Flex to your PayPal account to earn 5x points when you use it at check out.
Adidas, Etsy, Nordstrom, and Zappos are just some of the places that accept PayPal. PayPal also directly sells gift cards to places like Starbucks, DoorDash, Target, Walmart, Instacart, and more. So if you aren’t going to max out the $1,500 spend but you know you’ll use the gift cards in the future, this is a good option to earn 5x on spend that may earn 3, maybe 4x maximum. Because we buy our groceries via Instacart, I’ll definitely be looking at that option if I don’t hit the $1,500 max with my regular spend.
Something I did last year was purchase Amazon gift cards through Best Buy, which accepts PayPal. I earned 5x on the purchase and then additional miles for shopping through the United shopping portal.
Earn EVEN MORE points
With PayPal, you also have a few options to earn even more Ultimate Rewards than 5x by leveraging the already-elevated categories on the Freedom Flex. As mentioned in the McDonald’s section, restaurants are a 3x category year-round on the Freedom Flex. If you use your Freedom Flex through PayPal on a restaurant in Q4, you’ll earn 7x. Reminder of the math: 1x (on all purchases) + 2x (additional on restaurants) + 4x (bonus category) = 7x. So you could purchase a gift card to DoorDash through PayPal and earn 7x Ultimate Rewards points. Load it to your account and use it at any point the future.
Another option is at drugstores, a year-round 3x category on the Freedom Flex. Go to your local CVS and make a purchase with PayPal on your Freedom Flex – easy 7x. OR you could do even better. CVS.com is on Rakuten for 5% cash back. So you could make a purchase through CVS.com, earn 7x Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 5x American Express Membership Rewards points. 12x on one purchase? More travel coming your way!
Summary
So there you have it! How to earn the maximum amount of Chase Ultimate Rewards points on the Q4 Freedom categories that earn 5x. Again, I would never recommend making purchases just to earn points and miles. But, if you’re going to make these purchases in the future with a lower-earning card, there are a variety of opportunities to earn the 5x while it’s active and then cover future expenses as they arise.