Chase started us off strong this year with grocery stores, fitness clubs/gyms, and self-care in Q1. The next set appears to be equally strong, but with an interesting twist. Let’s discuss the Chase Freedom Q2 2024 bonus categories.
I’m going to be honest – I had a massive brain fart and completely forgot that grocery stores were a category this past quarter and only started throwing that spend onto my Freedom in mid-February. Oh well! At least the next set of categories will help me regain some of my lost ground.
Chase Freedom Q2 2024 Bonus Categories
Yep, we’re seeing the return of a perennial favorite in the Chase Freedom Q2 2024 bonus categories! . Specifically, the upcoming categories are:
- Amazon Whole Foods
- Hotels
- Restaurants
Based off of currently available information, it would appear that the Amazon.com category does include purchases made both on amazon.com and online orders at Whole Foods stores. That would make sense, as Whole Food pick-up and delivery orders post as Amazon orders, and their in-store palm reading system processes payment through Amazon.
Of course, having Amazon as a bonus category is always amazing, as it’s really easy to maximize. But things only get more interesting from here. Well, that is if you have the Freedom Flex (Mastercard) and not the older Freedom (Visa).
Take the restaurant category as an example. Here, you already earn 2% bonus on restaurant spend as a basic card perk, for a total of 3% on restaurant purchases. That means the quarterly bonus should theoretically stack on the existing one, for a total of 7% at restaurants – 1% base + 2% ongoing bonus + 4% quarterly bonus. Will it really work like that? Hard to say.
Similarly, for hotels booked and paid for through Chase Travel, you could potentially earn up to 9% on these transactions since you normally earn 5% on Chase Travel purchases awarded as 1% base + 4% bonus. So, with the quarterly bonus, it maths out to 1% + 4% + 4% = 9%.
The tough part here is your Chase Travel transaction must post as a hotel purchase. I’ve never made a purchase through Chase Travel, which is really an online travel agency, so I can’t vouch for if or how this will work. But it may be worth a shot, especially staying somewhere you wouldn’t earn as much by using a co-brand credit card.
Register Now
As always, being that today is the 15th of the last month of the quarter, you can now register for the Chase Freedom Q2 2024 bonus categories by visiting chasebonus.com, or by logging into your Chase account and going through the Ultimate Rewards section. Registrations must be received by June 14, 2024.
For those of you that do not have a Freedom Flex, I highly recommend you apply for one NOW to take advantage of these bonuses. Like its predecessor, it has no annual fee, but earns additional bonuses. The major difference is that it’s a World Elite Mastercard – the only free one I can think of – which unlocks other benefits via Mastercard, but also means you can’t use it at Costco IF Chase ever brings that back as a bonus category (highly doubt it).
If you’re over 5/24, you can always product change into the Freedom Flex from virtually any other Chase card. You should theoretically be able to change back to your old Freedom if you want to product change from that, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to, so maybe choose another card like the Freedom Unlimited if you want to do this and retain the Visa Freedom.
Chase Freedom Q2 2024 Bonus Categories, Final Thoughts
The Chase Freedom Q2 2024 bonus categories are an intriguing bunch to me. They take the sting out of my Q1 stupidity a bit, though I doubt I’ll be able to maximize them. Still, Amazon is incredibly valuable for me, and I could even use the hotel one for incidental charges on a brief trip I have planned for Q2!