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Opportune for the upcoming festive season, Chase has unveiled its bonus categories for the last three months of the year.
From Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, 2026, eligible Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom® cardholders can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined spending on grocery store and dining purchases, and on donations made to the American Red Cross. All other non-bonus-category spending earns 1% back.
Note that you must activate this quarter’s categories by Dec. 14, 2026. You can earn rewards retroactively as long as you activate by that date.
Here’s an overview of what Chase has offered this year:
Chase Freedom® and Chase Freedom Flex® bonus rewards categories for 2026 | ||
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Q1 (Jan. 1-March 31) |
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Q2 (April 1-June 30) |
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Q3 (July 1-Sept. 30) |
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Q4 (Oct. 1-Dec. 31) |
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What to know about this quarter’s bonus categories
Grocery stores
Chase last offered “grocery stores” as a bonus category in the first quarter of 2025. Eligible purchases include those made at supermarkets and merchants that offer a full-service grocery line of products. Grocery delivery services can also earn the bonus rate.
Purchases made at wholesale clubs or at stores like Walmart and Target are not eligible.
Dining
For the last quarter of 2026, Chase Freedom Flex® cardholders can earn up to an eye-popping 7% cash back on restaurant spending, until they reach the $1,500 combined quarterly spending cap. This includes the ongoing 3% rate that the card already earns on dining purchases, plus an additional 4% back from this quarter's bonus category.
Eligible dining purchases include takeout and delivery services. However, food and drinks purchased at non-restaurant merchants like sports stadiums, hotels, casinos, theme parks, grocery and department stores are not included in this category.
Nerdy Perspective
Initially, I'd planned to use my Discover it® Cash Back card as my default dining payment method for the holidays, as it, too, features restaurants as a Q4 bonus category. But my Chase Freedom Flex® will offer the better deal now (up to 7% back!) on all our fast-food runs for pumpkin spice lattes and — assuming another November return — McRibs. We'll shift to Discover for our entertainment spending, including Phoebe Bridgers tickets and, of course, reserve seating for "Avengers: Doomsday."
American Red Cross
For every quarter in 2026, Chase has included a nonprofit organization as a bonus category. This quarter, cardholders can earn bonus cash back on charitable donations made to the American Red Cross.
You must donate directly through official American Red Cross channels to ensure that your donation earns the elevated cash back.
More about the Chase Freedom Flex®
In addition to the above 5% bonus categories, holders of the Chase Freedom Flex® also earn the following ongoing rewards:
- 5% back on travel booked through Chase.
- 3% back on dining, including takeout and delivery services.
- 3% back on drugstore purchases.
- Through September 2027, 2% back on qualifying Lyft services purchased through the Lyft app.
- 1% on all other purchases.
The $0-annual-fee card also comes with a welcome offer for new cardholders: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening. Plus, the card features an introductory interest-free offer: 0% intro APR on Purchases and Balance Transfers for 15 months, and then the ongoing APR of 18.24%-27.74% Variable APR.
Information related to the Chase Freedom® credit card has been collected by NerdWallet and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer of this card.
