Chase has released their quarterly 5x categories on the Freedom and Freedom Flex cards for the fourth quarter of 2025, valid on purchases of up to $1,500:
- Department Stores – some mention the option of buying gift cards for places like Amazon or Starbucks from Department Stores. We’ll have to wait to see if we get a better list of eligible Department Stores from Chase.
- Chase Travel – on the Freedom Flex card this should amount to 9x total points since the card always earns 5x and the extra 4x bonus will bring it up to 9x.
- Old Navy
Bonus category for December 2025 only; this category combines for the $1,500 limit, but will only work in December:
- Paypal – this is always an easy category with holiday shopping and the like. You can also pay federal taxes with Paypal, make charity donations, shop on Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and so many more. It’s also possible to use Paypal in many physical stores with a QR code.
The categories are visible within the Chase login and will be visible at the public link starting 9/15/25. Today (9/14/25) is also the last day to activate the quarterly categories for Q3 2025.
You can activate the 5% categories at this link. I usually wait for the email and activate it through the link in the email.
Most people will just wait for December and max this out with the Paypal category. Personally, I’ll probably do a $1,500 federal tax payment via Paypal on my Freedom card and another one on my Freedom Flex card. Using ACI Payments you should be able to process this payment for just 1.85% fee (pay1040 might charge more at 2.89%).
