Reminder: Activate Chase Freedom 5X at Restaurants and Lowe's April-June 2014

March 17, 2014

•

3 min read

Reminder: Activate Chase Freedom 5X at Restaurants and Lowe's April-June 2014

This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. For an explanation of our Advertising Policy, visit this page.

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

One of the best ways out there to rack up bonus points on specific spending categories is with Chase Freedom’s quarterly rotating categories of merchants and retailers where cardholders earn 5 points per $1 up to a $1,500 quarterly cap. (The Chase Freedom is no longer open to new applicants)

Strategy

There is a bit of overlap in the bonus categories here with one of my other workhorse credit cards, the Sapphire Preferred, which earns a total of 2.14x Ultimate Rewards points per dollar at restaurants including the card’s 7% annual points dividend. Because the Freedom's quarterly cap is $1,500 and the Sapphire Preferred's bonus is unlimited (and it earns 3x points per $1 on First Fridays), I'm going to concentrate my bonus spending at Lowe's this quarter. I have a lot of home improvement to do this spring, actually, so this really comes in handy for me - especially since right now, I can earn an extra 5x points per dollar for clicking through to Lowes.com via the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal.

Right now Lowe's is offering 5x bonus points per $1 through Ultimate Rewards.

However, even if you don't have $1,500 to spend at Lowe's, you can always purchase something online at Lowes.com for in-store pickup and then go into the store to exchange it for retailer gift cards, like Starbucks and iTunes, since those are usually only sold in-store, and you can shift your spending that way. There are a lot of options!

If you haven’t activated your card for the 5x categories yet, you can activate your card the following ways:

Online: Visit chase.com/freedom.
Text Message: Sign up for Chase Freedom 5% Text Reminders at chase.com/freedom and you’ll get a text reminding you when it’s time to activate.
Email: Provide your email address at chase.com/freedom and they will send you an email when it’s time to activate.
Phone: Call the number on the back of your card and let an adviser activate your 5% cash back.
Chase location: Visit any Chase bank and see a personal banker.

For more on the Chase Freedom, read these previous posts:
Chase Freedom 2014 5x Bonus Categories Announced
Top 10 Cards In My Wallet And What I Use Each For
Maximizing Dining Purchases
What is the Best Credit Card for Home Improvement Expenses?
[card card-name='Chase Freedom®' card-id='22125634' type='javascript' bullet-id='1']

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.