Chase Freedom Extends Bonus 5% Cash Back at Wholesale Clubs Through End of 2016

This quarter, from April 1 through June 30, Chase Freedom cardmembers can earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in purchases at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. Chase probably originally picked wholesale clubs as a bonus category for this quarter to coincide with Costco’s transition to accepting Visa cards, as a reminder that “Hey, now you can use the Freedom card there, too!”

Well, the Costco transition from American Express to Visa has taken longer than expected, and as a result, Chase Freedom cardmembers would have only had between June 20 and June 30 to take advantage of the 5% bonus at Costco.

So, in order to better get its message out, Chase has decided to give its cardmembers a longer time to take advantage of the bonus at Costco. According to a Chase spokesperson:

With the Costco credit card acceptance changing to Visa on June 20, including those issued by Chase, Chase Freedom is announcing that it will continue to offer the 5% cash back category of Wholesale Clubs through the end of the year. Chase Freedom cardholders earn 5% cash back each quarter on up to $1,500 in combined purchases from Wholesale Clubs, including Costco®, BJ’s® and Sam’s Club®, and other additional rotating quarterly categories.

What this means is that Wholesale Clubs will also be a bonus category in both the third and fourth quarters. So, in Q3, Freedom cardholders will earn 5x points on up to $1,500 in spending at restaurants and wholesale clubs combined. In Q4, Freedom cardholders will earn 5x points on up to $1,500 in spending on “holiday shopping” and wholesale clubs combined.

Note that, assuming it keeps the same limitations put in place for this quarter, eligible wholesale club spending excludes gas, fuel and wholesale club specialty service purchases such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement.

Activation for Q3 (July through September) bonus categories begins on June 15.

As a reminder, Chase cardmembers can activate their quarterly 5% cash back in any of the following ways:

• Online at chase.com/freedom
• Over the phone by calling the number on the back of your card
• At any Chase bank by seeing a personal banker
• Via ATM – Chase checking customers can activate their 5% cash back with one click via the ATM while making a cash withdrawal
• Chase Freedom® mobile app – Download the new Chase Freedom mobile app, logon using your Chase online login and password to activate your 5% cash back.