Chase Freedom welcome bonuses: Earn up to $250 cash back — and turn into Chase points

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.  

When it comes to no-annual-fee credit cards, it doesn’t get much better than Chase’s duo of the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited®. They both come with valuable welcome offers, too, with the potential to take home tons of cash back.

Both the Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited cards offer excellent rewards rates with no annual fee. Even better, they offer the flexibility to earn either cash back or fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points when combined with other Chase products, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Let’s dive deeper into these offers and see how they stack up.

Chase Freedom Unlimited welcome offer

Welcome offer

Right now, new Chase Freedom Unlimited cardholders can earn $250 cash back after spending $500 in the first three months.

The current welcome offer is not the highest we have seen on the Freedom Unlimited. However, it’s more straightforward than the usual offer of new cardholders earning 1.5% cash back on all purchases (up to $20,000 spent in the first year).

Earning rates

• 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Travel℠
• 3% cash back on dining
• 3% cash back at drugstores
• 1.5% cash back on everything else

These are valuable earning rates, but you should crunch the numbers to see if another card (like the Freedom Flex) makes more sense.

Related: Chase Freedom Unlimited review 

Chase Freedom Flex welcome offer

Welcome offer

New Chase Freedom Flex cardholders can earn $200 cash back after spending $500 in the first three months.

This is the regular welcome offer the card provides. While it offers solid value, you may want to hold off until it offers this amount of cash back plus an additional 5% category, which we’ve seen in the past for grocery purchases and at gas stations.

Earning rates

• 5% cash back on the first $1,500 spent on rotating categories each quarter (activation required)
• 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Travel℠
• 3% cash back on dining
• 3% cash back on drugstores
• 1% cash back on all other purchases

That’s an impressive lineup of earning categories for any card, let alone a no-annual-fee credit card.

Related: Chase Freedom Flex card review

How to turn your cash back into Chase points

What really makes these two cards powerful is how well they play with others.

If you have another Chase card that earns transferable Ultimate Rewards points, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, you can combine the points from your Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex.

This boosts your redemption value for travel through the Chase portal to 1.25 cents per point on the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred or 1.5 cents per point on the Sapphire Reserve.

However, it also unlocks the ability to transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to the Ultimate Rewards program’s airline and hotel partners — including valuable programs like Air France-KLM Flying Blue, British Airways Executive Club and World of Hyatt. In this scenario, TPG’s March 2025 valuations place Chase points at 2.05 cents apiece, so your rewards have significantly more flexibility when used in this way.

Related: The power of the Chase Trifecta: Sapphire Reserve, Ink Preferred and Freedom Unlimited

Key considerations

It’s worth pointing out that both the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex impose foreign transaction fees, so they’re not ideal to use outside the U.S. Rather, you should use a card with no foreign transaction fees.

In addition, you’ll want to make sure you comply with Chase’s 5/24 rule along with the issuer’s other application restrictions before applying. You’d hate to waste a hard inquiry on your credit report only to not get approved.

Bottom line

If you’re a current holder of the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve and don’t have a Chase Freedom card, now could be the perfect time to jump on one of them. Both the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex are worth a look to boost your everyday spending.

Apply here: Chase Freedom Unlimited

Apply here: Chase Freedom Flex