The Chase Freedom Flex® has an unusually strong dining opportunity for the fourth quarter of 2026: eligible purchases can earn as much as 17X Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar through December 31. The first piece of the stack comes directly from the card. Freedom Flex normally earns 3% cash back on dining, and dining is also a Q4 2026 rotating 5% category after activation. Those rates don’t simply add to 8%. Chase calculates the quarterly 5% rate as the standard 1% plus an additional 4%, while the regular 3% dining rate consists of that same 1% base rate plus 2% extra. Since the base 1% is only earned once, qualifying dining purchases earn 7% total cash back during the quarter, or effectively 7X Ultimate Rewards points if you hold an Ultimate Rewards-earning card that you can transfer the cash back to.

A blue Chase Freedom Flex Mastercard credit card showing a chip, contactless symbol, cardholder name D. Barrett, and a green banner in the top right corner that says NO ANNUAL FEE!—perfect for earning points on everyday spending.

Chase Freedom Flex®

Limited Time Offer! Earn a $250

Bonus

after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening

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The quarterly bonus applies to up to $1,500 in combined spending across Q4 bonus categories, which also include grocery stores (excluding Walmart and Target) and eligible American Red Cross donations.

The real opportunity comes from stacking that 7X return with Chase’s additional 10X Paze promotion, which runs through December 31, 2026, on eligible cards and qualifying Paze purchases. The Paze bonus is available on up to $1,500 in qualifying purchases per month, according to published terms, and is earned on top of the card’s normal rewards. To target the full 17X on dining, look for restaurants offering online ordering through Clover where Paze appears at checkout. Place the order through the restaurant’s online ordering page, select Paze, and choose your Chase Freedom Flex as the payment card. Because Paze transactions can continue earning the underlying card rewards, an eligible restaurant purchase can potentially stack 3X regular dining + 4X Q4 bonus + 10X Paze = 17X total.

Credit card dining points

Our Take

For anyone collecting Chase Ultimate Rewards points, this is one of the more compelling dining stacks available through the end of 2026. At 17X, $100 of qualifying restaurant spending generates 1,700 points, while $1,500 would generate 25,500 points if every dollar qualifies for the complete stack. The important constraint is the Freedom Flex quarterly cap: grocery stores, dining and eligible American Red Cross donations all share the same $1,500 Q4 bonus-category allowance. If maximizing 17X dining is your priority, using a different card for Q4 grocery spending can preserve more of that $1,500 capacity for qualifying restaurant purchases.

Our strategy would be simple: activate the Q4 Freedom bonus, verify the Paze offer on your card, and check for Paze at checkout when ordering online from a Clover-powered restaurant. Don’t assume every Clover restaurant or every transaction will qualify; Paze is limited to participating online merchants, and merchant coding still matters for the dining bonus. But when all three pieces line up, the 17X rate turns ordinary dining spend into a meaningful Ultimate Rewards haul—especially for travelers who can later combine those Freedom Flex points with an eligible premium Ultimate Rewards card and access Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners.