How can you get 7% back on dining with the Chase Freedom Flex®?

Chase has just come out with the 5% back categories for the Chase Freedom Flex®—the categories include dining, the American Heart Association and Norwegian Cruise Line. And with the year round 3% on dining with the Chase Freedom Flex®, you will get a total of 7% back on dining in Quarter 1 of 2026.

How is it possible to get 7% back on dining with the Chase Freedom Flex®?

So the Chase Freedom Flex® gets 3% on dining year round no matter what the quarterly bonus categories are. With the 5% back on dining in Q1, things get interesting. Here’s how it works:

• 1% base + 2% dining year round + 4% quarterly bonus category

The quarterly bonus category is technically supposed to be 5% back but that’s only ON TOP of the 1% base cash back. The same applies to the dining earn rate year round. I decoded the fine print so you didn’t have to:)

What are the other categories for Quarter 1 of 2026 for the Chase Freedom Flex®?

The other two categories for Q1 of 2026 where you can earn 5% back are Norwegian Cruise Line and the American Heart Association.

The Norwegian Cruise Line opportunity is pretty straightforward as you can book cruises with Norwegian.

For instance, let’s say you’re looking for a cruise opportunity in January. I found a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas originating in Miami. It’s just $279 per person and you’ll receive 5% back if you check out with the Chase Freedom Flex®. If you are booking for two people, that’d be $558 total. With 5% back, you’d receive $27.90 in cash back—pretty nice.

As for the American Heart Association, this is a bit different. The first thing that comes to mind is that you could earn 5% back when you donate to the American Heart Association. You could also earn on purchases of CPR equipment and training materials. This is a super niche category. The only minor benefit I see is earning a solid rate when you donate to the American Heart association (if that’s one of your favorite non-profits).

What’s a card that earns a lot on dining?

The Citi Custom Cash® Card (no longer available) is a solid dining card if you are looking for a credit card that has a high earning rate on dining year round. This card earns 5 points per $1 on your top eligible spend category. Essentially there are other categories besides dining that include things like grocery stores, transit and live entertainment but if you will earn 5 points per $1 on whatever eligible category you spend most in.

So you could use this card as your dining card. You would be able to earn 5 points per $1 spent on dining up to $500 in spend every billing cycle.

Can the cash back you earn on the Chase Freedom Flex® be converted into Chase points?

Yes. After your cash back is converted into Chase points, you can use these points for Chase Travel bookings or transfer them to travel partners at a 1:1 rate with a more premium Chase card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Essentially, you’ll be earning 7 Chase points per $1 spent on dining in the first Quarter of 2026 (Jan 1, 2026 – March 31, 2026).

Final Remarks

The Chase Freedom Flex® is a great card to have even if one of the categories isn’t dining. There’s been some other fantastic categories in the past like grocery stores, department stores and gas stations. But you should really take advantage of the 7% back on dining in the first quarter of 2026—you’ll be able to spend up to $1,500 in combined spending at the American Heart Association, Norwegian Cruise Line and dining (dining at 7%, Norwegian and AHA at 5%).