The Points Tool You've Always Wanted

The Chase Freedom Flex has an elevated welcome offer and several new features. New cardholders can earn $250 after spending $500 in the first three months, up from the standard $200 bonus with the same spending requirement. Chase has also eliminated foreign transaction fees on the Freedom Flex, a nice upgrade for a card with no annual fee. They did eliminate cell phone protection, though, and that change applies to both current and new cardholders. You can now also preview upcoming 5% rotating categories earlier in the Chase app, and Q4 2026 categories include grocery stores, dining, and donations to the Red Cross. Because the card already earns 3% back on dining, the quarterly bonus stacks to provide a total of 7% back on dining in Q4. There is a $1,500 limit in combined purchases across the quarterly 5% bonus categories. Chase has also added Points Boost offers that can increase the value of points by up to 10% on select hotel bookings through Chase Travel. Remember that although the Freedom Flex is marketed as a cash-back card, you can combine the rewards with Ultimate Rewards from an eligible Sapphire or Ink card and transfer them to Chase's airline and hotel partners.

Chase appears to have reversed course and is once again allowing product changes to the Freedom Flex. There are now multiple data points from Freedom Unlimited and original Freedom cardholders successfully switching to the Flex, despite those cards running on Visa while the Freedom Flex is a Mastercard. If you have a Sapphire card and want to downgrade to the Flex, you may first need to product change to the original Freedom or Freedom Unlimited, then request another change to the Flex. The Freedom Flex earns 5X Ultimate Rewards on rotating quarterly categories, and while those rewards are technically issued as cash back, you can combine them with points from an eligible Chase card that transfers to airline and hotel partners.

Bilt has updated its terms to allow Bilt Blue, Obsidian, and Palladium cardholders to upgrade or downgrade between cards. Having the flexibility to product change is always good news. Upgrades are already rolling out in beta to select cardholders, and the terms also indicate that Bilt may offer targeted bonuses for upgrading. Unfortunately, the details are very much on brand for Bilt, meaning unclear and convoluted. The new terms include complicated language about potentially clawing back welcome bonuses, Bilt Cash, points, elite status, and annual credits when downgrading within 30 days of an annual fee posting. It's not clear whether this language applies only when you initially open or upgrade a card, or whether Bilt could also claw back benefits when you downgrade within 30 days after the annual fee posts on your second year of holding the card. Those are very different policies, and the latter would be unprecedented in the points and miles world. The terms aren't clear enough for us to confidently say how this will work or what we'd recommend doing. For now, the important takeaway is that Bilt is adding the ability to upgrade and downgrade its cards, but we'd wait for clarification from Bilt and real-world data points before making any decisions based on the new rules.

September 22, 2026 update: We have been hearing reports of these same targeted offerse for both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Preferred, so it's worth a few minutes to check the Chase app or your pre-approved offers through Chase.

Chase is targeting some cardholders with unusually large welcome offers on the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred. Reported offers include 175,000 points on the Sapphire Reserve after spending $6,000 and 125,000 points on the Sapphire Preferred after spending $5,000, matching the public spending requirements but with significantly higher bonuses. These appear to be the highest offers we’ve seen on either card, so if you’re targeted and were already considering applying, these are excellent opportunities. Log in to your Chase account or check your pre-approved offers to see if you’ve been targeted.