Chase Freedom Flex REFRESHED + NEW Sapphire Lounge Coming

In this video I want to talk about three things. First up we have a new Chase Sapphire Lounge which has just been announced at a certain West Coast airport. We have a load of pictures of what it will look like too. Then we have a rule change from Citi. It seems that they are implementing the so-called once-in-a-lifetime rule for bonuses on certain credit cards. We'll tell you which ones and exactly how the rule is worded since it's their own variation on this policy. And lastly, the Chase Freedom Flex card has now been refreshed and it has a new bonus and some new benefits and we'll tell you all about that too. Hey credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges aka The Credit Shofu and on this channel I cover US credit cards, personal finance, and luxury travel. If you like the sound of that please subscribe but let's get into it. And this video is brought to you by Monarch but more on that later. So let's talk about this new Chase Sapphire Lounge first. The news of this was first broken by the blog View From The Wing but it's based on public documents from the airport where this lounge will be located and that is Seattle Takoma International Airport. Now the documents contain renderings of what the lounge will look like and these look basically like photos so you can get a really good idea of what it's going to be. We'll have a look at more of those images in just a moment but first let's go through some basics. So the lounge is going to be 16,000 square feet which is massive in my view anything over 10,000 is a good size for a lounge. So 16,000 is a great size and hopefully that should alleviate crowding. The lounge will be next to the Delta Sky Club in Concourse A of the airport. You can see the position on the bottom left of this map. This is from the documents from the airport but I don't find this map very clear. It looks like the lounge is actually in baggage claim. You see that round thing? I think that's a baggage claim carousel but actually I think that this is on the floor above the baggage claim. So if you look at this map it looks a bit clearer. You can see the blue dot on the left signifies airport lounges and I think the baggage claim is on the floor below. But anyway let's now go through some of the renderings so you can see what this lounge will actually look like. So we showed you the entrance already. Next we have a shot of the main bar area. We have these either velvet or leather bar stools, this impressive chandelier above the bar, and what looks like floor-to-ceiling windows in the distance there. Then this area is called the collector's lounge and it's a little more dimly lit with what looks like a coffee bar and a cool little detail I noticed is the classic vinyls on the shelves. Some of my personal favorite albums are actually here. Look, Oasis's first album definitely may be. The Wall by Pink Floyd. Okay, no idea if that's what will actually be in the lounge. It could just be a placeholder for some random collectibles. But next we have the main seating area just in front of the main bar. You can actually see the bar in the background. There are these cool round sofas which look like they could seat about five people or so around a table. Then we have the main dining area which has cool overhead lighting, floor-to-ceiling windows, an interesting looking ceiling. I originally thought that there were tables on an outdoor terrace but actually I think those are just the reflection of tables inside in the windows. So probably no outdoor terrace. And that's the end of the photos. Okay, that's what was released in the document from Seattle Airport. Now, when will this lounge open? Well, we don't know that yet but we do know that Chase will have a 15-year lease on the space. So once it is open, you'll have 15 years to enjoy it. But if I had to give an estimated opening, I would say probably 2028. Cardholders of the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve business can get in with up to two guests as a benefit of the card. JP Morgan Reserve cardholders and Ritz-Carlton cardholders can also get in under the same terms as the Sapphire Reserve. In the past, you used to be able to get one visit per year with priority pass from any credit card but that benefit was dropped on August 15th. In the long run, it's probably a good thing since it will ease crowding for the actual Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve business card members. Alright, let's now move on to Citi's new restriction on welcome bonuses and then we'll talk about the Chase FreedomFlex Refresh. But first, we are all about financial knowledge on this channel. And for me, a big aspect of maintaining healthy finances is tracking my monthly budget and net worth. That's why I've partnered with Monarch. It is a financial planning app that syncs with over 13,000 financial institutions so you can create a 100% clear picture of your finances. I love how you can see literally everything right in Monarch's dashboard. My transactions, my spending so far this month, my budgets, my mortgages, other loans, and even my stocks. Monarch lets you set up monthly budgets and will warn you when you go over. It also lets you set other financial goals which I find really useful like saving up money or paying down debt. And you can choose to use either the popular avalanche or snowball methods to pay down those debts. So if you have got into credit card debt, and I always tell you guys not to, but if you have, this could be really useful to help you get out of it. And since Monarch has all this information by doing a read-only link to all your accounts, it can show you a really accurate net worth figure. You can watch it increase in real time as you pay down debts and add investments. Hopefully it is increasing. And if it's not, well, now you know your financial reality and you can do something about it. Monarch is private and ad-free. You are the customer, not the product. They're not selling your data to third parties. You have both mobile and desktop versions with everything displayed in one clean dashboard. Monarch offers flexible budgeting options with customizable rules, AI-powered insights about your spending, and it's couples-friendly. So my wife can log in too and get a complete picture of our shared finances. So a big thank you to Monarch for partnering with me. Scan the QR code on screen now or click the link below to start your free trial. And my viewers will also get 50% off their first year with code BEN50. Okay guys, let's move on to talking about this new language that has been added to the Citi cards concerning whether you are eligible for a welcome bonus or not. So Citi used to have a 48-month rule for bonuses on its Strata cards. We will use the Strata Premier as an example. So if you had received a welcome bonus on a Strata Premier or actually the Strata Elite as well, so either of the two Strata cards with annual fees in the past 48 months, and then you applied for the Strata Premier again, you wouldn't be able to get another bonus until you were out of that 48-month window. Well, that language in the terms and conditions has now been replaced with this. New account bonus offer is not available if you currently have or previously had a Citi Strata Premier or a Citi Premier account. You also may not be eligible for the new account bonus offer based on a number of factors such as your history of opening, closing, and using credit cards. So they've actually made it really clear that if you've ever had the Strata Premier before, okay, not the Strata Elite, so just the Strata Premier or the Citi Premier, which is what it used to be called before, you cannot get the bonus now. They also have added that kind of black box language where if you've done anything that they don't like with credit cards and you don't know what it is, they could just stop you getting the bonus anyway. So it is pretty clear. I think with Amex, they say you may not be able to get the bonus if you've had that Amex card before, but with this language in Citi, it doesn't say you may not on, you know, if you've had the Strata Premier before, it just says if you had the Strata Premier, you cannot get the bonus. So pretty absolute. And then they go a step further with you may not be able to get it based on some other factors. But just to let you know, this language is only on the Strata cards. So that applies to the Strata Premier, the Strata Elite. And then also there's one more no annual fee Strata card too, and it's on there as well. But cards like, for example, the Citi Double Cash, we still see the 48-month rule on there. All right, guys, let's now look at the FreedomFlex Refresh. So Chase has just refreshed the FreedomFlex card, and this is a modest upgrade to what is already one of the best no annual fee cards on the market, to be honest. So let's go through what's new and also one benefit that's unfortunately been taken away. First, probably the biggest upgrade, the FreedomFlex now has no foreign transaction fees. Previously, this card charged a 3% fee on foreign transactions, which meant that I really wouldn't recommend using it overseas. But as of now, that fee is completely gone. And that's great since say that you use the Amex Gold for Dining for four points back, and you wanted to use it in Europe, for example, but the restaurant doesn't take Amex. You could take it with you to Europe and see, and some restaurants will take it, but you're always going to come across quite a lot, actually, in Europe that don't take Amex. Well, this can be your backup dining card. Since it's a mastercard, it's going to be accepted all over Europe, way more than American Express, and you'll get three points per dollar on dining. And actually, that could be even higher in quarter four since dining is going to be one of the 5% categories from October through December. And because the FreedomFlex already earns 3% on dining, those rewards stack and effectively give you 7% or seven ultimate rewards points per dollar on up to $1,500 in combined activated quarterly category spending. And now you could potentially earn that at restaurants overseas without paying a foreign transaction fee. Next, Chase is bringing in points boost to the Freedom Cards. This is a benefit that I'd not heard about coming to the Freedom before. We did actually know that the foreign transaction fee was happening, but I didn't know about the points boosting. So now, when you redeem ultimate rewards points for select hotels through Chase Travel, certain properties will now offer up to 10% additional value for your points. So normally, 10,000 Freedom points would be $100 through Chase Travel. With the maximum points boost, that same 10,000 points could be worth $110 towards an eligible hotel. Now, I know it's not as good as the Sapphire cards that give up to 100% extra value. 10% isn't exactly going to change your life. But hey, free money is free money. There's another feature that I actually really like. You'll now be able to preview next quarter's 5% categories one quarter in advance. All right, they used to release them in the middle of the quarter. But now they're going to be a whole quarter in advance. And Chase actually has already revealed the quarter one 2027 categories, probably to make a little bit of a buzz around the launch. It's going to be grocery stores, excluding Target and Walmart, which is normal. And then on top of that streaming services. Interestingly, grocery stores are also a quarter for 2026 category, meaning that we'll get six consecutive months of 5% back on eligible grocery spending across two quarters, which is actually amazing. They also have changed the card art. And for those that find that important, you can call up and get your card reissued with the new art. Personally, I probably won't bother. But some of you might like to do that. And finally, there's an improved welcome offer. For a limited time, new cardholders can earn $250 after spending just $500 in three months. That's $50 or 5000 points more than the standard bonus. But unfortunately, Chase giveth, Chase taketh away because there's one benefit that the card is losing. Unfortunately, the Freedom Flex has lost its cell phone protection benefit. Previously, if you paid your monthly cell phone bill with the Freedom Flex, you could get coverage for eligible damage or theft up to $800 per claim with a $50 deductible up to two approved claims and $1,000 in total benefits per 12 month period. That coverage ended after September 19th. So if you've been paying your cell phone bill with the Freedom Flex specifically to get that insurance, make sure you move that bill to another card that still offers cell phone protection. But overall, I think it's definitely a positive and I will continue to use the Freedom Flex as one of my favorite cards for earning Chase points in the months to come. Certainly looking forward to two quarters of 5x Chase points on groceries. If you're interested in the Freedom Flex, I'll put a link to it down in the description below. Okay, that's the video for today. Thank you for watching and a big thank you to Monarch for partnering with me. Scan the QR code on screen now or click the link down below to start your free trial and my viewers also get 50% off their first year with code BEN50. Please subscribe to our channel if you're new and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye.