Chase Freedom Flex – Cell Phone Protection Benefits [2023]

The Chase Freedom Flex℠ is a terrific credit card issued by Chase that offers some of the best rewards and benefits from a card with no annual fee. One such benefit this card offers is cell phone insurance. Also known as cell phone protection, this benefit will be particularly useful to you if you often damage or break your phone.

Whether it’s because you’re a bit careless or you’re having a string of bad luck, having cell phone insurance can literally save you thousands of dollars in the long run, so being able to access this insurance at no additional cost could be a huge boon, especially from a card with no annual fee!

In this article, we’ll show you how to utilize the Freedom Flex card’s cell phone protection, including all of the fine print you need to watch out for.

Let’s get started!

Freedom Flex Card Overview

The Freedom Flex card is best known for its rotating quarterly bonus categories. But this card is so much more than that — to start, new cardmembers can earn a welcome bonus that includes bonus rewards and a 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers.

Even better, the Freedom Flex card earns up to 5% cash back on purchases:

• 5% cash back in rotating bonus categories each quarter you activate (up to $1,500 in combined purchases every quarter)
• 5% cash-back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 5% cash back on Lyft through March 31, 2025
• 3% cash-back on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
• 3% cash-back at drugstores
• 1% cash-back on other purchases

The rewards on this card can be transferred to travel partners if you have an Ultimate Rewards credit card, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve^®. This means you can convert your 5%, 3%, and 1% cash-back to 5x, 3x, and 1x Ultimate Rewards points, which translates to a maximum return on spending of 10%.

The Freedom Flex card offers Mastercard World Elite benefits, including a complimentary 1-year ShopRunner membership, $5 off from Fandango after spending $20 at Fandango or on Fandango’s streaming service, 5% cash-back on HelloFresh meal kit delivery plans, and a $5 Lyft credit after taking 3 rides in 1 calendar month.

Cardmembers can also enjoy a complimentary 3-month subscription to DoorDash DashPass, as long as you activate by December 31, 2024.

Some of this card’s other benefits include purchase protection, extended warranty, zero liability protection, trip cancellation and interruption insurance, secondary rental car insurance, fraud alerts, and, of course, cell phone protection.

Why We Like This Card for Cell Phone Protection

The Freedom Flex card offers a full cell phone protection policy, and the full language is available in your Benefits Guide within the Appendix Cellular Wireless Telephone Protection section at the end of the guide.

However, the legal language is difficult to muddle your way through, so we’ve gone ahead and distilled it down in the following sections.

Simply put, one of the coverage requirements is that you charge your monthly cellular wireless telephone bill to your Freedom Flex card.

You get coverage starting from the first day of the calendar month following your cellular wireless telephone bill payment. If you fail to pay a subsequent bill in any particular month, your coverage changes:

• Your coverage is suspended beginning the first day of the calendar month after the month of nonpayment
• Your coverage resumes on the first day of the calendar month after the date of your future payments

In short, we recommend just paying your entire cellular bill from month to month using the Freedom Flex card; it’s impossible to predict when your phone will break or get damaged, so paying your bill every month using the same card will ensure adequate coverage.

Bottom Line: Purchasing your phone outright with the Freedom Flex card does not qualify for cell phone insurance; you must charge your recurring cell phone bill to your card to get cell phone protection.

What’s Covered

As long as you paid your cellular bill using your Freedom Flex card the month before the covered incident occurs, you’ll enjoy cell phone protection.

Coverage is suspended if you miss any payments, and coverage generally applies as long as your cell phone incurs damage or theft.

The definition is fairly vague, but we’ll follow up this discussion with a primer on common exclusions and exceptions.

In general, you’ll receive reimbursement for the actual cost to replace or repair a stolen or damaged eligible cellular wireless telephone.

Who’s Covered

In general, any cellular telephones associated with the primary line and additional/supplemental lines listed on the monthly billing statement enjoy cell phone coverage.

So as long as everybody is on the same cellular bill and that cellular bill is paid for using the Freedom Flex card, everyone can be covered by this cellular protection plan.

Coverage Limits

The coverage on the Freedom Flex card is in excess of any other insurance available to you, which makes it a secondary tier of coverage.

So if you already purchased cellular insurance, the Freedom Flex card’s insurance would only cover amounts not covered by your other insurance policy.

If you don’t have a separate insurance policy already, you can get up to $600 in cell phone protection per claim with the World Mastercard or $800 per claim with the World Elite Mastercard.

You can enjoy a maximum of $1,000 in coverage every rolling 12-month period.

There’s a $50 deductible per claim, and you’re permitted up to 2 approved claims per 12-month period.

What’s Not Covered

There are quite a few exclusions in which cell phone protection would not be offered:

• Any accessories other than the standard battery and standard antenna provided by the manufacturer
• Telephones purchased for resale or for professional or commercial use
• Telephones that are lost or mysteriously disappear
• Telephones under the care and control of a common carrier
• Telephones stolen from baggage unless hand-carried and under the eligible person’s supervision
• Telephones stolen from a construction site
• Telephones that have been rented or leased from a person or company other than a cellular provider
• Borrowed telephones
• Telephones received as part of a prepaid plan
• Cosmetic damage that does not impact the ability to make or receive phone calls (including minor screen cracks or fractures less than 2 inches in width)
• Damage or theft resulting from abuse, intentional acts, fraud, hostilities of any kind (including but not limited to war, invasion, rebellion, or insurrection)
• Damage or theft resulting from misdelivery or voluntary parting from the telephone
• Losses covered under a warranty issued by a manufacturer, distributor, or seller
• Taxes, delivery, or transportation charges, or any fees associated with the service provided

Bottom Line: The Freedom Flex card comes with $600 in protection per claim for World Mastercards and $800 in protection per claim for World Elite Mastercards, a $50 deductible per claim, 2 approved claims per rolling 12-month period, and up to $1,000 in total reimbursement every rolling 12-month period. To get coverage, simply pay your monthly cellular bill with your Freedom Flex card.

Additional (Limited) Cell Phone Protection

If you’re looking for other ways to protect your phone, you don’t need to stop with a cell phone protection plan. There are other ways to get limited amounts of coverage beyond an established cell phone protection plan.

Like cell phone protection, these benefits come with no additional cost.

Purchase Protection

The Freedom Flex card offers purchase protection for a total of 120 days after the date of purchase.

You can get up to $500 per claim and up to $50,000 per calendar year in total coverage.

Coverage kicks in if your phone is stolen, damaged, or involuntary and accidentally parted from you.

Extended Warranty

Another great way to qualify for extra protection is to use the Freedom Flex card’s extended warranty protection, which adds 1 additional year on original eligible warranties of 3 years or less.

Coverage is limited to $10,000 per item and $50,000 per calendar year.

Although you must have a valid original manufacturer’s U.S. repair warranty of 3 years or less, a store-purchased dealer warranty, or an assembler warranty, items inside and outside the U.S. both qualify for extended warranty.

Bottom Line: Purchase protection and extended warranty are 2 additional benefits that the Freedom Flex card offers beyond cell phone protection to help bring peace of mind when it comes to damage or theft to your cell phone.

How To File a Cell Phone Protection Claim

Since the Freedom Flex card is a Mastercard, you’ll want to call 800-MASTERCARD (800-627-8372) or visit the My Card Benefits website to start the claim filing process.

You must report the claim within 90 days after the loss or as soon as reasonably possible to qualify for cell phone protection.

If you’re filing a claim online, follow these steps:

1. Visit the My Card Benefits site and select United States as the country of card issuance.
2. Type in your card number and click Enter.
3. You’ll be taken to a benefits dashboard. Click the box that says Cell Phone Protection Insurance and click Read more.
4. There’s a banner that says Start claim. Click that button.
5. Enter the cardholder details.
6. Fill out the fields for Item Details and click Save and Continue.
7. Complete the form and supply any required documentation during the claims evaluation process.

If you’re filing a claim over the phone, follow these steps:

1. Call 800-MASTERCARD to start the claims process.
2. The benefits administrator will advise you on the next steps, including required documentation and forms.
3. Submit all required documentation and forms within 120 days of the loss.

Some examples of required documentation may include:

• Your credit card statement reflecting the monthly eligible phone bill for the month preceding the date the device was stolen or suffered damage
• A copy of your wireless service provider’s billing statement
• A copy of the repair estimate and photos of the damage (if your claim is due to damage)
• A copy of the police report filed within 48 hours (if your claim is due to theft)

There may be other documentation requested by the benefits administrator, so just be on the lookout for that as well.

After all of these steps are completed, you’ll hear back from the benefits administrator or be notified of the status of your online claim.

Final Thoughts

The Freedom Flex card is one of the best credit cards to have for cell phone insurance protection. The truth is there aren’t many credit cards out there (especially those without annual fees) that offer cell phone protection.

And even though the number of options is growing every year, the Freedom Flex card remains a top choice.

That’s because this card blends fantastic rewards structures with a legitimate cell phone protection policy and no annual fee. It’s tough to beat that!

The Freedom Flex card can enable you to get a 10% return on spending when converting your 5% cash-back to 5x Ultimate Rewards points via a card such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

The information regarding the Chase Freedom Flex℠ was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.