Last updated: April 1, 2010
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I have had this card for at least a year now and I absolutely love it. Another feature is their cashback shopping rewards. If you click through your chase account to get to your favorite stores you get cash back on your card.
For example, I recently made a $300 purchase at overstock.com. When I went through the chase shopping rewards page I got 10% ($30) back in rewards on my account. Since I will be saving up until I get the $250 check for $200 it is really like getting $37.50 off the purchase (plus the 3%/1% for making the purchase on my card). I will be keeping this in mind for my Christmas shopping this year to make the budget stretch a little further.
My fiance just applied for another Chase card, can he apply this card or should he wait? When I got this card they didn’t have this $50 bonus. *Sigh*
Just yesterday I asked to have my card upgraded to this one. (I had the no-longer-available flexible rewards card I believe, which gave 1 point for every dollar spent). Think I’ll be up for this bonus? I’m guessing probably not. Oh well.
Your explanation of the 3% cash back cap is a little ambiguous. The cap applies to $600 spent in the top three bonus categories combined not charging $600+ in a single statement period.
Yeah I can’t tell if they’re simply doing away with the $50 offer or doing away with the entire card. Would be a bummer as its sorta my primary cash back card. Just as well I suppose since I’m switching to Blue Cash.
I’ve been using this card for about 3 months now. The $600 cap is for the 3% back. So, you get 3% of $600 if it’s in the top 3 of their 15 categories, and 1% back on all spending. I went on vacation with this card last month, spent a lot more than that when you include hotels and all, and I did get 1% on every dollar spent, and 3% on the $600 in my top 3 categories.
Yes, it is a nice card. I got it two weeks ago and stop using Discover More or Cash (1% cash back) 🙂
I originally got this card when they were running a $250 dollar sign up bonus last year. Best promo offer I ever got in on. Almost ready to redeem another $250 check!
I have a question – if you sign up for this now and they’re going to change it anyway next week, then what’s the point? Once you have it before the cut off date, they can still change all of the benefits right? Or am I missing something? Will I still get all of the 3%/600 and 1%/everything else benefit even after they change it or what? Can someone please explain this to me. Sorry for my ignorance, but I want to know because I will sign up today if I get to keep those benefits. Thanks!
I’ve been using this card for a year and a half. At the time Chase had a $250 sign-up bonus (you got $200 in rewards points after the first purchase, which were instantly redeemable for a $250 check). Since then my wife and I have run enough expenses through the card to get two more big checks, and we’re close to getting another.
The reward check arrives in an envelope that is easy to overlook. It looks a lot like a boring privacy policy statement from the outside.
I recently stopped using the Chase Freedom card, though it was my main card for years before. They must have changed their fraud detection system because after years of use in the same places, all of a sudden it has kicked in three times in 5 months, shutting down my card and my web account access, always when I need it most. Can’t get through to anyone who can explain why this keeps happening (“Fraud detection protocol is a company secret”) or how to prevent it, so I just threw the card in a drawer and got one that I could actually count on!! The rewards are great, I agree, but make sure you carry a backup!!
There’s a way to use this card in conjunction with an American Express card that gives cash back at about 5% on larger purchases. So, if you are going on a big ticket vacation, you can throw it on the AMEX card and snag the higher rates. I remember reading a formula for this on another site. If I find the link, I’ll comment with it. I just use the Chase card and I have made a good amount with it.
Another bonus of this card is that if you are a Chase Checking account customer, you get the 3% on the top FIVE spending categories.
offer done. its over =(
By the way, the VISA chase card double the manufacture warranty automatically. Actually any VISA card will 2X warranty. You don’t have to pay a penny for this benefit. I tend to purchase appliances, computer, TV, etc. with VISA card because of the warranty.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but AMEX, Mastercard and Discover card do not give you this benefit for free.
This setup works well for me (all cash rewards, no points or miles):
– 5% Amex Blue Cash for gas, groceries, drug stores (after spending $6500 at 1%, takes me about 6 months)
– 3% Chase Freedom Visa for fast food, utilities and satellite/cable bills
– 3% Chase Professional MasterCard for restaurants, office supplies, hardware, home improvement
– 1.5% Amex Blue Cash for everything else (after spending $6500 at .5%)
I like this card, too. Since I have a Chase checking, I got 3% for 5 categories. I’m getting on average about 2% reward every month, and considering $50 bonus at $200, it’s actually 2.5%. Best of all, it’s paid in cash, not points or mileage.
I used to use Amex cash card, but completely switched to a combo of Chase freedom and Amex Costco card. Amex cash is not too bad, but $6500 requirement kills the deal. Amex costco card is used exclusively for Costco purchase and restaurants.
I upgraded my Chase Rewards to this card a couple months ago and am enjoying this card. I’ve had Chase checking forever so I get the 3% over 5 categories. One drawback is that a lot of online purchases don’t fall into any of the eligible categories – it’s in the fine print – but I’m sure that’s the case across other cards. Bruce, thanks for the notice about the 2x warranty – I had no idea about it. I’ll have to look that up, unless you have a link?
I have had this card for about 6 months, and I expect to be able to claim my first $250 check next month. I have also noticed that I don’t get reward credit for online purchases. I bought a new TV online in June and disappointed not to find the rewards on my card. I should have just paid for it in th store.
I see a few people saying they get 3% on the top 5 categories by having a Chase checking account. Is that new? I don’t have a Chase checking at the moment, but I did in the past and I don’t think I got it on five categories (or maybe that checking account was longer ago that I thought)
Does a WaMu Checking account count now? 🙂 I have one of those…
What’s the difference between the Chase Freedom Rewards card and this card?
http://www.chasecreditcards.com/cash-back-cards.asp
It looks like the same thing still? So, it’s not dead or what?
DAVID: In regards to online purchases, do they apply to the regular 1% cashback, just not the 3%?
Yes, online purchases will get at least 1%. For the 3% it depends what they classify themselves as with Visa. Not many online retailers fall exclusively into one of those 15 categories.
I use the Amazon Visa for Amazon purchases (3%), the Discover More for whichever categories it gives 5% back (this quarter is Groceries) and my Chase Freedom for everything else.
By the way, it looks like the $50 offer still stands from other applications, if you Google it.
DAVID: Thanks for the clarification.
I wonder if I got this and the AMEX card and put two of them in my parent’s names if it would help speed up getting to the $6500 requirement or increase cashback? They just used straight Debit cards now with zero rewards.
I love this card – my wife and I both have one, and it works great. I will be very sad if this goes away because we have received $750 in rewards for this over the past year or so.
sorry, it looks like the Discover categories are restaurants and movies – not groceries as I stated earlier.
not bad
A word of warning about chase freedom: Chase credit ninjas are ruthless and indifferent when they suddenly decide to make their move. I used to have that card and was patiently accumulating > 100 points to get $250 after 200 but it all went to hell once they had their look at my account and out of the blue decided to evaporize it.
Without warning the account was canceled, bonus money lost. I don’t deal with Chase anymore, and canceled all our family cards with them…
Albrecht –
WOW! That’s terrible man!
Can anyone else verify this sort of thing happening to them? It would seem that one could raise all hell about this on the internet and speak out – at least for the principle of it. That is a very shady business practice!
Ghost –
Well, it was their decision to treat their 10-year old client, never late or delinquent, in such a manner. What can one do when on the other side of the phone line the icy voices respond: “Our decision is final and cannot be reversed”?
There are forums where people discuss the same treatment by Chase & Citi.
It is their company and their made-up policies and there’s nothing that can be done except taking my business elsewhere. By now I have a blacklist of banks who I would never deal again: Chase is # 1 on that list.
So what happens when the 6 moths are over for the 3%? It says you will get offers for 3% quarterly? Does that mean you will continue to get the 3% forever or just stops after 6 months?
Just a college student looking for a way to “earn extra money”. Some clarifying questions though about this card for anyone that has used it…How much must your first purchase be worth or is there not a minimum to redeem the $50 back? Do you always have to spend $600 every month to receive the 3% and 1% cash back rate? In other words, can you still earn these rebate rates even if you don’t reach the $600/month “goal”? Is it UP TO $600? And is there a minimum amount you have to spend on your “everything else/other purchases” in order to get the 1% back? So about the “Top 3 Everyday Spending Categories”, who chooses the top 3 every month? You, by choosing to use the card on 3 main categories? Or the credit card company, in which you have to follow and make purchases in the 3 categories they appoint? If you get to decide, do the top 3 categories have to change every month? And how do you know if, for example, a certain grocery store is actually considered to be under the “grocery” category or a certain gas station is listed under the “gas” category, as opposed to being considered as “other”? Is there a way to know or see a list of which places qualify for which category, or do you learn simply by trial and error? Whew, lots of questions, but my colleague and I are thinking about signing up for this card soon…Any feedback is greatly appreciated 🙂
Assuming the policy has not changed since I checked last time, there is no requirement on how much you need to spend. $50 limit is simply that you have to earn at least $50 before you can request a check. 3 categories are dynamically changing based on your spending pattern each month. Neither you or Chase pre-decide those categories. You just spent money and at the end of the month the top 3 you used most will earn 3%. About store and category thing, yeah it’s not always obvious which is which. You might be able to optimize spending and maximize rebates by study those, but in my case, I figured it’s not worth time and complexity, so I just use cards without much calculation. I have consistently got 2% back last several months, so I’m pretty happy. (I get 3% from 5 categories for having Chase bank account so it helps.)
I didn’t get the $50 reward but I think just using the card should do the trick. The offer terms should clear that up. You’ll get rewards no matter how much you spend but up to the first $600 you spend in your top 3 categories will get you 3%. Everything beyond that, and everything in all other categories, gets 1%. The top 3 categories are determined by the 3 categories you spend the most in, and yes, they change each month if your spending habits change. Every purchase from any grocery store, gas station, restaurant (including delis and fast food) I can think of has fallen into the proper category.
Does the $250 check for $200 rewards happen EVERY time you get up to $200, or does it only happen the first time?
I have had this card for about 6 months now, and am coming up on the 2nd $200 now and wondering what the store is with it…
Thanks for any help.
Wow – I just checked the updated card again on the Chase site and it has changed since I originally posted the link. It’s only 6 months @ 3%. Wow that really sucks! If that’s the case then AMEX would be the best card right? (If it still exists)
What’s the best reward credit card to pay the rent? My landlord accepts credit card payment and I think it’s would be great to get the most reward.
Rookie:
in your case, you should get a 2% on everything card, since to my knowledge there are no category rewards cards for rent payments.
Some 2% cards are Orchard Bank/HSBC/Household Bank (same card but diff names). PenFed also has one, but you need a PenFed bank account. On this blog you can search for the info on those cards.
Keep in mind some of those rental payment systems will charge a fee for credit payments. If that’s true, you could ask if he’ll accept a Paypal payment.
Just an update on this card…
It is being phased out and I got a letter stating I would be automatically “upgraded” to a 1% back Sapphire card. (Instead of the 3% I’m currently getting…)
You can call 1-800-493-3319 to complain and have them keep your Chase Freedom card for a bit longer… but not sure how long though.