For a limited time only the signup bonus on the Chase Freedom card is increased to $150 for spending $500 in 3 months plus $25 for adding an additional user and making a purchase. Those actually come in the form of 17,500 points that can be used for $175 cash back, but would be put to better use if used as airline miles.
Chase Freedom is an excellent no annual fee card thanks to its quarterly 5% categories. While they call it 5% cash back you’ll really get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be worth much more than 5% cash. For $1,500 in spending per quarter you will earn at least 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points over the course of a year (7,500 points per quarter at 5 points per dollar spent).
The Chase Freedom card normally give 5 points per dollar on up to $1,500 in spending in each quarter of the year in rotating categories.
However as previously reported, Chase has effectively ended the Q4 bonus yesterday.
From 11/23-12/31 will be “Q5”. It will have the same categories as Q4, but you will earn a whopping 10 points per dollar! All spending has been reset as if a brand new quarter has started today, so that you can earn 10 points per dollar on the full $1,500 of spending. That’s 15K points for $1,500 in spending!
-You can lock in the savings for future purchases by buying a $1,500 gift card with free shipping. Amazon gift cards never expire.
-You can also buy an eGift card that is sent right away.
-Or you can load funds directly onto your Amazon account here.
-Alternatively you can buy gift cards here from Amazon for lots of other stores as well. Sample gift cards include American Eagle, Express, Forever 21, Hollister, Nordstrom, Southwest, Staples, Starbucks, and Whole Foods
-You can also get a free wallet/card holder or a free teddy bear when you buy Amazon gift cards.
-Be sure to check if you are targeted for a bonus $10 when buying Amazon gift cards.
You can also now click here to activate the “Q5” categories. If you’ve already activated the Q4 categories you don’t need to do it again for “Q5”. Here are the Q4/Q5 stores:
-Amazon.com
-Amazon Prime Subscriptions
-Amazon Fresh
-Amazon Local
-Zappos.com
-Audible.com
-Diapers.com
Through the end of 2015, the Freedom card also earns a 10% annual point dividend. The final dividend will be paid out in February 2016 for 2015 purchases. That means for Q5 that you’ll earn an effective 11 points per dollar on purchases from the bonus point categories and you’ll earn an effective 1.1 points per dollar everywhere else.
Freedom alone can’t transfer points into much more lucrative airline/hotel/train currencies, but if you or your spouse has a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Plus card then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. You can read at the end of this post which currencies they can transfer to and why those points are much more valuable than just taking cash back. The Freedom card can also keep your points alive for free if you do close one of those cards.
The value of the points will be based on where you use them, but if you use those points for a trip worth where they are worth 2 cents each then you’ll have effectively earned 20-22% back on those “10 point categories.” The sky is the limit of the value of airline miles as they aren’t tied to the cost of a ticket. That’s good for people in the know and bad for those who are not. 1 mile can be worth 0.25 cents or it can be worth 25 cents, it all just depends on how you use them!
IF I OPEN MORE THEN 5 CARDS THE LAST 2 YEARS COULD I STILL GO IN TO CHASE BRANCH N ASK 4THE SPC?
Do you think that the chase freedom is a good card to open as my first card?
is it still valid?
Also possible to earn 30.1 UR point per dollar if grandfathered into 10 points per purchase + 10% on total purchase. Breaking it down into 50 cent reloads, using an iMacros script which I posted once before (either on DDF or somewhere in the comments to a post).
Does PrimeNow count in this category?
What’s about “amazon payout” ?
Does anyone know how to check how close you are to the total number of points you can accrue through the bonus spending (and still get 5/10 points per dollar, not just the basic 1 point)?
There used to be a chart on the chase rewards page that showed how much money (not as points, but at least it was some metric) you had accrued for the bonus spending (out of $75), but now I don’t see it.
@Zac:
Read the whole post.
How do we use the Freedom card for airline miles? I thought Ultimate Rewards do not convert to miles?
@Dan: Ok, thanks
@Fafa123:
You’ll get the 10 points per dollar, not the signup bonus.
@abka:
If you bank at Chase you can go into a branch and ask a banker to fill out a special reconsideration form.
Dan, if declined when applying for the Freedom card, because of “Too many cards opened last 24 months”, is there anything to do to get it reconsidered?
I have a CSP whose annual fee will be due soon. Can I downgrade to the Freedom and still get the points?