Chase improves their credit card lineup - and it's actually an improvement!

[dreamshark]

This almost never happens. Usually when a credit card company announces that they have revamped their credit cards to make them ever so much more valuable, they are at best taking something away with one hand while offering some unwanted new feature with the other. Not this time. Chase is replacing their popular Freedom card with a massively BETTER version called Freedom Flex. They've also upgraded their related Freedom Unlimited with dynamite new reward categories.

Freedom is the no-annual-fee card that gives you 5% back on different categories of spend every quarter. It still does that. But now you also get 3% back (year round) on dining and drugstore purchases, and 5% back on travel booked through their travel portal. The dining category is excellent, but 3% on drugstores is unprecedented. Do you know how much you can spend in a drugstore? Sometimes (but not often) you'll find drugstores in the rotating 5% category, but I've never seen a card that gave 3% back year round!

Best of all, if this is a new card you get a $200 Welcome Bonus and 5% BACK ON GROCERIES FOR A YEAR. That is a fantastic deal for a no-fee card! Hell, it would be a great deal on a card with a $95 annual fee. I already applied for one, and we'll be switching to that for our grocery purchases for the next year as soon as the card arrives.  

If you already have a Freedom card, you should call and get it upgraded for free to the Freedom Flex. Because it's not a NEW card you won't get the 1-year grocery benefit, but you get the other new categories.

If you have a Freedom Unlimited you get the new categories automatically without having to even call. Just remember to use it at drugstores going forward, and for dining (including takeout) unless you have a better option. Or just use it for everything, which is not only what Chase would like you to do, it's a good choice for that if you want simplicity. It gives you 1.5% back on all purchases with no annual fee, and now you get 3% on drugstore and dining to boot. 

And if you would like to apply for a nice new Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited, please let me know and I will send you a referral link. You get the same intro offer ($200 + 5x on groceries) and I get a referral bonus. 

Comments

[spiderplanet]

You should be in sales. I don't promise to apply if you send me the form, but I might. I'm on the fence about a second card.

[dreamshark]

I'm actually terrible at sales because I am bad at lying. I do get enthusiastic about my hobbies, though.

I personally prefer the Freedom with the rotating categories, but that's because the hobby I just referred to is actually fooling around with my credit card portfolio. For somebody who wants only a minimum of credit cards and doesn't want to have to think about them a lot, I would recommend the Freedom Unlimited.

In either case, if it's a new card you will get the 5% groceries for a year and $200 cash back.

I'll send you a link, probably accompanied by more unasked for information.

[spiderplanet]

Cool! Today is a good day for that!

[arkuat]

I'm interested.

[carbonel]

I'll take a referral. (Is this a MasterCard?)

[dreamshark]

"(Is this a MasterCard?)"

A good question. Traditionally, almost all of Chase's credit cards have been Visa. However, for the Freedom Flex they are switching over to Mastercard. The Freedom Unlimited is still a Visa.

Practically speaking, I have found that this makes almost no difference to the consumer. Anyplace that takes Mastercard also takes Visa, and vice versa. The only reason that I can think of that it matters is if you care about the small package of esoteric features that Mastercard calls "World Elite Benefits" and Visa calls "Visa Signature."

[carbonel]

It really doesn't matter all that much, but I already have an AmEx card (the Delta one, that I get miles on), and a Visa card through my bank, so getting a MasterCard means I'm completing the trifecta.

[dreamshark]

In choosing between the two I think it's more important whether you would rather have the rotating categories (which can be lucrative but requires more attention) or the solid 1.5% plus dining and drugstore.

[minnehaha]

Does CostCo take Visa or debit cards and nothing else? I think that's the current deal over there.

K.

[dreamshark]

Oops, you're right, got me. Costco only accepts the credit processor that issues their store card, which used to be Amex but is currently Visa. I can't think of another example like that. But yes, that's an example where it's handy to have one of each.