DailyMarkets.com Staff Writer
Credit Cards
- Best Credit Cards 2012
- Credit Card Wizard
- Low Interest Cards
- Balance Transfer
- Cash Back Cards
- Instant Approval
- Business Cards
- Credit Card Rewards
- Airline Miles
- Travel Cards
- Gasoline Cards
- Student Cards
- American Express
- Capital One Cards
- Chase Cards
- CitiCards
- Discover Card
- Visa Cards
- Canada Credit Cards
By Credit Score
Credit Score
- Free Credit Score
- What Is A FICO Score?
- Improve Your FICO
- What Lenders Look For
- What Banks Know About You
Best CD Rates
Chase Freedom Credit Card Review – $100 Bonus
Review of: Chase Freedom
Our Verdict: 
4.9/5 Stars
Chase Freedom Card, a solid cash rewards credit card issued by JPMorgan Chase, offers a $100 Bonus Cash Back for new sign-ups (one of the largest in the market right now), and is designed for those of you who want to earn cold hard cash in return for your spending. Personally, I find it an ultra good deal that users can get up to 5% cash back on their purchases, and a flat 1% cash back on all others. This card made it to DailyMarkets.com’s Best Credit Cards 2012 in the cash back category.
After looking over the fine print, I’ll share with you pros and cons of Chase Freedom so that you can decide for yourself if this is the best cash rewards card for your personal finances. As a prime cash back card, you need good to excellent credit in order to apply for this card.
Things We Like About This Card
No annual membership fee. You don’t have to pay any annual fee to enjoy the cash back rewards and other great cardholder benefits of Chase Freedom.
Receive $100 bonus cash back. This is one of the best deals this card has to offer. You will receive this $100 cash back bonus after spending just $500 in your first three months of having this card. This $500 spend can be in the form of purchases, balance transfers or checks.
Receive 5% cash back in quarterly rotating categories, up to $1,500 each quarter (this is the catch!). 5% cash back is a lot, and this is one of the most attractive benefits this card has to offer. This 5% deal actually averages out to 2% cash back on every category throughout the year, if you take into account a 1% cash back on 3 quarters for the year! You’ll be notified in advance which categories you will be able to benefit from each quarter and can then plan your spending for that year. It can help you save a lot of money if you use it to your advantage. The catch: you must enroll for each quarterly 5% program!
- Jan 1 to March 31 -Gas stations and Amazon.com
- April 1 to June 30 – Grocery stores and movie theaters
- July 1 to Sept 30 – Restaurants and gas stations
- October 1 to December 31 – Hotels, airlines, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS)
Receive 1% cash back on all other purchases. This is a fantastic offer as 1% applies to all your spending, without any spending tiers or minimum/maximum cash back limit! Not something you’d find in other no-fee cash back cards.
Up to 10% cash back at selected merchants when shopping online through Chase.
No earning limit and cash rebates never expire. Accumulate as much cash back as you want, and without worrying if and when they expire. There are also no spending tiers.
0% introductory APR on balance transfers for 15 months and on purchases for 15 months. This introductory period is great if you want to make a big ticket purchase and pay it over 15 months or if you want to transfer a balance from an existing card. After the introductory period your annual percentage rate will be 12.99% to 22.99%, depending on your credit score.
Chase Blueprint feature included for free. The Blueprint program has certain features which helps you repay your balances faster and save on interest. For example, you can choose to pay in full for certain types of purchases each month like gas or groceries so you don’t pay any interest on them, even though you already owe a balance.
Our Least Favorite Things About This Card
The Chase Freedom $100 card is such a solid credit card that we don’t really dislike anything about it – and that’s rare for us to say.
Our Verdict: 4.9/5 Stars
The Chase Freedom Visa – $100 Bonus Cash Back is a great cash back credit card to get if you like cash rebates. Personally, I prefer cash back to getting rewards because with cash, you can buy whatever you like or use it however you want. A nice incentive offered to new card members is that you get a $100 check after you’ve spent $500 within the first 3 months of account opening – a big plus since you only need to spend less than $167 per month in order to get the $100 bonus! The best thing I like about Chase Freedom is that you get 5% cash back on quarterly rotating categories, which can save you a lot of money if you plan your spending ahead of time.
As a Visa card, you will be able to use this card almost everywhere in the world. Remember, this exclusive card offer isn’t advertised on the main Chase website, so you’ll have to apply through this page. Grab this Chase Freedom $100 Bonus Cash Back card offer while it is still available!
Best Credit Cards
- Chase Freedom
- Blue Cash
- Chase Sapphire
- American Express Platinum Card
- United Credit Card
- Southwest Credit Card
- Delta Credit Card
- British Airways Card - Get 100,000 Bonus Points
- Blue Cash Preferred
- Capital One Venture
- Discover Card
- Chase Ink Credit Card
- Discover More Card - 18 Month Promotional Balance Transfer
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card
- Citi Diamond Preferred Card
- American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card
- Starwood Preferred Guest
- American Express Gold Card
- Citi Dividend
- Capital One Cash Rewards
- Discover Student
- Marriott Rewards Credit Card
- Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Capital One Secured Credit Card
- Hilton Rewards
- Credit Card Rewards
Broker Reviews
i got preapproved mail and finally didnot get card coz low credit history even two cards running form 18 months i don know y they first send mail then denied.
can you connect this card to recurring bills (i.e phone, electric utility, etc.) and still receive the 1% cash back on these bills?
Your review left out that if Freedom Card holders also have Chase Checking accounts, they can get a special rewards program (I forget the name) that gives them an 10% extra points plus 10 points on purchases. i.e turns a $100 – 100 point purchase into a 120 point purchase, or a $1 – 1 point purchase into 11 points.
I used to work for a major credit card processor…it’s my understanding if you received a “preapproved” offer in the mail then they are LEGALLY OBLIGATED to provide you a card..they can however make the credit on it $500. I’d follow up with them if you really want the card.
Great question. I called the credit card services number (1-800-945-2006) to ask this and was told you get the 1% cash back on everything you put on the card, including recurring bill payments. I think I’m going to go for it.
I totally agree with your rating!!! My husband & I absolutely love our Chase Freedom Credit Card. In fact, I wrote all about it on my blog. Plus, I even blogged your article! Thanks for the added insight!
Yes you can !! I have been paying online with my card for months and there is no fee associated with their online bill pay.
I have a question on the quaterly category for Oct – Dec . It is Dining ,Department stores , movies and charity . What counts under Dining and Department stores So does every restaurant (even fast food ) count under Dining ? What about Department stores ? Does Walmart , Target and Costco count ? Or is stores like Kohl’s , JCPenny and Macys ? It is a bit confusion , especially since the Jan – Mar category has Groceries and Drugstores under it ?
Can anybody who has been using the card clarify this ?
Is there foreign transaction fee for charges made when traveling outside the U.S.?
I’ve had my Chase Freedom Card since 5/07 and I agree that this card is fantastic. There are other little perks that come with it too. Last year, I received a 5% reward on my rewards points earned for the year. A few weeks ago my card was upgraded to a Freedom Signature Visa Card at know additional cost, but with all the same perks. As for some of your questions: yes there is a foreign fee of 3%; I recieved the 5% rewards for Wal-Mart during the home improvement quarter this year. As long as the retailer codes in the type of retailer they are you receive the reward points. My only issue is that I’ve had to write Chase several times for concerns because some representatives are not as knowlegeable about the products as you would like them to be.
Is there foreign transaction fee for charges made when traveling outside the U.S.?
I’ve got a Chase – United Plus Visa Card with a good high limit (50K) and applied for the Chase Freedom card recently but they only gave me a $3500 limit.
Can I drop the United card and get a decent limit on the Freedom card?
If you call the service number on the back of the card and request to get all or a portion of the credit limit transferred from one card to the other. They are usually happy to do so.
I would keep the United open with a smaller limit. be sure you tell them that you want to keep your old card open. this will preserve your future credit history and prevent an additional ding against your score.
I just applied for this card moments ago, after 2 years of not having a credit card and being declined by everybody because I messed up so bad. I recently started working on my credit score and I have improved a lot. I got approved for the card, I was almost shaky when I applied lol. I’m planning on taking a car loan in the next 3 months and I hope the fact that I have at leat 2 credit cards in my report will help!
The Chase Freedom now comes as a Signature Card too.
Yes, you can. That’s actually one of the best ways to use the card; I do it with mine – the utilities are auto-paid, so’s my card, and apart from that it rarely leaves my wallet. Try things like your car insurance, online subscriptions and so on as well. I also use mine for gas because at least one quarter of the year that’s 5% back.
You’re mistaken. Pre-approval just means that they have done a “soft hit” on your credit, which doesn’t show as an inquiry but doesn’t give all info either. Basically, they know you don’t have any recent bankruptcies or major defaults, and that’s about it. You’re approved to receive an offer, and in the pre-approval notice it will state that final approval depends upon a credit inquiry. The legal requirement they operate under is that they run a full credit report (a hard inquiry) at the time you apply, and if that doesn’t measure up to legally mandated standards, they are not allowed to issue you a card. If you are declined, unless you are absolutely certain there is nothing on your credit that might cause that and that it is a mistake, don’t waste your or their time by pestering them, as they are now forbidden by law to extend credit to people who don’t qualify.
Do paying bills count towards the $500 that has to be spent withing 3 months?
Hey Rudi,
I received two offers for this same card, different invite numbers. First one I was approved, and then a week later I received another invite, different number. What are the odds I can have two of the same card? I have excellent credit (830 credit score).
Hi, I have 732 credit, got approved for chase freedom 2 days ago, said it would take 1 wk to arrive, one question, what credit limit did they give you, 20k, 30k??
Hi Andrew, how long after you applied were you informed you were approved?
Does the Chase Freedom have free Identity Theft Protection?
Probably because you can’t spell.
I would suggest language in the article be revised to clarify the $1500 refers to ‘total dollars spent’, not the cash back. As written it could be misinterpreted that the cap is $1500 a quarter in CASH BACK. Simply adding the word ‘SPENT’ (up to $1500 spent…) would eliminate any confusion.
—————————————————–
Here is the list of rotating categories for 2012 that qualify for 5% cash back, up to $1,500 each quarter:
- Jan 1 to March 31 -Gas stations and Amazon.com
- April 1 to June 30 – Grocery stores and movie theaters
- July 1 to Sept 30 – Restaurants and gas stations
- October 1 to December 31 – Hotels, airlines, Best Buy (NYSE:BBY) and Kohl’s (NYSE:KSS)