Deal of the Day: Get a $50 cash bonus with the Chase Freedom credit card. Chase Freedom offers cash back rewards up to 3%, a 0% APR for up to 12 months, and no annual fee. Check out our Chase Freedom review or get more details from Chase at www.chase.com/freedom.
Chase Freedom Credit Card Review
- $50 Cash Back after your first purchase
- 3% bonus cash back offers in categories like gas, home improvement and department stores
- Full 1% Cash Back on every purchase
- No spending tiers or caps on how much you can earn
- Up to an additional 20% cash back at select merchants when you shop online through Chase
Chase Freedom Credit Card
0% APR on Purchases for up to 12 Months
The Freedom card comes with an introductory 0% APR on purchases for up to 12 months. Like most credit cards today, Chase employs variable pricing. Also called tiered pricing, the exact terms of the card will depend on the applicant's credit history. As a result, some applicants may receive the 0% offer for 6 months.
Cash Back Rebates
Instead of 3% cash back on 3 select categories, as Chase cards have done in the past, the Freedom offers 3% bonus cash back on gas, groceries and fast food purchases for the first 6 months. In addition, cardholders will be able to earn rewards with 3% cash back offers every quarter.
For all other categories of purchases, Chase will offer a 1% cash back reward.
No Annual Fee
Importantly, the Freedom card comes with no annual fee.
It will be interesting to see if other card issuers follow Chase's move to consolidate rewards programs and introductory interest rate offers into fewer cards. Regardless, the Chase Freedom represents an interesting development in the industry and a very good credit card worth considering. Note that it will replace the Chase Freedom and Chase Free Cash Rewards credit cards. As more details about the Freedom credit card surface, I'll update this post.
| Chase Freedom(SM) Credit Card | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
|
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
Previous post: A Brief History of Daylight Saving Time
Next post: Carnival of Financial Goals–Election Day 2008 Edition
{ 1 trackback }
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hmm….to be honest, just from the initial description, the new card doesn’t seem as good as the old Chase Freedom. That’s a shame since I was planning on applying for the original card later on but now won’t get the opportunity.
Eric N., I’ll be posting more details when they become available (later today). One of the keys will be the details about the 3% cash back feature.
^You’re absolutely right DR. Hopefully the card is new AND improved. Looking forward to your post later today. Thanks.
Need to transfer Money into my Bank Account at Provident Bank in Winnsboro, and would like to have it there for extra expences. The amount would be $2,000 dollars, and the zero APR, for twelve months would be the best for me.
Thank you,
Fran S. Schultz, My question is:
May I have the Chase Freedom Card for Zero, APR, for 12 months?
Fran, the Chase Freedom Card no longer offers a 0% APR on balance transfers. In fact, almost all of the 12-month balance transfer offers are gone. But you can finds some competitive 6-month balance transfers. Two that I’ve used before are the Discover More Card (which also comes with up to 5% cash back) and the Citi Platinum Select MasterCard. Good luck!
Those are both good choices and the last thing that I heard was the that Discover More American Flag card has a 0% APR for balance transfers for the first 12 months.
Credit Card Chaser, you are right. Discover More American Flag is 12 months, as is the Chase Slate card.
I have this Chase Card, and despite paying more than the minimum each month they just raised my interest rate from 18.99% fixed to 25.99% variable (so its going to increase again and again in the near future).
There are great rewards, but avoid this card!
Mike B, while I feel your pain, I’m not sure why others should avoid this card. I’ve carried the Chase Freedom for a long time now, and the card has been great. I’m not sure why your rate went so high. Since I pay off my balance each month, I wasn’t even sure what my rate was. But I just checked and it’s still a low 9.99%. Have you called Chase to find out why your rate went up?
What credit score would be required to get the elite pricing and the 12 month (not 6) 0% intro APR rate?
jonathan, about a week ago I spoke with Chase about this very question. Unfortunately, they don’t have (or at least wouldn’t tell me) a minimum credit score to qualify. They said they look at payment history, credit history and so on. For Elite pricing, they are looking for no late payments on your credit history, among other things. This is actually consistent with what Capital One and Discover say.
I have a couple questions on this… but the Chase website seems to only list minimal information. There’s not even a number to call to ask questions before you apply! You can only call them if you are an existing cardholder. Already raises a red flag for me…
1. Is this a Visa, MasterCard, or other? None of the advertising really shows the brand.
2. How would I receive my cashback? Do I have request a check or credit? Will a check be automatically sent each month or when the balance reaches a certain value? Or would I get a credit on my bill each month?
Trying to decide between this and the Citi CashReturns MC, if you have any opinion between the two.
thanks for your help!!
Angela, I carry the Chase Freedom and I believe it’s a Visa, but not positive. As for the cash back, this is from the Chase Freedom Program Rules and Regulations: ” Once you accumulate the required number of rebates or points, you will be eligible to redeem them for your selected reward item. Rebates may be redeemed for checks. Points may be redeemed for gift cards/certificates, travel, merchandise and charitable contributions.”
As for Chase versus Citi CashReturns, they are both solid cash back cards. I actually use the Discover More Card for my daily purchases. I think the best card really depends on your spending habits–all three cards are top notch in my opinion.
Thanks for this info. Is there a balance transfer fee? This used to be a fairly reasonable, flat amount. Nowadays however, most credit card companies want at least 3% or 4% of the amount transfered as a fee, without an upper limit. This can make quite a difference irrespective of the APR!
anne, the Chase Freedom card does not offer a 0% balance transfer. The 0% deal is for purchases only. If you want a Chase 0% balance transfer deal, check out Chase Slate. You might also consider the Discover More American Flag edition card, which also offers a 0% deal for up to 12 months. As for the transfer fee, I believe Slate is 3% and Discover is 5%.
Do not get the Chase Freedom card. I have one and Chase is the worst company ever for working with you. They send you offers then when you go to use it they change it and charge you more. The manager on the phone directly told me that the bank has to look out for themselves. Funny I thought they would want to look out for their customers.
Beth, thanks for sharing your experience. I guess with companies as big as Chase, some have good experiences and some have bad. I have carried both the Chase Freedom and Chase Slate for some time now, and have been very happy.