Rakuten offering up to $75 when applying for Chase Freedom Unlimited® card

For a limited time last year, Rakuten offered bonus cashback when applying for select Chase credit cards. Although the offer isn’t quite as generous as back then, you can again earn additional rewards when applying through Rakuten and getting approved for the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card.

Note that this time, the offer appears to exclude those who have Membership Rewards set as their Rakuten earning preference (like me). I had to open up the link below in an incognito window to see the offer. Those earning Bilt points should be able to participate.

The Deal

• Rakuten is offering the following rewards after being approved for a Chase Freedom Unlimited card:
  • $75 cashback – New Chase customers
  • $25 cashback – Existing Chase customers

Direct link to offer

If you’re new to Rakuten

Feel free to use one of our referral links; thank you.

• Tim’s Referral Link
• Greg’s Referral Link
• Stephen’s Referral Link
• Nick’s Referral Link

Key Terms

• Expiry date unknown.

Quick Thoughts

When Rakuten first started offering rewards for select Chase cards, you could earn $150 or 15,000 Membership Rewards when getting the Freedom Unlimited card. This latest promotion offers an even lower reward than before, but for many people, it’d still be worth taking advantage of if you’re in the market for this card, especially with its current increased welcome offer.

This time, it looks as though Rakuten accounts set to earn Membership Rewards points are excluded. That doesn’t necessarily surprise me; I imagine that Amex wasn’t thrilled about giving Chase customers Membership Rewards points to apply for a Chase card. However, those earning Bilt points should be unaffected, since you officially earn cash back first and then those rewards are converted to Bilt points. Like before, there are two tiers of earnings. If you’re not an existing Chase customer, you’ll earn $75 or 7,500 Bilt points. If you are an existing Chase customer, that bonus is lower at $25, or 2,500 Bilt points.

If you’re a Chase customer already and someone else in your household has an existing Chase Freedom®, Chase Freedom Unlimited®, or Chase Freedom Flex® card, they can refer you to the Freedom Unlimited card, and they’ll earn 5,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points if you’re approved. That’s a more generous reward than $25, so it’s a better choice if it’s available to you.

Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.