Update 1/4/24: It’s been brought to our attention that this uncapped Chase Freedom Unlimited offer will be ending soon. If it sounds tasty, best to put it on the menu soon.
Chase recently released a brand new, and very enticing, welcome offer on the no annual fee Chase Freedom Unlimited card. It doubles all cashback on the card for the first year, including the bonus categories of drugstores and restaurants. Using this, a new Freedom Unlimited cardholder would get 3x everywhere, 6x on dining and drugstores and 10x on purchases through the Chase Travel portal…with no annual fee. Wowza.
This offer is exciting for those with big spend, as it offers 3x everywhere and doesn’t put any cap on the total amount of cashback that you can earn in the first year. Because of that, we’ve put it on our Best Offers page.
However, as good as 12 months of 3x everywhere sounds, some folks might actually be better served by the older (and still existing) offer of 20k points after $500 spend and 5x on grocery and gas for one year. We’ll quickly compare and contrast each one below.
Offer and Card Details
| Card Offer and Details |
|---|
Up to 30K points / $300 cash back ⓘ Affiliate Earn an additional 1.5% on all purchases (up to $20K spent in the first year) - worth up to $300 cash back.No Annual Fee This card is likely subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (click here for details). Recent better offer: Unlimited Double Cash Back for 12 month (expired 1/11/24) FM Mini Review: Great for 3x categories and 1.5X everywhere else. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Business Preferred. Click here for our complete card review Earning rate: 5x travel booked through Chase Travel℠ ✦ 5X Lyft through March 2025 ✦ 3x dining ✦ 3x drugstores ✦ 1.5X everywhere else Card Info: Visa Signature or Platinum issued by Chase. This card imposes foreign transaction fees. Noteworthy perks: Free DashPass for up to 3 months upon activation ✦ $10 quarterly Instacart credit ✦ 3 months free Instacart+ See also: Chase Ultimate Rewards Complete Guide |
Comparing both Chase Freedom offers
First off, let’s point out that, regardless of which of the two offers that you take, the Freedom Unlimited will give you:
- 5x at Chase Travel
- 3x at restaurants
- 3x at drugstores
- 1.5x everywhere else
Given that, let’s break down what each of the two available welcome offers will provide new cardholders during the first year of card membership:
Offer “A” – Unlimited Double Cashback for first year
- Additional 5x at Chase Travel
- Additional 3x at restaurants
- Additional 3x at drugstores
- Additional 1.5x everywhere else
Offer “B” – 20k points after $500 spend + 5x on gas and grocery for first year
- 20,000 Ultimate Rewards (worth $200 without a card that enables transfers to partners)
- Additional 3.5x on grocery and gas on up to $12,000 total combined spend (or an additional 2x when compared to the 3x everywhere on offer A)
As mentioned, that extra 1.5x from offer A turns the Freedom Unlimited into a 3x everywhere card, which is incredible. But, you also miss out on 20,000 easy points. In order to break even, you’d need to spend ~$13k at 3x to get the 20,000 bonus points that you’d have after $500 spend with offer B (because you’re getting 1.5x everywhere regardless of which offer you pick).
The bonus categories are close as well. Remember that the “double cashback” offer A adds an additional 3x on restaurants and drugstores to make the total 6x in the first year. Offer B gets you an additional 2x on up to $12k spend on gas and grocery when compared with offer A. Let’s say that you spend $1k/month on fuel and groceries, so you’d max out the $12,000 limit and earn 60,000 points/$600, or an additional 24,000 point when compared with doing the same $12k at 3x on Offer A. In order to make that up with the additional 3x on dining and drugstores, you’d need to spend $8k in those two categories. That’s going to be easy for some folks and a lot of toothpaste for others.
Quick Thoughts
So, which offer is better? That depends entirely on your spending patterns.
Are you a big spender, eat out a ton, do a lot of spending in drugstores and/or salivate at maximizing the potential of a full year of 3x Ultimate Rewards everywhere, uncapped? Offer A is for you.
Are you a moderate spender that’s looking for a one-card solution that bonuses spending on dining, groceries, gas and drugstores with no annual fee? Then, Offer B could be better.
We debated the pluses and minuses of each one as a team and decided to list the new offer with double cashback as the best offer, simply because of the potential with the uncapped earnings. But, we’re also listing the older offer as an alternate because it could actually serve some folks better.
The double cashback offer is via affiliate channels, so we’ll see it all over the interwebs during the next few days. It’s a great deal on a no annual fee card that will give you a ton of value in the first year. However, it’s worth remembering that the older offer is still out there and running the numbers to figure out which one is best for you.
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While I doubt many, if any, are still looking at this post …
Our P2 applied for this card with the double cash back offer on 1/2/24, via the Frequent Miler affiliate link. The link as of that day definitely went to the double cash back offer (and I took screen shots, just in case). And that’s obviously prior to the 1/4/24 update of this page that says this offer is going to be “ending soon”.
Application went to “In Review” and then got approved on 1/18/24. However, when we called to verify some info about the card, they said that that double cash back SUB had expired on 12/31/23 and thus wasn’t applied to the card. I insisted that the application page was still advertising that offer on 1/2/24, and that we had screen shots to back that up. So they’re submitting the case to the “escalation team”. We’ll see how they reply. But I’d be pretty dismayed if they decline to apply the offer. (And they said apart from that offer, no other offer was applied. Clearly if the double cash back offer wasn’t available, we could have at least gone for the $200 SUB offer instead. So if we end up with no SUB on this card, that’d be a tad frustrating, though not the end of the world.)
UPDATE: While the phone rep I spoke with (mentioned in the prior post) wasn’t as helpful, I then sent a Secure Message to Chase, conveying my concern about whether the double cash back promo got properly applied to P2’s new card. I attached screen shots of the ad I signed up through, along with a shot of this FM article (which shows that as of 1/4/24 the offer was still live; relevant in my case since I applied through the FM affiliate link). Thankfully they replied fairly quickly approving the double cash back offer. Phew!
[…] also have to give credit to Frequent Miler, which was the only website (besides us) that I saw mention that for some people, it could be […]
Have you heard the latest? Chase is now backing out of the double cash back. Just got an email from them that they made a mistake and are ending it as of 12/9/23. I applied in October, right when the offer came out. My confirmation didn’t mention it so I emailed and they emailed me back confirming that I would be getting the match. I don’t see how they can back out of a public offer, it’s just outright fraud.
Can you put business spending on this card? Would Chase deny the double points at the end of 12 months if I put $100,000 spending on the card each month?
Sure, you can put any expenses on it that you like. As long as you have the credit limit to support the spend, there’s no issue at all.
Dont cycle credit on the card. If so they will close all accounts and you will have to right. Many yrs ago for business purposes I hit a card hard. 5% . Yep. All spend. Long story. I fought them tooth and nail and got all the points that had not been used. On the phone executive offices told me point blank the card I had could not be used for business purposes. Same applied to CHase non business branded cards. I asked her can you show me in the fine print where it says that. This is the classic answer I got (executive offices, not a rep) It is if I say it is.
Just product changed my CFU to regular freedom card so that I can sign back up for this again. It’s been over 24 months since got the last SUB but wandering how long after product changing to sign up again? 30 days?
I got the new link for the chase freedom unlimited 2x points for first year. I got the card and can’t find the language about getting the 2x points at end of year. How do I check to make sure this will happen after the first 12 months? Hate to use this card almost exclusively and be disappointed if it doesn’t go through in a year. Would hate to be in a bait and switch situation. Thanks
Would my P2 be able to get a Freedom Flex and unlimited if she is under 5/24? She just got a Freedom Flex about a month ago.
Yes
[…] spend and they have no annual fee. Right now, there is a new different kind of signup bonus for the Chase Freedom Unlimited: Uncapped double cashback for one year (but there may be a better offer). At this point, this card does not show up in my affiliate links, so […]
I mean, if you treat it like a 12 month sub spend, this seems like a good deal for some folks. You could just live like those people with a single card. The question would be the opportunity cost for that kind of sub vs opening other cards. If you didn’t want to churn for a year, this seems like an interesting way to do that. If you spend 50k/year, that’s the minimum bonus amount (the difference between 2 and 3x on non-category spending), but surely you will spend some of that on dining, grocery, or travel. I imagine it would be easy to build that to the 80-100k UR bonus point range over a year.
Of course, you can pick that up with a Venture X or an Ink sub. So, even that kind of bonus would not replace churning. But for someone with higher spend and who wanted to make things easier on a P2 for a year (I.e. no card rules), you could do worse.
Does Chase tell applicants the size of their credit line before final approval? Would seem a waste to get the new offer if, say, you only get a $5,000 limit, despite healthy spend
The only time I can think of that happening is moving credit lines around during a reconsideration phone call, Applying online, you won’t find out your credit limit until after approval.
But to tag on to what Tim said here, if you have other Chase consumer cards, it is just a matter of sending a secure message to ask them to reallocate limit. For instance, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred with a $20,000 limit and you get approved for the CFU with a $5,000 limit, you could send Chase a secure message and ask them to move $10,000 from the CSP limit to the CFU and have a $15K limit on the CFU (and a $10K limit on the CSP). You can even consolidate from multiple cards with one message (like I’ve moved $4K from one card and $1500 from another or that sort of thing before in one message).
Can you reallocate between business and personal credit limits or do they keep those seperate? I was only approved for a $500 limit but have over 100k available through business card. Waiting to receive the card before I call
Not between business and personal.
Why can’t you simply pay the bill early to spend more than $5k per month? I received a business card with a $3k limit and as soon as I spent $2k (after a couple weeks), I just went in and made a $2k payment for example.
Under bullet ‘B’, shouldn’t “2x when compared to the 3x everywhere on offer B)” be everywhere on offer A? That bullet is IN bullet B being compared to A, which is the one with 3 pts back everywhere.
Yep, thanks. Fixed.
This offer also includes 0% apr for the first 15 months. Considering a lot of people have a lot of extended credit with Chase that could be moved to this card, that could be pretty valuable to park a big balance here for over a year and collect interest or invest elsewhere.
is offer “A” only available for a new application and not downgrading?
Yes that’s correct. New applications only
Is offer “B” for new applicants, or can existing cardholders capitalize on the offer if they have had an Unlimited card for over 12 months?
These are both for new cardholders only
I’ve had the Freedom Unlimited for 5 years and love the card. Would Chase issue me a 2nd identical Freedom Unlimited Card with the double cash offer?
Chase has a 24 month rule on both Freedom cards that makes you ineligible to receive a welcome bonus on a new card if you currently have that card OR have received a welcome bonus on that card within the last 24 months. So, you’d need to cancel or product change your card and then apply again (but wait a few days for the system to realize that you no longer have the card).
And the welcome bonus limit is only if you have received a welcome bonus within the past 24 months for the Unlimited specifically, not all of the Freedom family, i.e. Flex?
Yep, you got it.
From my reading, all of Offer A’s bonus points won’t be paid until 12 months after opening. That’s a pretty big negative
FM Crew/Members – love the site, podcast, content…keep it up! I don’t have FB so I’m trying this route for my first post.
Need answers:
1). I signed up for CFU 2-3 months ago. If P2 signs up for this offer – can I then be AU on her card as well? We have high personal spend so this makes sense for us.
2). Any real data points on chase clawbacks/shutdown for buying gift cards at drugstores (not MS, more like legit 1-2K per month for Amazon, gas, etc). I know better than to tangle with the Amex animal.
3). P2 is in my house and I have the Chase Saph Reserve – she would be able to transfer CFU points to my CSR correct? She wouldn’t need her own CSR/CSP right?
Thanks!
curious about gift cards at grocery stores, I see a lot more store cards than office depot which has really gutted their GC inventory
It’s anecdotal but I’ve put $4K – $5K in 3rd party gift cards on my Freedom Flex without issues this year. Mainly from Kroger and Whole Foods when I could stack category bonuses with the first year grocery bonus to earn 9X. It seems like Chase limits their exposure through spending caps and doesn’t come after gift card purchases like the AMEX RAT.
Kroger has Holland America and Target gift cards which seem hard to find elsewhere (HAL being useful to pay the balance of our Alaska cruise offer earlier this year).
1) Yep!
2) that won’t be a problem
3) yes that’s correct
Thanks Greg!
IF P2 is eligible for the sign up bonus since they never had the card before but currently are an authorized user on P1, then would P2 have to cancel being an authorized user on P1 and then apply for their own card? Being an authorized user, will they still get the bonus offer?
Being an authorized user doesn’t affect their eligibility in any way. No need to cancel the AU card before applying