Card Match: Chase Freedom Flex Card vs. Citi Double Cash Card

When someone is looking for a no-annual-fee card, I always recommend both the Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Flex Card. Both cards are tier 2 cashback cards that earn valuable currencies such as Ultimate Rewards (UR) points and ThankYou points. In my opinion, they are great keeper cards, that will stay in your wallet for a long time. Though they are similar in nature, both cards offer different benefits and target distinct spending categories. It’s time for a card match! We’ll compare the two cards and decide which card is better.

Both cards are great credit cards, but which card is a better choice?

Sign-Up Bonus

The current sign-up bonus for the Chase Freedom Flex Card is a $200 bonus after spending $500 in the first three months with the card. Since $1 equals 100 UR points, the $200 bonus would be translated to 20,000 UR points. Since I personally value each UR point at 2 cents per point, the 20,000 UR points would be worth up to $400.

Only one issuer is offering a sign-up bonus, and Chase is a clear winner. Photo Credit: www.chase.com

Unfortunately, the Citi Double Cash Card doesn’t offer a sign-up bonus. I really think Citi should offer a minimum $100 sign-up bonus to compete against Chase. The winner is clearly the Chase Freedom Flex Card.

If you’d like to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/PL5X261A75

Annual Fees

Both cards are no-annual-fee cards, making them accessible to everyone. Considering that they do not carry an annual fee, they are great keeper cards. A keeper card is a credit or charge card with valuable benefits that outweigh the overall cost of having the card. Keeper cards usually don’t have great multipliers and come with higher annual fees, but offer tons of value for specific airlines or hotel brands. In this case, both cards don’t have an annual fee, to begin with, so they can mature your credit file and provide long-term value. This round is a tie.

Multipliers

Keeping the traditional 5% rotating categories from the original Freedom Card, the Chase Freedom Flex Card earns 5% back on the first $1,500 spent on rotating categories, and they change every quarter. You would need to activate your card a few weeks before every quarter to take advantage of the 5% earning rate. Chase is Lyft’s travel partner, and cardmembers earn 5% on Lyft rides, though this is to end in March of 2022. Also, if you were to book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, you can earn 5% back. Keep in mind that the prices on the travel portal, which is owned by Expedia, may not be the cheapest rates available.

Activate 5% rotating categories and earn versatile UR points! Photo credit: www.chase.com

The revamp added two 3% categories to the card: dining and drug stores. Being able to earn 3% back on dining expenses with a no-annual-fee card is hands down amazing. Compared to a dining-focused card like the AMEX Gold Card, which has an annual fee of $250 and earns 4X Membership Rewards (MR) points, the Freedom Flex earns 3X UR points. The Freedom Flex Card may earn 1% less, and the AMEX Gold Card comes with monthly dining benefits like Uber Cash, but the high price tag of premium cards for an additional 1% may not be worth it. Earning 3% on drugstore purchases can be helpful when you need to buy medicine or toiletries, but I assume many people won’t earn tons of UR points shopping at drugstores.

If you have recurring expenses at drugstores, the Freedom Flex Card will earn you 3% back on them.

On the other hand, the Citi Double Cash Card has a very straightforward earning structure; It earns 1% when you make a purchase and then earns another 1% when you pay the balance, allowing card members to earn 2% back on any purchase. The beauty of the card is that its earning structure is simple. This means whether you dine out or get a rental car, as long as you pay the bill, you are meaning 2% back on all purchases. Also, I think it’s great that it incentivizes cardholders to pay the balance in full (as you should) every month to take advantage of the 2% return rate.

The earning structure is as simple as it could be. Photo credit: www.citi.com

Based on my experience, 5% rotating categories from Chase can be hit or miss. For example, Chase had 5% back at department stores during one quarter, and it was useless to me since I mostly do online shopping on Amazon. However, it does come in handy when the 5% return rate is towards either gas station purchases or groceries. Because the rotating categories are capped at $1,500 unless you put most of your spending on the Freedom Flex Card, the return comes out to be very close to what you’d get from the Double Cash Card. For the sake of simplicity, the Citi Double Cash Card wins this round.

Benefits

The Chase Freedom Flex Card is now a Mastercard and is equipped with World Elite benefits. The best benefit in my opinion is cell phone insurance. By paying your cellphone bill with the Freedom Flex Card, a cardholder can get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against theft or damage.

No need to fix your phone yourself if you hold the Freedom Flex Card. You are insured!

Reinforcing the partnership with Lyft, a cardmember will receive $10 in credit for every five rides taken in a calendar month. The $10 credit will be automatically applied to the next ride and is capped at once per month. Also, if you like to shop online, the card comes with 5% cash rewards on Boxed purchases and a free ShopRunner membership, which allows you to receive two-day shipping and free return shipping at eligible retailers.

If you are a frequent Lyft user, use your Freedom Flex Card and earn Lyft credits.

With Chase’s partnership with DoorDash, cardmembers can get three complimentary months of DashPass (normally $9.99/month). If you don’t find it useful after the promotional period, you must cancel it. Otherwise, it will auto-renew. However, you can still get the remaining nine months for 50% off and pay $4.99 per month. Don’t forget to register for the complimentary DashPass access before December 31, 2021, if you wish to try it. Lastly, the card comes with basic trip cancellation and interruption insurance and Fandango benefits, enabling cardholders to earn more points for movie tickets.

If you already use DashPass, the Freedom Flex Card can save you money!

The Citi Double Cash Card is a basic Mastercard. Other than standard benefits like ID theft protection and contactless payments, it doesn’t offer unique benefits. However, the card is equipped with free ShopRunner membership and will grant cardholders access to Citi Entertainment. Lastly, you will have access to the Citi Concierge. I personally don’t have any experience using the service, but if they are comparable to the AMEX Platinum concierge service, this would be a great benefit for a no-annual-fee card. With World Elite benefits, the Freedom Flex Card is a clear winner.

Redeeming Points

UR points can be redeemed towards a statement balance at one cent per point, but the true beauty of the card shines when UR points are transferred to Chase’s travel partners. Be aware you need a non-cashback Chase card, such as the Sapphire Reserve Card, the Sapphire Preferred Card, or the Chase Ink Business Preferred Card, to initiate the transfer. The transfer partners include 10 airlines (JetBlue, Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Southwest, United, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Flying Blue, Iberia, and Aer Lingus) and three hotel programs - Hyatt, IHG, and Marriott. In general, transfer ratios are 1:1, but sometimes, there are transfer bonuses, allowing you to exchange more partner points and miles for fewer UR points.

Want to sunbathe in South Beach? Transfer 20,000 UR points to Hyatt to stay at the Celino South Beach. Photo Credit: www.hyatt.com

The Double Cash Card earns ThankYou points. Cardholders would need to convert their cashback balances to ThankYou points using the conversion rate of 100 ThankYou points per $1. ThankYou points can be transferred to 16 airline partners: Aeromexico, Air France, Avianca, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, EVA Air, Jet Airways, JetBlue, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Royal, Turkish Airlines, and Virgin Atlantic. Transfer partners open up so many opportunities, but here is the catch: you’d need to hold either the Citi Premier Card or the Citi Prestige Card to gain full access to the transfer partners. If you only have the Double Cash Card, you are limited to JetBlue and Sears, and they don’t yield good redemption rates. Citi’s intention is clear; Citi wants you to carry other Citi credit cards and build the Citi ecosystem. The common Citi trifecta includes the Citi Premier Card for dining, groceries, and gas, the Citi Prestige Card for travel, and the Citi Double Cash Card for everything else. This trifecta is actually a great setup for those who are already invested with Citi credit cards.

I understand Citi wants to promote their premium travel cards, but Citi should give consumers at least more options. Photo credit: www.thankyou.com

This round is more subjective since each issuer offers unique transfer partners. The redemption rates also differ depending on which premium cards you may hold. However, I give the Chase Freedom Flex Card an edge over the Citi Double Cash Card. Chase offers three hotel partners when Citi doesn’t offer any transfer partners for lodging. In addition, as a Citi user, you may be able to score most of Chase’s transfer partners from other issuers, Hyatt is only unique to Chase, and it can yield amazing redemption values. Because the Chase Freedom Flex Card offers hotel transfer partners on top of airline partners, I am going to choose the Freedom Flex Card over the Double Cash Card.

Summary

The Citi Double Cash Card and the Chase Freedom Flex Card are great tier 2, no-annual-fee cards that earn valuable ThankYou points and UR points, respectively. Both cards require their versions of premium credit cards to increase the redemption values and to transfer points to travel partners. While Chase offers airline partners as well as hotel partners, Citi only has airline partners, making the Freedom Flex Card a much more flexible choice. Moreover, the Freedom Flex Card is equipped with Wolrd Elite Mastercard benefits, and the cell phone protection perk can easily save you $15 a month. Lastly, Chase offers a sign-up bonus while Citi doesn’t. If you are invested in Citi’s ecosystem, then the Double Cash Card may be a better choice for you. If not, I’d say the Chase Freedom Flex Card is a better credit card.

If you’d like to apply for the Chase Freedom Flex Card, please consider using my referral link. It will continue to help fund my blog operations and help visitors make informed decisions to maximize their rewards. Thank you! https://www.referyourchasecard.com/18/PL5X261A75