Chase Freedom Card Review: Best No-Annual-Fee Card
Chase Freedom Card is one of the best no-annual-fee card on the market.
Chase recently increased its popular Sapphire Reserve card’s annual fee from $450 to $550, adding additional benefits like a $120 DoorDash credit over the course of two years and a Lyft Pink membership. Although I’ve enjoyed using my Sapphire Reserve, I couldn’t justify paying $550 because the added benefits did not make much sense to me. So, I decided to downgrade to the Chase Freedom card.
Current signup bonus and valuation
Although I will not be getting the signup bonus because I am product-changing, Chase is currently offering $200 in cashback when you spend $500 within 3 months of card activation. It helps that the Freedom card is an Ultimate Rewards (UR) earning card, and with a valuation of 2 cents per UR point, the signup bonus is worth about $400. The signup bonus is nothing to rave about, but the Freedom card is well-worth keeping in your wallet for other reasons.
You can get $200 back in cashback when you spend $500 within 3 months of card activation. Photo credit: chase.com
One of the best no-annual-fee cards: 5X quarterly categories
Chase Freedom card has no annual fees and is unique because it offers 5% cashback in quarterly rotating categories. All other purchases outside of quarterly rotating categories will earn 1% back. In addition, the cashback rewards you earn do not expire. The one downside is that you have to log on to your Chase account and manually activate the quarterly bonus earning categories. However, I don’t see this being much of an issue for most people since Chase will send you a reminder email, and you can activate it by clicking a button. You should be regularly logging on to your card account to pay balances off every month anyway.
Your 5% earnings are capped at $1,500 in purchases per quarter within the designated categories. For example, between January and March of 2020, Freedom cardmembers can earn 5% back at gas stations, internet, cable, and phone services, as well as select streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu. Let’s say you spent $1,500 on gas in January. If you were to buy anything else in those categories through the remaining months of February and March, your cashback rate drops back to the normal 1%. Some categories might be difficult to max out if you are single or if you don’t use services listed in the specific bonus options. Luckily, bonus categories tend to rotate each quarter, and every year Chase offers some additional variety. Last year Chase Freedom’s Q4 categories were PayPal, Chase Pay, and Department Stores - perfect for holiday shopping. Some popular categories such as grocery shopping or gas stations might appear twice in one year. A neat aspect of Chase Freedom cards is that you can hold multiple of them. If you have 2 Chase Freedom cards, that means your quarterly earnings are a cumulative cap of $3,000, which can be especially beneficial for large families.
These are 2020 Q1 bonus categories. Photo credit: chase.com
The concept of capped earnings on rotating quarterly categories is not foreign. Discover cards offer the same service, offering 5% back on rotating quarterly categories and being capped at $1,500 in purchases per quarter. Citi Dividend card offers 5% back on rotating quarterly categories and capping the annual cashback at $300. US Bank offers 5% back on categories you can select and caps it at the first $2,000 in two selected categories combined. Among all these similar choices, I think Chase Freedom offers the best value due to its UR points earning potential. Because of its capability, it can be even competitive against premium cards such as the AMEX Gold card. Obviously, the Freedom card has to offer the right categories to be competitive, but the fact that it opens doors to Chase’s 10 airline partners and 3 hotel partners makes it significantly more useful than other 5% cashback cards.
Discover offers a similar service for Discover it Cash Back cardmembers, but not all points are created equal. Photo credit: discover.com
The Chase Freedom Card introduced a complimentary 3 months of DashPass from DoorDash and 5% back on Lyft rides until 03/2022. The card also offers purchase protection, extended warranty protection, secondary auto rental collision damage waiver, trip cancellation, and interruption insurance. Cardmembers can enjoy access to Visa’s Signature concierge service as well.
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
Chase Freedom cardmembers receive DoorDash and Lyft benefits. Photo credit: chase.com
Who is this card for?
I recommend the Chase Freedom card for anyone in the early stage of their credit cards and points journey. It is a great no-annual-fee card that earns versatile and valuable UR points and is a prime example of a keeper card. I usually suggest focusing on Chase cards in the beginning because of Chase’s strict 5/24 rule, and the Chase Freedom card should be one of the first cards you aim to have in your wallet. It’s also a great supplement to Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred since rotating quarterly categories can enhance your UR points earning experience.
Summary
The no-annual-fee, cashback credit card market is saturated because most people don’t want to pay annual fees. The Chase Freedom card shines the most among other cashback credit cards. Not only does it offer a competitive 5% back on rotating quarterly categories but it also earns versatile UR points which can be very valuable when redeemed through one of Chase’s 13 transfer partners. The only caveat is that the Freedom card’s bonus earning limit is $1,500 in purchases per quarter. However, because you can hold multiple no-annual fee Freedom cards, I am ok with the limit. I recommend this card for everyone who wants to build a Chase ecosystem.
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
