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Chase Freedom Flex℠ Card: Spend $500 in First 3-Months Expired
Earn $200 Bonus
Update: This popular deal is still available.
Chase is offering a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening for the Chase Freedom Flex℠. Annual fee is $0. Thanks dravid
Card Details:
Chase is offering a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening for the Chase Freedom Flex℠. Annual fee is $0. Thanks dravid
Card Details:
- Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 5% cash back on grocery store purchases (not including Target® or Walmart® purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
- Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Enjoy new 5% categories each quarter!
- Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase, 3% on dining at restaurants and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases.
- No annual fee.
- 0% Intro APR for 15 months from account opening on purchases, then a variable APR of 14.99 - 23.74%.
- No minimum to redeem for cash back. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open.
Original Post
Written by
Edited January 13, 2021
at 01:04 PM
Chase is offering a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months of account opening for the Chase Freedom Flex℠. This bonus and 5% on groceries in year 1 is only for those applying for a new card and not for "product changes".
HERE IS WHAT CNBC HAD TO SAY
"The Chase Freedom Flex credit card is a competitive no-annual-fee card that outmatches the other two Freedom cards. You'll receive lucrative cash-back rewards and an industry-leading welcome bonus that make this card a great asset. Plus this card pairs great with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card since you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points between cards. This makes your points worth 25% (Preferred) or 50% (Reserve) more."
https://www.cnbc.com/select/chase...rd-review/
Card Details:
Slickdeals may be compensated by Chase.
original post by dravid:
https://creditcards.cha
https://creditcards.cha
No annual Fee credit card with free cell phone insurance, free trip cancellation/ trip interruption insurance, free extended warranty on purchases, free worldwide free car rental insurance etc, etc, etc. This is a "World Elite Mastercard".
FREEDOM FLEX
5% on Quarterly Categories (categories for the Flex will be the same as the ones for the regular chase freedom)
5% on Travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
3% on Dining
3% on Drugstore
5% on Lyft through March 2022
1% unlimited cash back
1% to 15% cash back at select merchants when you purchase through Chase's website
NO ANNUAL FEE
FREE! Cell Phone Protection including cracked screen : Get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Maximum of 2 claims in a 12 month period with a $50 deductible per claim.
FREE! Trip Cancellation/ Interruption Insurance : You can be reimbursed up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for your pre-paid, nonrefundable passenger fares, if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations
FREE! Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver : Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., coverage is secondary to your personal insurance.
FREE! Extended Warranty Protection: Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less
FREE! Purchase Protection: Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account
FREE! Complimentary 3 months of DashPass that provides unlimited deliveries for a $0 delivery fee on DoorDash orders over $12
FREE! Zero Liability Protection: You won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information
FREE! Credit Score: Access your credit score at any time with Credit Journey
FREE! Fraud Monitoring: Safeguard your account using real-time monitoring for possible signs of fraudulent activity
FREE! Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: If you run into a problem away from home, call the Benefit Administrator for legal and medical referrals or other travel and emergency assistance. (You will be responsible for the cost of any goods or services obtained.)
FREE! Take 5 rides in a month and get a $10 Lyft credit once per month
FREE! ShopRunner membership . Members currently receive 2-day shipping and free return shipping at over a hundred online retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Brooks Brothers, Kate Spade, Adorama, 1-800-Flowers and more
FREE! Boxed: Earn 5% Cash Rewards on Boxed orders for use on future purchases.
Signup "bonus" for a "new application" and not for a "product change": $200 after spending $500, plus 5% back at grocery stores on up to $12,000 in purchases during the first year (12 monthly billing cycles).
Chase's Guide to Complete Benefits for the Freedom Flex is Attached!!!
5% on Quarterly Categories (for Oct to Dec 2020 the 5% category would be Paypal charges and Walmart per Doctor of Credi (DoC); DoC is also reporting that apparently Chase doesn't have the right technology to add new Flex card to Mobile wallets just yet because it is Chase's first MasterCard. Hopefully they will have this sorted out before Oct 1 so you can take advantage of Paypal or else sh$$$IT may hit the roof).
HOW TO APPLY?PRODUCT CHANGE
Those who have the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited can choose to:
a). Apply for a new card, namely, the Freedom Flex (and get the "sign up bonus")
Or
b) "Product Change" an existing Chase card to the Chase Flex card (you don't get the "bonus" but you do save a hard pull on your credit report and also helps steer clear of the 5/24 rule (5/24 rule means Chase won't issue a new card to anyone who was given 5 cards in the last 24 months, regardless of who issued the card). You need to call Chase to make a product change.
https://www.doctorofcre
Link for those "applying" for the first time (can apply from Sept 14). This link also has a direct comparison of the Freedom Unlimited (enhanced version) and Freedom Flex.
https://creditcards.cha
HOW TO "PRODUCT CHANGE" from an existing Card (transfer you credit history from old card to new Flex card!)
DIRECT COMPARISON OF CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED VS CHASE FREEDOM FLEX
https://creditcards.cha
Note that Freedom Unlimited is a Visa and Chase Flex is Mastercard. Chase Flex has phone insurance, ShopRunner, etc and certain other Mastercard World Elite benefits which Freedom Unlimited doesn't. Also note the difference is % points for earning.
LOOPHOLE TO PRODUCT CHANGE FROM NON-FREEDOM CARD to FREEDOM FLEX
According to Chase's media team, it was only supposed to be possible to product change a Freedom card to Freedom Flex, not from Sapphire or Unlimited cards. It's possible that this is just a Day #1 exception, and that on the 15th or beyond it will stop being possible
Data Point: Today (9/14) they would not allow the Southwest Card to product change to the Freedom Flex
For more information see the link below:
https://www.doctorofcre
QUESTION and ANSWER
Question: Anyone know of the points redemption? Is is a minimum redemption at $25 or is there no minimum?
Answer: No minimum. You can even cash out just 1 point. You have total flexibility
Question: Is Chase Freedom Flex "Product Change" Considered A New Account?
Answer: https://www.doctorofcre
PHONE INSURANCE COVERAGE
Benefit Overview
Get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Maximum of 2 claims in a 12 month period with a $50 deductible per claim.
The following information is a summary only. Please see your Guide to Benefits for complete details.
Additional Benefit Information
Can reimburse you to repair or replace your eligible cellular telephone in the event of theft or damage when you charge your monthly cellular service provider bill to your covered card
Coverage is in excess of any valid and collectible insurance such as cellular phone insurance programs, homeowner's insurance, or other forms of reimbursement
Who's Covered
Cardholder who pays for their monthly cellular service provider bill with their covered card
Period
In order for coverage to apply you must charge your monthly cellular service provider bill to your covered card
Coverage begins the first day of the calendar month following a payment of the cellular service provider bill and remains in effect until the last day of the calendar month following payment
What's Covered
All eligible cellular phones listed on your cellular service provider's monthly billing statement for the billing cycle in which the damage or theft occurred
What's Not Covered
This is not an exhaustive list. Examples include:
Electronic issues, such as inability to charge, mechanical or battery failure
Cellular phone accessories other than a standard battery and/or standard antenna provided by the manufacturer
Cellular phones purchased for resale or for professional or commercial use
Cellular phones that are lost or mysteriously disappear with no evidence of a wrongful act
Cellular phones which have been rented or leased from a person or company other than a cellular provider
Cellular phones borrowed or received as part of a prepaid plan
Cosmetic damage to the Cellular phone or damage that does not impact the Cellular phone's ability to make or receive phone calls
PERSONAL OPINION - BEST COMBINATION OF NO FEE CARDS FOR COSTCO SHOPPER
The best combination of no fee cards for COSCTO shoppers is the Chase Flex Mastercard and Citi Costco Visa.The citi Costco card provides 2 years extended warranty, 2% on COSTCO purchases and no foreign currency transactions. These 2 cards mean you will have both Mastercard and Visa.
Q&A On Costco Card:
Question: My Costco membership is kind of weird. My dad is the primary and he has the costco credit card. I am not sure if I can apply for one as a secondary.
Answer: Yes, of course you can. That's why a primary and secondary COSTCO member have different membership numbers so each can independently apply for a Citi COSTCO card. That's what COSTCO told me.
POTENTIAL FOR REFERRAL BONUS BY LOGGING INTO YOUR CHASE ACCOUNT
By the way, if you log on to the Chase web site, you can get a referral bonus for others who take up the Freedom card (yes it is $100 for each referral!). Unfortunately, for me, it only allows me to refer a friend for Chase Freedom Unlimited not the Chase Freedom Flex. Can others check? Once you log onto Chase, run a search for "refer a fiend" and select "credit cards"....follow the prompts and then it gives you a list of credit cards that you can refer to get a bonus. The referral bonus varies by the type of card. I am surprised the referral bonus is as high as $100 for each referral to a Freedom Unlimited card!!!
HERE IS WHAT CNBC HAD TO SAY
"The Chase Freedom Flex credit card is a competitive no-annual-fee card that outmatches the other two Freedom cards. You'll receive lucrative cash-back rewards and an industry-leading welcome bonus that make this card a great asset. Plus this card pairs great with either the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card since you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points between cards. This makes your points worth 25% (Preferred) or 50% (Reserve) more."
https://www.cnbc.com/select/chase...rd-review/
Card Details:
Slickdeals may be compensated by Chase.
original post by dravid:
https://creditcards.cha
https://creditcards.cha
No annual Fee credit card with free cell phone insurance, free trip cancellation/ trip interruption insurance, free extended warranty on purchases, free worldwide free car rental insurance etc, etc, etc. This is a "World Elite Mastercard".
FREEDOM FLEX
5% on Quarterly Categories (categories for the Flex will be the same as the ones for the regular chase freedom)
5% on Travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
3% on Dining
3% on Drugstore
5% on Lyft through March 2022
1% unlimited cash back
1% to 15% cash back at select merchants when you purchase through Chase's website
NO ANNUAL FEE
FREE! Cell Phone Protection including cracked screen : Get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Maximum of 2 claims in a 12 month period with a $50 deductible per claim.
FREE! Trip Cancellation/ Interruption Insurance : You can be reimbursed up to $1,500 per person and $6,000 per trip for your pre-paid, nonrefundable passenger fares, if your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations
FREE! Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver : Decline the rental company's collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is provided for theft and collision damage for most cars in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., coverage is secondary to your personal insurance.
FREE! Extended Warranty Protection: Extends the time period of the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less
FREE! Purchase Protection: Covers your new purchases for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account
FREE! Complimentary 3 months of DashPass that provides unlimited deliveries for a $0 delivery fee on DoorDash orders over $12
FREE! Zero Liability Protection: You won't be held responsible for unauthorized charges made with your card or account information
FREE! Credit Score: Access your credit score at any time with Credit Journey
FREE! Fraud Monitoring: Safeguard your account using real-time monitoring for possible signs of fraudulent activity
FREE! Travel and Emergency Assistance Services: If you run into a problem away from home, call the Benefit Administrator for legal and medical referrals or other travel and emergency assistance. (You will be responsible for the cost of any goods or services obtained.)
FREE! Take 5 rides in a month and get a $10 Lyft credit once per month
FREE! ShopRunner membership . Members currently receive 2-day shipping and free return shipping at over a hundred online retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Brooks Brothers, Kate Spade, Adorama, 1-800-Flowers and more
FREE! Boxed: Earn 5% Cash Rewards on Boxed orders for use on future purchases.
Signup "bonus" for a "new application" and not for a "product change": $200 after spending $500, plus 5% back at grocery stores on up to $12,000 in purchases during the first year (12 monthly billing cycles).
Chase's Guide to Complete Benefits for the Freedom Flex is Attached!!!
5% on Quarterly Categories (for Oct to Dec 2020 the 5% category would be Paypal charges and Walmart per Doctor of Credi (DoC); DoC is also reporting that apparently Chase doesn't have the right technology to add new Flex card to Mobile wallets just yet because it is Chase's first MasterCard. Hopefully they will have this sorted out before Oct 1 so you can take advantage of Paypal or else sh$$$IT may hit the roof).
|
Quote
from famewolf
For those annoyed the card is no longer in your digital wallet...you can always use your "paypal key" which is both a mastercard AND can be put into a digital wallet then point paypal to the new freedom flex.....problem solved. Oh course since next quarter you'd get 5% back on paypal purchases (discover has it for THIS quarter) and that would just be a bonus. 
:
Workaround stated differently: Generate a paypal key which is also a mastercard...add THAT to the digital wallet...make paypal's default payment method the flex. |
|
Quote
from larryc
[*]Can the Chase Freedom Flex card be added to Zelle or Vemno? No, and not even sure why you brought this up; Zelle & Venmo link with bank accounts, not with credit cards[*]Can the Chase Freedom Flex card be added to Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or Apple Pay? No (See Chase's list [chase.com]. Notice that these are all Visa cards, not mastercards. Also see Doctor of Credit [doctorofcredit.com])[*]Can the Chase Freedom Flex card be added to PayPal as a paypal option? Yes, no reason to believe it couldn't be.[*]Can the Chase Freedom Flex card be used with the Paypal Key service (which creates a virtual Mastercard linked to your PayPal payment option(s)? Yes, no reason to believe it would not work.[*]Ok, I've created a Paypal key virtual Mastercard that points to my Chase Flex card; can I add this virtual PayPal card to Google Pay, Apple Pay or Samsung Pay? Yes for Google Pay; No for Samsung Pay & ApplePay, as confirmed by Doctor of Credit. [doctorofcredit.com][/LIST]This list is subject to change, of course, but is accurate to the best of my knowledge as of the date I'm posting.
:
Also, for those of you thinking "Oh, of course Chase will soon add applepay support to this card", note that my Chase Ink Visa STILL does not work with ApplePay, six years after ApplePay launched. In other words, I wouldn't hold my breath. |
HOW TO APPLY?PRODUCT CHANGE
Those who have the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited can choose to:
a). Apply for a new card, namely, the Freedom Flex (and get the "sign up bonus")
Or
b) "Product Change" an existing Chase card to the Chase Flex card (you don't get the "bonus" but you do save a hard pull on your credit report and also helps steer clear of the 5/24 rule (5/24 rule means Chase won't issue a new card to anyone who was given 5 cards in the last 24 months, regardless of who issued the card). You need to call Chase to make a product change.
https://www.doctorofcre
Link for those "applying" for the first time (can apply from Sept 14). This link also has a direct comparison of the Freedom Unlimited (enhanced version) and Freedom Flex.
https://creditcards.cha
HOW TO "PRODUCT CHANGE" from an existing Card (transfer you credit history from old card to new Flex card!)
|
Quote
from Americano2016
Very easy to product change.
:
1. Call the number in the back of your card. 2. Talk with human. And say product change to flex. 3. Confirm you agree. Done! |
https://creditcards.cha
Note that Freedom Unlimited is a Visa and Chase Flex is Mastercard. Chase Flex has phone insurance, ShopRunner, etc and certain other Mastercard World Elite benefits which Freedom Unlimited doesn't. Also note the difference is % points for earning.
LOOPHOLE TO PRODUCT CHANGE FROM NON-FREEDOM CARD to FREEDOM FLEX
According to Chase's media team, it was only supposed to be possible to product change a Freedom card to Freedom Flex, not from Sapphire or Unlimited cards. It's possible that this is just a Day #1 exception, and that on the 15th or beyond it will stop being possible
Data Point: Today (9/14) they would not allow the Southwest Card to product change to the Freedom Flex
For more information see the link below:
https://www.doctorofcre
QUESTION and ANSWER
Question: Anyone know of the points redemption? Is is a minimum redemption at $25 or is there no minimum?
Answer: No minimum. You can even cash out just 1 point. You have total flexibility
Question: Is Chase Freedom Flex "Product Change" Considered A New Account?
Answer: https://www.doctorofcre
PHONE INSURANCE COVERAGE
Benefit Overview
Get up to $800 per claim and $1,000 per year in cell phone protection against covered theft or damage for phones listed on your monthly cell phone bill when you pay it with your eligible credit card. Maximum of 2 claims in a 12 month period with a $50 deductible per claim.
The following information is a summary only. Please see your Guide to Benefits for complete details.
Additional Benefit Information
Can reimburse you to repair or replace your eligible cellular telephone in the event of theft or damage when you charge your monthly cellular service provider bill to your covered card
Coverage is in excess of any valid and collectible insurance such as cellular phone insurance programs, homeowner's insurance, or other forms of reimbursement
Who's Covered
Cardholder who pays for their monthly cellular service provider bill with their covered card
Period
In order for coverage to apply you must charge your monthly cellular service provider bill to your covered card
Coverage begins the first day of the calendar month following a payment of the cellular service provider bill and remains in effect until the last day of the calendar month following payment
What's Covered
All eligible cellular phones listed on your cellular service provider's monthly billing statement for the billing cycle in which the damage or theft occurred
What's Not Covered
This is not an exhaustive list. Examples include:
Electronic issues, such as inability to charge, mechanical or battery failure
Cellular phone accessories other than a standard battery and/or standard antenna provided by the manufacturer
Cellular phones purchased for resale or for professional or commercial use
Cellular phones that are lost or mysteriously disappear with no evidence of a wrongful act
Cellular phones which have been rented or leased from a person or company other than a cellular provider
Cellular phones borrowed or received as part of a prepaid plan
Cosmetic damage to the Cellular phone or damage that does not impact the Cellular phone's ability to make or receive phone calls
|
Quote
from Croq
One of the many cell phone exclusions (man they have a lot of ways to avoid paying you anything):
:
"Replacement of Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone(s) purchased from anyone other than a cellular service provider's retail or internet store that has the ability to initiate activation with the cellular service provider; " So, if I'm reading it correctly, my phone bought directly from Samsung would not be covered. Unless I bought my phone from my service provider, no coverage. |
|
Quote
from Knightshade
:
Specifically- "Quote from Benefits guide : To get coverage: You must charge your monthly Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill to your Covered Card. You are eligible for coverage the first day of the calendar month following the payment of your Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephone bill to your Covered Card" Only language I see regarding pre vs post-paid are an exclusion for: "Quote : Eligible Cellular Wireless Telephones that are received as part of a pre-paid plan;" So if you brought your own phone to a pre-paid plan it seems like you'd be covered, but not if you got the phone as part of the pre-paid plan. . |
The best combination of no fee cards for COSCTO shoppers is the Chase Flex Mastercard and Citi Costco Visa.The citi Costco card provides 2 years extended warranty, 2% on COSTCO purchases and no foreign currency transactions. These 2 cards mean you will have both Mastercard and Visa.
Q&A On Costco Card:
Question: My Costco membership is kind of weird. My dad is the primary and he has the costco credit card. I am not sure if I can apply for one as a secondary.
Answer: Yes, of course you can. That's why a primary and secondary COSTCO member have different membership numbers so each can independently apply for a Citi COSTCO card. That's what COSTCO told me.
POTENTIAL FOR REFERRAL BONUS BY LOGGING INTO YOUR CHASE ACCOUNT
By the way, if you log on to the Chase web site, you can get a referral bonus for others who take up the Freedom card (yes it is $100 for each referral!). Unfortunately, for me, it only allows me to refer a friend for Chase Freedom Unlimited not the Chase Freedom Flex. Can others check? Once you log onto Chase, run a search for "refer a fiend" and select "credit cards"....follow the prompts and then it gives you a list of credit cards that you can refer to get a bonus. The referral bonus varies by the type of card. I am surprised the referral bonus is as high as $100 for each referral to a Freedom Unlimited card!!!
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Featured Comments
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCa..._own
"Chase does have their own payment processing network. It's called ChaseNet. It runs on leased space on the Visa network. So technically it is everywhere, for Merchants who bank with Chase. It is alive and well, growing marketshare. You'll never hear about it because it's primarly a B2B endeavor. Chase makes agreements with businesses to process Chase cards on ChaseNet which is leased space on the Visa network. What this means is that Chase is the issuing bank, Chase is the acquiring bank, and Chase is the payment processor. Because of that, Chase can charge the merchant a lower fee, yet still get a larger profit on the interchange since they don't need to share it with as many people now than they would if the Merchant was running Chase cards on Stripe, or Paypal. Think about it like this: Chase might be getting 30% of 3% interchange fee when they run Chase cards on Stripe or Paypal, but now Chase could be getting as much as 70% of a 2% interchange fee when they run cards on ChaseNet. So in the first case, chase is getting 0.9% of the transaction on Stripe or Paypal swipes. In the second case, Chase is getting 1.4% of the transaction, even though the total interchange fee to the merchant is lower. That is the beauty and the masterstroke of the ChaseNet business. They managed to increase their interchange profit, without having to go full on Amex/Disco, by simply leasing space on the Visa network which is quite clever.
I believe that a large motivation for Chase recently issuing the Freedom flex on Mastercard network has in large part to do with expanding ChaseNet to a deal with Mastercard (replicating the model they tested with Visa). A big reason why Chase probably didn't just convert the Freedom card to MC, and instead issued the new card line is because they would piss off Visa greatly if they suddenly cancelled the thousands of Freedom Visa cards that have already been issued, and for which Visa makes money on when they are swiped.
What Chase did instead? They sidestepped Visa by issuing a new card line, on the Mastercard network. Chase most likely now has an agreement with Mastercard to lease bandwidth on the MC network at a really good rate. This is a large reason why Chase is able to offer the outrageous rewards programs in general. Unlike banks like BankofAmerica, Citi, Wells Fargo, who are only getting a cut of interchange with 3 or 4 other middlemen, Chase is getting a bigger cut for cards processed through ChaseNet, without increasing the interchange rate to the Merchant, and in many cases reducing the interchange fee to the merchant."
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Interested in this too. Does anyone have an answer
Other than when travelling to foreign countries I can count on one hand the number of times in my entire adult life I've had to consider the impact of a foreign transaction fee.
If you travel enough to care about this, why are you looking at cashback cards instead of travel reward cards? (the best of which also have no foreign transaction fees).
And the Freedom Flex gives 3% on dining, plus 5% on travel booked through chase.
Again though if you travel enough to care about your travel rewards rate- you should be using TRAVEL rewards, where you can do a lot better than 3% on both travel and dining.
DiscoverIT is worthwhile for the 5% cash on the rotating categories like gas, groceries, warehouse clubs, and paypal which you'd all use domestically....(10% cash your first year- and every year if you wanna churn it since you can have 2 and swap/churn em annually)
it also has 3.5% on travel and dining- but you can beat those on the cash card or with travel reward cards.
Which would make it tough to offer something really compelling versus the Prestige, CSR, or Amex Platinum... (and honestly I don't even find the Platinum worth keeping year over year unless you've got a home airport with a centurion lounge and fly fairly often).
Other than when travelling to foreign countries I can count on one hand the number of times in my entire adult life I've had to consider the impact of a foreign transaction fee.
If you travel enough to care about this, why are you looking at cashback cards instead of travel reward cards? (the best of which also have no foreign transaction fees).
You can pick dining or travel as your monthly category on the BoA cash card and get 5.25% back there if you're platinum honors status.
And the Freedom Flex gives 3% on dining, plus 5% on travel booked through chase.
Again though if you travel enough to care about your travel rewards rate- you should be using TRAVEL rewards, where you can do a lot better than 3% on both travel and dining.
When combined with the CSR or CSP, this is a travel rewards card. Then the cash back is UR points. And you can use the 5X rotating categories and other bonus categories to augment the CSR/CSP point multipliers. If you have a CSR/CSP, this is a no brainer card to get.
Also -- A lot of people don't want to put $100K with BofA (for Platinum Honors). This doesn't require you to put anything with Chase to get the bonuses...
Finally, if you like Discover IT, why isnt this better? It has 5X rotating categories that are essentially the same and it has other categories that always earn over 1% in addition to the rotating categories.
EDIT - Not sure if you were talking about the Costco card (I kind of assumed we were talking about the Flex in this thread!). If so, I agree that the Flex is generally better than that one. Particularly, as I said, if you have a CSR or CSP card.
Other than when travelling to foreign countries I can count on one hand the number of times in my entire adult life I've had to consider the impact of a foreign transaction fee.
If you travel enough to care about this, why are you looking at cashback cards (i.e., Citi COSTCO) instead of travel reward cards? (the best of which also have no foreign transaction fees).
EDIT - Not sure if you were talking about the Costco card. If so, I agree that the Flex is generally better than that one. Particularly, as I said, if you have a CSR or CSP card.
Now, let's change the parameters to 2 cards. I guess some would say CSR + Chase Flex. Is that the best combination but that has an annual fee? How about Citi Double Cash + Chase Flex (both with no annual fee) ? or BOA Cash Rewards Rewards and Chase Flex (both with no annual fee)
Now, let's change the parameters to 2 cards. I guess some would say CSR + Chase Flex. Is that the best combination but that has an annual fee? How about Citi Double Cash + Chase Flex (both with no annual fee) ? or BOA Cash Rewards Rewards and Chase Flex (both with no annual fee)
CSR or CSP and Flex work together. The points all combine into one bucket so you can use them for cash back or travel or whatever you want to transfer them to. So, this kind of perfectly supplements CSR or CSP. BofA's card is really good if you have a lot of money with BofA/Merrill and then you are kind of stuck in their universe. If you are okay with that (maybe you have a lot with Merrill and don't plan on switching), it's a good card. Double cash plus flex is a good combo with no annual fee. 2% on everything and then you use flex to augment it with the categories. But you don't get the travel transfer benefits you get with CSR or CSP, which can make the points redeemable at 2-5x cash value.
Personally, I have a lot of these cards. The ones I use the most are Freedom (which I am converting to Flex), CSR and Double Cash. Then probably my Amex Marriott and Amex Plat.
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Travellers if you're gonna limit yourself to only 3 would be CSR plus Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited (though there's no good reason not to also see if you can get an Ink Cash for the 5x categories there too to max value- it's a good example of a card that adds a lot of value and you don't even need to carry it- just auto-bill your phone/cell/internet to it for 5x on all of that)
Non travellers if you can get top BoA status that's probably the way to go with 2 different cash cards for 5.25% in your top 2 categories of spend, and the premium rewards card for 2.625% back on non-category. Augmenting with a Freedom Flex and/or DiscoverIT that you sometimes swap in depending on the category would be ideal to really max value here if you're willing to go over 3 cards though. If you can't get any BoA status then Freedom Flex and DiscoverIT are still gonna be good ideas, then a doublecash for handling non-category spend... unless there's some unusual category you spend a lot on outside of what those cover then looking for a card specifically covering that would be a sub for one of the rotating cat cards (or in addition to)
There's no reason to have an inherent fear of annual fees- many can be easily profitable over their fees.
Some others can't.
But it's not that hard to figure out which is which for anyone's given circumstances.
(hotel cards are a good example here- for travelers, you can often get 1 free night a year holding the card, in a room that would cost significantly more than the annual fee- in addition to getting hotel status benefits.... you'd almost never put any actual spend on these cards, they're worth holding and paying the fees JUST for the benefits)
Now for non-travelers, annual fee cards can be a little tougher to justify... but a few still might be... (the BoA card for example... or if you spend a TON on groceries the Amex AF card giving 6% on groceries might be- or if you spend a TON on non-cat and can't get the higher BoA rate the Alliant 2.5% card might be)
Especially when I specifically mentioned the higher reward rates if you travel in the post you're quoting.
And with the 100k you can get BETTER cash back rates with BoA than the chase cards.
The chase cards are better as travel cards of course.
But there's no reason you can't have both, and they generally are NOT the same bonus categories as each other in any given quarter.
Meaning you can get the higher bonus rate in the same category twice as often with both.
(the one exception is DiscoverIT runs a promo where you get double your cash back after the first year- so it's effectively a 10% cash back card- which is obviously way better than 5%.... and you can even churn this to ALWAYS be getting 10% though it's a bit of work).
The guy I'm replying to seems to be discussing a LOT of different cards in virtually every CC thread on here.
He listed the Citi Costco card as potentially one of the "best" and I pointed out it's really inferior to other cards in every way OTHER than offering the 2 year extra warranty without an annual fee.
But, How do you get to 2-5X cash value?
Isn't the max 1.5X with CSR with the 50% bonus?
But, How do you get to 2-5X cash value?
Isn't the max 1.5X with CSR with the 50% bonus?
1.5x is via the portal using CSR.
You can get much higher values transfering to hotels and epsecially airlines for premium airfare bookings.
2-2.5 cents a point isn't uncommon for some Hyatt bookings for example.
And getting 3-5 cents a point for business class airfare (pre covid anyway) was easy... even higher than that (5-10 cents a point) for first class airfare, though personally I don't usually find the cost jump from biz->first to be worth it.... (while the jump from coach to biz, especially on international flights, REALLY is)
You can get much higher values transfering to hotels and epsecially airlines for premium airfare bookings.
2-2.5 cents a point isn't uncommon for some Hyatt bookings for example.
And getting 3-5 cents a point for business class airfare (pre covid anyway) was easy... even higher than that (5-10 cents a point) for first class airfare, though personally I don't usually find the cost jump from biz->first to be worth it.... (while the jump from coach to biz, especially on international flights, REALLY is)
Therefore, what's important, from my perspective, is not perceived value but actual value. So, if, for example, you can use 10,000 Ultimate Reward Points on your Chase Sapphire Reserve card to get a $150 credit towards your grocery bills, I would call that an actual value of 1 point = 1.5 cents.
Instead of spending $3000 cash for a ticket you spent 100k points, thus you got 3 cents per point in cash equivalent value.
Same as if you bought it through the portal you'd only get 1.5 cents a point and thus need to spend 200,000 points to get the same thing.
If you think buying the ticket using any of these methods is "worth" it or not is an entirely different question.
Many folks don't travel at all, so they'd subjectively find, say, the SW companion pass, worth $0.00. Folks who fly might obviously disagree.
You getting 1.5 cents a point to pay for shrimp at a grocery store isn't "worth it" to someone allergic to shrimp.
"worth it" is subjective. Cash equivalent value is not.
Another point worth considering is that a business class ticket using point transfer is often only 2x the "cost" (in points) of a coach ticket... in contrast the CASH fare is often 5-10 times higher.
For international flights I don't think I'd pay 5x more (well, maybe for 20+ hours in the air each way trips, but not typical 6-10 hour ones). But I'd absolutely pay 2x every single time because it's simply a much much better experience- apart from all the other benefits of it you effectively gain an extra day on each end of your trip by being able to sleep and arrive well rested rather than arriving miserable and exhausted.
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Instead of spending $3000 cash for a ticket you spent 100k points, thus you got 3 cents per point in cash equivalent value.
Same as if you bought it through the portal you'd only get 1.5 cents a point and thus need to spend 200,000 points to get the same thing.
If you think buying the ticket using any of these methods is "worth" it or not is an entirely different question.
Many folks don't travel at all, so they'd subjectively find, say, the SW companion pass, worth $0.00. Folks who fly might obviously disagree.
You getting 1.5 cents a point to pay for shrimp at a grocery store isn't "worth it" to someone allergic to shrimp.
"worth it" is subjective. Cash equivalent value is not.
Another point worth considering is that a business class ticket using point transfer is often only 2x the "cost" (in points) of a coach ticket... in contrast the CASH fare is often 5-10 times higher.
For international flights I don't think I'd pay 5x more (well, maybe for 20+ hours in the air each way trips, but not typical 6-10 hour ones). But I'd absolutely pay 2x every single time because it's simply a much much better experience- apart from all the other benefits of it you effectively gain an extra day on each end of your trip by being able to sleep and arrive well rested rather than arriving miserable and exhausted.
However most often than not, business class tickets based on saver-miles, for your choice of destination and dates of travel, for periods of time that are not off-season, are hard to come by. Why do you think Consumer Reports and others ask people to shy away from airline mileage cards other than SouthWest?