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Edited September 15, 2023
at 02:44 AM
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Chase Freedom/Freedom Flex 5% bonus cashback categories for Oct-Dec 2023 are
- PayPal
- Wholesale Clubs
- Select Charities
You can activate by visiting below site from Sept 15th to Dec 14th:
https://www.chasebonus.com/
Merchant list:
https://creditcards.chase.com/fre.../merchants
It can also be enabled after logging into your account and going to 5% cashback. calendar.
Remember it can be activated tomorrow i.e. Sept 15th onwards.
Gas, fuel, wholesale specialty service purchases such as travel, insurance, cell phone and home improvement will not qualify in this category. Mastercard not accepted at Costco warehouses or at gas stations.
Tip: Buying Costco cash card at costco.com with Freedom mastercard is eligible for 5% cashback. Use this Costco cash card in Costco stores and gas station. I did that for Discover card earlier this year and got 5% cashback.
Max cashback in total: $75 (total of $1500 in purchase)
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There's several that are $95 a year but don't really offer much other than the ability to transfer points--- if you don't travel significantly then your best route to max point value for travel is when you ARE finally planning a big trip, get the signup bonus for one of those cards (which will vastly outweigh the $95 fee) and do your transfers under that 1 year of $95 fee.
But if you travel a significant amount then getting- and keeping- the much higher fee CSR can be pretty profitable- especially if you can use some of the various monthly and annual credits for other things it offers.
Either way you have 2 routes to book travel with Chase in general-
ALL cards even free ones can use the chase travel portal... but free cards only get 1 cent per point this way so it's a waste of your time- just take 1 cent cash instead.
The $95 fee cards get 1.25 cents a point- which is still not terrific compared to most point transfer options.
The CSR gets 1.5 cents a point- which CAN be worthwhile in a few specific cases rather than transfers (for example to book Southwest Airlines-- because transfers to them usually only get you ~1.4 cents a point).
Chase points if you have a paid card transfer 1:1 to a bunch of Airlines...and several hotels (though only Hyatt is ever worth considering the rest suck for value of points).
For most airlines though (and also Hyatt hotels) you can usually get nearer 2 cents a point at the low end for coach fares or Hyatt hotels.... and often 4-6 cents a point or more for business or first class flights.
Typically if you just google something like "best use of chase points to X" where X is where you're wanting to go, you'll find all the usual travel blogs with posts about the best airlines and programs and values.
There's also more general ones lilke:
https://thepointsguy.co
https://upgradedpoints.
https://onemileatatime.
as examples.
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First thing to know is you need a "paid" Chase card- that is, one with an annual fee.
There's several that are $95 a year but don't really offer much other than the ability to transfer points--- if you don't travel significantly then your best route to max point value for travel is when you ARE finally planning a big trip, get the signup bonus for one of those cards (which will vastly outweigh the $95 fee) and do your transfers under that 1 year of $95 fee.
But if you travel a significant amount then getting- and keeping- the much higher fee CSR can be pretty profitable- especially if you can use some of the various monthly and annual credits for other things it offers.
Either way you have 2 routes to book travel with Chase in general-
ALL cards even free ones can use the chase travel portal... but free cards only get 1 cent per point this way so it's a waste of your time- just take 1 cent cash instead.
The $95 fee cards get 1.25 cents a point- which is still not terrific compared to most point transfer options.
The CSR gets 1.5 cents a point- which CAN be worthwhile in a few specific cases rather than transfers (for example to book Southwest Airlines-- because transfers to them usually only get you ~1.4 cents a point).
Chase points if you have a paid card transfer 1:1 to a bunch of Airlines...and several hotels (though only Hyatt is ever worth considering the rest suck for value of points).
For most airlines though (and also Hyatt hotels) you can usually get nearer 2 cents a point at the low end for coach fares or Hyatt hotels.... and often 4-6 cents a point or more for business or first class flights.
Typically if you just google something like "best use of chase points to X" where X is where you're wanting to go, you'll find all the usual travel blogs with posts about the best airlines and programs and values.
There's also more general ones lilke:
https://thepointsguy.co
https://upgradedpoints.
https://onemileatatime.
as examples.
There's several that are $95 a year but don't really offer much other than the ability to transfer points--- if you don't travel significantly then your best route to max point value for travel is when you ARE finally planning a big trip, get the signup bonus for one of those cards (which will vastly outweigh the $95 fee) and do your transfers under that 1 year of $95 fee.
But if you travel a significant amount then getting- and keeping- the much higher fee CSR can be pretty profitable- especially if you can use some of the various monthly and annual credits for other things it offers.
Either way you have 2 routes to book travel with Chase in general-
ALL cards even free ones can use the chase travel portal... but free cards only get 1 cent per point this way so it's a waste of your time- just take 1 cent cash instead.
The $95 fee cards get 1.25 cents a point- which is still not terrific compared to most point transfer options.
The CSR gets 1.5 cents a point- which CAN be worthwhile in a few specific cases rather than transfers (for example to book Southwest Airlines-- because transfers to them usually only get you ~1.4 cents a point).
Chase points if you have a paid card transfer 1:1 to a bunch of Airlines...and several hotels (though only Hyatt is ever worth considering the rest suck for value of points).
For most airlines though (and also Hyatt hotels) you can usually get nearer 2 cents a point at the low end for coach fares or Hyatt hotels.... and often 4-6 cents a point or more for business or first class flights.
Typically if you just google something like "best use of chase points to X" where X is where you're wanting to go, you'll find all the usual travel blogs with posts about the best airlines and programs and values.
There's also more general ones lilke:
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/re...mum-value/ [thepointsguy.com]
https://upgradedpoints.com/credit...ds-points/ [upgradedpoints.com]
https://onemileatatime.com/guides...ds-points/ [onemileatatime.com]
as examples.
When you use the chase portal (even at 1.25 or 1.5x value) then, to the airline, they are cash tickets.
When you transfer points to the airline instead you're getting, 1:1, airline miles- so you're booking an award ticket-- this has pros and cons... a pro is usually refunds are less restrictive if you have to cancel (but YMMV between airlines here) a con is you sometimes have to be more flexible about what specific day you travel depending on award seat availability.
Yeah if you're trying to find like 6 seats on the same flight, esp not in coach, that's gonna be very very difficult for award seating.
I typically only fly 2 people total at a time in those kinds of seats though, once in a while 3 or 4, and don't usually have much trouble as long as you're flexible on the exact day you fly (like you might have to fly on a Wednesday instead of a Friday or something)---
Also some routes tend to fill up quickly when released (the really good JAL or ANA biz or first seats to Japan for example-- you have to book those as soon as they open up, usually 330 days in advance- it's pretty wide open then but if you wait a month they're full- especially since Japan reopened post pandemic) versus say Europe where's it usually a lot easier to get good awards without having to book right at the open window.
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You buy Costco gift card from online they accept MasterCard for online orders, you get the 5%
So for Costco it would be 5% using Freedom card + 2% Costco executive cashback correct?
Same deal for Sam's Club Plus members. They give 2% for in-club purchases that can be redeemed frequently. At checkout, I'm asked if I want to use my $X.XX dollars. You don't have to wait like you do with Costco's annual rebate check.
never mind, it says activate starting on the 15th
Not working for me on freedom unlimited
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Some very odd questions flying around as if this is a limited/secret promotion or super deal 😂