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Hidden behind a shiny plastic design and a bunch of advertising focusing on “cash back,” the Chase Freedom Unlimited packs a mighty punch. At first glance it may seem like a fairly tame credit card — small sign-up bonus, average cash back rate, no bonus categories — but there’s a lot more to it when you dive under the hood. In fact, not only does the Freedom Unlimited consistently stay near the top of my wallet, but it’s also my first recommendation to people just starting to dip their toe into the world of travel rewards. So let’s take a look at what makes this card so deceptively great.
In This Post
Who Is This Card For?
If you’re new to points and miles, the Chase Freedom Unlimited can be an amazing card to start with. Not only is it relatively easy to get approved for, but it can help you build a relationship with Chase so you can later get some of the issuer’s more valuable cards, like the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Freedom Unlimited has no annual fee, so it’s a card you can keep open for many years without paying a penny for it, and the rewards you earn with the card never expire so long as you keep it open. This card is also great for big spenders, thanks to an unlimited 1.5x return on all purchases.
Keep in mind the Freedom Unlimited is subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule, which means the bank will automatically reject applicants who’ve opened five or more cards in the last 24 months.
Sign-Up Bonus
The current sign-up bonus on the Chase Freedom Unlimited is $150 after spending $500 in the first 3 months you have the card. There’s also an additional $25 bonus available if you add an authorized user and have them make a purchase within the first 3 months.
That may not sound like the most impressive sign-up bonus in the world, but the thing to keep in mind is that with the Freedom Unlimited, all your cash back is awarded to you in the form of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. So the card’s $150 sign-up bonus will actually arrive in your account as 15,000 points, which you can then choose to redeem for cash back at a rate of 1 cent per point to get the exact $150 advertised if you wish. But you can get a massively higher value out of those points by combining them with other Ultimate Rewards cards for top-notch travel redemptions. More on that in a moment.
Earning
With the Chase Freedom Unlimited, there’s no keeping track of bonus categories, watching your spend or worrying whether certain merchants code the way you’d expect them to. The card earns a flat 1.5% cash back on all purchases — again, in the form of 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent — with no limits or caps. For a straight-up cash back card, 1.5% isn’t bad, but it also isn’t great. Frankly, if your only interest in a credit card is earning cash back, you’ll do better with a Citi Double Cash Card, which offers a higher 2% cash back on all purchases.
But if you’re looking to turn your credit card rewards into more than just cash in your pocket, the magic in the Freedom Unlimited appears when it comes time to redeem those rewards you’ve earned…
Redeeming
The key to maximizing the Chase Freedom Unlimited comes from the fact that you earn your rewards on this card in the form of points. You can cash out those points for cash back any time you want, but… if you also have one of three other Chase cards — the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the Ink Business Preferred — you can combine your points across your cards and turn them into full fledged transferable Ultimate Rewards points.
This opens up a ton of new redemption options. The first is to use your points to book travel through the Chase travel portal at a rate of 1.5 cents per point if you have the Sapphire Reserve, or 1.25 cents per point with either of the other two cards. In either case, you’re already getting more value per point than the 1 cent each you’d get by redeeming them for cash back. But then there’s another possibility, because by transferring your points to Chase’s amazing airline and hotel partners, you’ll open up ultra-high end redemptions that would be almost impossible to get otherwise, such as Lufthansa first class flights to Europe or even Singapore Suites to Asia.
The ability to get these sort of premium cabin redemptions is why TPG values Ultimate Rewards points at 2.1 cents each and also why the Chase Freedom Unlimited is a key part of both the Chase trifecta and the Chase quartet of credit cards, making them two of the most powerful combinations of cards you can have in your wallet. But even just combining the Freedom Unlimited with the Sapphire Reserve will vastly improve your effective return on this card. In that case, you’ll earn 1.5x points for all spending on the Freedom Unlimited and redeem those points at a minimum rate of 1.5 cents each with the CSR at the Chase travel portal, thereby guaranteeing yourself an effective 2.25% return (1.5 points per dollar multiplied by 1.5 cents per point is 2.25 cents per dollar).
Which Cards Compete With the Freedom Unlimited?
There are two cards that give the Chase Freedom Unlimited a run for its money by also offering a way to earn valuable transferable points without paying an annual fee. The first is the Freedom Unlimited’s little brother, the Chase Freedom, which offers an identical sign-up bonus to the Freedom Unlimited.
The only difference between the two cards is the earning structure — the Chase Freedom earns 5% cash back on your first $1,500 in purchases in rotating categories that change every quarter (again, the cash back comes as 5x Ultimate Rewards points). While 5x is certainly better than 1.5x, the $1,500 cap and ever changing categories can make it tough to fully maximize the Freedom’s benefits. You’ll have to look at your own spending patterns to see whether the Freedom or the Freedom Unlimited makes more sense for you.
The other obvious competitor is the Amex EveryDay® Credit Card from American Express. This no annual fee card offers a 10,000-point welcome bonus after spending $1,000 in purchases in the first 3 months, and earns 2x on your first $6,000 in grocery purchases each year. One major advantage that the EveryDay card has over the Freedom Unlimited is that you can transfer points from the EveryDay card to American Express’ airline and hotel partners without needing to have any other Amex cards. But TPG values Amex Membership Rewards points at 1.9 cents each, which is solid but slightly lower than the value of Chase points, so you’re getting a little less per point with this card. The other unique benefit of the EveryDay card is that you’ll earn a 20% bonus on your points after making 20 purchases in a billing cycle, but that still falls short of the flat 1.5x rate that the Freedom Unlimited earns.
Bottom Line
Premium cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve offer an incredible amount of value, but it takes pages and pages to describe all the perks and bonuses and benefits and redemptions options. That’s definitely not a complaint, but there’s something to be said for simplicity. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a great card for everyday, non-bonus spend, and can provide incredible value when paired with a premium Chase card. So if you’re just starting out with credit cards and want to get going quickly by building up valuable travel points, the Freedom Unlimited is a card that should probably be high on your list.
Source: thepointsguy.com