Category Archives: Chase

Chase Freedom Plus Card: 3% Rebate on Spending in Top 6 Categories

Cash Back Cards, Chase

Chase has introduced the Chase Freedom Plus card, a new and improved version of its Freedom credit card. It appears no different than the regular Chase Freedom cards, except that it offers a 3% rebate on spending in your top 6 monthly categories, rather than your top 3, in addition to a 10,000 point introductory bonus. Also, it appears that there is a $30 annual fee, which is waived the first year, although the terms on Chase’s website are conflicting about that.

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Chase Freedom Makes Dynamic Rewards the Default

Cash Back Cards, Chase

Chase announced today changes to its Freedom card that should make it even more attractive to customers. Now, by default, the card comes enabled with the dynamic rewards program. Previously, Chase Freedom cardholders would get triple points only on gas, supermarket and fast food purchases. Now, cardholders will automatically receive triple points in the three categories where they spend the most in a given month out of a total of 15 categories. The other spending categories include department stores, drug stores, movie theaters, movie rentals, dry cleaners, health clubs & gym memberships, beauty salons and spas, pet supply stores and veterinarians, mass transit and local commuter expenses, telecommunications, utilities, and cable/satellite TV and Internet bills.

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Chase Freedom Dynamic Cash Rewards

Cash Back Cards, Chase

If you have a Chase Freedom card, then Chase Freedom Dynamic Cash Rewards is a program you’ll want to join. And if you don’t have the card, this program may be a compelling enough reason to get one.

Instead of earning 3% of your spending at grocery stores, gas stations and quick payment service fast food restaurants, in this program you earn 3% for the 3 categories (out of a pre-defined set of 15) where you spent the most each month. Like the standard program, you’ll earn only 1% for each $1 in purchases once you’ve reached $600 in spending on your top categories for the month. Both programs earn 1% on everything else, with no cap.

The categories for the Dynamic Cash Rewards program are defined as:

  • grocery stores (that are not affiliated with or departments of superstores, warehouse clubs or discount stores)
  • gas & convenience stores
  • quick service payment/fast food restaurants
  • telecommunications
  • cable/satellite TV/Internet Service Providers
  • video rentals
  • department stores
  • dry cleaners
  • drugstores
  • movie theatres
  • local and suburban commuter passenger transportation (including ferries, bridges, tolls, parking garages, taxis/limos)
  • pet supply stores and veterinary services
  • utilities
  • beauty shops (salons and spas)
  • gym/recreation memberships

If you already have a Freedom card, you’ll have to contact Chase in order to convert your card. People from FW and BS have reported mixed results, as not all customer service reps appear to be familiar with the program. There appear to be at least two routes to convert:

  1. Upgrade to the Chase Freedom Visa Signature version of the card. The Dynamic Rewards program appears to come with the Visa Signature. You’ll need a credit limit of $5,000 on your card as a prerequisite.
  2. Convert to the Chase Freedom Points Visa. Some have reported being automatically converted to this program after their Cash card was converted to earn points.

This program makes the Freedom card even more suitable as a general purpose card, especially among lighter spenders. The $600 monthly cap on 3% doesn’t make it the first choice for big spenders, but as a backup card, it could still work well.

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Chase to Offer $10 As Incentive to Sign Up for Online Credit Tools

Chase

Chase just announced that it has launched a new website, www.chaseclearandsimple.com, in support of its ongoing “Chase Clear and Simple” campaign, which aims to educate customers how to understand and manage their accounts better. Chase has stated the goal of the program as:

…the company wants to increase transparency with easy-to-understand communications and empower cardmembers to make smarter choices with tools that will help them more effectively control credit card accounts and avoid the fees they don’t want to pay.

To reach their goal, Chase has laid out 10 initiatives. One initiative, which is meant to encourage customers to pay on time, will “offer cardmembers a $10 credit when they sign-up for helpful tools like free alerts, auto-pay and online statements so that they can more easily manage their accounts, avoid late fees and preserve their best rates.”

More information on the program and other initiatives can be found at the link above.

Note: At this time, while the press release clearly states the $10 incentive, I could find no other mention on the Clear and Simple website.

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Chase Business Cash Rewards Card Review

Business Cards, Cash Back Cards, Chase

The Chase Business Cash Rewards card is not new, but if you’re in the market for a small business credit card, it’s certainly one worthy of consideration. Let’s cover the high-level essentials:

  • 0% fixed APR on both purchases and balance transfers for the first 6 (or 12) billing cycles
  • A variable purchase APR, as low as 14.24% (as of today), afterwards
  • A tiered rewards scheme with no merchant or category spending restrictions:
    • For the first $2000 of spending in a billing cycle, earn 1 point per $1
    • For new net purchases between $2000 and $2500, earn 5 points per $1
    • For new net purchases over $2500 in a cycle, earn 1.25 points per $1
  • You can redeem 5000 points for $50 or use the points towards merchandise.
  • Receive quarterly management reports
  • Receive additional cards your employees can use

While Chase markets the card as giving “up to 5% [cash] back,” that’s clearly misleading, as you’ll never receive a total return of 5%. If we were to use Chase’s logic, a flat 1% credit card could be marketed as giving “up to 100% back” if it was tiered such that you don’t earn anything for the first $99 of spending, but you earn $1 for the 100th dollar. But I digress.

Doing the math, the cash back percentage maxes out at 1.8% if you spend exactly $2500. That’s pretty nice. If you spend more within a cycle, your return will of course slowly move closer to 1.25%. So if you spend over $2500 in business expenses every month, you would earn somewhere between 1.25% and 1.8%, which is quite a nice return when you consider that it applies to any purchase, not just at specific merchants.

In addition, as a Visa, you’re unlikely to need another card should you so choose, in contrast with an Amex or Discover card, that do not enjoy universal merchant acceptance.

The news is not so good if you plan to carry a balance on the card. As is usually the case, if you won’t be able to consistently pay your bill in full, the first thing to consider is not the rewards or cash back, but the regular APR. And in this case, you can do better. Other Chase business cards, as well as business cards from other issuers, can offer better rates.

If, however, you don’t plan to carry a balance, this card is an excellent choice. It offers a high percentage of cash back every time, and you can use it almost anywhere.

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Kinder, Gentler Credit Cards?

Chase, Citibank

Over the past month, a few of the major credit card issuers have announced some consumer-friendly changes they are making to their practices.

Just a couple of days ago, Citibank announced that it will end its practices of:

  • “universal default” — where an individual’s interest rate can be hiked if the borrower misses a payment with another lender, even if the borrower is otherwise current.
  • “any time for any reason” — where the lender can change the rates and fees due whenever they deem fit. With the announced changes, as long as the borrower pays on time and stays within their credit limit, Citibank will only change the margin on their interest rate and fees when a card expires and a new one must be issued.

Several weeks ago, Chase also announced that it will end using the controversial “two-cycle billing” method, where borrowers are charged interest on a two-month period, rather than a one-month period, if they do not pay their balance in full. Under that policy, consumers who do not pay their balance in full end up paying interest on principal they have already paid off.

That the timing of these announcements coincides with the commencement of a series of congressional hearings by the Senate Banking Committee and House Financial Services Committee on credit card industry policies, I don’t think is a coincidence. Does it portend more changes to come? Time will tell, but based on the results so far, it seems likely.

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