Chase Freedom Card a Casualty of the Credit Crisis?

Chase recently made a number of changes to its Freedom credit card and unfortunately, nearly all of them made the card less attractive. It’s a shame, since the card used to be one of the best cash back cards available.

In reintroducing the Freedom card, the lone improvement Chase made was the introduction of a 0% APR on purchases for the first 12 months.

Other than that, the changes to the program make it worse. Under the new program, you’ll earn 3% bonus cash back on gas, groceries and fast food purchases for the first six months and 1% cash back on everything else. There will also be 3% cash back offers that change quarterly, similar to Discover’s rewards program. The $50 cash back bonus after first purchase has been removed and your rewards are no longer calculated to maximize your bonus based on your monthly spending.

There hasn’t been any indication yet that any existing Freedom card holders will be affected. Given Chase’s history, there’s a good chance that existing card holders’ terms will remain unchanged. If you’re in the market for a new cash back credit card, however, the Chase Freedom is no longer a top choice.

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