If you’re looking for a credit card that can cover the majority of your needs, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is a great option to consider. It consistently ranks among the best credit cards on the market, providing outstanding value for no annual fee.
Making the card even more appealing, you can now get a revamped, limited-time welcome bonus which requires much less work to fully maximize than the card’s previous offer. Let’s take a look at how this new limited-time offer stacks up and whether the card makes sense for you.
Comparison with previous offers
For a limited time, you can earn a $250 bonus after spending $500 in the first three months of opening your Freedom Unlimited. While this offer may not be as high as some cards, it’s one of the easiest to earn, offering what is essentially a 50 percent return on spending.
Technically, this offer provides less value than the previous offer, which earned an additional 1.5 percent cash back on up to $20,000 in spending within the first year. If you maxed this offer out, you’d earn $300 in total cash back. However, the current offer is much quicker to maximize and requires significantly less effort and spending — plus you’ll earn your entire bonus in one lump sum, rather than incrementally over time. Given the high spending requirements, the potential to leave money on the table with the previous offer was much higher.
That said, while this latest offer is quick and easy, it’s not the best offer the card has provided. Another previous offer earned a $200 bonus for the same $500 spending requirement, but also came with an additional 5 percent cash back on grocery store purchases for the first year (on up to $12,000 in spending, not including Walmart or Target), meaning new cardholders could easily exceed $250 in bonus cash. But since it remains to be seen whether an offer like that will return, I wouldn’t recommend waiting around if you’re interested in the card and can easily achieve the minimum spending requirement.
Should you get the Chase Freedom Unlimited?
This limited-time offer should appeal to anyone looking for a standalone credit card or people with an existing Chase Ultimate Rewards portfolio. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is an absolute winner in terms of the value you get from a no-fee card. You can combine great everyday bonus categories with an easy-to-earn welcome bonus and a substantial intro APR offer. It’s rare to find all of these features without paying an annual fee.
And while the 1.5 percent cash back rate on other purchases isn’t the highest available, if you have other premium Chase cards, this rate can actually be worth more than a 2 percent cash back card, as you can pool rewards with other Ultimate Rewards-earning cards, potentially boosting their value by up to 50 percent. According to our points and miles valuations, Chase Ultimate Rewards can be worth around 2.0 cents each or higher with the right transfer partner.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve® or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card to pool your Freedom Unlimited rewards and transfer them to Chase’s travel partners. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of maximizing this card’s value in this way, you may be better off with a flat-rate cash back card like the Citi Double Cash® Card or the Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card.
The Freedom Unlimited also charges a foreign transaction fee of 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars, so it’s not the best card to choose if you’re looking for a single card you can use both domestically and abroad.
How one Bankrate editor uses her Freedom Unlimited
“The Chase Freedom Unlimited card is my go-to card for spending in any categories I haven’t maximized with other cards,” shares Bankrate managing editor Sarah Gage. “I prioritize accumulating travel rewards with my credit card spending, and I’m a big fan of redeeming my Chase rewards for stays at high-value Hyatt properties.”
Expanding further on her strategy, she states, “I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred for online grocery purchases and dining, for example, and I try to maximize the quarterly bonus categories on my Chase Freedom* card. Pretty much everything else goes on my Freedom Unlimited unless I’m working on another card’s sign-up bonus. I appreciate knowing I’m earning 1.5 percent rewards without having to think too much about which card to use and when.”
The bottom line
Overall, if you’re looking for a card you can feel confident using for practically any purchase, the Chase Freedom Unlimited can be a great answer. You’ll get solid earning rates across the board with flexible rewards you can use in a variety of ways. The limited-time offer is much easier to maximize and will quickly put money back into your pocket.
Whether you pick up the Chase Freedom Unlimited as your primary card for purchases or to be part of a greater rewards-earning strategy, you’ll get outstanding value from the card in multiple ways.
*The information about the Chase Freedom has been collected independently by Bankrate. The card details have not been reviewed or approved by the issuer.
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