Chase Freedom Unlimited® review

The popular cash back Chase Freedom Unlimited® card received a refreshed intro offer for 2024 and it’s now better than ever.

New cardmembers can earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Here’s a look at all Chase Freedom Unlimited® benefits and why you may or may not want to consider applying.

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

Information about the Chase Freedom Unlimited® has been collected independently by Money Under 30. Please confirm terms on the card issuer's website. Offer details verified on Aug. 17, 2024.

Welcome Offer

Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Rewards

Earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service; 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.

Annual Fee

$0 annual fee.

Our Thoughts

With no limit on cash back earned and no annual fee to worry about, this is an excellent option for people looking to earn on their everyday spending. The intro APR offer and first year welcome bonus are also attractive incentives. Pair it with a Chase travel card for better value on rewards or the ability to transfer to Chase travel partners.

• Intro Offer: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
• Enjoy 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service, and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
• No minimum to redeem for cash back. You can choose to receive a statement credit or direct deposit into most U.S. checking and savings accounts. Cash Back rewards do not expire as long as your account is open.
• Keep tabs on your credit health, Chase Credit Journey helps you monitor your credit with free access to your latest score, real-time alerts, and more.

Cash Back Bonus

The impressive introductory cash bonus of the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is valid only for new card members. Intro Offer: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening

Many redemption options

Customers also get several options for redemption. As with most credit cards, you can redeem your rewards the conventional way through a check or statement credits.

Along with gift cards, you can redeem your rewards by booking a trip through the Chase Freedom Unlimited® travel portal.

You can even transfer these rewards to other credit cards from Chase. Therefore, this credit card provides several valuable options for redemption.

No limit on rewards

The Chase Freedom Unlimited®  has no limits on rewards.

As its name suggests, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® gives you tons of freedom. You’ll earn a huge amount of rewards, ranging from 5% on travel (purchased through Chase Travel℠) to 3% on dining and drugstores, all the way to the unlimited 1.5% back on all other purchases.

Use other Chase cards to earn more rewards

While the Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers many decent rewards by itself, you can use the card with other Chase cards to obtain even more exceptional rewards and value.

Chase Freedom Flex®

The Chase Freedom Flex®, for example, offers 5% cash back on all the same categories as the Chase Freedom Unlimited® but adds an additional 5% on rotating bonus categories you activate each quarter. If you’re spending fits neatly into those extra 5% cash back categories, you should use the Chase Freedom Flex®.

If you don’t want to worry about rotating categories, use Chase Freedom Unlimited®. It’ll still provide you with some stellar 3%-5% cash back categories, and a larger 1.5% back on all other purchases.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

For better redemption options and rewards, transfer your rewards to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. When you redeem rewards with the Chase Travel℠ portal, you can earn way more rewards.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers 1.25 cents per point (when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠). The Chase Sapphire Reserve® provides 1.5 cents per point (when you redeem for travel) – this is even better. You can transfer these points to the loyalty programs of Hyatt, Marriott, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

Another essential thing to remember is there is no minimum redemption amount. Under the previous rewards structure, you needed at least $25 in rewards for redemption. You can redeem any amount under the new conditions, no matter how small. This is a rare benefit for cash back cards.

Intro APR

Enjoy an introductory APR offer for a time period from account opening on purchases and balance transfers. A balance transfer fee applies and, after the intro period, the regular variable APR applies.

No annual fee

No annual fee – You won’t have to pay an annual fee for all the great features that come with your Freedom Unlimited® card.

This feature brings great convenience to customers as it simplifies card spending.

But several other credit cards charge a steep annual fee. With these cards, you have to spend a certain minimum amount annually, which can be substantial.

As you can see, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® provides some reasonable introductory offers.

Foreign transaction fees

Note that the Chase Freedom Unlimited® charges 3% of each transaction in U.S. dollars for foreign transaction fees.

Here are more rewards and benefits of the Chase Freedom Unlimited®:

• Cash back rewards do not expire. This is one of the best benefits of the card. With many credit cards, the rewards expire if they are not redeemed within a specified period. This card does not have that problem.
• Zero liability for unauthorized use. You won’t have to pay anything for unauthorized or fraudulent use of this card.
• Coverage for purchases. Products and services purchased with this card are protected against theft or damage for 120 days, immediately after the purchase date. The coverage has a maximum amount of $500 per claim. The maximum protection benefit offered on one account is $50,000.
• Amazon shopping. You can redeem rewards on Amazon with this card. You will first have to link your Chase Freedom Unlimited® account to your Amazon account. Your rewards can pay for Amazon purchases, including shipping and taxes.
• Longer warranty. You can increase the manufacturer warranty of goods by one year if you buy them with this credit card. This benefit applies to US-based warranties that are not over three years long.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® protects its customers. Online monitoring tools carry out continuous surveillance for suspicious account activities.

Chase staff may call you if they notice something wrong. They may even place your account on hold and request you to confirm your recent account activity.

Chase offers the following security features:

• Multiple authentication checks – If you access your account with a new device, Chase will first carry out multiple authentication checks to confirm authorized use. It will request your username, password, and identification code sent via text or email. Once you supply this information, you may access your account with your new device.
• Industry-standard 128-bit SSL encryption -This technology keeps your personal data and transactions safe due to the high level of encryption.

Chase offers enhanced security by sending email and text messages in several risky situations. The credit card company will send you alerts of:

• transactions
• payments
• suspicious account activity
• low balances
• and more

Above all, you can even choose the alerts you would like to receive. In case of unauthorized use of your credit card account, you will be alerted immediately.

Chase offers 24/7 customer support through live chat, mail, and telephone. Here are the phone lines for personal credit cards:

• Customer Service: 1-800-432-3117
• TTY: 1-800-955-8060
• International: 1-302-594-8200

The Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® cards differ in a few small but significant ways.

Here’s a quick table that shows the main differences.

As you can see, there are important differences between the cards. If you’re the kind of person who will pay close attention to your plastic (you’ll follow the quarterly categories all year round and spend accordingly), the Chase Freedom Flex® will be the card for you.

But if you don’t want to spend your time and mental resources thinking about your card and are looking for a more simple rewards structure, go for the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

Let’s look at a few scenarios. Let’s assume you spend an average of $1,500 a month on your rewards card. If you were to use the Chase Freedom card, we’ll assume that $500 a month of that spending will be in the 5% cash back categories. That will get you to the $1,500 per quarter maximum on 5% back.

Chase Freedom Flex® (Maximized 5% categories)

• $1,000 a month x 1% x 12 months = $120
• $500 a month x 5% x 12 months = $300
• Annual cash back on $18,000 annual spend = $420

Chase Freedom Unlimited®

• $1,500 a month x 1.5% x 12 months = $270

So this is surprising. On the surface, you might think that 1.5% cash back trumps 1% cash back plus a limited amount of 5% cash back.

But with Chase Freedom Unlimited®, you’ll earn 3% to 5% cash back in select categories, like dining and drugstores (3%) and travel (5%). For other purchases, you’ll earn 1.5%. So you’ll save even if you aren’t spending in special categories.

Chase Freedom Flex® (50% utilization of 5% categories)

• $1,000 a month x 1% x 12 months = $120
• $250 a month x 5% x 12 months = $150
• Annual cash back on $18,000 annual spend = $270

So if you only end up using the Chase Freedom Flex® 5% cash back categories half of the time, you end up even with Chase Freedom Unlimited®.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is ideal for consumers who want to earn cash back that doesn’t expire without worrying about keeping track of rotating categories or enrolling in quarterly promotions.

Aggressive wallet hackers could also couple the Chase Freedom Unlimited® with the Chase Freedom Flex®, and perhaps even the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, using the Chase Freedom Flex® only for purchases that qualify for 5% cash back.

Doing so using the above assumptions would net an additional ~$60 a year. When redeemed through high-value partners via Chase Travel, that could be closer to $500 in annual rewards-–just for spending an average of $1,500 a month.