43. Unlocking Double Rewards: A Deep Dive into Chase Freedom Unlimited’s Latest Offer

Welcome to Point Me to First Class, the only show for employed professionals, entrepreneurs, and business owners who are looking to optimize their higher-than-average expenses to travel the world. I'm your host, Devon Gimbel, and I believe that your expenses are your greatest untapped asset if you know how to leverage them. Ready to dive into the world of credit card points and miles so you can travel more, travel better, and travel often? Let's get started.

Welcome back to the podcast everybody. To those of you listening in real time who celebrate Christmas, Merry Christmas. I am not a Christmas celebrator, but if Christmas holds significance to you for religious or family traditions, I hope you have a wonderful holiday. 

Now for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, I wish you a Happy Hanukkah that just passed, Happy Kwanzaa, or happy holiday season in general. Unfortunately, I don't have any holiday gifts to give you but if you are a fan of earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points then Chase Bank has a promotional offer right now on one of the rewards credit cards that just might be the best points earning gift that you receive all year. 

So today, we're going to take a look at this current rewards card promotion that could be particularly lucrative for some of you. That is the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. We're going to take a look at what this specific promotion offers, who is eligible for it, and break down who stands to benefit the most from this offer and who would be better off taking a pass on it. 

Just as a note for those of you who are listening to this episode in real time, at the time of this recording the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card is still available. But Chase has not published an official end date for this offer. So your guess is as good as mine as to how long this offer will be active and available for new card member applications. 

If after listening to this episode, you decide that this specific card offer would be a great fit for you then you might want to consider jumping on it while it's still around. If, however, you're listening to this podcast episode weeks or months after its original air date, chances are this offer may no longer exist, but it can still be helpful to hear how to evaluate promotional offers like this one for future reference. 

So let's take a look at what the double cash-back offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card is and how it differs from the standard welcome offer and points earning structure that you can usually get on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. For longtime listeners of the podcast, you'll know that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card is one of the no annual fee rewards credit cards that's offered by Chase Bank.

Now this card is always marketed as a cash-back card, but if you listen to episode number 25 of the podcast, you'll know that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card can actually function as a Chase Ultimate Rewards points earning credit card as long as you hold one of these three other Chase cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, or the Chase Ink business preferred card. 

If you have not already listened to podcast episode number 25, or if you have no clue what I'm talking about when I say that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card can act as a point earning card, you will want to be sure to check out that episode so that the rest of what I cover in today's episode will actually make sense. 

But this is important to understand because even though this specific promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card is called the double cash-back offer or the double cash-back promotion. In reality, it's a double points earning offer since the card acts as a points earning card when you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or the Chase Ink Business preferred card. 

The Chase Freedom Unlimited card doesn't get as much attention in the points world as I think it deserves. One of the reasons for that is that the standard signup bonus or the welcome offer on the card is not what I would consider particularly amazing. Especially not when compared to the other points earning cards that Chase offers where we can see welcome bonuses anywhere from 60,000 points up to about 100,000 points on a single card. 

By comparison, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card offers a humble 20,000 points as the standard welcome offer once you spend $500 on the card the first three months that you hold it. Because this card is marketed as a cash-back card, what you'll actually see if you go to apply for it is that the welcome bonus is listed as $200 cash-back once you meet the minimum spend requirement, but that translates to 20,000 Chase points if you hold one of the other Chase cards that I previously mentioned. 

For the rest of this episode I'm going to be speaking about the Chase Freedom Unlimited card strictly as a points earning card. So don't get confused if you look it up online and see its welcome bonus and rewards earning structure only listed as cash-back. Just trust me. It's really a points earning card in disguise. 

So in addition to a 20,000 point welcome offer, the Chase Freedom Unlimited card usually offers the few bonus categories where you can earn extra Chase points for certain types of spend. The three bonus categories that are offered by the Chase Freedom Unlimited card are number one, dining and restaurant spend including delivery services, which earn three times points or three points per dollar spent. 

Number two, drugstore purchases, which also earn three times points or three points per dollar spent. Number three, the final bonus category which I think is the cards most powerful one and what makes this a potentially very lucrative card to have in your wallet. That is basically an everything else category. 

Because the Chase Freedom Unlimited card earns 1.5 times points, or one and a half points per dollar spent on all other expenses with no limit to how many points you can earn at this rate. It's this final bonus category, the ability to earn one and a half times points on all spend, that makes the Chase Freedom Unlimited card the best points earning card that Chase offers on the personal side for all non-bonus or non-category spend. 

If you're someone who has significant non category expenses on a monthly or annual basis, and you specifically want to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, I think the Chase Freedom Unlimited card is an absolute must have addition to your rewards card portfolio. That's even more true if you can take advantage of the current promotion that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has right now, the double cash-back promotion. 

Here's what's so special about the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. If you get approved for this card under this promotion, you can earn rewards at double the rate that the card usually offers for 12 months. That means that instead of earning three times points on restaurant, dining, and drugstore spend, you can earn six times points in those categories for 12 months. Instead of earning one and a half times points on all other spend, including all of your non-category or non-bonus spend, you can earn three times points on all of that non category spend for an entire year. 

Now, if you've been in the rewards credit card space for more than a minute, you'll know that earning six times points on dining spend and three times points on all non-category or all non-bonused spend is tremendous. Currently, there are no other transferable points earning credit cards that offer that high return on dining or non-category spend for all of your spend for a year with no cap on how many points you can earn.

It's the ability of the Chase Freedom Unlimited card to earn three times points on all non-category spend under this double cash-back offer that I think is potentially incredibly lucrative. Like I said, there's just no other rewards credit card that currently offers three times points on all spend with no cap on how many points you can earn. Obviously, the higher non-category spend you have, the more you stand to benefit from this particular promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

But here's another unique aspect of the double cash-back promotion that should not be overlooked. With this offer, like I said, you can earn six times points on spend at drugstores instead of the usual three times points that the Chase Freedom Unlimited card usually offers. 

Now many of you might not be particularly wowed at the idea of earning six times points at drugstores, but don't forget that many drug stores like CVS or Walgreens carry store specific gift cards, like Amazon gift cards, Nordstrom gift cards, etc. Store specific gift cards do not carry activation fees. 

So with a double cash-back offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, you can earn six times points on all of your gift card spend for a year, giving you six times points earning for all of your Amazon spend or any other spend you do where you can purchase a store specific gift card at a drugstore. 

That also means that if you happen to live in a geographic area that carries the $500 denomination Gift of College gift cards, you can earn six times points on those gift cards that can be used to pay down student loans or contribute to 529 college savings plans. 

Now the Gift of College gift cards do carry an activation fee, but earning six times Chase points specifically on the $500 denomination cards justifies that activation fee in my opinion. For those of you who do not have access to a Chase Inc Business cash card to make gift card purchases at office supply stores, or if you're reluctant to put too much gift card spend on your personal Amex Gold card at grocery stores. Getting the Chase Freedom Unlimited card with a double cash-back promotion can open the door to earning huge points for gift card purchases at drugstores for the first 12 months that you hold the card. 

Have I started to convince you how potentially valuable the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card can be? In case you can't tell, I think this is a really unique offer worth considering. But before you run out and jump on this card promotion, there are a few things that you need to understand about the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

First, this specific promotion does not come with a welcome bonus. So the only points that you are going to earn are going to be from the spend that you actually put on the card, including the doubled points rates the first 12 months that you have the card. 

So that means that instead of earning a 20,000 point welcome bonus like you normally would with the standard offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Instead, with the double cash-back promotion card, you essentially would have to put $7,000 of non-category spend on the card to earn that same amount of points at three times points under the double cash-back promotion, or you'd have to put around $3,300 of dining and/or drugstore spend on the card in order to earn the same amount of points under the double cash-back promotion. 

The second thing that you need to know and understand about the double cash-back promotion is that the additional bonus points that you earn under this promotion don't get deposited in your Chase account monthly as you pay your credit card statements. Rather, the bonus points get awarded to you at the end of the 12 month promotional period. 

So let's say that you get the Chase Freedom Unlimited card with a double cash-back promotion, and you put $100,000 of non-category spend on the card the first 12 months you have it. So for that spend, you would earn three times points in total. So 300,000 Chase points overall. Now 150,000 of those points are for the card’s standard one and a half points earning rate on all non-category spend. Then the other 150,000 points come specifically from the double cash-back promotion of the card offer. 

But like I said, you don't get all the points earned on a month to month basis. Instead, you'll get the usual one and a half times points earned on a monthly basis, but then the additional one and a half times points on all your spend that you're earning under the double cash-back promotion will collect the entire year, and you get paid that as a lump sum at the end of 12 months. 

So for $100,000 of non-category spend on the card, you would earn one and a half times points like usual as you make your spend and pay off your statement monthly. But you'd earn the additional one and a half times bonus points, or 150,000 points, in one lump sum after 12 months. So if you are eyeing this offer, it's really important that you take into consideration that the additional bonus points earned won't actually be accessible to you for an entire year. 

Okay, so let's assume that you are fine with waiting a year to receive the additional bonus points earned from the double cash-back promotion. Who should consider getting this card and who shouldn't? Well, first, it probably goes without saying that if you don't particularly care about earning Chase points, especially for your non-category spend, then this card and this specific promotion probably will not be all that appealing to you. 

If you're someone who is preferentially using your non-category spend to earn points in other points currencies, like using a Capital One Venture Card to earn two times points on all non-category spend, or using a Citi Double cash-back Card to earn two times points on all non-category spend, then you're probably going to want to take a pass on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

Additionally, if you already know that for the next 12 months, you want to leverage your spend to open up multiple new rewards credit cards and allocate that spend to earning welcome bonuses or signup bonuses on one or more new cards then the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited probably isn't for you as well. 

That's because when it comes to allocating your spend, regardless of if it's a lot of spend or a little bit of spend, choosing where to put your expenses always comes at an opportunity cost. Meaning that if you want to allocate all of your spend to one card, you cannot also be using that spend or unwelcome bonuses on other cards at the same time and vice versa. 

So if you're looking ahead to 2024 and you already know there are a few or more than a few new rewards cards that you really want to get, and you're already anticipating using portions of your anticipated expenses and anticipated spend to earn welcome bonuses on those new cards, then that's less spend that you could potentially put on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card to maximize points earning under the double cash-back promotion. 

Because of that, I think this particular offer is ideal for someone who really values earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and who's willing to basically go all in on putting all of their dining, drugstore, and non-category spend on this card for 12 months in order to optimize its points earning potential rather than expecting to spread your spend out over multiple other rewards cards including new rewards cards over the next year. 

Now assuming that you do want to apply for the double cash-back promotion on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, here is what you need to know about who's eligible for the card and who is not. First, you cannot get this card if you already hold a Chase Freedom Unlimited card, or if you have earned the welcome bonus on a Chase Freedom Unlimited card in the last 24 months. 

So if you currently hold the Chase Freedom Unlimited card but it's been more than 24 months since you earn the welcome bonus, you can product change your card to a different Chase card. Then once that Freedom Unlimited no longer shows in your Chase account, you could apply for a new one at that point in order to get approved for this double cash-back promotion. 

But just keep in mind again that we have no idea how long this specific double cash-back promotion offer will be available. So if you need to wait a few weeks or a month in order to product change a current Chase Freedom Unlimited card, there's no guarantee that this promotion will still be around. 

Now if you currently hold a Chase Freedom Flex card or if you're an authorized user on someone else's Chase Freedom Unlimited card, that is fine. You will still be eligible to get your own Chase Freedom Unlimited card with the double cash-back promotion. 

Since this is a Chase credit card, the usual 5/24 rule will apply. Meaning that if you have opened up five or more new credit card accounts across any credit card issuer in the prior 24 months, you will not be able to get approved for any new Chase Card including this specific Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

So as long as you're under 5/24, you do not currently hold a Chase Freedom Unlimited card at the time of application, and it's been more than 24 months since you last earn the welcome bonus on a chase Freedom Unlimited card, you should be eligible to apply for the card under the double cash-back promotion offer. 

Here is the final thing for you to know about applying for this card with this specific promotion if you are interested in it. Since this is a promotional offer, it is not available through Chase’s public website or as a referral from a friend or family member who already holds a Chase Freedom Unlimited card. 

In order to get the double cash-back promotion on the card, you have to apply for the Chase Freedom Unlimited using a referral link from a content creator or affiliate of Chase. Now I don't currently have an affiliate relationship with Chase or affiliate links for this credit card. But luckily, I know people who do. 

So if you want to apply for the Freedom Unlimited card with a double cash-back promotion, I've included a referral link that you can use in the episode show notes for this episode so that you can get directed specifically to the Chase Freedom Unlimited card with the double cash-back promotional offer. 

The affiliate link that's going to be posted is for another fantastic group of women points travel business owners, the group over at Travel Hacking Mom. So I don't receive any compensation if you get approved for this card using that referral link other than the satisfaction of knowing that you're supporting another group of women business owners. 

My last word of advice if you do want to take advantage of this offer is to be sure to check, double check, and triple check that when you go to apply for the offer, it specifically shows that it is the double cash-back promotion on the online application. You absolutely do not want to be filling out an application for the standard Chase Freedom Unlimited offer thinking that you're actually applying for this special promotion. So as always, it is a great idea to take a screenshot of the application page showing the double cash-back promotion so that you have evidence of having applied for this specific offer just in case you need it in the future. 

All right, everybody. I hope that you've enjoyed this episode and that some of you consider giving yourself the gift of the double cash-back offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited card this holiday season. Have a wonderful week, and I will see you back here same time, same place next week to ring in the New Year together.

Thank you for joining me for this week's episode of Point Me to First Class. If you want more tips on turning your expenses into travel, visit pointmetofirstclass.com to learn more. See you next week.