My first Freedom card was actually a forced conversion from the Chase Cash Rewards card I got in late 2005. I didn'tknow what the original Freedom rewards structure was, but I remember seeing TV ads for the Chase Freedom, making a big deal of how you could switch between points or cashback anytime you wanted. But since the points were worth 1¢ each, I couldn't figure out why that was such a big deal.
Anyhow, in 2007, Chase switched me from the Cash Rewards card, which was a 5% on Gas/Grocery/Drug and 1% on everthing else to the Freedom, which was giving 3% on your top three categories out of a long list, which included Telephone, Satellite, Department Stores,Grocery,Laundry/Dry Cleaning,Commuting,Movie Theaters,Utilities,Fast Food,Drug Stores,Movie Rentals,Beauty Salons/Spas,Veterinarians/Pet Supplies,Gas & Convenience,Health Clubs, and 1% on everything else. There was an additional redemption 25% bonus for Chase checking customers, so with that it amounted to a 1.25%/3.75% card. In mid-2008, they upped the rewards to include six categories per cycle, instead of three. Then in spring 2010, they dropped the 25% bonus on redemptions and added a 1 point per $10 of purchases (so effectively an additional 0.1%) plus a 10¢ bonus per transaction, which made it my go-to card for small transactions.
Then in July 2010 they joined Discover in the quarterly category trend. What made it particularly lucrative is that for those who were already in the 3% program it stacked. So that if, for example gas ended up one of your top six categories, and gas happened to be the quarterly category, you'd get 8% cashback on gas, which was pretty sweet. They finally ended that gravy train in mid-2011, and it was just a straight quarterly 5% card, with 1% on everything else, but still with the 10%/10¢ bonus, sometimes enhanced to 20%/20¢ for a time. Then sometime in 2013, they dropped the 10%/10¢ bonus, and went to a 10% bonus on all purchases, which made it a 5.5%/1.1% card, which continued until the end of 2015, and it's now a straight 5%/1% card.
History of Chase Freedom quarterly categories (* indicates overlap with Discover):
2010
Q3: Lawn and Garden, Home Furnishings, Home Improvement
Q4: Grocery Stores, Department Stores, Movies
2011
Q1: Grocery stores, Drug
Q2: *Home Improvement, Lawn and Garden, Home Furnishings
Q3: Airlines, *Hotels, Auto Rentals, *Gasoline
Q4: *Dining,*Department Stores, Movies, Charity
2012
Q1: *Gas Stations, Amazon.com
Q2: Grocery Stores, *Movie Theatres
Q3: *Gas Stations, Restaurants
Q4: Hotels, Airlines, *Bestbuy, *Kohls
2013
Q1: Gas stations, Drugstores, Starbucks� stores
Q2: Restaurants, Movie theaters
Q3: *Gas stations, Theme Parks, Kohl's�
Q4: *Select department stores, *Amazon.com
2014
Q1: Gas stations, *Movie theaters, Starbucks stores
Q2: Restaurants, *Lowe's
Q3: *Gas stations, Kohl's
Q4: *Amazon.com, *Zappos.com, select *department stores
2015
Q1: Grocery Stores (not including WalMart and Target), Starbucks, and Movie Theaters
Q2: *Restaurants and more - Restaurants, Bed Bath Beyond, Overstock.com
Q3: *Gas Stations and more - Gas Stations and Kohl's
Q4: *Amazon.com, Zappos.com, audible.com, diapers.com
2016
Q1: *Gas Stations and Local Commuter transportation (not parking, tolls and Amtrak)
Q2: Grocery Stores (not including Walmart and Target)
Q3: Restaurants
Q4: Holiday Shopping
