topic Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)? in Credit Cards

Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 15:46:48 GMT

Just got a toy card limit of $500 on a new Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Not too excited about 1.5% cash back since I'm in my first year with Discover (1+1=2% cash back for 12 months) and going to max out my cash back there. I normally throw all cash back into a savings account UNLESS there's a gift card I can buy with it on Discover's site that makes sense (so far, none of those).

I know on the Chase Freedom cards, you earn "Ultimate Rewards" (UR) which can be transfered to a Chase Sapphire card if you have one for additional rewards on travel. I don't have a Sapphire, and assume I'm at least a year away.

Since I don't use my rewards normally, does it make sense for me to "bank" the UR points at Chase for now, and redeem them in the far future when (and if) I get a Sapphire card? Even if it takes a year, the bonus value is worth it for me. Or can you only transfer UR points you've earned AFTER also getting a Sapphire card?

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 15:55:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Just got a toy card limit of $500 on a new Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Not too excited about 1.5% cash back since I'm in my first year with Discover (1+1=2% cash back for 12 months) and going to max out my cash back there. I normally throw all cash back into a savings account UNLESS there's a gift card I can buy with it on Discover's site that makes sense (so far, none of those).

I know on the Chase Freedom cards, you earn "Ultimate Rewards" (UR) which can be transfered to a Chase Sapphire card if you have one for additional rewards on travel. I don't have a Sapphire, and assume I'm at least a year away.

Since I don't use my rewards normally, does it make sense for me to "bank" the UR points at Chase for now, and redeem them in the far future when (and if) I get a Sapphire card? Even if it takes a year, the bonus value is worth it for me. Or can you only transfer UR points you've earned AFTER also getting a Sapphire card?

If you keep the UR points that you earn on the FU card until you get the CSP or CSR, those points are still transferable to travel partners.

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:04:36 GMT

Awesome, thanks! That's exactly what I figured but Chase's site is useless on clarification and I searched here and another credit forum for answers and couldn't find a similar instance of someone just squatting on URs until they got the CSP or CSR. Since I won't be charging much on a $500 TL credit card anyway, and still have 9 months left on Discover's 2-4% cash back, it won't matter much but I'll give it a little bit of love and just sit on the URs. Every freebie is worth waiting for!

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:09:01 GMT

OP, have you considered asking Chase to PC your Freedom Unlimited to a Freedom card? If you are going to use it sparingly, the 5% categories may work better for you than the across the board 1.5%.

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:17:49 GMT

I was "prequalified" for both and did the research -- none of the categories tend to be my spend categories at all so just with some napkin math the 1.5% now with the CSR/CSP bonus later just made more sense as a catch-all card once the Discover 2-4% is gone.

The vast majority of my expenses annually on are on personal travel, and I spend it almost equally across the year. I think I spent about $50,000 on personal travel last year and this year will be about the same, give or take. $4000 a month is a typical travel budget, so until I can qualify for a great travel card, the 2% on Discover right now means ~ $80 cash back just there, not including any other odd things I charge.

Rotating category cards just don't seem to work for me -- the categories they usually offer are during the "busy" seasons for those categories, so there are no deals to be had when I do want to buy something. I always wait until AFTER the busy season closes to snag new items at a deeper discount than the 5% cash back would cover. 1.5% isn't too bad, but when I qualify for CSR/CSP I think it's going to have SOME value for me.

The other "issue" I have with spending is that almost none of my travel expenses are airfare related, so a mileage card doesn't make sense, either. I have to figure out how to even use travel rewards if I'm not booking airfare much, if at all. I book everything through 3 different travel agents and no clue what they code charges as so I have to work on that next and then figure out what makes sense for actual rewards earning and redemption.

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:38:56 GMT

ABCD2199, just wanted to make sure that you are aware that the 1.25x for CSP and 1.5x for CSR is only valid for travel booked through the Chase UR portal. Otherwise the CSP can essentially be considered a 2% cash back for for travel and dining, and the CSR would be a 3% for those categories. You'd have to weigh the fees, but if you're not redeeming travel through Chase or making it worth your while to transfer UR points to an airline or hotel rewards program (only possible when you have a Sapphire product) you may be better served by a card with higher cash back for those categories, or a hotel-specific card.

Re: Chase Freedom Unlimited but no CSP/CSR (yet)?

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:49:20 GMT

Yep, I do realize that -- it won't add up to much for me except I do book some international flights through Southwest and United so there MIGHT be some value in using FU+CSP/CSR just to snag enough rewards to cover those random trips. In the past 5 years, I've booked Southwest to Aruba, San Jose (Costa Rica), and San Juan (Puerto Rico) to the tune of almost $7000 -- and Chase URs can be redeemed there. It's probably less than 5% of my travel in that time frame, but free money is free money!

I also use United on rare occasions when flying to visit family in Europe and generally fly those business class if the price is right (last minute tickets I always check business and first since they tend to sometimes have remarkably cheap prices). Again, not a lot of travel there, but probably enough to cover a few grand over a year or two and if I can get free money out of the combo, it's worth it for me.

The vast majority of my travel spend is fairly unique and seemingly impossible to match up to any travel specific cards, which is why a maximum cash back card makes the most sense (maybe Citi DC in my future?). For example, my most recent trip through my travel agent was booked through a non-franchise hotel in a foreign country for 7 days but i only spent 2 nights at the actual hotel. The $6000 booking included airfare, 2 nights at the hotel and 6 days of renting one of the hotel's boats that I took out for the near week. I didn't have a rewards card at that point so I just stuck it all on my debit card, but even on Discover at 2% first year I'd have snagged $120 back!

Since it's all booked through one of three travel agencies, I assume it's coded as just some generic travel purchase, and so far I've found no rewards cards that specifically reward generic travel. I'll have to do more research once I have a card that reports what categories a charge goes into, but I'm guessing my maximum benefits will come from a 1.5%-2.0% cash back card for now. Discover will do fine until February 2018, and hopefully I just swing things to Chase FU at that point unless I qualify for Citi DC by then. I have seen some people approved as low as 657 (EX) and 665 (TU) for that one, so I am hopeful in attempting to get it late this year early next year, but I also have no issue giving Chase some appreciation if I can redeem those URs for the rare Southwest/United ticket.