topic Re: Will Chase match Active Cash? in Credit Cards

Will Chase match Active Cash?

thelethargicage — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 15:50:07 GMT

Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

Remedios — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 15:58:07 GMT

Nope.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 16:02:39 GMT

Aren't URs generally considered more valuable than TYPs anyway?

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

thelethargicage — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 16:09:37 GMT

I am referring to Active Cash by WF, not Custom Cash by Citi.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 16:12:44 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
I am referring to Active Cash by WF, not Custom Cash by Citi.

Lol I need to go back to bed

The point remains though that URs are worth more than 1.5¢. Most estimates I have seen are 2¢ anyway so it's more like Wells Fargo is catching up to Chase.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

simplynoir — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 16:35:06 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?

Why would they? It's not only a general 1.5% cashback card it also earns 3% on dining/drugstores and if one was inclined also 5% back on travel purchases through Chase travel. And if one is invested in the Chase ecosystem the CSP/CSR make it easily a profitable whether doing 1.25x/1.5x at a flat rate and possibly better if you want to play the travel/transfer points game

tl;dr Chase has no incentive to raise it

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

rgd51 — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 02:28:25 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?
Why would they? It's not only a general 1.5% cashback card it also earns 3% on dining/drugstores and if one was inclined also 5% back on travel purchases through Chase travel. And if one is invested in the Chase ecosystem the CSP/CSR make it easily a profitable whether doing 1.25x/1.5x at a flat rate and possibly better if you want to play the travel/transfer points game

tl;dr Chase has no incentive to raise it

But if chase did raise it to 2% it would easily be the best cash back card on the market. I use the freedom unlimited as my daily driver and already feel it is the best overall cash back card available today so in my opinion if they raised it it would just make the best card even better. I mean there are cards like the US Bank altitude go that give 4% on dining and a handful of flat rate 2% cards that the general public is aware of but there are no cards I am aware of that give you a 3% on dining and 1.5% on everything else so if one wanted a 1 card wallet it would be the best card to get if you dine out a lot since your overall rate would average to better than 2%.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

Kraidle — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 02:52:44 GMT

@rgd51 wrote:
@simplynoir wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?
Why would they? It's not only a general 1.5% cashback card it also earns 3% on dining/drugstores and if one was inclined also 5% back on travel purchases through Chase travel. And if one is invested in the Chase ecosystem the CSP/CSR make it easily a profitable whether doing 1.25x/1.5x at a flat rate and possibly better if you want to play the travel/transfer points game

tl;dr Chase has no incentive to raise it
But if chase did raise it to 2% it would easily be the best cash back card on the market. I use the freedom unlimited as my daily driver and already feel it is the best overall cash back card available today so in my opinion if they raised it it would just make the best card even better. I mean there are cards like the US Bank altitude go that give 4% on dining and a handful of flat rate 2% cards that the general public is aware of but there are no cards I am aware of that give you a 3% on dining and 1.5% on everything else so if one wanted a 1 card wallet it would be the best card to get if you dine out a lot since your overall rate would average to better than 2%.

I think the fact that they give 1.5% at all, along with both 3% dining (pretty good,) 3% drugstore (a hard niche to fill,) AND 5% on ANY travel at all, even if limited through the Chase portal, makes this card pretty solid overall. I doubt they will refresh this card. If anything, they should refresh the CSP. Even a .5% bump on that one's earning rate would make its multipliers much more enticing.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

FormerCollegeDJ — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 12:28:59 GMT

@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?

Chase just enhanced the Freedom Unlimited when they added the 3% dining and drug store categories and the 5% travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal last September. (Only on FICO Forums would some people consider a product enhancement that was done less than 10 months ago a long time ago, LOL.) Adding 3% on dining was significant because that is a major spend category for most people.

If you ask me, the Wells Fargo Active Cash now exceeds the Chase Freedom Unlimited as a daily driver card, but it doesn't exceed it by a lot; the CFU remains a very solid card. And most of the issuers who are trying to compete in the no annual fee card space have been trying to up their game over the last 12-18 months:

*Chase enhanced the CFU last September, and also introduced the Chase Freedom Flex, an enhanced version of the Chase Freedom, at the same time to better compete with 5% rotator/selectable category cards like the Discover Cash It.

*Citi, which already had the highest flat rate rewards card among highly visible cards to the general population in the Double Cash, introduced the Custom Cash in early June, which competes against flat rate rewards cards like the Chase Freedom Unlimited and also against 5% rotator/selectable category cards like the Chase Freedom Flex, Discover Cash It, and U.S. Bank Cash+.

*U.S. Bank rolled out the Altitude Go, which offers the highest regular dining rewards rate of any no annual fee card and some other solid perks, in May 2020. Additionally, through their Elan Financial Services arm they started offering the Max Cash Preferred at various regional banks, a card that is similar though not exactly the same as U.S. Bank's own Cash+, an already existing 5% selectable rewards category card.

*Capital One enhanced one of their strongest no annual fee cards, the SavorOne, this past spring by boosting the rewards rate on groceries and streaming to 3%. The grocery boost made the card only the second widely available no annual fee, 3% grocery rewards card along with the Amex Blue Cash Everyday. (The Citi Custom Cash can now theoretically exceed them with a "selectable" 5% groceries category.)

*Wells Fargo just began offering the Active Cash, which became the first 2% flat rate rewards card to offer a significant sign-up bonus by no annual fee card standards ($200). The bank also has announced it plans to enhance their credit card line over the next year, including introducing a new line of rewards cards in 2022. That line of rewards cards will presumably replace and probably at least in some ways exceed the Wells Fargo Propel, which was pulled from general applications in April (though there are still ways to apply for that card).

*I admittedly don't pay much attention to Synchrony because I personally associate them with store cards that are not as good as they first appear, but in 2020 they introduced co-branded cards with PayPal and Verizon that many people consider to be pretty good.

The majority of the major and moderate players in the no annual fee credit card space have been flexing their muscles since the beginning of 2020. Those of us who like to maximize rewards are the big beneficiaries of that.

I'll tell you what I'm interested to see:

1) Will American Express and/or Bank of America try to significantly step up their no annual fee card offerings to compete with the aforementioned issuers?

2) Will PNC's acquistion of BBVA encourage PNC, which will become the largest of what I call the "Second Five" banks (PNC, U.S. Bank, Truist, Capital One, and TD Bank) to become a bigger player in the credit card space? PNC already has a card in their Cash Rewards card that some people like a lot. (Incidentally, the "Big Four" banks are Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citi.)

3) When Truist finally introduces its new credit card division in late 2021/early 2022 that merges/replaces BB&T and SunTrust, will they try to become a bigger player in the credit card space due to their status as a Second Five bank?

Hopefully some or all of those three questions will be answered with the introduction of new cards or enhancement of existing cards that are very competitive with the cards that have already been introduced over the last 12-18 months.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

rgd51 — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 02:49:22 GMT

@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?
Chase just enhanced the Freedom Unlimited when they added the 3% dining and drug store categories and the 5% travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal last September. (Only on FICO Forums would some people consider a product enhancement that was done less than 10 months ago a long time ago, LOL.) Adding 3% on dining was significant because that is a major spend category for most people.

If you ask me, the Wells Fargo Active Cash now exceeds the Chase Freedom Unlimited as a daily driver card, but it doesn't exceed it by a lot; the CFU remains a very solid card.

I know we all have different opinions but how is the Active Cash better than the CFU? If only half your CC spend is dining and half is non category purchases you're getting a 2.25% return on the card in addition to the 5% on groceries for the 1st year and dash pass perks for the 1st year. Not even half your spend has to be dining to earn a better rate than the Wells Fargo card. If dining isn't a big spend category then I would agree with you that for those people a flat 2% card is better.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

FormerCollegeDJ — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 03:55:26 GMT

@rgd51 wrote:
@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:
@thelethargicage wrote:
Do you think they will raise the rewards rate on the Freedom Unlimited to 2%?
Chase just enhanced the Freedom Unlimited when they added the 3% dining and drug store categories and the 5% travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal last September. (Only on FICO Forums would some people consider a product enhancement that was done less than 10 months ago a long time ago, LOL.) Adding 3% on dining was significant because that is a major spend category for most people.

If you ask me, the Wells Fargo Active Cash now exceeds the Chase Freedom Unlimited as a daily driver card, but it doesn't exceed it by a lot; the CFU remains a very solid card.

I know we all have different opinions but how is the Active Cash better than the CFU? If only half your CC spend is dining and half is non category purchases you're getting a 2.25% return on the card in addition to the 5% on groceries for the 1st year and dash pass perks for the 1st year. Not even half your spend has to be dining to earn a better rate than the Wells Fargo card. If dining isn't a big spend category then I would agree with you that for those people a flat 2% card is better.

Most people, even people who dine out a lot (and I'm one of those people), put nowhere near 50% of their spending in the dining category. Also, many people don't bother with Door Dash and similar delivery services because those services usually make dining more expensive.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

rgd51 — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 04:22:23 GMT

I use Doordarsh regularly and dining is over half of my FU spend. Then again I use my target and amazon cards at those places so many of the non dining non category purchases would go on the FU if I didn't have those other cards.

My mortgage, utility bills, HOA dues, and auto loan all charge fees for paying by credit card so I have those payments drawn out of my bank account since there is no fee for that. That heavily reduces how much non category spend I can do and earn cash back on. I am a huge foodie so I dine a lot.

So for me the FU is much more lucrative than a 2% card but for people who don't dine a lot the 2% card would be better.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

FalconSteve — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 12:57:26 GMT

Not if you don't fly, I (personaly) get a lot more benefit from a 2% cashback card

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

rgd51 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 15:59:14 GMT

@FalconSteve wrote:
Not if you don't fly, I (personaly) get a lot more benefit from a 2% cashback card

I could see a psychological benefit from a 2% card since you know all purchases get the same amount so you don't have to use any brain power to think about what rate you will get on each purchase.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

FalconSteve — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 16:56:41 GMT

@rgd51 wrote:
@FalconSteve wrote:
Not if you don't fly, I (personaly) get a lot more benefit from a 2% cashback card
I could see a psychological benefit from a 2% card since you know all purchases get the same amount so you don't have to use any brain power to think about what rate you will get on each purchase.

I have other cards for category spend, but I don't do a ton of it.

Re: Will Chase match Active Cash?

rgd51 — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 17:29:33 GMT

@FalconSteve wrote:
@rgd51 wrote:
@FalconSteve wrote:
Not if you don't fly, I (personaly) get a lot more benefit from a 2% cashback card
I could see a psychological benefit from a 2% card since you know all purchases get the same amount so you don't have to use any brain power to think about what rate you will get on each purchase.
I have other cards for category spend, but I don't do a ton of it.

Dining is really my only big category spend other than target and amazon (I have their cards as well). US Bank has a 4% back on dining card but I know they're difficult to get in with if you don't have a banking relationship with them. I'm debating getting a flat rate 2% card and probably will when one comes out with a SUB. Not considering wells fargo due to the numerous scandals they've had over the last several years.