topic Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop in Credit Cards

Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Citylights18 — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 17:37:19 GMT

Not many play the 0% APR game but with the Chase Freedom line (Flex, Unlimited) its possible to keep a continuous 0% APR daily driver going.

1) Start with either the Flex or Unlimited and the 15 month 0% offer.

2) Pay the Freedom card off at 14+ months to expiration.

3) After 15 months apply for the other Freedom card for 0%.

4) Pay the second Freedom card off at 14+ months to expiration.

5) Close the first Freedom card to be able to reapply for it.

6) Reapply for the first Freedom card after 30 months.

You need 24 months to be able to qualify for a new SUB with chase and do the dance all over again.

If the plan is to put home renovations on it I'd probably get a separate card, SUB for that. But for daily driver spend I could see it working when you can put the saved money into a CD at 5%. That is like getting a second SUB out of the card IMO.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

pizzadude — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 20:52:40 GMT

Moving to credit cards forum for better visibility

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

ptatohed — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 21:19:48 GMT

As cheap.... errrr, I mean thrifty..... as I am, and as much as I love a free dollar, this is too much work for even me.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Citylights18 — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 23:20:15 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
As cheap.... errrr, I mean thrifty..... as I am, and as much as I love a free dollar, this is too much work for even me.

Its a factor of staying organized and making sure the money saved isn't in risky investments where you can lose your shirt.

One can get a quality SUB out of it every 15 months or so which in of itself has some value.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Kforce — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:02:27 GMT

@ptatohed wrote:
As cheap.... errrr, I mean thrifty..... as I am, and as much as I love a free dollar, this is too much work for even me.

I am on a whole different floor.

Never taken a BT offer.

Never went for a card just for the SUB.

Won't even go for a grocery, gas, or utility card with 5%, NAF and a moderate cap.

Have closed all 5%, rotating or limited category cards

All goes on the AOD.

No caps, no categories, no switching cards, life is very simple.

I am however in fear of being thrown out of the forum because of

my radical thinking.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Citylights18 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:07:41 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
As cheap.... errrr, I mean thrifty..... as I am, and as much as I love a free dollar, this is too much work for even me.
I am on a whole different floor.
*
Never taken a BT offer.
Never went for a card just for the SUB.
Won't even go for a grocery, gas, or utility card with 5%, NAF and a moderate cap.
Have closed all 5%, rotating or limited category cards
*
All goes on the AOD.
No caps, no categories, no switching cards, life is very simple.
*
I am however in fear of being thrown out of the forum because of
my radical thinking.

You can get 3% on you spend with a Chase Freedom card and 5% with the cash saved in the money mart. That to me says 8%.

I think you take any money you can but that is just me.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

K-in-Boston — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 02:32:04 GMT

The risk here is that Chase's offers are not always 0% APR on new purchases; sometimes the offer is solely for balance transfers with a 3% fee in the first 60 days which would greatly eat into any money earned from a CD. A 3% fee up front equates to a much higher effective APR over the life of the balance transfer. In order to get the SUB and not pay a little interest on the spending used to get the SUB, you'd need to pay off the first statement in full prior to doing the transfer on the new card. You also have to factor in that you would need to actually be approved by Chase every single time with an acceptable limit, and after years of churning the cards with what I presume would be minimum or near minimum payments most months, that's risky. There are, however, other cards with long 0% intro APRs and SUBs on the market, so this wouldn't necessarily need to be relegated to Chase.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Citylights18 — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 03:53:31 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
The risk here is that Chase's offers are not always 0% APR on new purchases; sometimes the offer is solely for balance transfers with a 3% fee in the first 60 days which would greatly eat into any money earned from a CD. A 3% fee up front equates to a much higher effective APR over the life of the balance transfer. In order to get the SUB and not pay a little interest on the spending used to get the SUB, you'd need to pay off the first statement in full prior to doing the transfer on the new card. You also have to factor in that you would need to actually be approved by Chase every single time with an acceptable limit, and after years of churning the cards with what I presume would be minimum or near minimum payments most months, that's risky. There are, however, other cards with long 0% intro APRs and SUBs on the market, so this wouldn't necessarily need to be relegated to Chase.

Yes that is true it wouldn't be restricted to Chase. Doing one of these every 15 months or so is a pretty long cool off period. And you always would have a 0% APR period handy in case of a job layoff built into your finacial approach.

The idea I had is you would PIF the card prior to the 0% interest period ending. Thus you wouldn't ever have to BT the remaing balance somewhere for a 3% BT fee. This also assumes one has a relatively comfortable level of cash that would allow them to pay off a 10k or 15k balance easily when the intro period is up.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Blender — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 13:05:12 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
@ptatohed wrote:
As cheap.... errrr, I mean thrifty..... as I am, and as much as I love a free dollar, this is too much work for even me.
I am on a whole different floor.
*
Never taken a BT offer.
Never went for a card just for the SUB.
Won't even go for a grocery, gas, or utility card with 5%, NAF and a moderate cap.
Have closed all 5%, rotating or limited category cards
*
All goes on the AOD.
No caps, no categories, no switching cards, life is very simple.
*
I am however in fear of being thrown out of the forum because of
my radical thinking.

I'm with you. The longer I've been around here and the credit game, I find that I prefer having all of my rewards in one ecosystem even if it means not getting an extra 0.5% from another card.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Citylights18 — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 02:02:50 GMT

I'm to the point where I'd rather take the 0% APR offer over the SUB if I had to make that decision.

I know 0% APR doesn't sit well with mindsets on this board who are super conservative with money.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Yankee2 — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 02:26:16 GMT

@Citylights18 wrote:
Not many play the 0% APR game but with the Chase Freedom line (Flex, Unlimited) its possible to keep a continuous 0% APR daily driver going.

1) Start with either the Flex or Unlimited and the 15 month 0% offer.
2) Pay the Freedom card off at 14+ months to expiration.
3) After 15 months apply for the other Freedom card for 0%.
4) Pay the second Freedom card off at 14+ months to expiration.
5) Close the first Freedom card to be able to reapply for it.
6) Reapply for the first Freedom card after 30 months.

You need 24 months to be able to qualify for a new SUB with chase and do the dance all over again.

If the plan is to put home renovations on it I'd probably get a separate card, SUB for that. But for daily driver spend I could see it working when you can put the saved money into a CD at 5%. That is like getting a second SUB out of the card IMO.

I have been doing this with my Chase card since October. I put each month's spend in a 6 month Treasury bill. After 6 months, the treasury bill money will be automatically deposited in my account and will use that for that month's payment. I'm putting about $2,500 a month on the card, so after a year or so (just before the 0% ends) I should have made about $700 or so just in interest. (not counting the $200 SUB I got opening the card)

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Blender — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 16:45:55 GMT

@Citylights18 wrote:
I'm to the point where I'd rather take the 0% APR offer over the SUB if I had to make that decision.

I know 0% APR doesn't sit well with mindsets on this board who are super conservative with money.

I'm with you on this as well lol I've refrained from asking practical questions here knowing that's likely the response/ argument about to take place lol

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

pizzadude — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 17:12:29 GMT

@Blender wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:
I'm to the point where I'd rather take the 0% APR offer over the SUB if I had to make that decision.

I know 0% APR doesn't sit well with mindsets on this board who are super conservative with money.
I'm with you on this as well lol I've refrained from asking practical questions here knowing that's likely the response/ argument about to take place lol

I didn't realize there was that much of a hivemind here at myFICO on the subject of free money ?

I'll take 0% offers all day / every day as long as they'll keep throwin em at me.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

Namaste7 — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 18:13:31 GMT

Nice strategy.

Right now, my go to is rotating between Discover 12-month 0% APR promotions on an existing account, and then applying for a new Amex of BofA CC in month 12, giving me approximately 24-27 months of 0% APR.

Re: Chase Freedom 0% APR Loop

CYBERSAM — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 22:34:32 GMT

@Blender wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:
I'm to the point where I'd rather take the 0% APR offer over the SUB if I had to make that decision.

I know 0% APR doesn't sit well with mindsets on this board who are super conservative with money.
I'm with you on this as well lol I've refrained from asking practical questions here knowing that's likely the response/ argument about to take place lol

So you are afraid to ask questions, in case you may not like the answers! 🤔🙄