topic Re: Very confused... in Credit Cards

Very confused...

zeusta20 — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:23:37 GMT

I was looking the UR for the CSP and the Chase Freedom, and honestly, I don't really see a difference.

I thought with the Chase freedom, you will earn points, which can be redeemed for only cash and gift cards. (thats the whole point with the whole 1%/5% cash back thing). But when I go on the site, apparently you can redeem it for merchandise, etc. And the amount of the cash back you can get from the freedom, is basically the same with the cSP. With the CSP, you can redeem for cash too.

Could someone clarify what the difference between the CSP and the freedom are pls.

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:30:55 GMT

CSP allows you to transfer UR points to partner programs such as United and Marriott on a 1:1 basis. Since you have both any points you earn with Freedom can be transferred as well.

Re: Very confused...

boomhower — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:31:23 GMT

Can't you transfer to airlines with the CSP?

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:46:51 GMT

@boomhower wrote:
Can't you transfer to airlines with the CSP?

? Freedom (no transfer to airlines); CSP (transfer to airlines); Freedom + CSP (transfer from Freedome to CSP then transfer to Airlines.)

Re: Very confused...

zeusta20 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:09:59 GMT

So that's basically the only difference is you can transfer to the airlines?

I mean, that's good. I'm not complaining. I was just confused because I didn't know you can redeem the points for other things other than cash, when it came to the Chase Freedom.

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:16:24 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
So that's basically the only difference is you can transfer to the airlines?

I mean, that's good. I'm not complaining. I was just confused because I didn't know you can redeem the points for other things other than cash, when it came to the Chase Freedom.

The real power comes from having both, where the Freedom's earning power feeds the CSP, and the points then get transferred.

Apologies to the Freedom lovers, but on its own, it's hardly an exceptional card, rotating 5% categories with a max of $300 back a year if you max out every quarter. (And maybe + 10% if you bank with them).

For grandfathered users, the old checking+Freedom+CSP was unmatched, but new customers cannot get this benefit.

Re: Very confused...

injustifiiable — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:18:02 GMT

I manage my boss' accounts. She has both a Freedom and a CSP.

She's had me redeem points on Freedom for gift cards before, but we mostly combine the Freedom points with the CSP points and then transfer to an airline program.

ETA: Also the 7% points dividend annually on the CSP is the other major difference between.

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:17:00 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
So that's basically the only difference is you can transfer to the airlines?

I mean, that's good. I'm not complaining. I was just confused because I didn't know you can redeem the points for other things other than cash, when it came to the Chase Freedom.

If you do frequent travel, especially international, the ability to transfer miles to arilines is quite good. Especially if you transfers the 5X points you earn from Freedom to CSP.

In my case, 70K gets me a round trip to Korea which is about 1500-2000 dollars. Korean air does charge high fuel and airport fees about $400, but even so that is 1100-1600 for the ticket. Obviously I'will have mixture of 5x points and 1x points, but for the sake of argument, that I funded that solely through 5x points. that 14,000 dollar spend to get get ~1400 value. Pretty good in my book.

Re: Very confused...

HiLine — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:51:28 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
So that's basically the only difference is you can transfer to the airlines?

I mean, that's good. I'm not complaining. I was just confused because I didn't know you can redeem the points for other things other than cash, when it came to the Chase Freedom.

Buying merchandise directly is worse use of your points than redeeming for cash, so why not allow it? Almost all credit card reward programs allow you to redeem points/miles for merchandise directly.

Re: Very confused...

zeusta20 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:55:51 GMT

I guess I didn't understand the benefit because I know you can transfer from Freedom to the CSP, then to the airlines...but if that's the case, then you might as well just purchase whatever you were going to purchase with the freedom, with the CSP instead. At least that was my initial thought. But I guess if you earn 5x the rewards with the Freedom on certain categories, then it's worth it to use the freedom.

I think I'm just ONLY going to use my freedom for those 5x categories, and nothing else. Because other than the 5x rewards, there's nothing else the Freedom can do that the CSP doesn't.

Those who have used the combo, have you guys seen a big jump in your rewards points?

Re: Very confused...

zeusta20 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:58:03 GMT

Also, you can redeem the points for travel through UR with the freedom too right? You just can't transfer points to another airline...is that correct?

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:59:08 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
I guess I didn't understand the benefit because I know you can transfer from Freedom to the CSP, then to the airlines...but if that's the case, then you might as well just purchase whatever you were going to purchase with the freedom, with the CSP instead. At least that was my initial thought. But I guess if you earn 5x the rewards with the Freedom on certain categories, then it's worth it to use the freedom.

I think I'm just ONLY going to use my freedom for those 5x categories, and nothing else. Because other than the 5x rewards, there's nothing else the Freedom can do that the CSP doesn't.

Those who have used the combo, have you guys seen a big jump in your rewards points?

Correct, only use the Freedom for the 5% categories. Everything else use the CSP for the 7% dividend.

Re: Very confused...

omskillet — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 02:59:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@boomhower wrote:
Can't you transfer to airlines with the CSP?
? Freedom (no transfer to airlines); CSP (transfer to airlines); Freedom + CSP (transfer from Freedome to CSP then transfer to Airlines.)

+Yes

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:00:45 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
Also, you can redeem the points for travel through UR with the freedom too right? You just can't transfer points to another airline...is that correct?

Even if you could you would be better off transfering the points to the CSP then using them as the CSP gets a 25% higher value on the points when redeemed for travel(.01 cent per point with freedom vs .0125 with the CSP).

Re: Very confused...

zeusta20 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:02:06 GMT

Ok cool! I'm excited to use it now. Especially when gas is the category for that quarter. Because lord knows I but a sh** load of gas! Lol

Another question I did have, (sorry about all the questions)...lol. But, which is better/worth it??? Redeeming points for travel straight from the UR website, or do you get more out of it when you transfer to the airlines, THEN redeem the points?

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:04:26 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
Ok cool! I'm excited to use it now. Especially when gas is the category for that quarter. Because lord knows I but a sh** load of gas! Lol

Another question I did have, (sorry about all the questions)...lol. But, which is better/worth it??? Redeeming points for travel straight from the UR website, or do you get more out of it when you transfer to the airlines, THEN redeem the points?

Every different scenario is going to bring a different value to the points, most of the time you will find better value by transfering them to the partners...

I also buy a ton of gas, I plan to app for the Freedom card before gas comes back around!

Re: Very confused...

zeusta20 — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:06:48 GMT

It's better to transfer? Really? Because I thought that if you redeem through UR, you get a 20% discount on the airline tickets?

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:09:07 GMT

@zeusta20 wrote:
It's better to transfer? Really? Because I thought that if you redeem through UR, you get a 20% discount on the airline tickets?

Correct but that still only makes the points worth 1.25 cents per.

I have booked tickets and got 3+ cents per by transfering to United and redeeming the points for award tickets. It does take some time and searching, lots of trial and error on the award booking engines but it is easy to get 3-5 cents per point when booking for airfare. I would never redeem my UR points for anything less than 2-2.5 cents each.

Re: Very confused...

CreditScholar — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:12:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@zeusta20 wrote:
So that's basically the only difference is you can transfer to the airlines?

I mean, that's good. I'm not complaining. I was just confused because I didn't know you can redeem the points for other things other than cash, when it came to the Chase Freedom.
The real power comes from having both, where the Freedom's earning power feeds the CSP, and the points then get transferred.

Apologies to the Freedom lovers, but on its own, it's hardly an exceptional card, rotating 5% categories with a max of $300 back a year if you max out every quarter. (And maybe + 10% if you bank with them).

For grandfathered users, the old checking+Freedom+CSP was unmatched, but new customers cannot get this benefit.

People are only grandfathered in for this year.

Starting next year everyone will be switched over to the new trifecta program, even if you were enrolled before the change. That means no more 10 points per transaction on your Freedom, but instead a 10% bonus on points earned which is handed out once per year.

Re: Very confused...

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 03:16:27 GMT

Which means the Freedom can earn 1.1% bank on all purchases or 5.5% on the rotating categories. It's an awesome companion for the CSP!