Chase Freedom Unlimited 3% + Referral $100 Bonus?

yowhatimean · ‎04-27-2018

Hey everyone, I just saw that Chase has a 3% cash back offer for the FU card (killer deal). But since I have the card already, I was going to have my fiancee sign up for the card to utilize the 3% back for the first year. But I was also curious if anyone knew or has been able to do the refer a friend where you can get the $100 referral in addition, the new cardholder still gets the 3% instead of the usual 1.5% on all transactions with the $150 sign up bonus. When I tried to do the refer a friend, the only offer I'm seeing is 1.5% and earning $150 bonus after spending $500 in the first 3 months.

Thanks in advance.

simplynoir · ‎04-27-2018

Best guess why you're not seeing the "better" offer on the refer friend is because the 3% cashback is a limited time offer that will be pulled eventually before the card becomes the default 1.5% with the $150 SUB. Chase probably sees no need to change that referral if that's the case.

Anonymous · ‎04-27-2018

Keep in mind that 3% only surpasses 1.5% once you spend $10k in the first year - there are quite a few ways to get more value out of $10k spend. Honestly man for anyone that nabbed the $300 bonus for $500 spend got the realest deal on the FU

Anonymous · ‎04-27-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Keep in mind that 3% only surpasses 1.5% once you spend $10k in the first year - there are quite a few ways to get more value out of $10k spend. Honestly man for anyone that nabbed the $300 bonus for $500 spend got the realest deal on the FU

Exactly this. I doubt many people will actually spend 10k of non special category expenses in any given year. I believe even people with relatively high income would find that requirement a bit much if they re trying to maximize their return on spend as at least half of their credit card spend would probably fit in category spend which already earns 3% or more. If you have a good relationship with chase and you can get the 300 bonus it's not even close.

yowhatimean · ‎04-27-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
Keep in mind that 3% only surpasses 1.5% once you spend $10k in the first year - there are quite a few ways to get more value out of $10k spend. Honestly man for anyone that nabbed the $300 bonus for $500 spend got the realest deal on the FU

When did that offer take place? That definitely sounds like the better deal for sure.

Last year alone I spent $24k on my FU card, so I figured I would be close to that number again since I also have the CSP card which I use to transfer my points to. And would also lead to me using the CSP less since it will get more points back at restaurants and travel.

Anonymous · ‎04-27-2018

The $300 for $500 spend offer was pretty recent, probably the last couple of months. I don't remember the exact dates but i believe it was targeted and I'm not sure how to get yourself targeted.

That said, consider that if you do replace CSP spend with FU spend, you can't really value those purchases at 3x, in regards to the FU earnings, because you would otherwise be getting 2x anyway on the CSP. So those purchases you should only value at 1x, in terms of how lucrative the FU would be with the 3x deal.

So for the sake of argument let's say you manage to put $24k on the FU for 3x, but that all $24k is in dining and travel. You'd actually still come up short of the standard FU offer - that $24k, in relation to the $10k break even point, would actually be like $8k in terms of the point difference of just using the CSP. At that point, the $500 spend requirement for the standard FU offer is moot imo

yowhatimean · ‎04-27-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
The $300 for $500 spend offer was pretty recent, probably the last couple of months. I don't remember the exact dates but i believe it was targeted and I'm not sure how to get yourself targeted.

That said, consider that if you do replace CSP spend with FU spend, you can't really value those purchases at 3x, in regards to the FU earnings, because you would otherwise be getting 2x anyway on the CSP. So those purchases you should only value at 1x, in terms of how lucrative the FU would be with the 3x deal.

So for the sake of argument let's say you manage to put $24k on the FU for 3x, but that all $24k is in dining and travel. You'd actually still come up short of the standard FU offer - that $24k, in relation to the $10k break even point, would actually be like $8k in terms of the point difference of just using the CSP. At that point, the $500 spend requirement for the standard FU offer is moot imo

I see what you're saying now. Makes a lot of sense. But if the $24k spend is not from restaurants and travel and then I decide to spend say $10k on travel and restaurants that would normlly be spent on the CSP, but now spent on the FU for a total of $34k, wouldn't that make it more lucrative now to do it that way and make the 3% worthwhile? Or like you were suggesting, better options out there to utilize a bonus like this?

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2018

If you are gonna spend that much on your FU anyway then the 3% is worth it for you. With simple math 10k is the cutoff point for the regular offer and 20k for the targeted one. If you over those amounts 3% nets you more than the sub.

Btw the 300$ sub on the freedom cards isn't new but we used to hear that mostly chase private clients were targeted. Probably now they expanded their targeting group.

Also why you have the CSP and not the CSR? The increased redemption rate would probably offset the extra cost on each own for you. Unless you are using trasfer partners so you don't really care for that.

yowhatimean · ‎04-28-2018

@Anonymous wrote:
If you are gonna spend that much on your FU anyway then the 3% is worth it for you. With simple math 10k is the cutoff point for the regular offer and 20k for the targeted one. If you over those amounts 3% nets you more than the sub.
Btw the 300$ sub on the freedom cards isn't new but we used to hear that mostly chase private clients were targeted. Probably now they expanded their targeting group.
Also why you have the CSP and not the CSR? The increased redemption rate would probably offset the extra cost on each own for you. Unless you are using trasfer partners so you don't really care for that.

I don't think I would fully utilize the benefits of the CSR since it has the higher AF. With the CSP I have an added AU to help spend more on the card. Since I only normally spend about $10k annually on the CSP, would it make sense to upgrade to the CSR? What's the breakeven for the CSP vs the CSR? I just use the CSP mostly to transfer UR points between our 3 cards (CF, CFU, CSP).

Anonymous · ‎04-28-2018

If you spend $24k in non travel/dining, then you already hit the breakeven point on the FU. So then sure that extra $10k would be a bump over the CSP in that case since you already broke even.

But there are some great offers around: 50k TY points for $4k spend with Citi Premier (no AF year 1, can downgrade to Citi DC, Dividend, or TY Preferred for no AF), 60k Delta miles for $3k spend on Delta Gold card (no AF year 1, can downgrade to Delta Blue for no AF), 60k AA miles with $3k spend on Citi AAdvantage Platinum (no AF year 1, same downgrade options as Premier). The last 2 are supposedly dead, but the links are still active on uscreditcardguide . Com. Last month I got the AA 60k offer, was approved in a few hours, so I think it's still active. That right there is $10k spend, and I believe the total value of those points would be estimated around $2k. Based on standard valuations, that's actually a bit conservative, but let's just say 20% back. to get $2k value out of the 3% FU, tou gotta spend at least $33k, and that's if you highball the point value at 2cpp (cuz od transfer partners). If you cash it out for 1cpp, you'd have to spend $66k to equate the $10k between those 3 SUBs Those 3 are off the top of my head, but they're all great offers and I have one and will be going for the other two myself soon.

The CSR comes out to $55 more with the $300 credit, plus $75 for the AU (no AU fee on CSP as you know). $130 at 1x on travel and dining is $13k, so if you spend more than that it's worth it.

Take note, if Chase decides to nerf the CSR as the current rumor goes, you won't benefit so much from the 1.5x transfer rate and most of the advantage comes down to extra point earning, lounge access, free (limited) roadside assistance, and 6hr trip delay insurance.