Citi double cash vs chase freedom unlimited

[rgd51]

I applied for the DC on 11/24/2020 and was denied for too many inquiries. When I called the recon line i asked how many is too many and they refused to give me an answer and said I would have to do a cold app in the future. They didn't even tell me how long I needed to wait. 

I would say if dining is a big spending level for someone then I'd recommend chase but if not a big diner I'd recommend citi. If half your CC spend on the freedom unlimited is dining then you would get a 2.25% cash back rate overall. More than half my CC purchases are dining so I'm probably getting even more than 2.25% from the freedom unlimited.

[Anonymous]

I like having the DC for all general spend outside of Grocery and Dining, it's the highest not cat I've found that doesn't involve hoops. What bother me about FU is that a lot of places are tagged as Food & Drink rather than Dining so I'm not entirely sure I'm even getting the 3% maximum at a lot of places. A couple places showed that I was indeed only getting the basic 1.5%, where I would have thought it should have been 3%. I guess buger joints aren't considering "dining" lol

[FormerCollegeDJ]

One thing that should be mentioned that surprisingly hasn't been mentioned yet - the CFU has a $150 or $200 sign-up bonus (based on past history) while the CDC has no sign-up bonus.  In the theoretical example where you have no spend on/at dining (3% rewards on the CFU), drug stores (3% rewards on the CFU), and certain travel (5% rewards on the CFU if booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal), the Chase Freedom Unlimited comes out ahead of the Citi Double Cash for spending up to either $30,000 (if the CFU sign-up bonus is $150) or $40,000 (if the CFU sign-up bonus is $200).  In the real world the required CDC spend to put it ahead of the CFU is higher than $30K or $40K due to the CFU's bonus categories.

If I had to choose one card or the other, I'd choose the Chase Freedom Unlimited; dining spending is a significant category for most people and the sign-up bonus difference gives the CFU the advantage for an extended period of time.  Having said that, if your goal is to ultimately get both cards, the best approach would be to apply for/get the Chase Freedom Flex and the Citi Double Cash.

[rgd51]

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@FormerCollegeDJ wrote:

One thing that should be mentioned that surprisingly hasn't been mentioned yet - the CFU has a $150 or $200 sign-up bonus (based on past history) while the CDC has no sign-up bonus.  In the theoretical example where you have no spend on/at dining (3% rewards on the CFU), drug stores (3% rewards on the CFU), and certain travel (5% rewards on the CFU if booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal), the Chase Freedom Unlimited comes out ahead of the Citi Double Cash for spending up to either $30,000 (if the CFU sign-up bonus is $150) or $40,000 (if the CFU sign-up bonus is $200).  In the real world the required CDC spend to put it ahead of the CFU is higher than $30K or $40K due to the CFU's bonus categories.

If I had to choose one card or the other, I'd choose the Chase Freedom Unlimited; dining spending is a significant category for most people and the sign-up bonus difference gives the CFU the advantage for an extended period of time.  Having said that, if your goal is to ultimately get both cards, the best approach would be to apply for/get the Chase Freedom Flex and the Citi Double Cash.

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I never have experienced the issue with dining purchases not getting 3% in my experience. Before I PCed my flex to the unlimited the 5% categories were nice but I like using 1 card for everything which the freedom unlimited is great for. I use my target and amazon cards for purchases at those stores though.

[Citylights18]

The problem I see with the CFU (and the reason I switched) is if you are placing all of your bills on there, dining, drugstore ect it takes up a high percentage of your limit on the card.

I use a basic Chase Freedom for bills instead.

1) If the regular earn rate is 1% for bills but for one quarter you get 5% the overall percentage on the year is 2%. That is higher than the CFU over the course of a year.

2) Freedom also has Paypal 5% for at least 1 quarter. I set up my bills through Paypal Key which means that all bill bills go 2% and if its something like streaming with its own separate 5% category in another quarter that means 3% on the year.

3) When I get the streaming quarter I like to prepay for the whole year for the 5%. Something you can't do with a CFU.