Major Chase Freedom Revamp - Effective 9/15/20

[MyATLFico]

From Doctor of Credit:

Major Chase Freedom Revamp: Mastercard ‘Freedom Flex’ & Freedom Unlimited Will Earn 3% Dining & Drug... 

• Chase Freedom card will now be known as Freedom Flex. Freedom Unlimited will retain its name as before.
  • This makes it easier instead of having one card the ‘Freedom’ and one the ‘Freedom Unlimited’ which is a bit confusing. For acronyms, we’ll do CFF and CFU from now on, I suppose.
• The Freedom Flex card will be a Mastercard, no longer Visa like the Freedom was. The Freedom Unlimited will remain Visa (for the time being), apparently.
  • Being Mastercard will give you access to all Mastercard World Elite benefits, including $800 in cell phone insurance, a $10 Lyft credit fo...
  • Being Mastercard might have other implications for things like Plastiq payments and the like.

• Freedom:
  • 5% on Quarterly Categories 
  • 5% on Travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • 3% on Dining 
  • 3% on Drugstore 
  • 5% on Lyft through March 2022
  • 1% unlimited cash back 
• Freedom Unlimited: 
  • 5% on Travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
  • 3% on Dining 
  • 3% on Drugstore 
  • 5% on Lyft through March 2022
  • 1.5% unlimited cash back 

Also, according to Doctor of Credit, existing card members will have the options to either keep the old Freedom card or PC to the Freedom Flex.

As someone who eats out quite frequently, this is a very nice change.

However, to not bury the lead, it effectively neuters the BoA Cash Rewards (at least for me). The 3% Dining and 3% on Drugstores were the only reasons I used it and I rent so I have little use for the Home Improvement category. I guess it's still ok for 3% online shopping, but I don't do a ton of that either

Bank of America has already been on thin ice with me because they won't give me a CLI. So I hope they have an answer to this, or else it's going to be permanently sock drawered. 

[Wavester64]

...now if they could get rid of their 5/24 rule I would be in for a Freedom Flex card 

[sladesurfer]

As part of Chase’s latest rollout, Freedom Unlimited will largely remain unchanged. However, the issuer is adding three higher-earning categories, giving cardholders an opportunity to boost their rewards on the following:

• 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3% back on dining
• 3% back at drugstores

There’s no activation required — all three will become available beginning Sept. 15.

Freedom Unlimited is currently offering new cardholders an opportunity to earn a $200 bonus (effectively 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points) after spending $500 in the first three months.

Chase Freedom Flex

It’s not often that we get a brand-new credit card, and it’s especially unexpected during the coronavirus pandemic, with the current economic uncertainty making it challenging for issuers to determine eligibility when customers apply for a card. Still, Chase has determined that now’s the time to make some tweaks to its lineup, adding value to the soon-to-be-replaced Freedom card.

Freedom Flex will be available for new sign-ups beginning Sept. 14, with the same welcome bonus previously available for Freedom, including $200 cash back after $500 in first three months from account opening, plus 5% back on the first $12,000 spent on grocery purchases within the first year (excluding Target and Walmart).

The biggest change is a shift from Visa to Mastercard — as a result, cardholders will have access to World Elite benefits, including discounts on products and services, cell phone protection, hotel perks, a ShopRunner membership, access to a 24/7 concierge service and more.

Chase will also be keeping its rotating 5% categories around — a new mix of purchase categories will trigger a bonus each quarter, ranging from gas stations to streaming services and more. Additionally, Flex will offer the same permanent bonus categories making their way to Freedom Unlimited, including 5% back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% on dining and 3% at drugstores.

https://thepointsguy.com/news/chase-freedom-flex-intro/

[MyATLFico]

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@Wavester64 wrote:

...now if they could get rid of their 5/24 rule I would be in for a Freedom Flex card 

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So good news on that front.

According to Doctor of Credit, existing card members will have the options to either keep the old Freedom card or PC to the Freedom Flex.

I probably should have included that in the OP. 

[SecretAzure]

Wow this is pretty crazy. I wonder if they'll use these added benefits to restrict us to whimpier categories. For example, instead of 5% at Amazon for a quarter, we may see 5% on cable/cell phone bills. I hope not but I can't see things continue with such great categories and on top of that so much for dining, travel, etc.

This effectively is getting rid of much of my Marvel (3% dining) and some of my Amex BCE perks usage (2% gas). I may actually be using Freedom as frivelously as I use Freedom Unlimited atm. 

How will this work with CSP/CSR point combination? 

This is intriguing but I am cautiously optimistic.

[longtimelurker]

One interesting thing mentioned there is that you cannot have two or more Freedom Flex.    I had planned to downgrade my CSR in Jan to another Freedom.   Have to see if they are right that you can still have a Freedom and a Freedom Flex.  (ETA: says you can in the press release, so should be ok)

Also in the comments, speculation that the increase in benefits possibly/probably leads to the long-rumored change about transfer: i.e. points from Freedom Flex (and presumably unlimited) won't be able to be moved to CSP/CSR/etc.    Another thing to watch out for....

[MyFault]

I just saw this announcement on Doctor of credit. Makes my CFU, that much more sweet, however i'd have to think that the CSP and CSR will get a revamp as well. 3x dining on a no AF card? wow!

Hopefully they give us 5x on dining and travel with CSR, and maybe 4x with CSP.

The only thing i'm truly disapointed with, in this announcement is the fact that there's still no grocery category outside of the rotating categories and current CF/CFU SUB. I'd like to see a true Chase grocery point earning card, to go up against the Amex Gold.

Maybe they'll revamp the CSP to be a companion card to the CSR, instead of the "one sapphire" card rule... 

[Anonymous]

This sounds too good to be true. Would make the Freedom Flex (I really don't like that name) one of the most valuable cards around. There's gotta be some kind of nerfing coming...

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

This sounds too good to be true. Would make the Freedom Flex (I really don't like that name) one of the most valuable cards around. There's gotta be some kind of nerfing coming...

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True that this sounds too good to be true. But I think it's true

For the past 2 years I have been completely satisfied with my present roster of rewards cards, and had decided that I wasn't going to add any. A year or two ago I even had an in-branch prequalification for the Freedom, but didn't bite.

But this news definitely has me thinking.  If a prequalification came along now, I don't think I'd be able to resist.

[SecretAzure]

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@MyATLFico wrote:

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@Wavester64 wrote:

...now if they could get rid of their 5/24 rule I would be in for a Freedom Flex card 

---

So good news on that front.

According to Doctor of Credit, existing card members will have the options to either keep the old Freedom card or PC to the Freedom Flex.

I probably should have included that in the OP. 

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I wonder what the downside would be to upgrading? There seems to be no obvious downside that I can see.

Could it be that by making it a MasterCard, you forfeit the ability to transfer UR's to the other cards in the program?

(There's got to be a catch)