Chase Freedom Card Reduces Rewards
A reader named Kathryn wrote in to share the following bit of bad news:
We’ve had a great run with our Chase Freedom credit card, but this week we received a letter stating that “The triple cash-back rewards you earn on Everyday spending categories will no longer be available. However, there will be opportunities to earn 3% cash back in new spending categories throughout the year.” Details are apparently coming soon. Also, the $50 bonus on the $200 check is also no longer available.
Great. First the Amex Blue Cash card, now this…
I have yet to look at our statement, but I would imagine that we have a similar message waiting for us. It sounds like they will be offering rotating “bonus” rewards categories much like the Discover More card, except that Discover offers 5% vs. 3% on their select categories.
Obviously, this makes their rewards program significantly less attractive. In fact, this move will likely prompt us to switch to the Citi Forward card, which offers a tasty signup bonus plus 5% rewards on a number of things — including purchases at restaurants and Amazon!
Update: I just cashed in $200 worth of rewards for a $250 check, so the $50 bonus is still available, at least for now. If you’re sitting on a bunch of rewards, now might be a good time to cash them in.
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Schwab 2% cashback? Thoughts?
Comment by Eric N. — May 13th 2009 @ 10:23 pmI’m starting to think that the Schwab card with the Citi Forward card would be a killer combination. 2% base rewards on everything, with 5% on restaurants + Amazon. The would suit our spending habits quite nicely. I just don’t like the hassle of having to open a Schwab brokerage account to receive the rewards.
Interesting. Could this be the start of an end in tempting cashback offers from credit card issuers? Is it because they made the cashback percentages they made too high and didn’t anticipate the demand that they have had. I look forward to finding out what’s in store for cashback credit cards and its users!
Comment by Mkcoy — May 14th 2009 @ 2:47 amI have two Freedom cards and received this letter for each and I was very disappointed. This is how the new Freedom accounts now work. However the letters were slightly different: the second one seemed to imply I’d get 3% back on groceries and gas in addition to the rotating categories. I’ll have to look at the “welcome materials” very closely when they come.
Comment by Mike — May 14th 2009 @ 11:25 amI got a letter that promised to keep the 3% level but was going to charge a $30 annual fee. I cashed out my last bonus and closed the account.
The other thing that bothered me about Chase was that they made my card “no preset spending limit”. That’s all good and fine but the Credit Bureaus showed me as having no credit line for this card.
Comment by Devin — May 16th 2009 @ 9:45 am