Chase Freedom $300 Cash Back - YMMV Targeted Offer, watch for mailer...

Where do you use said card to purchase merchandise? I don't see a visa or mastercard logo on it when I get these offers in the mail.

Right now I have a dispute open with Chase too so it would be nice to milk some cash money out of them imho.

Thanks for the heads-up. I got one just last week and I assumed it was the usual "spend $500 in first 3 months" deal, but now I looked at it more carefully, it says, "$300 Cash Back after your first purchase". Sounds almost too good to be true. Are there any gotchas that I'm not thinking of?

I really don't need another CC, and I'm already getting 5% Cash Back from my Citi card which has similar categories. So I'm thinking of signing up just for the sake of getting $300. Will probably just keep it in a drawer and not use it at all. Is there a drawback for having a CC and not using it?

GKnight said:   Thanks for the heads-up. I got one just last week and I assumed it was the usual "spend $500 in first 3 months" deal, but now I looked at it more carefully, it says, "$300 Cash Back after your first purchase". Sounds almost too good to be true. Are there any gotchas that I'm not thinking of?

I really don't need another CC, and I'm already getting 5% Cash Back from my Citi card which has similar categories. So I'm thinking of signing up just for the sake of getting $300. Will probably just keep it in a drawer and not use it at all. Is there a drawback for having a CC and not using it?

The only "gotcha" is that you'll have a hard inquiry on your credit report for the next two years, and it will lower your average age of accounts. Conversely, it will also drop your utilization (a good thing) and add another open trade line (also generally a good thing) to your report. But that's standard for all credit cards... There are no Chase-specific gotchas on this one. They had a $500 Sapphire promo running not too long ago, so this isn't out of the ordinary for them... I think they make it up by paying less than 0.10% on their checking/savings.

That said, the Freedom will have different categories (generally) than Citi/Discover, so it's nice to have two or three category cards as it may net you 5% off, say, gas for a full 9 months. Also, you can shuffle them as you burn through the maximum spend on the 5% categories... For what it's worth, Chase generally has loftier limits than Citi/Discover on the quarterly categories. You can certainly sock-drawer it, as there's really no drawback to having a CC and not using it. It will keep your utilization low even if you run up balances on other cards... That said, it will lower your average age of accounts (until it ages itself) so that's something to consider. It will eventually bolster your age, but the initial impact will be slightly negative. If you close it, it's removed from the AAoA. Which strategy you pursue is up to you.

Oh, and also, if you have a Chase checking account, you get a neat Freedom Exclusives card with a green border that gives you 10 points per transaction ($0.10) and an extra 10% on your regular points earnings (1.10%). For small transactions, you can come out well ahead of a 2% card, and the redemption minimum is only $20, either deposited to your checking or mailed as a check.

Yes, I am a shill for this card.

@ ajh5408, clutchcargo777 - thanks for the info, it was very informative.

So what happens if the bank closes the card due to inactivity? Does it negatively affect my credit rating?

Is Chase known to close inactive accounts? I have a BofA card that I use maybe once a year if that, and so far they don't seem to mind, I think it's in the bank's best interest to let me keep the card, I may use it some day. But bank's logic may be different than mine

I applied online but no instant approval. Does anyone know if Chase is doing any instant approvals on this offer?

Slickghee said:   I applied for my wife and got approve instantly

Were you targeted? Thanks.

They have been sending me $100 offers for two months now ... about once a week (no exaggeration).

Got the big silver and blue envelope today with the $300 offer in it.

I already have 3 Chase accounts ... but now am very tempted.

ragedogg69 said:   lonestarguy said:   I applied online but no instant approval. Does anyone know if Chase is doing any instant approvals on this offer?

Same for me. I got the targeted offer for only $100 and applied for the $150 that wasnt preapproved. I would think I should be okay with my ~750+ credit rating.

Got my Freedom card in the mail this saturday.

This deal for me,has invite number and code but says, only FIRST TIME member with NEW ACCOUNT. I have 2 Chase now, so is invite number just for pre-qualified "consideration" come/on, but only YMMV?

jkimcpa said:   My wife's been getting the $250 offer once a month for the last few

Pulled the trigger. Got instant approval.

Finally decided to pull the trigger and got instant approval.

But the confirmation page didn't mention anything about the CashBack offer... At this point, the offer letter is the only proof of the offer.

Kinda frustrated at not getting instant approval. I've never not received instant approval on an application before ...

Application status via phone is still "we will notify you within 30 days via mail - this is the most up to date information we have at this time".

Yes, I swear I have slight OCD ... and it is going to make me a nervous wreck until I find out the answer ... especially since I used to do retail and I know that the letter thing normally means declined (however, in the Chase threads around here, it appears a good number of people are getting the 30-day letter message and are still getting approved) ... :-\

lithalum said:   In the letter, you may be asked for the driver's license and pay stub.

I applied for the Slate card for DW and they sent a letter requesting more info. After that, it was approved with 7k CL.

Good luck and relax.

Thanks. More nervous about Chase taking adverse action on the other accounts I have (closing them or slashing the credit limits drastically, as they have been/are known to do) .. especially because I am currently making payments on a Disney vacation using my Disney card ... because I get 6 months 0% APR for each $200+ payment .. so if I space the payments out to the travel agency, I can draw out the 0% APR a bit. Would suck to have applied for a card I was "pre-approved" and heavily marketed for ... and then have them take adverse action on existing accounts because I accepted the offer.

GKnight said:   Finally decided to pull the trigger and got instant approval.

But the confirmation page didn't mention anything about the CashBack offer... At this point, the offer letter is the only proof of the offer.

Same here.

jkimcpa said:   Chillax...it's happened to me before. Heck, earlier this year I applied for a WF CC (I bank at WF) and I got flat out rejected. I have ~20% utilization, 790 FAKO, and my HHI is $2XXk...and I got rejected for a plain vanilla CC from my own bank!

I know it happens .. I guess I'm even more on edge because credit reporting agencies constantly confuse my report with my father's (I am Shadowed Blade Jr and he is Shadowed Blade). I moved out last year after getting married, so now we have a different address to help differentiate us somewhat (before, telephone and everything was the same ... different was name .. I have the suffix and he does not ... and social security number). He filed bankruptcy several years back and they actually put it on my credit reports ... luckily I was using credit monitoring at the time and had it fixed before it was reported to any of my creditors. So, I am very leery when my credit has any adverse action that something was messed up again ...

The first time I ever applied for a credit card, I was declined for too much debt to income ratio (they used my income as a retail employee and all of my father's credit history ...) and another time I applied for another card, they told me I already had an account. And many more stories like this (at one point, I owned my parents' home according to my credit report ... and I bought it when I was just a month or so old).

In any case, I just called the 800 # again and the automated system told me I was APPROVED and should receive my card within 10 days. Will be interested to see which card I received (Visa Signature or Visa Platinum) and what my credit limit is (nothing is showing on my online account as of now). And then to make a $1.00 purchase or something to trigger the $300 in bonus points!

Thanks again for putting up with my hyper anxiety!

Thank you. I was able to call and get my Chase Freedom card approved in minutes.

I had been receiving offers for $100 CashBack every week for about 3 months. I got a $300 offer about 2 weeks ago and after reading through all the info, decided I might as well try it out. Activated my card today, but nothing in my account at Chase.com or in the activation phone call said anything about CashBack.

I'm wondering if anyone has actually received the $300 yet?

I read the offer front and back and there was nothing about a minimum purchase or anything, just that you will receive 30,000 points redeemable for a $300 check after your first purchase. Planning on making that purchase today, so hopefully the deal is what it says it is. Fingers crossed... I don't want to be hanging on to a card with a $9000 credit limit for no reason. I really don't need it, just wanted to check out the offer.

Got the Signature card in the mail... is it better than the Platinum? Similarly to what someone else had stated, no mention of the CashBack offer anywhere.

qwertyaas said:   Any chance I can get the card if I didn't get the mailer?

Any promo code or anything associated with the offer?

Here is a link for the $200 Cash Back
here