SoulAssassin said:am23 said:is the 3% only for FAST FOOD restaurants or any type of sit-down restaurant like Chili's or Applebees?

Don't quote me on this but I think if the place has sitdown service with a waiter/waitress then it doesn't qualify. Sucks for people like me who travel on an expense report. If I could find a card that gave 3-5% back on hotels and sitdown restaurants I would be very, very happy.

The Citibank Professional card gives you 3% back on sit-down and fast food restaurants. There are two versions: Thank-You Points which has a limit = 100,000 points/year which is $1,000 in gift cards (if you redeem it that way) and 10,000 bonus points after first use and a cash version which has a limit of $500/year. Citibank's year start on Jan 1st of every year. This card also gives you 3% back on car rental which could help you if you travel.

The only card I know of to give you Cash Back on hotel is the BP Visa by Chase. This card gives you 2% back on airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, and food (but excludes fast food). There is no annual limit on Cash Back. Redeem in $25 increments.

There are some other bonus categories for both of these cards but I did not include them since they are not travel related.

quiznut1 said:I converted my Cash Plus Rewards card to this card without any issues. I chose points as opposed to Cash Back, because I was told by the CSR that Cash Back expires in 36 months, as opposed to points, which is 60 months.

Was just curious why you decided to convert your Cash Plus Rewards card to the Freedom Card.....

makes a lot of sense quiznut1....If the 5% back on Groceries/Gas was important, i'd have suggested just applying for Chase Rewards Plus, instead (which allows double the annual Cash Back of the Cash Plus)...but in your situation, i would say you made the best move...

And i agree that Chase is easier to get cards/change rewards programs with then Citi....And, so far, they have been alot nicer about letting Cash Plus/Rewards Plus holders remain in those programs....And for me, the 5% on the supermarkets/gas/drugs is especially useful....

If they eventually do totally discontinue Cash Plus and Rewards Plus (hope they don't) even for myself, i would still prefer Chase Freedom Card over what Citi is giving them now with the Dividend Card...

VivYip said:Please forgive me for asking, but am I close with the math if I think to get the $250 Cash Back after 5 years (if i convert the points to cash near the end of the 5 years) would roughly the following:

If a person used the card to get $200 CashBack (before it's 250)just on the 3% stuff (gas, groceries, and fast food?), then the person would have to spend $6666.67 in those 3 catagories. Over 5 years, that'd be $1333.33 a year...or maybe 111.11 a month?

Just curious. Thank you for reading my post.

Well your math is dead-on. However, we just got one of the cards and the rewards program states that points expire after 36 months, so your timeline is a bit off. You won't have five years to accumulate points, but rather a max of three. I'll leave the new math problem this creates to someone else.

VivYip said:Please forgive me for asking, but am I close with the math if I think to get the $250 Cash Back after 5 years (if i convert the points to cash near the end of the 5 years) would roughly the following:

If a person used the card to get $200 CashBack (before it's 250)just on the 3% stuff (gas, groceries, and fast food?), then the person would have to spend $6666.67 in those 3 catagories. Over 5 years, that'd be $1333.33 a year...or maybe 111.11 a month?

Just curious. Thank you for reading my post.

Do you think this reward program would stay around for 5 years for you to accumulate points? I doubt it.

RareWS6 said:if this hasn't been mentioned before, if you decide to switch from an existing chase card to the new freedom card, your rebate will only be 2%, not 3%. 3% is only for new customers.

...remember, you'll be getting a new card with a new number... so if you use it online or for auto bill pay, you'll have to make some changes.
Yeah, that doesn't sound right. I converted a chase card to the freedom card recently without changing my account number. CSR at the time of conversion told me I would get 3%.

nowie said:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RareWS6 said:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
if this hasn't been mentioned before, if you decide to switch from an existing chase card to the new freedom card, your rebate will only be 2%, not 3%. 3% is only for new customers.

...remember, you'll be getting a new card with a new number... so if you use it online or for auto bill pay, you'll have to make some changes.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Yeah, that doesn't sound right. I converted a chase card to the freedom card recently without changing my account number. CSR at the time of conversion told me I would get 3%.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

reading this thread, i'm not sure what happened... but i'm sure he said 3% for new customers, and 2% for existing transfers.

CSR told me the same thing when I converted my card from Free Cash Rewards (only 2%). However, when I got my statement, it gave me the 3% rewards. Maybe what the CSR was trying to say is you get 2% extra on groceries, gas, and fast food (over the normal 1%).

I just got this card with a 3k limit on it.......weak haha

It also came with a check, so my question is

can i write this check out for the 3k and deposit it into my high yield bank account?

I just got an offer in the mail for this however it said I get No Free AND no intrest on both BT AND Purchases for 1 year!

Seems good, but if I only get $300 credit limit...

I think it also might depend on the restaurant, how it classifies itself.