I got 3% back for my Sprint bill. I do automatic payment online. Whoever didn't get it, what were you doing differently?

Does anyone know how they handle the Verizon Fiber Optics FIOS service? This service can provide a package with cable, internet, and telephone ($99 plus taxes on the promotion in my area) and it is not obvious which category it would be in. I assume telecommunications in my case since Verizon claims they will contine my existing accunt which is telephone only. Assuming it does not fall between the cracks, this alone would generate appreciable rebates in one category (rather than having some spending under cable and some under telecommunications).

The same issue probably arises in other cases where you purchase a "bundle" from one firm that covers telephone, cable, and internet.

Many would prefer it waw under telecommunications since your cell would then be included. Since I am using other cards for grocery and gasoline and drugstores, I would expect Verizon and Department stores to be the largest categories (fast food might be a third) and would probably limit my usage to these (I have a 2% Fidelity card for others and do not wish to use this for items that would earn 1%).

I did a double take when I was looking at which Visa cards had buyers assurance. I thought my Freedom card did but it doesn't have the stripe on the front that Signature cards have. I will be calling them tonight.

djspray said:I had to do a double take when I was at my Chase branch today - they had a large sign advertising the Chase Freedom card with the terms of the Dynamic Rewards program. They mentioned nothing about "Signature" or "Dynamic Rewards," just that the Freedom gives 3% in top 3 of 15 categories every month. Could they simply be phasing out the regular (only gas/grocery/drug store) card altogether? Seems to suggest so...

Does anyone know if this is the case? I got my Chase Freedom Visa earlier in the year when it was just 3% on gas, groceries, and fast food/quick service restaurants. Haven't used the card lately. Called the credit card customer service to ask about this, and the CSR said that I should be under the new rewards program (3% on the top 3 everyday categories each month). But it's strange that I never got any notification in the mail about the change in the rebate program and when I go to the Rewards Details page for my account online, it still seems to say that 3% is still only for gas, groceries, and fast food/quick service restaurants:

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With Chase FreedomSM, you now have the flexibility to earn more Cash Back with every eligible purchase.

Your eligible everyday purchases earn you 3% Cash Back. It's never been easier to reward yourself with Chase Freedom.

Gas: Use your card for fuel, repairs, car washes and other gas station purchases
Groceries: Stock up on food, household goods and more at participating grocery stores
Quick Service Restaurants: Rewards add up fast from pizza to hamburgers to tacos - even sandwich shops, coffee houses and more

These are just some of the places you can use your Chase Freedom credit card to earn 3% Cash Back. And you'll still earn 1% Cash Back for every eligible dollar you spend on all other purchases.

ys said:Just received a notice in mail saying my regular rewards program has switched to Dynamic Rewards.
I guess they figured the cat was out of the bag on switching to it from the normal Freedom...

Looks like the thread on the Chase Professional Business Card got archived here. There really isn't any list of merchants started, but you could bug the mods to unlock it if you wanted to start one.

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but my method is strictly empirical. Immediately when my bill is cut, I download from the Chase site my transactions (based on statement begin/end date) into a CSV, and paste that into an Excel spreadsheet, where I have a "Bonus" column which I can put an "X" in or not, another column which calculates 1% of the transaction amount column, and another column which calculates 2% of the amount column IF my the Bonus column has an X. At the bottom I've got totals for the two columns. Then I simply X or un-X the bonus column for particular purchases until my rewards totals match what's on my statement. It's not as complicated as it sounds; most purchases are obviously either 3% or 1% by experience and common sense. There's typically only two or three purchases which are questionable, and it's easy enough to check or uncheck those till I balance.

'Course that only tells you which purchases got 3%; it doesn't tell you what category they were in. Typically, that's pretty easy to infer, however. Someplace that's, say, a pharmacy/grocery store in one might be tricky. But even there, it's usually more one than the other; Safeway is a grocery store containing a pharmacy, but it's always gonna classify as a grocery. Some people do their grocery shopping at Walgreens, but it'll still classify as a drug store. For my purposes, it typically doesn't matter; I just care about which stores qualify for 3%. If it does matter, then I don't know. Maybe customer service (don't bet on it)?

The other problem with my empirical approach, however, is if you reach the maximum in bonus spending ($600). Then it's pretty much impossible to determine which purchases qualified for the 3%.

Chris.

cpaynter said:

I notice that there's some disagreement involving whether Verizon Wireless qualifies for the 3%. I put all my telephone bills on my Chase card when I got switched to the Freedom card. On the one month (August) I had Verizon Wireless paid from my Chase account, it did earn the 3%. I've temporarily switched the Verizon bill to my AMEX card, as they offered me a $10 gift card for doing so, but when I move it back to the Chase I expect I'll still get the 3%.

I get 3% for Verizon Wireless. It is under telecommunications for me (it was the only thing on my card on month, so I'm sure).

cpaynter said:

Now, my question is, I've also got a Chase Business MasterCard, which gives 3% off home improvement, office supply stores and restaurants. Is there a thread similar to this one for the Chase Business MasterCard which will tell me which stores qualify for the 3%?

Does anyone know of such a thread? Should I/can I start my own? Does anyone else care? Does anyone else use the Chase Business MasterCard?
Chris.
I don't use the Chase Business MC, but I do use the Chase Home Improvement Visa. I called a CSR once to find out if a particular store qualified as a Home Improvement store. She read a list to me of the stores and said that same list was printed in something they mailed to me (though I don't recall if I found it or not, I had my answer about that particular store). I would imagine that Chase would have a list for that card also if you called. Maybe check the paperwork that came with it also.

edlisal said:
I get 3% for Verizon Wireless. It is under telecommunications for me (it was the only thing on my card on month, so I'm sure).


That's my experience as well.

edlisal said:
I called a CSR once to find out if a particular store qualified as a Home Improvement store. She read a list to me of the stores and said that same list was printed in something they mailed to me (though I don't recall if I found it or not, I had my answer about that particular store). I would imagine that Chase would have a list for that card also if you called. Maybe check the paperwork that came with it also.

Yeah, well, not to be cynical or anything, but you seem to have had better luck with Customer Service than I. I have my doubts about Customer Service being much help. They can cite the obvious examples of qualifying stores: The Home Depot, Menards, etc. But beyond that, they are limited to generalities, because it depends on how the store is coded. Sure, they can tell me that Lowe's qualifies. But can they tell me whether Lake Zurich Lumberyard qualifies? No. Only that if it comes through with the right merchant code it will. And cardholder CS wouldn't know that. The merchant processing side would know that, IF Chase happened to be their merchant bank. But even then, getting the left hand to talk to the right hand is nigh unto impossible. Believe me, I've tried.

I looked through my enrollment stuff and there's no list there. If they did provide a list which included every home improvement, hardware store and local lumberyard across the nation, it'd the size of a freakin' telephone book. And the minute it was printed, it'd be out of date. New stores pop up all the time. How do you know how they're coded? And if the store isn't coded right, it won't fly.

Lumber Liquidators is a prime example. One would think that if Home Depot, Lowes and Menards qualify, and Owl Lumberyard qualifies, that Lumber Liquidators would, right? Nope. It's classified as "Household," whatever that means, so I only got 1%. Now, LL is big enough that C.S. might have been able to tell me whether they qualified. But that would have meant waiting on hold forever and spending a good deal of time just trying to get CS to understand my question. I mean, you're reading this, right? I'm fairly articulate, aren't I? I talk like I write: plain English. Though I guess for customer service, it'd be better if I could speak plain Hindi.

Anywho, it doesn't look like there's much interest in a merchant list for the 3% on the Chase Professional/Business card, so I'll let the subject drop. If anyone stumbles on this thread and is interested in my experience, let me know.

Chris.

i applied for the chase freedom card in feb 2007. at the time the 3% CashBack bonus was only being paid for the gas, grocery, and fastfood fixed categories. i've known about the availability of the dynamic top 3 category rewards schedule since it was introduced, but never bothered to switch my card over. recently, chase sent me a notice in the mail announcing my card's eligibility for the new program which finally prompted me to call and switch the card over. the conversation i had with the csr detailing the new rewards program was not what i expected. specifically, here are the points i was told that differed from the standard program:

- instead of 3 categories, i earn a full 3% on 6 (out of 15) categories
- there is no monthly cap on the 3% reward categories (i questioned the csr at length on this, even pointing out the $600/month cap on my existing freedom card and $2000/month cap on my chase professional which the csr acknowledged)
- my existing reward points will be converted to the new program on a 1 to 1 basis (probably applies to everyone, but read some people told otherwise)
- all existing bt/introductory apr and terms continue to apply on the new card
- switching to the new program requires chase to mail me a new card (don't know if this is the case for everyone)

quite frankly this sounds too good to be true. has anyone else gotten this offer?