Official Chase Freedom Signature or Dynamic Rewards Merchant Coding List

With all the new Chase Freedom cardholders that are changing to the Signature version or Dynamic Rewards programs, I thought it would be helpful to create a thread that lists stores that count for the 3% Cash Back. The Chase Freedom Thread is approaching 2k posts, and will be too crowded to start including such info in an organized manner. As many already know, this rewards program can be quite advantagous in that the top three spending categories can change for the cardholder each month, and the 200 point redemption for $250 check effectively nets you 3.75% Cash Back.

The RBS CustomCash Category Thread(link) could provide a good base, but I suspect there will be many more users involved with the Chase Freedom, and there are several differences between the categories. Of particular interest to me is how they will code some restuarants as fast food versus "full service" restaurant and if online apparel and department stores will be coded the same as their B&M counterparts.

Feel free to update the quick summary with your confirmed experiences with merchant coding. It may be a bit early, but some have been switched for a few weeks, and I'm hoping they can begin to share their info soon.

Cofirmed for Local Commuter Transit category:
Washington Metro (WASH METRO ...)
NYC Subway (MTA MVM ...)
Metro-North Railroad (METRO-NORTH TVM ...)
Long Island Railroad (LIRR TVM ...)

Confirmed for Department Stores category:
Kohls.com (WWW.Kohls.com ...)

I had my Freedom card for long time but I just switched to the Dynamic Rewards. My question is will the statement detail which categories or which charges qualified for the 3%?

prasanta541 said: Can some one tell me what is the exact difference between Dynamic reward and normal freedom card ???
Normal Chase Freedom:
You'll earn 3% Cash Back for every $1 in eligible Gas, Groceries, and Quick Service Restaurant purchases; you'll earn 1% Cash Back in purchases everywhere else.

Chase Freedom with Dynamic Rewards(or Freedom Signature Version):
You will earn 3% Cash Back per $1 on eligible purchases in the 3 essential categories(listed above) where you’ve spent the most each month. Your essentials may change from month to month — the triple rewards you earn for them will stay the same. You also earn 1% Cash Back per dollar on all other purchases.

jamesfatwallet said: when you converted your visa to visa signature and you have less than a 4k line, did they pull your credit?

you need to have at least a $5,000 line to get converted to signature....if you have another Chase card, you can have them transfer what you need over to qualify for it...

keithwang said: Verizon Wireless is coded in Wireless provider
and New York Sports Club is coded in Gym membership
while Whole Food is NOT coded in grocery store
Bed Bath and Beyond is NOT coded as department store
I modified QS so that we can include places that are surprizingly not included in a given category.

is the dynamic rewards for MC freedom cards and signature is for visa freedom cards?

Sprint (PCS) Surprisingly NOT coded as Wireless.

I have a Freedom Card, I assume I am getting 3% at subway. Are you SURE I am not ?

If so, I will need to use my paypal there and get the 1.5% rather than 1%.

If it says "dining and entertainment" next to the merchant, does that mean its quick service restaurant good for 3%?

markkundinger said: Noob question about the dynamic rewards... if a transaction falls outside ANY of the transactions in the QS, does that means that it's only a 1% transaction (for instance, electronics, insurance, or full service restaurants).??

yes, that is correct.....If it's not one of the 15 catagories, it gets 1%....

bear in mind you can only get 3 out of the 15 each month...it's whichever 3 you spent the most with that would qualify.....So, for example if you made purchases at: department stores, groceries, fast food, movie theatres, drug stores, a particular month, but dept stores/movies/groceries is the ones you spent the most with, those would be your 3% catagories for the month....

Arby's qualifies for quick services restaurants.
Marco's pizza does not qualify.

Justins123 said: Is there a place online to apply for the Visa Signature version of the Chase Freedom card? Can you only apply for it by calling?

Calling. . you can convert to it though(I believe)

Keep in mind there are two options, converting to the Signature version, or the Cash Dynamic Rewards program. The latter allows you to keep your same card, card #, and still reports a CL to the CRA's. This is the route I took(via secure messaging), as it seemed easier to me. I guess "Signature" sounds cool, though.

California Pizza did not categorize under Quick Service Restaurant last two times i went there

One addition:

Cable/satellite TV/Internet Service Providers
Qualifies:
Dish Network

Looks like in princiapl you could have two cards and by good planning get 3% benefits from six categories, although it may not be worth the trouble to keep track of which to use where, especially since the cards would look very similar in you wallet.

One way to minimize complexity might be one card for things you paid from the office (bills for utilities, phone, telecommunications, possibly online merchants). This would not be carried on you, but would be in your system for easily copying to a form, or for the automatic authorizations for a bill to be charged to your credit card.

There would be another for your wallet (probably for fast food, gasoline, groceries, unless you have another card with a better rebate for some of these).

This way you would not have two Chase cards in your wallet.

Of course, if married one might be from your spouse.

Having two cards also gives you annual limits instead of one. Keeping one card for office on line payments reduces the problem of running up against a limit, and then not getting a benefit from payments on a card, or having to go to the trouble of changing the card which your bills are charged to.

Verizon residential phone bill qualifies as recurring utility bill (same code as gas/electric!)

E-ZPass NY qualifies as transportation.

talbots.com and victoriassecret.com online purchases do not qualify as dept store purchases.

istvan said: All right, sorry again but I would like to know why are people changing from the Cash rewards to the dynamic rewards? I have the Mastercard Freedom so should I do that?

Thanks

more catagories you can earn 3% on....15 in all...but you only get the 3% on the 3 catagories you spent the most on, for any particular month....

istvan said: So this is for the Visa Freedom or the Mastercard Freedom? So the Cash Rewards gets less rewards?

answer to first question: Yes, answer to second question....dynamic rewards does not get a higher percentage on the rewards catagories....it gets more catagories you can get the 3% on.....

But as i previously mentioned (and have many others) only 3 of those 15 catagories that you spend the most on, each month, will get the 3% total bonus points....Of course, all other purchases will get 1% extra as usual....

So, I threw caution to the wind and called customer service about changing my old Freedom card (3% on top 5 and $250/$200 redemption) to the new program offering 5% on rotating categories. They added the 5% program to my card, as well as the 10% bonus points and 10 points for each purchase for being a Chase checking customer.

But, to my surprise, I didn't lose the 3% on top 5 and $250/$200 options; I've got both. So at a minimum, if the purchase I'm making is in one of the 5% categories, I get 5%, else if it's in one of my top 5 categories, I get 3%, plus I get the 10/10 and $50 bonus.

To make matters better, it looks like the two programs may be additive. So, for example, Q3's categories include gasoline. If I'm still getting the 3% when July rolls around, and I buy $30 of gasoline, I'll get 5% for the Q3 special, plus 3% for gas stations (presuming it's in my top 5), plus 10% bonus, plus 10 points for the transaction and (if it's still available when I reach $200 in rewards) $250 for $200 redemption, that would work out to $3.425, or 11.417%, if I'm right.

At the least, what my experience demonstrates is that calling to sign up for the 5% program does not automatically mean you'll get discontinued from the 3% and $50 bonus program.

Chris.