I'd recommend making your Chase Freedom Card into a Chase Exclusives Freedom Card, all you need is to open up a checking account at Chase.

As a Chase Checking customer, the Freedom card will continue to have top 3% Cash Back in the top FIVE categories, redeem rewards at as little as $10 and they don't expire.

This way, you can be sure your card isn't downgraded.

You can always get the basic checking account, and put in a few dollars each month or use your debit card 5 times a month to keep it open and free. Combine it with the $125 bonus!

ThePessimist said:
Thanks for the suggestion!

On the regular Freedom, I usually wait to accumulate $200 so I can redeem for $250. Does the Exclusives Freedom have an earlier breakpoint where you can get a 25% bonus?

I'm also waiting to hit the $200 mark to get the bonus. Unfortunately, there is no earlier breakpoint with the exclusives version.

ucb11 said:I'd recommend making your Chase Freedom Card into a Chase Exclusives Freedom Card, all you need is to open up a checking account at Chase.

As a Chase Checking customer, the Freedom card will continue to have top 3% Cash Back in the top FIVE categories, redeem rewards at as little as $10 and they don't expire.

This way, you can be sure your card isn't downgraded.

You can always get the basic checking account, and put in a few dollars each month or use your debit card 5 times a month to keep it open and free. Combine it with the $125 bonus!

My experience has been negative since Chase changed me from top 3 to top 5 categories. Reason: They now use your average in all top 5 categories. The last two months I have only gotten about $8.00 out of the maximum $12.00. When I had the top 3 categories, I always got the full $12.00. I spend about $1,100.00 per month on the card. YMMV

Chase exclusives does not need to be applied for..anyone who has a Freedom Card and opens a Chase Checking account at any time, automatically is upgraded to "exclusives" and gets the 5 catagories and can cash out rewards as little as $10 if they desire to (without having to wait for until they can get a $50 check)....

It generally takes one statement cycle to see the upgrade added on....

CRAIG10X states
"I also have a Freedom card (with the full benefits) and have mostly been using that for a long time, but i think i will be going back to using my Rewards Plus as the primary card again...since i have seen nothing to indicate that i will get changed any time soon.....
Perhaps Chase has decided to leave the rest alone "

If you are lucky enough to have the rewards plus card and are willing to use multiple cards you probably should use it for the 5% categories until you hit the rewards limit of $300 (If I remember right. Once you have hit the limit for the year, you can worry less about them changing terms on you. I am assuming you are family have enough Freedom cards to continue getting 3% on groceries and gasoline (or have another card for 5% gasoline).

In a few circumstances (notably when you do not normally use the full $12 bonus on you Freedom card (or cards), you may wish to use it for enough groceries, gasoline, drugstores to get the maximum, and then use the rewards card for the rest of that months spending on preferred categories. Admittedly, the extra work may not make this superior to using the rewards card only until you hit the annual limit, and then switching.

If your preferred spending (groceries, etc.) is high enough so it exceeds $600 per month), the optimal strategy may be to spend $600 on preferred categories each month (or less to be sure) and the finish up you grocery, etc. shopping with your rewards card. This way you will get your $12 per month from the freedom card (or close to it), rather than just for the months after you stop using your rewards card. You could manage it to still hit the $300 limit on the rewards card.

Obviously this system has some hassle, and might require looking at the web site before each shopping trip and possibly dividing a grocery checkout into two parts, paying with a different card. You might avoid the latter hassle, by stopping using freedom when with next shopping trip is likely to go over the limit. (i.e. you see you have spent $450 on preferred items and your typical grocery shopping is about $200. You would then take your rewards card.

Since it takes $6000 in spending on prefered categories to hit the 4300 limit, it would take $500 per month in preferred spending to fully utilize it. If you average preferred spending was $1, per month, you might wish to try to $500 on rewards and $500 on freedom. This would give $10 per month, or 180 total on Freedom plus the $300 from the Rewards card.

This obviouly involves some looking at the web site part way through the month and considering complexities such as whether you would come out better not buying groceries with the Freedom card and doing all $600 in spending on other categories such as Department stores. If you have multiple Freedom cards in the family, this may be less of an issue since you can use the other cards for other purposes, and the problem is then to be sure you get lyour $300 per year from Rewards and 3% on your remaining groceries, drugstores, and gasline.

jruser said:I liked the idea of the Chase Freedom Exclusives, but it doesn't appear they have a free, no-requirements checking account.

Not sure if it's worth the hassle.

Though the Free Checking has a Direct Deposit Requirement with Chase...just about any bank/cu/brokerage ACH push (unofficially, of course) into them once a month (even, say $10) will be seen as a Direct Deposit to their computer...i think the only one this doesn't seem to work with is ING Direct....so, if you can do that..and keep a small balance in the account, you can make it work for you....

palswim said:jruser said:I liked the idea of the Chase Freedom Exclusives, but it doesn't appear they have a free, no-requirements checking account.

Not sure if it's worth the hassle.

I don't know if WaMu still exists during this transitionary phase, but they have a free, no-requirement checking account. If you can still apply for one of those, then the WaMu rep told me Chase plans to grandfather them once they acquire everything.It's still possible to signup for a free checking account with WaMu features even though the bank has been rebranded as Chase. Just go to wamu.com

ProfessorEd said:Perhaps Depreshun could explain more precisely just how the "average" calculation is done, since it is not obvious how they are failing to give you the full amount and what piece of fine print they are relying on. Those who are willing to use multiple cards might then see a strategy for using that card that at least gives them the full $12 per month (from $600 per month spending on the relevant categories).

Ed. As I see it, they force all (5) categories into the calculation every month, so if your lowest couple categories are low dollar amounts it averages down? That's the impression I get anyways. One thing is for sure - my spending pattern has not changed. If anything, it has been higher the last couple months. Ever since the (5) categories appeared I cannot obtain the $12.

I don't get it either? I'm spending more nowadays and can't hit the "$600" needed to max out the 3%.

Chase's terms: "Maximum bonus rebate accumulation on Net Purchases earning a
2% bonus rebate is $12 per billing cycle, which equates to $600
in Net Purchases. Maximum bonus point accumulation on Net Purchases earning 2 bonus points is 1,200
points per billing cycle, which equates to $600 in Net Purchases. The top bonus categories earning a 2%
bonus rebate or 2 bonus points, as applicable, vary per billing cycle depending on your spending habits.
There is no maximum amount of base rebates or base points, as applicable, that can be earned on Net
Purchases earning a 1% rebate or 1 point (which includes Net Purchases in bonus categories after you reach
the per billing cycle maximum accumulation and bonus categories that are not entitled to bonus rebates or
bonus points that billing cycle)."