Review of Chase Freedom® Visa - $200 Bonus Cash Back

Summary - I personally have the Chase Freedom® Visa - $200 Bonus Cash Back, and in this review, I will reveal the full scoop on his rewards program. Right now, new cardholders will get $200 in cash back bonus if they spend $500 within three months.

Rewards - At its core, you earn 1% rebate (or 1 point depending on how you look at it) for every dollar that you spend on the card. You can earn unlimited rebates. But if all this card were to give was 1%, then it wouldn't be very good. But there is a lot more.

Rotating Categories - Rather than paying more than 1% on certain expenses like it used to, this card now pays 5% rebates on categories on a 3 month rotating basis. Below is the 2012 schedule.

January 1st to March 31st - Gas Stations, Amazon.com
April 1st to June 30th - Grocery Stores, Movie Theaters
July 1st to September 30th - Gas Stations, Restaurants
October 1st to December 31st - Hotels, Airlines, Best Buy and Kohl’s.

Discounts at merchants' online store - Chase has taken a leaf from Discover and now offers cardholders the chance to shop on their online shopping portal and get discounts (or rebates) when they shop through their Chase account. Shopping through the Chase account allows the merchants and Chase to track your purchases and give you the rebates. Below are screenshots of their merchant partners.



Rewards - Travel - You can redeem points for travel items. There are several ways to do this. Firstly, you can book your travel through Chase's online travel booking site. By doing so, you can use a combination of points and cash to pay. You can also transfer points into gift cards for Continental OnePass Miles. Below are screen shots of one of their travel partners.



Rewards - Gift Cards - You can redeem points for gift cards. Below are their gift card partners.



Rewards - Merchandise - Like most other programs, there are also lots of merchandise to redeem with your points and you can donate points to charities as well. But since there are so many merchandise, I will not list them here.

Fees - This card has no annual fee.

Verdict - One of the things that stood out in the rewards was the flexibility to get cash rebates and use points the traditional way as well. Most dedicated cash back credit cards allow you to earn use cash rebates. And though most reward cards allow you to redeem points for cash, the payouts are not as good. The Chase Freedom® Visa - $200 Bonus Cash Back is a great card for those who want the flexibility to earn both cash rebates and use points for other stuff like travel rewards. New cardholders get a $200 cash back bonus after $500 in purchases within three months.


�