As of 01/22/2010, Chase Freedom says that I will earn 3% cashback on the following:
* 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

Save up $200 in rewards and redeem for a $250 check

The $250 check for $200 was supposed to fade away like it did for card holders people, but the option is STILL available for me. I’m going to only buy gas and fast food on this card for next month and see what I get back in rewards. I’ll try to write back here after my next statement if I can remember to.

I did receive a survey recently – the survey was huge, but I remember responding to what I liked the best (cash back!) and if I would be willing to pay an annual fee (no!).

I’m crossing my fingers no changes are made. I recently received notification from Discover that my 5% gasoline cash back would become 2% as of January 1. Also, minimum Discover cash redemption has increased from $20 to $50. No surprise here; I was using the card ONLY for gas purchases, so I was milking it to the max. A lot of my Chase purchases fall into the 1% category, not bonus categories, which may be why I’m still getting the good deal.

As of today’s date, Chase Freedom is still my #1 card.

Funny thing is they are still advertising the old version of the card with all the previous benefits, so I called to ask if I could remain with the old program. The answer is no. I commented that I had never paid any annual fee for any cards (except my costco one), and the guy basically said ‘too bad. Sorry to see you go’.

So I will be gone as soon as the first annual fee waiver ends.

I have to say Chase is the worst bank I have ever dealt with. I already stopped using the ToyRus card when they forced me to switch to Mastercard from Visa and I had to fix all the links I had.

The change resulted in a 30 dollar annual fee.
The option of the $250 Check for $200 rewards has been removed.
The 3% cash back for for the Top Everyday spending categories has been replaced by 3% cash back on eligible gas, groceries and fast food purchases.

Effective 7/31/2009.

I’ve had my Chase card since 1998. I’ve never missed a payment or paid late on this or any other card for that matter. About two months ago I got a letter stating (to this effect), “We’ve increased your limit, please transfer a balance.” The terms were good, so I transferred a balance.

Recently I was shocked to learn that my minimum payment has increased from 2% to 5% and they have instituted a $120.00 annual fee. I DON’T have the right to opt out of these changes. I called and spoke to a supervisor who said that he understands it might be tough to make the minimum payments, but there’s nothing he can do about it.

This is no way to treat customers. How can they possibly write a letter asking for more business then pull the old “bait and switch”.

Sincerely, Paul.

It is essentially a standard 1% back card, baited and switched to say you can get 3%. Of course, you can get 3% on some things like gas and groceries, but lots of other cards already give 5% back on those, so why would you ever use Freedom?

I still think Chase has the best deals on just about everything IF you read the fine print, but I just feel slimy every time I deal with them.

You CAN (and likely will) earn more than $12/month. Basically, the card gives you 1% back on everything, but the three categories you spent the most on get a “bonus” additional 2% (for a total of 3%).

Thus, you can earn $12 from that “bonus” 2%, but you’ll also have earned $6 from the 1% (total of $18 if you spend $600 in those three categories).

However, you still earn 1% on everything else, so you’ll likely get more than $18/month if this is your primary card. Here’s a hypothetical situation:

You pay $1000 on the card in a month.
$800 is for items/services in the three categories, $200 is in other categories that only get 1% back.

From the $200 in non-top-three categories, you’ll only get 1% back, or $2.
+
From the $800 in the three categories, you’ll get 1% back on all $800 ($8). BUT you’ll also get your “bonus” 2% back on $600 worth of that spending (which is $12).

Thus, you’d get $22 back that month:
$12 from your “bonus” three categories (2% of $600) PLUS,
$10 from your total spending of $1000.

At that rate and considering the $50 sign-on bonus cash, you’d earn your extra $50 for cashing in with a total of $200 after about 7 months:
$50 + (7 X $22) =
$50 + ($154) = $204

Thereafter, you’d have to wait 12 months before reaching $250 (actually would be $264 after $12 months at $22/month).

Basically, a $50 annual bonus on top of your 1%/3% back, but it comes 5 months sooner the first year.

However, it’s clear than if you end up carrying a balance on the card you come out a “loser” that month every time — clearly this happens to enough people for it to be worth Chase’s efforts to reward the few who are not losing out on the card.

In my view this card is a big rip off. I “earned” $5.89 this month. That would be fine if they deducted it from my bill. But they don’t. As you say… you have to APPLY for a “Check” when you reach $50… VIVE the go paperless revolution (on the customer’s part not the bank’s part). If the money you supposedly SAVED doesn’t EXPIRE (I mean “expire”) first. NONE OF THIS IS MENTIONED WHEN YOU APPLY FOR THE CARD. They MAIL this information to you (more paperless BS ha ha). I am going with Discover Card.