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Chase Freedom is an excellent no annual fee card thanks to its quarterly 5% categories. While they call it 5% cash back you’ll really get 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent which can be worth much more than 5% cash. For $1,500 in spending per quarter you will earn at least 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points over the course of a year (7,500 points per quarter at 5 points per dollar spent).
For a limited time only the signup bonus is increased to $150 for spending $500 in 3 months plus $25 for adding an additional user and making a purchase. Those actually come in the form of 17,500 points that can be used for $175 cash back, but would be put to better use if used as airline miles.
The Chase Freedom card normally give 5 points per dollar on up to $1,500 in spending in each quarter of the year in rotating categories.
However for the Freedom card Q4 will effectively end on 11/22 instead of 12/31, so you can earn 5 points per dollar on up to $1,500 spent between 10/01-11/22.
From 11/23-12/31 will be “Q5”. It will have the same categories as Q4, but you will earn a whopping 10 points per dollar! Plus your spending will reset on 11/23 so that you can earn the 10% on the full $1,500 of spending. That’s 15K points for $1,500 in spending.
You can also now click here to activate the Q4/Q5 categories. If you’ve already activated the Q4 categories you don’t need to do it again for “Q5”. Here are the Q4/Q5 stores:
-Amazon.com
-Amazon Prime Subscriptions
-Amazon Fresh
-Amazon Local
-Zappos.com
-Audible.com
-Diapers.com
Through the end of 2015, the Freedom card also earns a 10% annual point dividend. The final dividend will be paid out in February 2016 for 2015 purchases. That means for Q5 that you’ll earn an effective 11 points per dollar on purchases from the bonus point categories and you’ll earn an effective 1.1 points per dollar everywhere else.
Freedom alone can’t transfer points into much more lucrative airline/hotel/train currencies, but if you or your spouse has a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Plus card then you can transfer points from Freedom to one of those cards and from there to your favorite travel currency. You can read at the end of this post which currencies they can transfer to and why those points are much more valuable than just taking cash back. The Freedom card can also keep your points alive for free if you do close one of those cards.
If you use those points for a trip worth where they are worth 2 cents each and then you’ll have effectively earned 20-22% back on those “10 point categories.” The sky is the limit of the value of airline miles as they aren’t tied to the cost of a ticket. That’s good for people in the know and bad for those who are not. 1 mile can be worth 0.25 cents or it can be worth 25 cents, it all just depends on how you use them.
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28 Comments On "Chase Freedom Limited Time Signup Bonus; Activate 10-11 Points Per Dollar “Q5” Holiday Special Now!"
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Needs fixing:
If you use those points for a trip worth where they are worth 2 cents each and then you’ll have effectively earned 20-22% back on those “10 point categories.â€
Does the sapphire need to be oneself or a spouse? Can you transfer to someone else? (A parent or sibling for example?)
Daniel bro, any way to spend the $1500 In a way to loop it back to ourselves? What’s a quick way to spend $1500 on Amazon efficiently?
@Pundrich: gift card maybe?
Is Amazon Prime Now included? Thanks Dan
The first paragraph doesn’t make sense (or intentionality misleading?)
You don’t earn 30k per quarter. You earn 750 per quarter.
If I buy a $1500 Amazon gift card on Amazon – does that work?
Hi Dan !
I just applied last week for the freedom card !I didn’t receive the card yet could I still get the 150$ and the 25$????
Do Amazon reloads count?
@Yaks:
I don’t see what’s wrong with that.
@DanMan:
It can be someone else in your household.
@Pundrich:
Resell gift cards?
@Sam:
How do you read it like that?
@Zachary:
Yes.
@chaim o gross:
Yes, just SM them.
@shmo:
Yes.
With the new Ultimate Rewards page, it shows a bonus category progress bar but doesn’t indicate exactly how much you’ve already spent (or earned) in the bonus category for the present quarter. Is there a simple way to see my progress?
Perfect time to reload my amazon account. Getting low 🙂
This is amazing! I’ll load up on all my prepaid phones, and who knows what!
Dan, Why are you doing all the Amazon offers in the same time? You should spread it over the year ðŸ˜
Thanks Dan,
Isn’t the amex offer from earlier where you essentially get back 25% cash on amazon a better deal than this where you get back 10 points per dollar which is worth about 15 cents to the dollar.
@Avi: Why not do both? You can do $1500 on Freedom by 11/22, $1500 after that, and $60 on each of your Amex cards.
Why is there such a spread between the sell price and the buy price for Amazon gift cards? Selling for a 2.5% discount and buying at 66%?
do you need to activate again for Q5, or is it the same activation as Q4?
@jake: Read the post. It’s even in bold.
@shmo:
What are Amazon Reloads? Is that the same as buying Amazon GC or something else entirely?
So to clarify: You can spend $1500 in Q4 for 7500 UR points, and then ANOTHER $1500 in Q5 for another 15000 UR. Correct?
Shud i go for this or the amazon Amex offer? decisions, desicions…
@Jack. I don’t understand why you don’t do both?
I remember being able to see how many points I had accumulated so far for each category ie. how many more I had to go until I reach 7500 points. However, I can’t seem to find that anymore. Did Chase get rid of it? Is there anyway to see how close you are to the 7500 points without having to add up each point purchase? Thanks.
@Shoobi: WONDERING THE SAME DO YOU KNOW THE ANSWER YET?
@AV @Shoobi
Do u ppl read english?? yes, it resets to new $1500
@yy how did I miss that?
lock in the points and sell your gift card!
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=11457.new#new