With the holiday shopping swing gearing up, it is a great time to look at what credit card may just serve you the best this holiday season. There are a lot of options and it can certainly get confusing! For the person who wants just one card that can give them the best bang for their buck, there is really one card that stands out – the Chase Freedom card. I mean, how about being able to buy one of the brand new iPad Air 2 models for only $300 out of pocket? This bonus lets you do this!
Chase Freedom – Great Credit Card for Holiday Shopping
This card has decent benefits to it for everyday use anyway, but the thing that sets it apart for this holiday season is the limited time bonus offer – get $200 cashback after spending $500 in three months! That is a tremendous deal – you know you are going to be spending money anyway, but with this card you will actually earn $200 of that spending back!
Signing Up and Receiving the Bonus
This card offer is a limited-time deal – the normal bonus is only $100 back. With the increased offer, you should definitely consider putting it in your wallet.
– Application Link – Chase Freedom – Earn $200 back after spending $500 in the first three months
Once you receive the card in the mail, call to activate it and start spending! You should normally receive the card within a week or 10 days after being approved and that will still give you plenty of time to get your Christmas shopping done on the card.
With the Chase Freedom Bonus, this iPad Air 2 could cost you only $300 out of pocket!
To get the bonus of $200 back, you need to spend $500 in the first three months. If you spend that $500 in the first billing month, you will receive the credit of the $200 after that statement closes and will be able to get the statement credit back right after that.
Other Card Benefits
There are a few great features about the Chase Freedom card. One is that you never have to pay an annual fee – there is none! That means there is no reason you should not keep this card forever.
Earn 5% cash back at department stores, Amazon, and Zappos!
Another benefit is the rotating category bonuses offered exclusively to this card. Every quarter you get 5% cash back on purchases made at specific retailers or in specific categories. For instance, this quarter, you will receive 5% cash back (on the first $1,500 spent in those categories) on purchases made at Amazon, Zappos, and many department stores (including the big ones like JC Penney, Sears, Kohls, Macys, and Nordstroms – to see the full list, click here.)
So, if you were to spend $1,500 before the end of the year in those categories, you would receive a total of $275 cash back (counting the $200 bonus) for spending $1,500 – or 18% cash back on all of that spending. Not bad!
Other Uses For the Bonus
If you are interested in getting cash back only, then you do not need to look at this part. But, if you want to travel and earn points for that, here is what you need to do.
The $200 you earn with this card as cash back is actually 20,000 points that are redeemed for cash back. But, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Plus, you will be able to transfer those 20,000 points to one of those cards and then transfer them out to a variety of travel partners – like United, Southwest, British Airways, Hyatt, Marriott, etc.
If you did transfer 20,000 points to one of those programs (through the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Ink Plus), you could realize even greater value than simply $200 cash. If transferred to Southwest, that will equal around $350 in travel value. If you transfer to United, you are only 10,000 points shy from getting a one-way ticket to Europe! If you choose to transfer to British Airways, you can redeem for 2 roundtrip tickets on US Airways or American Airlines using short-haul (under 650 miles one-way) flights. There is a lot of value to be had!
Summary
In the end, what you do with the points is totally up to you. And I like that it offers that kind of flexibility. I like that you can use these for travel or use these for cash back. This bonus is great – you could spend $500 on Christmas presents and only end up paying $300, thanks to this bonus offer. But, it is available for a limited time. So, if you want to get it, now is the time.
Thank you, Charlie…i would be so “credit- knowledge challenged” if it weren’t for you!