I love the Chase Freedom® Visa and Chase Freedom MasterCard because it makes it really easy to earn 5 times the number of Ultimate Rewards points (up to $1,500 or 7,500 points a quarter) for purchases which Emily and I would make in any case. There are different bonus categories for each quarter in 2013.
This means that spending $6,000 a year ($1,500 each quarter) can get you 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points which is a very good return for your spending!
The Chase Freedom® is a fee-free card, so it is a good Chase card to keep for a long time. Keeping a card for a long time helps increase your credit score and builds a history with Chase which often has the best offers.
You can also convert your Chase Sapphire Preferred® (if the annual fee is coming due) or Chase Slate card to the Chase Freedom card by calling the number at the back of your card. You won’t get the 10,000 points sign-up bonus, but you will be able to keep the credit history associated with your older card.
April, May & June 2013 5X Bonus Categories
From April 1, 2013, to June 30, 2013 you earn 5 times the number of Ultimate Rewards points for up to $1,500 in restaurants, movie theaters, and at Lowe’s with the Chase Freedom® Visa and MasterCard (provided you activate the category by June 14, 2013).
Activating by June 14, 2013 will ensure that you earn the 5X bonus for all restaurants, movie theaters, and at Lowe’s during April, May and June, even if you spent money in those categories before activating.
Note that the $1,500 limit applies to quarterly purchases among ALL categories – restaurants, movie theaters, and at Lowe’s.
You can either redeem the points earned for cash back (5% cash back isn’t too shabby and some folks prefer cash back). Or you can transfer the Ultimate Rewards points to the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Chase Ink Bold®, Chase Ink Plus® or theJP Morgan Select card and from there to airline or hotel partners such as Hyatt or United.
How To Get the Most Points
Emily and I will use our Chase Freedom for all our restaurant expenses this quarter because it will earn 5 Chase Ultimate Rewards points or 5% cash back. This will give us the highest return for our restaurant expenses in April, May & June 2013.
But we won’t be able to spend $1,500 within 3 months because we don’t eat out that much. We also rarely go to movies thanks to our Netflix subscription!
So in June we’ll go to Lowe’s and buy gift cards to other restaurants and shops (such as Amazon, TJ Maxx, etc.) which we know we’ll use later on.
Many folks have home improvement project planned for summer, so you can buy material from Lowe’s with your Chase Freedom card for 5X Ultimate Rewards points or 5% cash back.
Commenter harvson3 writes that you may be able to get an extra 5 Ultimate Rewards points by ordering your Lowe’s items online and then picking them up at the store.
Bottom Line
Don’t forget to activate the Chase Freedom categories (restaurants, movie theaters, and at Lowe’s) before June 14, 2013.
You can earn up to 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points or $75 in cash back for spending at restaurants, movie theaters, and at Lowe’s!