One of our favorite cash back rewards credit cards – Chase Freedom – has just announced its upcoming bonus categories and current card members can now enroll for the 5% cash back categories which start on January 1st of 2016.
If you don’t have Chase Freedom yet, here are some of the highlights:
- Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter (activation required each quarter).
- Earn unlimited 1% cash back on all other purchases (automatically).
- Cash back rewards do not expire as long as your account remains open and in good standing.
- 0% introductory APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers. After this time, a variable APR of 13.99% to 22.99% (based on the Prime Rate) will be applied. Your APR is determined by your creditworthiness and other financial factors at the time of approval.
- No annual fee.
New members have the opportunity to earn a $150 Bonus after spending $500 on eligible purchases within the first three months that your account is open. Plus, you can earn an additional $25 Bonus after you add your first authorized user and make a purchase of any amount within the first three months.
Points can be redeemed for cash back (15,000 points = $150) or if you have Chase Sapphire or the Chase Ink Plus Business Card you can transfer points to Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can then transfer Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners including United, Southwest and Hyatt.
Here are Chase Freedom’s 2016 bonus categories:
Keep in mind that there is a quarterly spending cap of $1,500 in combined purchases and exclusions and restrictions do apply. For instance, in the January – March 2016 categories, parking, tolls and Amtrak purchases do not qualify as local commuter transportation purchases (they will earn the basic 1% cash back). Additionally, transactions made at discount retailers and warehouse stores typically are not processed with the necessary merchant code to qualify as grocery stores or gas stations. Consequently, these purchases will only earn the 1% reward rate.