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Chase Freedom Card Received but Not as Good as Thought

Posted by Sun on April 1, 2007
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About two weeks ago, I applied and approved for a new Chase Freedom card. The main reason for me to apply the card is the advertised $250 bonus after first purchase, though I can still use the 3% cashback on grocery store, gas, and fast food restaurant purchases. What could be better than $250 free money? That’s what I thought I would get as the terms & conditions of the offer says

You will receive $200 in bonus rebates which can be redeemed for a $250 check. Please allow 6 to 8 weeks after your first purchase for bonus rebates to post to your account.

I don’t know exactly how to read this condition. From what I understand, it tells me I will get $200 in bonus rebate in 6 to 8 weeks after I make my first purchase, regardless the amount (otherwise I would have to spend nearly $6700 just to earn $200 cashbacks). Anyway, the Freedom card arrived yesterday and here’s what appears on the carrier:

Redeem $50 in rewards for a $250 check or save up to $200 in rewards for a $250 check.

Different from the original offer, but not totally unacceptable. In this case, I will need to charge $1667 on the card to earn $50 rewards. That’s a lot of groceries we have to buy!

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8 Comments
April 1, 2007

I also got my Chase Freedom Card in the mail this past week. I was going for the $250 check as well. This was a very deceptive move on Chase’s part, and false advertising all the way. I decided that we will use the card as a gas card only, since we can earn 3% back on gas purchases, or is that a scam too? Does anyone recommend a certain card for gas? Is there anything better than 3%??

Posted by Michael
April 1, 2007

I was also going for the bonus and it turned out to be quite misleading, to the least. But I think I can use the 3% rebate on gas and grocery. So far the most rebate I got is 2%. But is it for real? I don’t know. However, I think since it’s printed on the card carrier, it’s probably real. As for 5% cashback on gas, I think now only Discover has a similar offer. These days, this kind of generous offer is rare.

Posted by The Sun
April 2, 2007

Well I have read some information about chase freedom card…and there was an alert about card…and now here is your experience…

Daniel.

Posted by Finance Guide 101
April 3, 2007

Indeed Chase played a little trick here to make the terms vague and I bet many people had signed up for $250 bonus. But again, the new term is not clear either. I will have to wait till I have that $50 rewards to see what exactly they are offering.

Posted by The Sun
November 28, 2007

That rebate is only half the problem. Did anyone note that Kmart, Walmart and Meijers DO NOT QUALIFY for the 3% rebate! That is absolutely correct, they are classified as “Discount Stores”. I did not find this out until I scanned my card activity and saw that they had “(Other)” after each transaction instead of “Department Store” which is what I was expecting. In fine print on the back of the letter it says “Discount Stores” do not qualify for the additional 2% rebate. The 3 largest store chains in the world and they do not qualify? I had to call Chase 3 times to get this answer and they already knew my question (very quick answer!).
This is extremely misleading advertising.

Posted by Mark J Smith

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