Rumors have been circulating that the Chase Freedom card will be phased out, based on the perception of multiple Chase bankers and based on the fact that the card is no longer available in branches. We reported that Chase reached out to us to clarify that there are no plans of scrapping the card. We weren’t sure what to make of it, and some people wondered if the 5% categories will be scratched.
There’s a new memo which was sent out to Chase bankers in the past couple of hours to clarify that there is no intention of phasing out the Freedom card or the 5% categories.
I saw a picture of the actual memo, but I can’t share that. I was, however, given the green light to share the text of the memo, so here it is:
What to know about those Chase Freedom rumors
June 10,2016
We want to clear up some rumors circulating on some blogs stating that our Chase Freedom credit card will be discontinued at the end of the year
Here are the facts
- There are no plans to discontinue Chase Freedom or the 5% categories that come with it.
- Chase Freedom is one of our most popular cards and will continue to be available online.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited debuted in March to give customers more options for earning cash back – not to replace Chase Freedom.
As always, use your resources to help customers apply for the card that’s right for them. If customers want to apply for Chase Freedom in the branch, you can help them apply on chase.com. [Last few words are cut off in the picture I saw]
All States – All Branch Employees (A)
Thanks to my friend B. for sharing this information.
My take is that the decision to only have Freedom Unlimited in-branch is just to promote the new card, and it may well be a temporary thing, e.g. they may want to hit a certain number of signups in the first year.
It’s still possible that corporate is trying hard to cover up the news at the moment. However, at this point I’m thinking that the bankers were under the impression that Freedom is being discontinued since they weren’t offering it in-branch, but in fact that was just a sales-driven decision.
In any case, Chase is definitely telling their bankers that the card and 5% categories will continue indefinitely.
