Rakuten: Get $25 When Signing Up For Chase Sapphire Preferred, INK Unlimited, Freedom Unlimited

Update 5/13/25: Rates reduced to $25 for all three cards. (If you have a friend with a referral link, they can often get 10,000/$100 for referring you to the card instead.)

Update 5/8/25: Rates reduced to $100/10,000 for Sapphire Preferred/Ink Unlimited and $75/7,500 for Freedom Unlimited.

Update 5/4/25: Rates have been DRAMATICALLY increased. $300/30,000 for Sapphire Preferred/Ink Unlimited and $150/15,000 for Freedom Unlimited. If you’ve ever wondered how much money we give up by not using affiliate links on this site, this gives you some insight.

See this follow up post: FAQ On The $300 Rakuten Credit Card Bonus (Chase Sapphire Preferred, INK, Freedom)

Original Post:

In a surprising move, Rakuten is now promoting a $50/5,000 bonus when signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom Unlimited, and Chase INK Unlimited.

Sapphire Preferred | Freedom Unlimited | INK Unlimited

This is perfect timing on the Sapphire Preferred card which is already offering an excellent 100,000 points bonus (ending soon). 

Typically shopping portals are not allowed to offered kickbacks for credit card signups. While the affiliate can sometimes earn well in excess of $50 per signups, the banks and affiliate networks don’t typically allow incentivizing signups in that manner. Apparently Rakuten negotiated this deal specially with Chase. (We don’t use credit card affiliate links on Doctorofcredit ever.)

A lot of us apply using the referral link of a player-2 or a friend which might be better than with using Rakuten. Still, many people prefer an easy bonus like this, especially if you value Rakuten/MR points at more than 1 cent each. (There’s yet another option of buying a card signup bonus on eBay.)

It’s kinda strange to earn Membership Rewards points for signing up on a Chase card. 🙂

If you’re new to Rakuten, it’s a good time to sign up now with their $40/4,000 bonus. You can find our referral link in this post.

Hat tip to Greedyenthusaism91
    Chuck
  • On May 13, 2025, 15:23
Tags: bigchaserakutensignup bonus

View Comments (338)

  • Looks like 90 days from approval. Applied for 2x on 5/5, the one that was instantly approved has moved to confirmed while the one that required a call to reconsideration is still pending (for a few more days). Looks like both should hopefully make the next check 😎

  • My Rakuten show next payout date is August 15th, so hoping my 30k MR pts show up that day (or soon after).

  • Any updated DPs on rakuten bonuses moving from pending to confirmed? On 5/5 I was approved for a CIU and have been looking at 30k pending in my Rakuten account ever since.

    • I didn't screenshot the terms, but I believe there was 90 day language, so I'm expecting it to post here in the next week. I opened 5/6

  • Hi, which chase business card offered the 100k pts during this promo, chase is only giving me 75k. My rakuten is pending ($300). Does anyone have a screen shot of the promo, TYIA!

    • Only Ink doing 100k the last several months would probably be the Premier one, don’t think it was part of the Rakuten offer. Unlimited and Cash have been 75k for a bit.

  • DP: Applied 5/5. Received snail mail 5/12 stating suspected credit fraud and to please contact their fraud department using the number on the letter. I did, confirmed the application was real and after 30 minutes I was told my application was being released and I would receive written confirmation of their decision within a week. 5/16: I received a voicemail from their fraud department asking to contact them once again. The whole situation seemed weird and made me uncomfortable, so I went into a local branch. They were able to get me ID'd and sorted right away (bring multiple IDs with you), and my application was approved on the spot. 5/19: Status in my Rakuten account finally shows 30K points pending.

  • Anyone have experience calling into recon and getting approval after receiving a letter that cites 'insufficient credit information', even after providing additional verification (utility bill and ID)?

  • Wife applied for CSP. She had 740 score. Had CFU for over a year before applying. Last card she opened was C1VX over four months prior (early Jan 2025). Didn't get instant denial, got pending approval/review, wait 7-10 business days. Called customer service/recon and they said we need more ID verification. Uploaded utility bill and ID for them to review. They said wait 3-5 business days for our answer. Got a letter in her account saying that she was denied due to insufficient credit information. Do we bother calling recon again to try to change their minds? Or is this pretty much done?

    • Same thing happened to me. Went to the branch and was able to get it approved. Had to show two forms of ID.

    • There is no harm in calling recon. Your wife already has a relationship with Chase for more than 1 year, hear what they will say, and try to convince them. Good luck.

  • Kind of a niche question:

    May 14: closed CSP I've had for years.
    May 15: applied (before 9 a.m.) using the Rakuten 100k link

    Denied because "you already have a CSP." Guess it takes a couple days to register card closure. Worth calling reconsideration line? (If so, would they apply the 100k offer or whatever's current?)

    • You did it a bit too late. I missed the $300 rebate so admittedly I'm also a bit late..
      I found on another website that says it takes just about 2 days for Chase to reflect CSP downgrade.... Until the status is correctly reflected the application would not even be submitted. I applied exactly 2 days after CSP downgrade and it worked for me.

      • Yeah, that seems to be what happened: Not even submitted. ShawntheShawn's comment at #205447 helped give me a clue to whether Chase has registered my CSP closure: Looking pretty iffy to get this, even in branch, by tomorrow afternoon (can't do Saturday). I guess the sapphire lining is that if it doesn't work out tomorrow, at least the next time an elevated CSP signup comes around--maybe years from now--I'll know for sure that I'm eligible!

    • Unfortunately reconsideration is not going to work when your application was denied due to already having a CSP. You will need to submit a new application, and the available offer at the time of your new application will apply.

      The second bad news is that you may have to wait a bit longer since you closed your CSP. The general recommendation is to wait for 30 days after card closure to apply (in comparison, you only need to wait for 3-4 days if you PC your CSP to a freedom card). However, Chase's system may have been updated this time. For example, in-branch PC is now recorded in the system much quicker than before. So it is possible you may not need to wait that long to reapply. Here is one trick you can use to know if you are good to open a CSP or not: #2054457 (it is generally a good indicator if CSP/CSR is shown). The 100K offer is said to end on 05/17 for in-branch applications, your chance is very slim, but you may give it a try.

      • Wow, that's exactly the info I needed. Too bad I didn't get the CSP bonus just a couple weeks earlier (4 years ago), or I'd have been all over the Rakuten $300 + 100k. CSP is a great card, and Chase is great overall. Did not know the in-branch possibility or deadline, so this helps a ton. Thank you!

  • Just tried to apply with 100k offer but application does not go through despite 2-3 attempts. Any idea how to apply?

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