There was an interesting post today on Frequentmiler looking for data points about whether Chase is stopping to allow users to apply for a second card in the Freedom family, e.g. if you’re holding a Freedom, you wouldn’t be allowed to apply for a Freedom Unlimited. Readers there commented confirming that it still is possible to apply directly for the both cards.Â
It got me thinking: but could it happen? Chase has already restricted us from applying for a second card in the Sapphire family, a rule that hit us with no prior notice. And they did the same to the Southwest line. What’s the likelihood of that happening to the Freedom line? Is there an urgency to signup ASAP for both Freedom cards if you are eligible?
The biggest difference between the Sapphire line and the Freedom line is customer acquisition cost. The Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards cost Chase hundreds of dollars for the signup bonus, plus many (most?) cards are obtained through an affiliate channel who take a hefty commission. The Freedom line has a much lower signup bonus and lower affiliate commission costs, making it less of a target for trimming.
Also, the Freedom card, honestly, is a fairly limited card in the sense that – maxed out – it earns $300 per year (30k points) which is a total of $210 more than someone who had put that spend on the Freedom Unlimited would have earned. Basically, it’s a very finite cost which might not be of major concern to Chase.
This issue might also depend on whether Chase makes up their mind to stop allowing Ultimate Rewards pooling. If they do enact such a change, it’s less likely they’ll enact a Freedom limitation since consumers holding both don’t cost as much. If they don’t enact the rule (or if they enact a pooling limit instead of restricting it entirely), there’s a better chance they’ll try limiting users from cherry-picking the best rate at each retailer by limiting us to one Freedom card.
I give it at least a 50% chance that this kind of rule restricting multiple Freedom cards won’t ever take place, but it’s worth preparing for the possibility that it can happen. If you’re interested in holding the two Freedom cards and are eligible, it’s worth getting it sooner rather than waiting. There’s an enticing signup offer now on the Freedom Unlimited card for 3x everywhere the first year as well.Â
HI Everyone,
I got an invitation to apply for a Freedom card today. I have an Unlimited already and CSP, but what I don’t get is why they bother sending me this invite when I’m at about 25/24 and would never get approved. It seems like they must know about all the inquires. Why would Chase pay for a list of your customers with high enough credit scores and not include inquiry data? It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Wonder if I could product change from Marriott rewards to chase freedom… Has anyone here tried?
If they do end up limiting users to one Freedom card only, what are they going to do with all of the existing users who have multiple Freedoms already?
As with the Sapphire and Southwest changes, existing customers will doubles won’t be affected.
I just got approved to Chase Freedom unlimited with active regular Freedom 5% since 2013. But I had to call to reconsideration line, usually I’m approved instantly
Doc: I have FU but got it by PC from Sapphire with no bonus. Instead of PC the FU to F is there any reason not to just close the FU and move credit line to existing F? Does both ways result in not having the FU anymore so I can apply for new 3X FU?
Never give up a free card, PC the FU to Freedom now., I did and now have three Freedoms.
I do not see any cost savings for Chase in implementing a rule like this and therefore do not see this happening. I also think it was irresponsible of that blogger to write this up when a little bit of research (could even just have posed this q on r/churning or something) would have given them DPs that this is not a thing- they WAY jumped the gun. (I did notice the blogger has now posted an update at the top of the article this is not currently a thing.)
Why would Chase not want people to apply for and use both Freedom cards? Like I’m puzzled at why that would be a problem.
The Sapphires make sense in that they pretty much overlap and really the only reason to get both is to get the signup bonus again. That logic doesn’t quite apply to the Freedom cards though. The bonuses on those are not that big and they seem to be purposefully complementary in the way they earn points.
Right, I think it’s the mainly the bonus + affiliate cost they are trying to save which is why I’m inclined to believe they won’t implement it on the Freedom line which has substantially lower acquisition costs.
You mean this hasn’t happened yet? My sister is not 5/24 and she plans to alternate between CSP and CIP (CPS last year and CIP this year and CSP again next year once the 24 month bonus requirement has passed). She could potentially apply for both CIP and CFU this year then even though she has two CFs?
Yes, she can.
If this happens and I have to give up my Chase Trifecta it will be very disappointing. CSR/P for all dining and travel purchases, Freedom for bonus categories, and Freedom Unlimited for everything else not in a bonus category. It makes sense and likely makes them tons of money on interchange fees. Chase is wanting to penalize savvy users for just using these cards optimally if they do this. And I hope a lot of people decide to leave them for it.
I doubt they’ll close cards of those who have them. It’s a question of whether they’ll allow applying for these cards directly.
That’s a relief. But I feel like even after being grandfathered there might be a chance they make us give one up. Not really putting anything past Chase right now with all the news about devaluations going on right now!
Currently holding out for the CFU to have a $300 sign-up bonus because the current 3% back doesn’t do it for me honestly because I cant spend enough money to make it worth my while, and I already get 3% back on dining and travel with CSR, which is most of my spending! Wait or Pull the trigger???
I don’t see how they don’t. They did it with Sapphire and Southwest card families. I see them doing it with all of them sooner or later much like Citi has. I think IHG is next up.
Added Southwest to the post now, forgot about that, thanks. Yeah, that does kinda show a trend. But Southwest has a much higher acquisition cost and cards are very similar, so might not be on their radar to implement that change.