Earlier today it was announced that Chase would be launching the Chase Freedom Flex card and that the Chase Freedom Unlimited would start earning 3% cash back on dining & drug stores and 5% on travel bookings. Currently the Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 2x on dining and travel purchases and the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3x on dining & travel which means the Freedom Unlimited would outearn the Preferred and be on par with the Reserve.
The advantage of the Preferred & Reserve is that holding these cards lets you transfer the points to travel partners, whereas if you only held the Freedom Unlimited this wouldn’t be possible. It’s also not that unusual for Premium cards with benefits such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve to have a lower earning rate than other cards. This is a tactic that American Express employs for example with the American Express Platinum card only earning 1x on all purchases (excluding flights booked directly with airlines and prepaid hotels on amextravel.com).
Despite that I do expect we will see the Preferred revamped at some stage as Chase has been doing a major overhaul of most cards in its credit card line up.
Related posts:
- Major Chase Freedom Revamp: New ‘Freedom Flex’ Mastercard & Freedom Unlimited Will Earn 3% Dining & Drugstores, 5% Travel Bookings
- Chase Freedom Flex – Your Questions Answered
- Tip: Product Change Your Chase Cards To Become Freedom Cards Now
- Should You Sign Up For The Old Freedom Card Before It’s Discontinued?
