DEAD: MOLTEN LAVA HOT!!!! Chase Freedom Card $250 signup bonus

[dud]

For anyone considering getting this card ... just some friendly advice: DON'T!

I got the Chase "Rewards" card about 15 months ago. They advertised it as the best rewards card out there, and it was, at that moment in time. I used it for gas, food ... almost everything. I was charging $2,000 a month on it ... the rewards points were flying into my account. About 8 months later I had accumulated a significant number of points and decided to cash out. The Chase documentation I was given (when I signed up) stated that my yearly cap was $600 in rewards but when I tried to cash out they informed me that the "rules" had changed and the cap was now $300! i was screwed. Why have a "rewards" card with so few rewards?

Other problems that ALL who get this card should know about:

- You will get a call from "John Smith" at their Indian call center trying to get you to buy their "protection package" for your card (which should already come with your membership). After numerous calls I told them to STOP THE CALLS! I was not interested in paying for account protection I should already be receiving. After a few months of quiet ... the calls resumed.

- I have three credit cards. The Chase card is BY FAR the highest maintenance and hardest to deal with. I pay the card off completely at the end oe each billing cycle but unfortunately twice in 18 months the payment was received late and I was charged a late fee AND interest for that cycle. They were able to remove the late fee each time (as a courtesy) but not the interest. Say goodbye to your rewards ...


As I said before I have three (3) credit cards and the rewards (now Freedom) card is by far the worst of the lot. FWIW the "rewards" received by using this card are far outweighed by the hassels.

You were warned ...

 

[paranoidandroid]

Where does it say $250? When I click on the link it just says 3%/1%/ 0% APR

 

[Reckoner]

Get in on this before chase stops the deal!

 

[knightc2]

Originally posted by: dud

For anyone considering getting this card ... just some friendly advice: DON'T!

I got the Chase "Rewards" card about 15 months ago. They advertised it as the best rewards card out there, and it was, at that moment in time. I used it for gas, food ... almost everything. I was charging $2,000 a month on it ... the rewards points were flying into my account. About 8 months later I had accumulated a significant number of points and decided to cash out. The Chase documentation I was given (when I signed up) stated that my yearly cap was $600 in rewards but when I tried to cash out they informed me that the "rules" had changed and the cap was now $300! i was screwed. Why have a "rewards" card with so few rewards?

Other problems that ALL who get this card should know about:

- You will get a call from "John Smith" at their Indian call center trying to get you to buy their "protection package" for your card (which should already come with your membership). After numerous calls I told them to STOP THE CALLS! I was not interested in paying for account protection I should already be receiving. After a few months of quiet ... the calls resumed.

- I have three credit cards. The Chase card is BY FAR the highest maintenance and hardest to deal with. I pay the card off completely at the end oe each billing cycle but unfortunately twice in 18 months the payment was received late and I was charged a late fee AND interest for that cycle. They were able to remove the late fee each time (as a courtesy) but not the interest. Say goodbye to your rewards ...


As I said before I have three (3) credit cards and the rewards (now Freedom) card is by far the worst of the lot. FWIW the "rewards" received by using this card are far outweighed by the hassels.

You were warned ...

I agree. We have had the same issues with our mortgage which Chase screwed up twice.

Part 1:

Chase bought our first mortgage and then we refinanced. After we got our new loan with another bank Chase kept taking money out of our checking account for 3 months. After numerous phone calls explaining to them that we no longer had a loan with them they finally suggested I log in to my online account and turn off auto payment. I told them that I no longer had an account with them to log in to and change. They insisted it was MY fault. Anyway it took 3 months to get this taken care of and get my money back. Three extra mortgage payments were taken from my account and no one at Chase seemed to care. I never even got an apology from them.

Part 2:

After refinancing Chase again bought our mortgage. Then after over a year of auto debiting our payments they stopped without warning. I got a call early one Saturday morning and they wanted to know why I hadn't paid in almost 2 months. Again they blamed me and my bank when it was their system that failed to pull money from my account. I said fine I'll log in and re-setup auto pay. My account had been changed, my email address was no longer there and auto pay was no longer setup.

On top of this they had a $70+ late fee on my account and were going to take me to collections if my money wasn't wired to them by midnight. Then they tried to charge me $20 to send an echeck over the phone for payment that they should have already received. I made about 10 calls that day trying to get this sorted out. The finance people blamed me, the customer service people blamed the web people and the web people blamed the finance people. Finally someone in customer service admitted that a select few customers had account information wiped out after their system was upgraded. Apparently I was one of them.

Anyway, we were treated like criminals and were offered no apologies. I got the fees waived but this was done "as a courtesy" to me NOT because they screwed up. Never have the finance people apologized.

Bottom line Chase sucks. I have heard many horror stories about them including their credit cards. They have recently been upping the interest rate to nearly 30% on many customers accounts even those with no history of late payments. Their explanation? We re-ran a credit check on you and your debt to income ratio was too high so we raised your rates %20. This is just one of the many evil things Chase is about.

I would avoid at all costs.

 

[StudioGigger]

From the Redemption Policy:

Cash Back Redemption

Reach $50 in Rewards and redeem for a $50 check. Or, save up to $200 in rewards and redeem for $250 cash back!

When you're ready to redeem, simply go online or give us a call at the number on the back of your card and we'll send you a check.

 

[Reckoner]

If you guys don't like chase, buy a pack of gum, get the credit, request the check, then sock drawer the card.

 

[bf1942]

Thanks OP,
this makes things easier.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: udonoogen
well, i applied. some people on sd and fw were getting instantly approved. i suppose i'm not cool enough. if i hear anything about 250, ill accept the offer. does anyone know anything about chase customer service? i love citibank but 3% is much better than 2%

I'm still getting 5%

 

[bitt3n]

I'm still getting 5%

where?

 

[Reckoner]

Why isn't this thread taking off? My thread about this on SD has over 775 responses!

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: bitt3n

I'm still getting 5%

where?

citi. I guess I slipped through the cracks.

 

[Svnla]

I would jump on it for the $250 bonus but I already have a Chase credit card so no bonus if I switch to Freedom card.

 

[jono8]

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: bitt3n

I'm still getting 5%

where?

citi. I guess I slipped through the cracks.

same here. that combined with AmEx Costco rewards card which gives 3% for restaurants (everything from fast food to fine dining) and 2% for travel (plane, car rentals, hotels, etc.) = mucho rewards

 

[Greenman]

If you do decide to get a Chase card, watch them like a hawk. I had nothing but misery with Chase. It would take far more than $250 to get me anywhere near those blood suckers.

 

[Desslok]

Originally posted by: Greenman
If you do decide to get a Chase card, watch them like a hawk. I had nothing but misery with Chase. It would take far more than $250 to get me anywhere near those blood suckers.

QFT!

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats
With the chase freedom card, once you receive $200 in rebates, they give you a bonus $50.

With this deal, they start you out with $200 in rebates after the first purchase, plus the $50 bonus for accumulating $200 in rewards.

Oh, that's actually kinda neat, so it's really like 1.25% cash back at most places, and 3.75% cash back for groceries and gas...hmm....

I already have a chase card that I don't use though, lol. I signed up so I'd have 0% cash to put into savings, dunno if it was really worth it in the end though, lol.

Still...bribing me with $250 is very tempting...garrgh they almost have me dumping amex here, lol (not quite though).

But then again if I use my Merrill Lynch card correctly it yields almost 2% (since 25,000 points gets you any bookable flight up to $500, and I've found a lot of $490ish flights I want to book), and my starwood card, while no longer quite as good as it used to be, would still yield more than 1% no matter how you slice it.

Still...$250...lol

 

[Freejack2]

Originally posted by: StudioGigger
From the Redemption Policy:

Cash Back Redemption

Reach $50 in Rewards and redeem for a $50 check. Or, save up to $200 in rewards and redeem for $250 cash back!

When you're ready to redeem, simply go online or give us a call at the number on the back of your card and we'll send you a check.

So what everyone else is saying is wrong? You have to spend $10,000 (at an average of 2% a purchase) to get to $200 in rewards which gives you $250. Sounds like a pretty cold deal to me.

 

[MacAttack]

There is absolutely nothing hot about this offer. You have to earn $200 in "reward" dollars to get $250 credited to your account. "Reward" dollars are accumulated at a rate of 1% of purchases and 2% for special purposes that Chase "reserve the right to determine which purchases qualify..." On a best case scenario, you would have to purchase $6666.67 worth of qualifying charges to get $250. the first month's interest on that amount is $101. If you don't pay the card off, that $250 is gone in nearly three months.

This is a ridiculous offer and any idiot that thinks they will get $250 back after their first purchase is crazy. This is definitely not the same deal as SonyCard back in December.

The title needs to be relabelled as "Colder than a Witch's T*t!"


I just called Chase to verify. I had to go to a Supervisor to get the exact answer. He finally did agree that I read the terms correctly.

 

[GTFan]

You have no idea what you're talking about. The $200 is credited automatically after first purchase, within 6 to 8 weeks. Read the OP again, which quotes from the offer. And the CSR's have no idea what they're talking about for this offer, it's online only so far.

For anyone dissing Chase or this card, who said you had to keep it? Charge ONE THING, get your money, and ditch it, just like you should've been doing for all the Sony Card offers since the Sony Card stinks otherwise.

This Freedom card is actually decent since it offers 3% cash back on gas/grocery/fast food every month for up to $600 in purchases.

 

[dud]

"If you guys don't like chase, buy a pack of gum, get the credit, request the check, then sock drawer the card."


My point is with Chase, it is NEVER that easy. The "hotness" of a deal is best appreciated AFTER the deal is done. Wait until after you sign up, after you start getting the harassing calls at dinnertime, after all the headaches and THEN ask yourself if the benefit was worth it. In my case the answer was a deafening "NO".

I just made me FINAL purchase using my Freedom card last week. As soon as the purchase is paid off I am closing my account. My wife and I had a party when we cut up our damned Chase cards.

Consider the big picture when you get involved in one of these "hot deals".

 

[dud]

"You have no idea what you're talking about. The $200 is credited automatically after first purchase, within 6 to 8 weeks. Read the OP again, which quotes from the offer. And the CSR's have no idea what they're talking about for this offer, it's online only so far.

For anyone dissing Chase or this card, who said you had to keep it? Charge ONE THING, get your money, and ditch it, just like you should've been doing for all the Sony Card offers since the Sony Card stinks otherwise.

This Freedom card is actually decent since it offers 3% cash back on gas/grocery/fast food every month for up to $600 in purchases."

When I got my card I was TOLD that I could redeem up to $600 the first year. When I tried to redeem (after spending over $20,000 I was told the "rules" had changed and the cap was now $300!

If you go for this "deal" you will get what you deserve.

 

[ICantAffordIt]

How can you be so blind... this "information" is right there on the stinkin' page. Just read the stupid fine print. It says right there: "Receive $250 after your first purchase*" then the * says: "Please allow 6-8 weeks after your first purchase for bonus rebates to post to your account."
It's pretty darn clear... MAKE A PURCHASE, RECEIVE $250

I've never dealt with Chase, so I can't comment on if it's worth it. Just print the page out.

 

[najames]

In case you don't pay it off in full every month on time. Ouch!! I warned you. Every time you apply for credit cards it does affect your credit score too.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for purchases

18.24% variable.a

Other APRs

Balance Transfer APR: 18.24% variable.

Cash Advance APR: 24.24% variable

Default APR: Up to 32.24% variable. See explanation below.b

Overdraft Advance APR: 13.99% fixed (not available in some states)

 

[McPhreak]

For all the people worried about APRs and getting contacted by the CSRs and whatnot, just sign up for automatic payment and you won't ever hear another peep from them again.

Otherwise, do as others have suggested and close the account after your first purchase and you receive your check.

 

[GTFan]

Originally posted by: dudWhen I got my card I was TOLD that I could redeem up to $600 the first year. When I tried to redeem (after spending over $20,000 I was told the "rules" had changed and the cap was now $300!

If you go for this "deal" you will get what you deserve.

Which has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what I posted - get the card and the free cash and ditch it if you don't like it.

To address some of the other misleading posts:
- The credit score hit is slight and will rebound quickly.

- Yes, if you don't pay if off in full every month you get reamed, but who didn't know that??

- I have NEVER received a call from them for any of the Sony Card bonus deals that I've gotten in on (over a half-dozen I guess). And they're all handled by Chase. YMMV.

It's free money, peeps, c'mon even if you're a Chase hater you can see that.