Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card welcome offers, earning rates and benefits and some credit card benefits will require enrollment. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.
Chase has just updated the welcome offer on its very popular card_name and not only is the new offer an offer that we have never seen before, it’s also probably the best cash back offer that I have ever seen. Frankly, it’s incredible.
The card_name (in brief)
I’m not going to go over every reason the card_name is a card you should probably have in your portfolio (you can read all about that in our review), but I will give you a quick recap of what this card is all about.
This is a card that comes with a annual_fees annual fee and which offers impressive levels of cash back (or Chase Ultimate Rewards Points) on purchases in key spending categories.
It also offers the best level of return of any Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card for spending in categories that don’t offer category bonuses.
Annual fee: annual_fees
Cost of authorized user cards: $0
Earnings:
- 5% cash back (or 5 points/dollar) on travel purchased through the Chase travel portal
- 3% cash back (or 3 points/dollar) on dining (includes takeout and delivery)
- 3% cash back (or 3 points/dollar) on spending at drugstores
- 1.5% cash back (or 1.5 points/dollar) on spending in all other categories
Key benefits:
- No annual fee
- Earn valuable Ultimate Rewards Points in place of cash back when this card is paired with a Chase Sapphire Card or the card_name (review).
- Trip cancellation/interruption insurance
- Purchase protection for 120 days after a purchase is made
Important to know: The card_name is, at its core, a cash back credit card, but Chase pays cash back in the form of points which holders of the card_name can exchange for statement credits at a rate of 1 point = 1 cent.
The new welcome offer
Per Chase, this is what the new welcome offer on the card_name is:
bonus_miles_full
Wow. That’s a seriously good reason to put as much dining expenditure, drugstore expenditure and otherwise unbonused expenditure on this card.
With Chase saying that it will match all the cash back earned in the first year, that means that the earning rates that the card_name now offers are, effectively, doubled.
This is what successful new applicants can earn in year 1:
- 10% cash back (or 10 points/dollar) on travel purchased through the Chase travel portal
- 6% cash back (or 6 points/dollar) on dining (includes takeout and delivery)
- 6% cash back (or 6 points/dollar) on spending at drugstores
- 3% cash back (or 3 points/dollar) on spending in all other categories
Here are the key terms that go with this offer:
- This limited-time new cardmember bonus offer is not available on other websites or through other offer channels, such as email, in-branch, or direct mail.
- With this offer you will receive a one-time bonus equal to all Cash Back rewards earned during your first 12 monthly billing cycles from account opening with your Chase Freedom Unlimited card.
- Only Cash Back rewards earned by making purchases, including through other bonus offers, are eligible for this bonus.
- Statement credits and Cash Back rewards moved into your account through the Ultimate Rewards Combine Points feature or any other transfer are ineligible. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.)
- Cash Back rewards must be earned by the end of your 12th monthly billing cycle to be included in the bonus.
- Please note that in some cases Cash Back rewards will not be earned until a billing cycle that occurs after the one in which a purchase is made, in particular when purchases are made near the end of a billing cycle. As a result, Cash Back rewards earned on some purchases made during your first 12 monthly billing cycles may not be eligible to be included in the bonus.
- Please allow 6 to 8 weeks from the end of your 12th monthly billing cycle for bonus Cash Back rewards to post to your account.
- To receive your bonus, your account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.
You’ll find the full terms and conditions on the application page.
Quick thoughts
An effective 6% cash back on dining?! An effective 3% cash back on all eligible spending in categories where you wouldn’t otherwise earn a bonus?! That’s stunning! …and that’s all on a card that charges a annual_fees annual fee!
Anyone who now successfully applies for the card_name will, for their first year, have the most powerful card for dining expenditure, the most powerful card for drugstore expenditure, and the most powerful card for spending in otherwise unbonused categories.
And allow me to reiterate: This is coming from a card that has a annual_fees annual fee and that isn’t asking you to hit any spending targets to earn the extra cash back.
The offer really is very simple: Whatever cash back you earn in the first year of card membership, Chase will match at the end of your first year. That’s it.
I rarely get over excited about a new welcome bonus, but I’ll make an exception for this one because I genuinely cannot believe that Chase is offering this.
When you remember that drugstores often (usually) sell more than just medications, supplements and bandages, and when you start considering what else can be purchased at your local CVS, Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc… The scope for what this welcome offer could do for your cash back earnings or Ultimate Rewards earnings should become clear.
Note: One thing to keep in mind is that the card_name will charge you a foreign transaction fee if you use it outside of the US so it’s really only a card to use domestically.
Bottom line
The card_name card has just had it’s welcome offer updated and the new offer is stunning. Anyone successfully applying for this card during this limited time promotion will have all the cash back that they earn in their first year of card membership matched by Chase… and there’s no limit to how much cash back you can earn.
Anyone who hasn’t considered this card before or who has been on the fence about applying for it must surely now have more than enough incentive to get it… even if it’s only to hold it for one year.
A standard 50k for $5k spend offer on a typical travel card is ‘effectively’ 10x per dollar on everything, before counting any category bonuses
This is a ‘meh’ way to use up your applications
I disagree.
1) This offer isn’t capped (so someone who is so inclined could do a lot better than the equivalent of 50k).
2) This offer doesn’t have a spending target so someone who just wants good earnings potential without having to worry about having to spend $X in Y number of months will do well here.
3) I can’t recall the last time a credit card with no annual fee offered a bonus of 50,000 points that are generally accepted to be worth more than 1 cent each (I don’t think that has ever happened) so I don’t think you’re comparing like for like.