Chase Freedom Strategy, Product Change Now to Lock in 5% Spending Bandwidth
Chase recently announced the launch of the new the Freedom Flex credit card. The card is not available for applications yet. It will go live later this month. The new card will be similar to the current Chase Freedom, with some improvements. It will have the same big welcome bonus, rotating 5% cash back bonus categories and much more. You can read our article about the Chase Freedom Flex here.
But there are more important details that have come out since then, and Doctor of Credit has a good article with information from Chase. Chase reps have said that once the new Freedom Flex card is launched, the current Freedom card will no longer be available and it is possible that you will not be able to product change to it either.
Another piece of information that has been revealed is that you will not be able to hold more than one Freedom Flex card. That is a bit strange considering that it is not a rule for the Freedom card, but if true, it means that you will be limited in the amount of spend that you can do in the 5% rotating categories.
Product Change to Freedom
It could be a good idea to make your moves now, as long as product changing to the Freedom card is still available. With the Chase Freedom, you are limited in how much you can earn in the quarterly 5% back categories.
You only earn 5% cash back on the first $1,500 spent in bonus categories each quarter. If you regularly find yourself going over the quarterly spending cap, you’ll be able to earn more cashback or Ultimate Rewards by getting a second Freedom card.
If you have another Chase card that you are looking to close due to lack of use or because you don’t want to pay the annual fee, you can convert it to another Chase Freedom card instead of closing it.
For that reason, if you have any Slate or no-fee Sapphire cards, you should product change into the Freedom card now. That way you can increase your bandwidth for the 5% rotating categories. This is an option now, but it could possibly go away once the new Freedom Flex is launched.
Conclusion
It is possible that you will be able to hold more than one Freedom Flex card, by product changing other cards. But with the information given so far, it makes sense to add Freedom cards to your wallet now and lock in that additional spending for the rotating 5% categories.
Also keep in mind that you can currently apply for a the Chase Freedom card and get the welcome bonus of $200 and 5% on $12,000 in grocery spend. And since it is a different product from the Freedom Flex, you can then get that welcome bonus as well when the card is launched. Obviously there’s the Chase 5/24 restriction and the fact that Chase will probably not approve you for two Freedom cards in quick succession.
Let us know what your Chase Freedom strategy is.
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So as somebody that already has the freedom, can I apply for the flex when it release?