Chase Freedom Unlimited Review

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers cardholders a lot of perks for a card with no annual fee. Beyond a great rewards program, cardholders can get a DashPass membership (which gets you free delivery on orders over $12 and lower service fees from hundreds of restaurants) free for the first three months and half off for the next nine months. (You must activate by March 31, 2022.)

Chase Freedom Unlimited® cardholders can also benefit from earning 5% cash back on Lyft rides through March 2022.

They can also take advantage of 0% intro APR for the first 15 months on new purchases and balance transfers (then a 19.49% – 28.24% variable APR) There’s an intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, on transfers made within 60 days of account opening. After that it’s either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater. So, if you’re wanting to open a new credit card because you’re planning to buy a big ticket item soon, this is the card to use.

Below, Select breaks down the Chase Freedom Unlimited® rewards, benefits and fees to help you decide if it’s the right card for you.

Earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3% on dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery services) and drugstores and 1.5% on all other purchases. There is no minimum to redeem cash back.

The card also has a generous welcome bonus of an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy on up to $20,000 spent in the first year.

Select calculated how many rewards the average American can earn if they optimize the way they use their Chase Freedom Unlimited®. We worked with the location intelligence firm Esri, who provided us with a sample annual spending budget of $22,126.

The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953).

Here’s a breakdown of how much cash back you can roughly earn in each category, annually:

• Groceries: $78
• Gas: $33
• Dining out: $110
• Travel: $112
• Utilities: $73
• General purchases: $59
• Total: $466

Cardholders can earn an estimated $847 in cash back the first year (including the cash back from the welcome bonus) and a total of $2,709 over five years.

The rewards don’t expire as long as your account is open, and they can also be transferred to a Chase Ultimate Rewards® card, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which allows you to redeem rewards for travel through the Ultimate Rewards® portal and receive 25% more value.

Cardholders can take advantage of a three-month complimentary DashPass membership through DoorDash and 5% cash back on Lyft rides. These perks are great for cardholders who are regularly ordering food or taking ride-hailing services.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is a contactless card. You can also get access to an online shopping portal that provides extra rewards on purchases made through a special Chase-provided link.

There is no annual fee with the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, but there is a 3% fee charged on foreign transactions. (Check out Select’s best credit cards with no foreign transaction fees.)

New cardholders can take advantage of a 15-month 0% APR offer for new purchases and balance transfers (then a 19.49% – 28.24% variable APR). There’s an intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater, on transfers made within 60 days of account opening. After that it’s either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater

Select teamed up with location intelligence firm Esri. The company’s data development team provided the most up-to-date and comprehensive consumer spending data based on the 2019 Consumer Expenditure Surveys from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. You can read more about their methodology here.

Esri’s data team created a sample annual budget of approximately $22,126 in retail spending. The budget includes six main categories: groceries ($5,174), gas ($2,218), dining out ($3,675), travel ($2,244), utilities ($4,862) and general purchases ($3,953). General purchases include items such as housekeeping supplies, clothing, personal care products, prescription drugs and vitamins, and other vehicle expenses.

Select used this budget to estimate how much the average consumer would save over the course of a year, two years and five years, assuming they would attempt to maximize their rewards potential by earning all welcome bonuses offered and using the card for all applicable purchases. All rewards total estimations are net the annual fee.

While the five-year estimates we’ve included are derived from a budget similar to the average American’s spending, you may earn a higher or lower return depending on your shopping habits.