What’s the Chase Freedom Unlimited®'s bonus offer?
TLDR: The Chase Freedom Unlimited®'s current bonus offer is earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from opening the card. Solid offer for a no annual fee card.
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TLDR: The Chase Freedom Unlimited®'s current bonus offer is earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from opening the card. Solid offer for a no annual fee card.
Chase recently offered a limited-time promotion (now expired) that increased the bonus to $250 after the same spending requirement (offer ended on April 30, 2026, at 9AM ET). That limited-time offer has now ended, and the card has reverted back to its standard introductory bonus.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is an excellent semi-beginner credit card for its earn rates, simplicity and solid welcome bonus.
Here are the noteworthy features on the card:
If you have a big purchase coming up, the 0% APR for the first 15 months from account opening is very appealing. You get peace of mind knowing that a big expense like a new computer can be paid as late as 15 months out… all while still avoiding interest (just make sure to make the minimum monthly payment).
The 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and at restaurants is probably among the best feature of this card. These are two categories that I frequent. It is an excellent earn rate for a card with no annual fee. Not only does this card have the 3% cash back earn at drugstores and restaurants, but it also boasts 1.5% cash back on all other purchases. For someone who is just starting off in the credit card game, you can be comforted knowing you are getting solid cash back on all purchases.
The earn rate on this card is simple and straightforward which means you don't have to haggle over choosing categories or thinking about when to use it.
And don’t forget about the 5% earned on travel purchased through Chase Travel. Chase has a travel portal you can use to book flights and hotel stays. The prices aren’t usually desirable on the portal but it's good to check as a potential way to book to see if you can snag a deal.
Personally this card has served me well. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® card was my second card after the Discover it® Student Cash Back. It was easy to get because I had my Discover it® Student Cash Back for about a year and had also built up my credit score by paying off student loans (everyone's credit situation is different).
Once I got the card, I made sure to hit the welcome bonus requirements so I could convert the cash back earned into Chase points. The earn rate on drugstores and restaurants was excellent for a few years and I still use the card to this day for purchases outside of select categories.
And I still use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® to this day! Although I have gotten better earning rates for restaurants with the American Express Gold card with 4x membership rewards per dollar spent, I still use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® for everyday purchases as you earn 1.5% cashback on all purchases. For categories that don't typically have higher earn rates, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is a good set it and forget it card.
Nope. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® has no annual fee so this is a card you can keep in your wallet as long as you’d like.
Yes. The Chase Freedom Unlimited® has a 3% foreign transaction fee on purchases abroad. If you are looking for a card with no foreign transaction fees, you might want to look into the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. This card also has 1:1 transfers to airline & hotel partners.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is great for folks who already have already have a credit history and are looking to get into the travel rewards game. The credit could be from being a student and paying off student loans. Or it could be from a more beginner card like the Capital One Savor Student Cash Rewards Credit Card, Discover it® Student Cash Back or Capital One Savor card. If you don’t have any previous credit it’s not likely that you will get approved for the card.
The 1.5% cash back earned on all purchases is great as it's higher than the usual 1% on most cards. I find it the best long term value feature on the card.
You don’t have to stress about how much cash back you are going to earn or what card to use to get the best cash back rates. You would just use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® for everything.
Yes, but you need to have the right partner card setup. By itself, the Freedom Unlimited is powerful, but doesn't reach its full potential.
But, when you combine it with the likes of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, its value shoots up tremendously—why? Because you can convert the Freedom Unlimited cash back into fully transferable points.
So, take that $200 bonus. With a partner card, that turns into a minimum of 20,000 points. And 20,000 points is enough to score you a few free hotel nights as it is!
The Chase Freedom Flex® is great for those who really want to maximize their credit card rewards. The way to do that would be to take advantage of the Chase Freedom Flex®’s 5% cash back calendar.
Every quarter of the year there are new 5% cash back categories. So for example from this April to June (2026 Q2), you will earn 5% cash back on purchases at Amazon, Chase Travel℠, and Feeding America. Amazon is one of the most versatile bonus categories, given that they have almost every consumer good on the platform these days.
I have found that most of the categories on the 5% cash back calendar are places where most people would be spending anyways. So essentially you would be earning 3.5% more cash back on these categories than the Chase Freedom Unlimited®’s flat rate of 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
The best way to go about the Chase Freedom Unlimited® vs. Chase Freedom Flex® debate is to get both cards. This is what I decided to do about four years back to get both welcome offers AND have the best earn rates. You could essentially use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® for all purchases not in the Chase Freedom Flex®’s 5% cash back calendar. And also use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® for dining to get 3% cash back.
I wanted to note too that both cards offer complimentary DashPass for 6 months along with $10 off non-restaurant orders on DoorDash every quarter. It’s a neat benefit on two no annual fee cards. I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve® right now and I have complimentary DashPass along with 2 $10 off non-restaurant order coupons on Doordash every month—I love it.
I wouldn’t use DoorDash without these coupons and DashPass but it helps me save a lot on groceries in particular. For example, I could get $15 worth of groceries delivered to my house for $3-$5 depending on tip—quite nice. You can think of the DoorDash benefits on the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® as a way to trial DoorDash benefits before you get a more premium card with more DoorDash coupons.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® is an amazing simple cash back card. The card will help you build credit all while earning cash back that you can convert to Chase points. These Chase points will become particularly valuable when you get a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®. The reason being that you’ll be able to transfer your Chase points to Chase’s numerous hotel & airline partners at a 1:1 conversion rate.