Have you ever wondered, "Can I have two Chase Freedom cards?" I know I have, and the answer is YES! You can and you should.
First, I’m going to tell you the perks of the card. The Chase Freedom card offers 5% cash back on up to $1500 dollars in purchases in revolving categories each month. It also offers 1% back on everything else. There is no cap on the 1% cash back.
The 5% cash back is Chase Freedom’s real perk. One quarter it might be groceries and gas, the next it might be home improvement stores and dining. The point is, there’s always a category that will earn more than 1% cash back. Here are the 2017 Q1 and Q2 5% categories:
- Jan - Mar: Gas Stations, Local Commuters, and Transportation
- Apr - Jun: Grocery Stores and Drugstores
You may be thinking that these category rewards won’t add up. However, just a small amount of spending in these categories will allow you to accumulate a lot of cash back. You can accumulate even more if you have multiple Chase Freedom cards. Here’s how you do it:
How to Get Multiple Chase Freedom Cards
If you want more than one Chase Freedom card for the 5x quarterly bonuses this is what I suggest you do. Even if you already have a Freedom Card, you could still follow this advice to grab more than one Freedom.
You must sign up for the Chase Freedom before doing a product change. After all, you have to have one Chase Freedom before you have two! At the time of this writing, Chase Freedom is currently offering a decent sign on bonus. It works like this:
- $150 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first three months from account opening.
- $25 Bonus after you add your first authorized user and make a purchase within your first three months from account opening.
How can you take advantage of owning multiple Chase Freedom cards? This is the order of signing up for cards I would suggest if you are starting off:
- Sign up for a Chase Freedom.
- After a comfortable time frame, say 6 months, apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
- When you're ready, ideally before your Sapphire Preferred annual fee hits, product change it into another Freedom by calling the number on the back of your card.
If you already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, but don’t have a Freedom, simply skip step 2 above. So it would look like this:
- Sign up for a Chase Freedom.
- When you're ready, ideally before your Sapphire Preferred annual fee hits, product change it into another Freedom by calling the number on the back of your card.
Here are a few notes about signing up for these cards:
- If you've opened 5 new credit cards in the last 24 months (the 5/24 rule), Chase will not approve you for any of their cards. Since both of these cards are Chase cards, you'll want to keep that in mind.
- In my experience, signing up for two personal or two business Chase cards in one day, ended up in only one hard inquiry. That's something to keep in mind, as it may make more sense to sign up for two cards on the same day.
- Chase Freedom earns Ultimate Rewards points which can be redeemed for cash back at 1 point = $0.01, however, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Reserve, Ink Preferred, Plus, or Bold, you can combine your UR points together and use them to transfer to travel partners.
Sign Up for the Chase Freedom and the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card
These cards are often treated like rivals, but they work really well together. Use the Chase Freedom for its 5% categories and the Chase Freedom Unlimited to earn more than 1% back on everything else.
With the Freedom Unlimited you will earn 1.5% on all purchases. Even better, there is no minimum redemption amount. The original Freedom requires redemptions of $20 or more. You can even transfer your rewards between accounts and redeem them all in one go.
Both cards offer excellent value on their own. But together, they become even more valuable.
Chase Freedom interest rates and fees:
No credit card analysis would be fair without discussing APR and fees. Which brings us to the regular APR. The Chase Freedom credit card’s interest rates are average — not the lowest, not the highest.
A higher APR isn’t uncommon for a rewards card, which is why you should look elsewhere if you think you’ll ever carry a balance on your card. That being said, I don't suggest ever signing up for a new card if you're going to carry a balance. But if you’re going to pay your card off every month in full, then who cares about the APR?
Chase Freedom does offer a competitive 0% intro APR for 15 months on purchases and balance transfers. After the intro period, a variable APR of 15.49 – 24.24 percent applies. Balance transfer fee is 5% of the amount transferred, $5 minimum.
Chase Freedom offers two cash bonus opportunities for new cardmembers if you spend money with your new card or add an authorized user to the account. I mentioned the bonus structure earlier but would like to reiterate. Owning multiple cards allows you to stack these bonuses.
Here is the payout:
- $150 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first three months from account opening.
- $25 Bonus after you add your first authorized user and make a purchase within your first three months from account opening.
Note: This bonus was live at the time of this writing, it may be different later on.
So, can I have two Chase Freedom Cards?
Yes! By layering these cards you will receive more cash back and travel rewards. Plus, you can receive both sign on bonuses. This takes a strategy that is easy to implement. Here is how I got three Freedom cards:
- Freedom 1: Applied for the Freedom and got the bonus.
- Freedom 2: Converted a Sapphire Preferred a couple of years ago.
- Freedom 3: Applied for the Chase Freedom Unlimited Card.
A point worth noting: As I mentioned earlier, Chase has a 5/24 policy on credit card applications. It reads like this “You will not be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more bank cards in the past 24 months.” That total includes cards from all issuers, not just Chase.
So, keep this in mind as you are applying for the cards. Good luck and reap the rewards of owning two (or three) Freedom cards.
