The Chase Freedom Card: Does it Live Up to the Hype?

You've probably heard the commercials, "I'm free to do what I want...at any old time." For the last several months now, Chase has been spending millions of dollars in ad-buys on their new Chase Freedom Card. From all of the discussion online, it seems that many people are now using it as their primary card. The question remains, does the new Chase Freedom card live up to the hype and make-up for it's excessive use of a classic Rolling Stones song? The short answer is no, it's just another credit card with a fancy ad-campaign.

The only feature the card has that most major credit cards do not is that cardholders can choose what form their rewards come in. They can either have cash back, rewards points, or airline miles. The rewards themselves are passable, but nothing to write home about. You'll get a paltry 1% cash back should you chose that rewards option. If you move over to points, you can get about 3% back if you redeem them at the right place. Fortunately you can get gift certificates to Amazon.com with the card, which is about as close to cash as any rewards come.

The card it self is a Visa, so it'll be accepted just about everywhere, that's definitely a plus. It features a 20 day grace period which is fairly standard in the industry these days, but there are longer grace periods to be had if you do the looking. If you decide to carry a balance, you're going to be paying a lot more in interest compared to some of the competitor's cards. The best interest rate available on the card is 14.24% variable, which less than fantastic. That means if you have a credit score of 800, you'll still be paying 14.24% on your credit card. If you have less than perfect credit, you're likely to be paying even higher on the card.

At the end of the day, the card's just not worth pursuing, especially if you ever carry a balance. If you're just looking for the rewards and don't care about the interest rate because you don't carry a balance, there are still a lot better places to put your charges. If you're looking for a good credit card, take a look at Citi's Driver's Edge Platinum select. You can use this card to easily get 3% or 4% back in rewards if you have any sort of commute at all.