Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.
The 5% gas and grocery welcome offer lives on! Recently, I confirmed that the 5% gas and grocery offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is still available, but it is now an in-branch exclusive welcome offer. Before you apply for a Chase Freedom Unlimited, be sure you’re getting the best new cardmember welcome bonus.
Here are the details on all of the Chase Freedom Unlimited® welcome offers that we know about.
Want to know when a great bonus like this pops up? Subscribe for free and get an email when we find out about a great welcome bonus.
Chase currently offers a dizzying number of welcome bonuses for the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card. Here are the details:
- Offer #1: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. This offer is available through referral links or the Chase website. We publish referral links for this bonus on our site.
- Offer #2: Earn an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year) – worth up to $300 cash back. This offer appears to be available exclusively through affiliate channels, like the links on this website.
- Offer #3: In-branch exclusive offer. Earn up to $800 cash back: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Plus earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases (not including Target® and Walmart® purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year. (That’s $600 cash back.) You must apply in-branch to get this offer. It is not available online.
For most people, the in-branch offer will be the best deal, provided it is still available when you read this.
Here are the details on all of the currently-available offers:
Online welcome offers: $200 after $500 spending or extra 1.5% cash back on $20,000 of spending
Here are the details of the offers available online on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card.
Chase Freedom Unlimited® Welcome bonuses
Before you apply through the links below, be sure to see our coverage of the best welcome bonus on this card. There may be a better offer in-branch.
Our take on the welcome bonuses: The $200 after $500 offer is the standard offer on this card. The 1.5% additional cash back offer can technically be maximized for more rewards, but you’ll need to spend $20,000 on the card over the course of the year to get the full value.
Offer #1: Chase Freedom Unlimited®: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The link above is a referral link. If you use this link, someone in our community may earn points. We always show you the best offer, regardless of our ability to earn a commission.
Offer #2: card_name: bonus_miles_full
The link above is our affiliate link. We are showing you this offer in addition to the 5% offer above because there are some people who might prefer this offer.
Chase Freedom Unlimited® at a glance:
Annual fee: $0
Rewards: 5% travel through Chase Travel℠. 3% dining. 3% drugstore. 1.5% all other purchases
In-branch offer: $200 after $500 spending and 5% on $12,000 of gas and groceries
The best welcome offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® can only be found in-branch. Several months ago, the 5% gas and grocery offer was taken down from online channels, but it remains as an in-branch exclusive offer. I was able to reconfirm the Chase Freedom Unlimited® in-branch offer on April 24, 2024 with a Chase banker. Here are the details of the in-branch offer:
- Earn $200 cash back after spending $500 in purchases within the first 3 months you have the card.
- In addition to the welcome bonus, earn 5% cash back on combined gas station and grocery store purchases on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
- Grocery store purchases do not include purchases at Target® and Walmart®.
For reference, here is a scan of the printout I received from a Chase banker about the in-branch exclusive offer. You must apply in-branch to receive this offer—it is not available online. This welcome offer is also available on the Chase Freedom Flex℠ card.
About the Chase Freedom Unlimited®
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers cardmembers 1.5% rewards on all purchases. It is the essential “everywhere else card” in the Chase Ultimate Rewards® ecosystem.
Although the Chase Freedom Unlimited® is marketed as a “1.5% everywhere” card, it offers plenty of bonus spending categories. You get 5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% on dining at restaurants including eligible takeout and delivery, and 3% on drugstore purchases. Although rewards are marketed as cash back, the card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards® points behind the scenes, which can be transferred to a premium Ultimate Rewards® card and redeemed for greater value.
For a card with no annual fee, the Chase Freedom Unlimited® comes with a healthy set of benefits, including purchase protection, extended warranty, secondary auto rental collision damage waiver insurance, and trip cancellation/interruption insurance.
For more on the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, please see our overview of the Chase Freedom Unlimited® card.
My take on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® welcome bonuses
With so many Chase Freedom Unlimited® new cardmember welcome bonuses to choose from, how do you choose which one is right for you? Here’s my take.
In-branch 5% gas and grocery offer: For most people, the 5% gas and grocery offer is probably the best Freedom Unlimited welcome offer. This welcome offer essentially gives you a 5% gas and grocery card (on up to $12,000 of combined spending) on top of the card’s normal welcome bonus of $200 after $500 spent on the card within 3 months. This makes the card simultaneously one of the best cards for groceries and one of the best cards for gas in the first year. Chase has previously run grocery-only or gas-only versions of this welcome bonus on both this card and the Chase Freedom Flex℠.
Extra 1.5% on $20,000 offer: If you plan to spend north of $14,000 in the first year on your Chase Freedom Unlimited®, you’ll get more from this welcome offer than you will from the standard $200 after $500 offer. That said, there’s more value to be had for most people in the in-branch-only gas and grocery welcome offer.
$200 after $500 offer: For most people who can’t get into a Chase branch, this welcome offer is probably more compelling than the extra 1.5% offer. It’s an easy welcome bonus that requires only minimal spending. Even if you plan to put $14,000 or more of spending on credit cards this year, you could allocated that to a new Chase Freedom Unlimited® card and get both of the no-annual-fee and score a ton more Ultimate Rewards® points.
Chase Freedom Unlimited® Welcome bonuses
Before you apply through the links below, be sure to see our coverage of the best welcome bonus on this card. There may be a better offer in-branch.
Our take on the welcome bonuses: The $200 after $500 offer is the standard offer on this card. The 1.5% additional cash back offer can technically be maximized for more rewards, but you’ll need to spend $20,000 on the card over the course of the year to get the full value.
Offer #1: Chase Freedom Unlimited®: Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The link above is a referral link. If you use this link, someone in our community may earn points. We always show you the best offer, regardless of our ability to earn a commission.
Offer #2: card_name: bonus_miles_full
The link above is our affiliate link. We are showing you this offer in addition to the 5% offer above because there are some people who might prefer this offer.
Chase Freedom Unlimited® at a glance:
Annual fee: $0
Rewards: 5% travel through Chase Travel℠. 3% dining. 3% drugstore. 1.5% all other purchases
Chase Ultimate Rewards® card synergies
Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can always be redeemed for cash back rewards at one cent each. This makes 10,000 points worth $100. But your points can become even more valuable when you hold a premium Ultimate Rewards® credit card.
If you hold a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred card, you have access to a handful of redemption options that can increase the value of your points:
- Point transfers to airline and hotel partners
- Increased value when you redeem for travel through Chase Travel℠
- Pay Yourself Back options
To use the points you earned from your non-premium Ultimate Rewards® credit card for one of these redemptions, simply transfer your Ultimate Rewards® points to your premium Ultimate Rewards® credit card.
A few notes on applying for Chase cards
- 5/24 rule. Chase generally won’t approve you if your credit report is showing 5 or more new credit card accounts opened in the last 24 months. This rule is knows as the 5/24 rule. If you’re unsure if you are “under 5/24” you should check your 5/24 status before applying for a Chase card. Note that recently this rule seems to have softened, especially for Ink cards. See our coverage about Chase 5/24 for more.
- Only one Sapphire-branded card. You can only hold one Chase Sapphire-branded card at a time. This means you can have either a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, but not both.
- You can get a welcome bonus on a Chase card, even if you’ve had the card previously. How often you can earn a welcome bonus on a Chase card varies by card family.
- Most cards allow you to earn a welcome bonus if it has been at least 24 months since your last received a welcome bonus on the same card.
- Chase Sapphire-branded cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can only earn a welcome bonus once every 48 months. (We published a separate article to help you determine if you can get a Sapphire welcome bonus.)
- Marriott cards have their own special rules.
- Chase will match an increased bonus. If you apply for a Chase card and the bank offers a higher bonus within 90 days, you can send Chase a secure message or call them to have your welcome offer matched.
- In-branch offers are sometimes better. Chase sometimes has better credit card welcome offers in-branch than it will publish on its own website or through affiliate networks. Check all channels to make sure you’re getting the best bonus.
- Chase business cards do not report to personal credit reports and do not impact your 5/24 status as long as they are current.
Frequently asked questions
No. The double cash back offer replaces the normal welcome bonus on this card?
This offer appears to be available through affiliate channels only. You won’t see this offer on the Chase website. At cardsandpoints.com we always show you the best offer, regardless of our affiliate relationships.
The Chase Freedom Flex℠ does not have a double cash back offer, but it does currently offer 5% rewards on up to $12,000 of gas and groceries in your first year.
As of January 11, 2024, the double cash back offer only offers 1.5% additional cash back on up to $20,000 of purchases each year.
You must apply in-branch if you want the 5% gas and grocery offer. Referral links ceased to work around March 14, 2024.
Advertiser disclosure: Cards and Points has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Cards and Points and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on this site are from advertisers. Compensation may affect how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies or all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Terms apply to all credit card benefits.