The chase freedom cards are some of the best no annual fee beginner credit cards on the market
but it can be a little confusing deciding between the different options so today let's compare the
chase freedom unlimited to the chase freedom flex card to see which one is the better option for you
and will also throw in the new word chase freedom student and slate edge cards
to see if those might be the best option as well. Alright, let's jump right into it.
What is going on everyone I hope you are all having a fantastic day. So first let's take a
look at the older chase freedom unlimited card and then we'll get into some of those newer products
and see how they stack up. The freedom unlimited along with all the products on today's list
has no annual fee and would definitely fall into a beginner credit card category. Now I'll say right
off the bat that in my experience, I don't think you'd be able to get the freedom unlimited card
if you have zero credit history and no consistent income. But I would still put it in a beginner
category because even if you just have a regular source of income or maybe you've had some other
kind of loan in the past, then you shouldn't have any problem getting approved for this
product and by no means is it some premium card that requires a 700 plus credit score. Regardless
of your current credit score and situation, I would say that if you do really like the features
of this card then it doesn't hurt to go ahead and apply and see what happens. The freedom unlimited
car is currently going to give you a $200 cash bonus when you spend $500 on purchases in your
first three months as well as 5% cash back at gas stations on up to $6000 in purchases in your
first year. outside of that intro offer however you're still going to earn 5% cash back on travel
purchases made through the chase ultimate reward system, 3% back on dining including restaurants,
as well as takeout and delivery services, 3% back at drugstores and 1.5% cash back on all
other purchases. I'm hesitant to even mention this but they do have a zero percent intro APY for the
first 15 months but as you all know that should be completely irrelevant and usually I don't even
mention interest rates when I review credit cards because if you are not paying this card off on
time every time without fail then you should not be getting it in the first place. Credit cards
can be good if used properly. I have a ton of them I've never paid a penny in interest and I have a
credit score in the high seven hundreds. But they can also be incredibly dangerous and can ruin your
credit score get you into a huge financial mess of debt, and generally instill bad spending habits.
So please regardless of what product you decide to go with pay off your credit cards on time. All of
the cash back that you earn he's never going to expire obviously and there's no minimum in order
to redeem your cash back so you can either put it directly towards your credit card balance or have
it direct deposited into your checking or savings account. You're also able to put that cash back
towards Amazon purchases, gift cards, or even use it to book travel again through the chase ultimate
reward system. But All in all the chase freedom unlimited card is fairly simple and the cash back
structure stays the same year-round so now let's take a look at the newer chase freedom flex card
to show you how very different these products really are. The freedom flex is also definitely in
that beginner credit card category and currently is giving you the exact same signup offer as the
freedom unlimited which again is that $200 cash bonus if you spend $500 in the first three months,
5% cash back at gas stations up to $6000 in your first year and that zero percent
intro offer for 15 months which again should be completely irrelevant. But it's when we get to
the regular cash back offers that things look very different. Your freedom flex is going to offer you
5% cash back on up to $1500 in purchases each quarter on specific rolling categories.
If you're familiar with the discover eight credit card which is another great beginner option then
this basically works in the exact same way. So for 2022 you earn 5% back at grocery stores and
eBay in the first quarter, 5% back on Amazon and streaming services in the second quarter,
and while the third and fourth quarters have yet to be announced for this year, it's usually on
things like gas stations grocery stores and your typical large spending categories. But beyond that
you also get 5% back on travel purchases made through the chase ultimate reward system, the
same 3% back on dining including takeout delivery and drugstores and 1% back on all other purchases.
The freedom flex card has the exact same redemption options in terms of utilizing your cash
back and in terms of protection benefits they are pretty much the same across the board with both of
these products offering the liability protection, purchase protection, and a ton of others as well.
The only difference is that the freedom flex card currently offers cell phone protection and
some other advantages through the MasterCard world elite program since the flex card is a MasterCard
and the freedom unlimited is a visa card. Both are pretty widely accepted but there are some major
retailers here in the US like Costco, for example, that to my knowledge do not accept MasterCard
so that might be something worth considering depending on where you frequently shop. Now you
may have also seen the chase freedom student credit card as well as the slate edge card
which are both newer products from chase but to sum them both up in one sentence… they kind of
suck. Obviously, those products are designed for a very specific consumer who is either a student
or in the case of the slate edge card is trying to rebuild bad credit so they might be worth checking
out if that's the case for you but I would argue that if you're able to qualify for the freedom
flex or unlimited cards then those would still be better options because they'll help you build
credits but offer you way better benefits. The student card only gives you 1% cash back with no
other bonus categories while the slate edge card gives you pretty much nothing other than some very
dangerous buy now pay later options which I think is a financial mess waiting to happen. So now that
we've determined that those two products are awful going back to the freedom unlimited flex cards,
there are really only three differences across the board. First of all the flex card is going to give
you that 5% cash back on up to $1500 in purchases each quarter on those various rolling categories.
Other than that the bonus categories are identical across the board with the exception of the flex
card offering 1% on all other purchases while the freedom unlimited card offers you 1.5%
back on all other purchases. Outside of the cash back the only other difference is that the flex
card is a MasterCard while the unlimited card is a visa card which as we just talked about does
come with a few minor differences but for the most part they're pretty much the same
In that regard. You're probably still wondering which one is right for you and how in the world
are you supposed to decide. Well, let's say you were somehow able to take full advantage of the
5% back on the rolling categories with the freedom flex card. That means that you would
earn $300 in cash back throughout the whole year on those rolling categories meaning in order for
you to come out ahead with the additional half a percent that the freedom unlimited card offers,
you would have to spend $60,000 in a year on the freedom unlimited card which if you're getting
a product like this is probably not realistic. So based on that you'd probably say that the freedom
flex card is better but remember that that is assuming that you're getting the maximum possible
cash back out of those bonus categories so it's not quite that simple. The first thing you want
to do is look at those rolling categories and see if those are areas where you already are spending
a lot of money. If the answer is yes then the freedom flex card is probably the better option.
But if you don't spend money in those categories or you just hate the idea of
having to keep track of those rolling bonuses and remember which card to use in certain locations,
then you'll definitely want to go with the freedom unlimited card because it's much more simple…you
just swipe your card and don't have to worry about activating any bonus offers or anything like that.
In my opinion, it's unlikely that someone would naturally get the maximum possible cash back out
of those 5% rolling categories and it's way easier to just have decent cash back across the board
and not have to worry about that headache so for me, I prefer the chase freedom unlimited card
but as you've probably noticed these are both great products that I would highly recommend
especially if you are just getting started with credit cards and want to learn how to
use them properly. But if anything we can definitely agree that the chase freedom student
card and slate edge cards are awful and should be avoided for sure. That's just my opinion though
so I'd love to know what you think of these two products down in the comment section below and
whether you would go with the freedom unlimited or the freedom flex card and why you feel that is
the better option for you. Be sure to check out some of my favorite financial tools down in the
description below if you do want to help support the channel and of course, hit the like button and
subscribe to the channel if you want to see more content like this in the future. Thank you so much
for your time I really do appreciate it so much take it easy and I'll see you in the next one!