Are you looking for a balance transfer credit card that you’ll actually want to hold onto long term? Well, look no further.
The Chase Freedom credit card, which was recently named the “Best Overall Card” by CBS MoneyWatch, comes with 0% APR on balance transfers for 12 months and 0% APR on purchases for six months.
Now there is a 3% balance transfer fee (minimum of $5), but it’s the lowest fee around other than the few no fee balance transfer offers available. Well, there are actually hundreds now that I dug deep, but still few nationwide offers.
After the introductory APR expires, a variable rate from 11.99% – 22.99% applies, not that you should be carrying a balance anyways…
$100 Cash Back Bonus
But here’s where it gets good. If you make $500 in qualifying transactions during the first 3 months from account opening, you’ll receive 10,000 bonus points, which is good for a $100 check.
The best part: balance transfers count has “qualifying transactions,” meaning your balance transfer fee could effectively be awash.
Example:
Credit card debt: $3,000 @ 19.99% APR
Balance transfer fee: 3%
Monthly savings: $50
If you balance transfer $3,000 to the Chase Freedom card, you’ll pay $90 in balance transfer fees, but earn $100 cash back, so your net gain will be $10.
Plus you’ll enjoy a 0% balance transfer credit card for 12 months, meaning savings of roughly $50 a month by avoiding credit card finance charges.
$150 Bonus with Chase Freedom
The $100 offer above has expired and the new terms related to Chase Freedom no longer include balance transfers as qualifying purchases.
In other words, if you don’t actually make $500 in purchases you won’t get the $150 cash back bonus. But there is some good news here.
First off, the opening bonus has increased from $100 to $150. Secondly, you can add an authorized user and earn another $25. Additionally, the 0% APR has been extended to a full 15 months on both purchases and balance transfers.
So in a real world example, if you transfer a credit card balance of say $2,000 and make $500 in new purchases, you’ll pay a $60 balance transfer fee.
But you’ll earn $150 for spending $500 on new purchases, which more than offsets the fee. Add an authorized user and you’ll get another $25, for a net benefit of $115.
You’ll just need to pay off that $500 in purchases along with your transferred balance, but I’m assuming most people spend at least $500 on their credit cards each month. And because the purchase APR is also 0%, you won’t have to worry about mixing up your purchases and balance transfers. Neither will accrue interest for 15 months.
In summary, you’ll make money by transferring a balance so long as you can muster $500 in new spending on the Chase Freedom card. Not a bad proposition, eh?
Chase Freedom Offers Cash Back
The Chase Freedom credit card also comes with 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in bonus categories which rotate each quarter, such as gas, groceries, dining out, and home improvement stores.
You can even earn 10% cash back if you shop online at select merchants via Chase. Plus you earn 1% cash back everywhere else without a limit.
So if you have high-APR credit card debt that needs to be transferred, Chase Freedom could be the card you use to pay off the debt and later make your go-to credit card for new purchases. It’s a win-win!
Read more: Also check out the Chase Slate No Fee Balance Transfer, which comes with 0% APR for 15 months and no fee or spending requirement!