Update September 15, 2023: Chase appears to have pulled these welcome offers. We tested our the links below and have been unable to pull these offers up.
Chase has secretly launched a new welcome offer on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and the Chase Freedom Flex™ worth up to $800 for new cardmembers. This welcome offer matches the best-ever offer we’ve seen on these card, but you won’t find these offers through most channels. In fact, you won’t even see them every time you go to the Chase website.
Here’s how to find these secret welcome offers.
Offer details
The new secret offer that started showing up around August 2nd 2023 has two parts:
First, you earn a $200 bonus when you spend $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. This is the standard welcome bonus that is almost always available on both the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and the Chase Freedom Flex™.
But it’s the second part of the bonus that is really exciting. You earn 5% cash back on gas station and grocery store purchases (not including Target and Walmart) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year. Many families spend more than $12,000 in a year at grocery stores. For many people, this second part cam easily net $600 in cash back, bringing the total value of this bonus to $800.
How to find the secret Chase Freedom offer
Finding the secret Chase Freedom secret welcome offers is simple, but it will take some work.
To get the secret Chase Freedom offers, you need to open https://creditcards.chase.com preferably in an Incognito (Chrome) or Private Browsing (Safari) window or the equivalent. It’s important to open the website in an incognito/private browsing window in case you don’t see the best offer right away.
On the landing page, you’ll see the Chase Freedom Unlimited® and the Chase Freedom Flex™ displayed with a welcome offer. If you see “Earn a $200 bonus plus 5% gas and grocery store offer” on the page, you’ve found the secret offer. Do not close the window, because the next time you go to the website, the offer may change.
If you don’t see “Earn a $200 bonus plus 5% gas and grocery store offer,” here’s what you need to do:
- Close all incognito/private browsing windows.
- Re-open the link to https://creditcards.chase.com and check to see if you see the offer.
It might take several tries to find the best Chase Freedom welcome offer, but eventually you’ll find the offer that gives you 5% back on your first $12,000 of spending at both gas and grocery stores in your first year. I was able to pull up the offer in Safari and Chrome on both my desktop and my iPad.
Other offers that get displayed on Chase.com
From our testing, here are the offers that Chase is rotating into its website. If you see any one of these offers displayed, you’ll want to close your web browser window and try again.
- Earn a $150 bonus – Earn a $150 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn a $200 bonus – Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
- Earn a $200 bonus plus 5% grocery store offer – Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 5% cash back on grocery store purchases (not including Target or Walmart purchases) on up to $12,000 spent in the first year.
- Earn a $200 bonus plus 5% gas station offer – Earn a $200 bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Earn 5% cash back on gas station purchases on up to $6,000 spent in the first year.
Our take on the welcome offer
This welcome offer matches the best offer we’ve seen on this card. If you were thinking of applying for the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the Chase Freedom Flex™, now is the best time to pick up on of these cards.
About the two Chase Freedom cards
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers at least 1.5% cash back on all purchases, with no annual fee.
The card also gives you 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% cash back on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services, 3% on drugstore purchases, and 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Cash back is earned as Ultimate Rewards, meaning your rewards can be worth even more if you also hold a premium card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
The Freedom Unlimited also features several useful benefits including purchase protection, extended warranty protection, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
Chase Freedom Flex™
The Chase Freedom Flex™ is Chase’s take on the 5% rotating category card. The Freedom Flex offers 5% back on rotating quarterly categories like grocery stores, Amazon.com, gas stations, and live entertainment. The Freedom Flex has no annual fee.
Like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, the Freedom Flex gives you 5% cash back on travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3% cash back on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services, and 3% on drugstore purchases. The card earns 1% cash back on all other purchases.
Cash back is earned as Ultimate Rewards, meaning your rewards can be worth even more if you also hold a premium card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
The Freedom Flex includes benefits like cell phone protection, purchase protection, extended warranty protection, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
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
Can I get this offer through referral links?
This offer isn’t known to be showing through referral links at this time.
Can I transfer the points on my Chase Freedom card to my Sapphire Preferred card?
Yes, you can easily transfer the points on a Chase Freedom Card to a Sapphire Preferred if you hold both cards.
