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.
October 3, 2024: The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers a suite of consumer and travel insurance benefits that, in our view, is pretty generous on a card with no annual fee.
When you make purchases or pay for travel with the card, you’ll find that you are protected by the Chase Freedom Unlimited benefits that include extended warranty, purchase protection, auto rental coverage, and trip cancellation and interruption insurance.
But before you get the card or use the card for your important purchases, it can make sense to better understand the Chase Freedom Unlimited benefits. Here’s a deep dive into the benefits of the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
In this article…
Our take: How to use the Chase Freedom Unlimited® benefits
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® benefits are pretty good for a card with no annual fee. The Freedom Unlimited has the consumer and travel insurance benefits that we’d want on a single card to use everywhere or in our “everywhere else” card if we carried a few cards for store- or category-specific rewards and benefits.
The card’s extended warranty and purchase protection benefits make the card a good card to use for purchases that are valuable enough to make a warranty claim on. We think that, on balance, American Express premium cards offer easier-to-use consumer insurance protections, but the Freedom Unlimited benefits are good enough for most people.
If you don’t have a card that offers more robust travel insurance protections, putting airfares, train tickets, and other common-carrier travel on the card can make sense. You’ll be covered by the card’s Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance, but we’d prefer to use a card that offers benefits like trip delay protection or more generous trip cancellation/interruption insurance.
While we’d prefer to use a card with primary auto rental insurance for our car rentals within the United States, we are fine with using the card for our car rentals abroad, especially since Chase lists no country exclusions in its guide to benefits.
Travel insurance benefits: Auto rental, roadside assistance and more
Here’s a bit more o the travel insurance and related benefits of the Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
Auto rental coverage: Secondary coverage within the U.S. that covers most vehicles you would normally rent
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® features auto rental coverage, which reimburses damages caused by theft or collision up to $60,000, worldwide.
Coverage is secondary within the United States and primary outside of the U.S. This means that the benefit will pay for costs remaining after you submit a claim with your other insurance, such as your personal auto insurance. If you do not have other insurance, this coverage acts as primary insurance.
To be eligible for this benefit on your car rental, you must:
- Use your card or rewards to initiate and complete the entire rental vehicle transaction. In our reading, this means that your initial reservation must be made using your card, even if you do not pay with the card.
- Decline the rental company’s collision damage waiver or loss damage waiver or similar coverage. If you accept this coverage, you won’t be eligible for your coverage from your Freedom Unlimited card.
A few important restrictions to note:
- Exotic and expensive vehicles are not covered. If a vehicle has a MSRP over $125,000, is on Chase’s list of exotic brands, or is over 20 years old, it won’t be covered. If you’re renting a Toyota Camry or Kia Soul, you’re going to be fine, but if you’re planning on renting a Koenigsegg, you won’t be covered.
- This covers cars rented by the primary cardholder only. Only you and additional drivers permitted by the rental agreement are covered. You won’t get coverage if you use your card to pay for someone else’s car rental.
- This coverage does not cover liability. Only damages to your rental vehicle from collision or theft are covered. If you are liable for damages to someone else’s automobile in an accident, Chase’s auto rental coverage does not cover that.
For more information on this benefit see our guide to Chase Auto Rental coverage, visit chasecardbenefits.com or call 1-800-349-2691.
Roadside assistance: Pre-negotiated pay-per-use roadside assistance services
The roadside assistance benefit of the Chase Freedom Unlimited® provides a single number to call for roadside assistance within the United States and Canada. The benefit does not pay for service, but rather provides services for a pre-negotiated per-service fee. Here are some of the services provided:
- Standard towing – up to five (5) miles included.
- Tire change – must have a good, inflated spare located with the vehicle.
- Battery assistance – If your vehicle doesn’t start due to thev ehicle battery being out of charge, assistance will be provided to jump start the vehicle, tow electric vehicles to the nearest charging station, or tow all other vehicles to the nearest qualified service facility.
- Lockout service – does not include key replacement.
- Fuel delivery – up to five (5) gallons, where permissible, does not include the cost of fuel.
- Standard winching – if Your vehicle is within 100 feet of a paved road or highway standard winching assistance is available.
To get roadside assistance as a Chase Freedom Unlimited® cardmember, you can call 1-800-349-2691.
Travel and Emergency Assistance services: A single number to call for help when traveling
Like the roadside assistance benefit, Chase travel and emergency assistance services provides referrals to a variety of medical, legal, and travel assistance services that are available when you’re traveling away from home. All costs of provided services are the responsibility of the cardmember.
To get assistance from Chase travel and emergency assistance services, you can call 1-800-349-2691 in the United States, or call +1-214-503-2951 internally. The international number accepts collect calls.
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance: Coverage for your common carrier travel, but not much else
The Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance benefit of the Chase Freedom Unlimited® can reimburse you for certain pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses if your travel is cancelled or interrupted for a covered reason when you pay for your travel using your card.
Here’s what you need to know:
- Only non-refundable prepaid travel expenses from a common carrier, change fees, and redeposit fees are covered. In most cases, there is no reimbursement for other expenses like prepaid hotels, booked tours, or additional transportation, food, and lodging expenses you might incur if your travel is interrupted.
- Coverage only applies if your trip is cancelled or interrupted for a covered reason. Generally, covered reasons include death or accidental bodily injury of a traveler, traveling companion, or family member, severe weather that would prevent safe travel, a named storm warning, military orders, terrorist incident, or organized strike.
- Coverage is provided for you and your family members. Chase provides coverage for you, and a long list of extended family members.
If you need to file a trip cancellation/interruption claim, or if you have questions about this benefit, you can visit chasecardbenefits.com or call 1-800-349-2691.
Consumer insurance benefits: Extended warranty
Consumer insurance benefits protect the things that you buy with your card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® include the essentials like extended warranty and purchase protection.
Extended warranty: An extra year of coverage on most items
Your Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers an extended warranty benefit that extends the original manufacturer’s warranty by one additional year. The extended warranty coverage covers the cost to repair or replace the item up to the cost charged to your account, up to a maximum of $10,000 per item and $50,000 per account.
- Coverage is limited to $50,000 per account. In our reading, this means for the life of your credit card account. If your total lifetime extended warrant claims exceed $50,000, you should consider using another card for your purchases of warrantable items.
- Coverage begins at the end of all cumulative warranties and service contracts. For example, if your item comes with a 90 day warranty and you purchase an additional 1 year warranty from your retailer, your coverage from Chase begins at the end of your purchased warranty.
- If your other warranties exceed 3 years, you won’t receive any coverage from Chase. As long as your items’ manufacturer warranties, service contracts, and store warranties total 3 years or less, you’ll get an additional year of warranty coverage from Chase.
- Some items are not covered. Automobiles, boats, and other motorized equipment, intangible items like computer software, medical equipment, and used items are among the items that are not covered. See your card’s Guide to Benefits for details.
If you need to file a claim, or if you have questions about this benefit, you can visit chasecardbenefits.com or call 1-800-349-2691. Additionally, we have more on this benefit in our guide to Chase extended warranty.
Purchase protection: Coverage against theft or damage for 120 days
The purchase protection offered on the Chase Freedom Unlimited® covers your eligible purchases for up to 120 days from the date of purchase when you charge all or a portion of your purchase to your card. Coverage is provided up to $500 per item and $50,000 per account.
Here are a few things to know about the purchase protection benefit on the Chase Freedom Unlimited®:
- Coverage is limited to $50,000 per account. Similar to the extended warranty benefit, we believe that the “per account” language means for the life of your credit card account.
- Simply losing an item is not covered. While you. Damage and theft are covered. The only type of loss that is covered is “involuntary and accidental parting” which means that you’ve become separated from your item, you know where it is, but recovering it is impractical.
- Many items are excluded. Chase lists several classes of excluded items. For example, living animals and plants, items for resale, perishable and consumables, cash-equivalents, and used items are not covered. See your card’s Guide to Benefits for the complete list of excluded items.
You can file a purchase protection claim at chasecardbenefits.com or by calling 1-800-349-2691. We have more in our guide to Chase purchase protection.
Learning more about the Chase Freedom Unlimited® benefits: Finding benefit information on Chase.com
The information in our guide to the Chase Freedom Unlimited® benefits is meant to give you a good idea of what to expect from the card’s benefits. But ultimately it is a summary of what’s contained in the card’s 28-page guide to benefits. If you have specific questions or want more information on any of the Freedom Unlimited benefits, here’s how to get more information.
You can find benefit information for all of the Chase cards you have easily on the Chase website. To find your benefit information, log into Chase.com. From the list of credit cards that appears after you log in, click on your credit card and then navigate to the “More” menu on the panel that pops up. Within the More menu, you’ll find an option for “Card benefits” that will take you to a web page that offers information about all of your card’s benefits.
Your card benefit information can also be found within your mobile app. Click on “Benefits & Travel” in the main navigation menu in the app to go to the benefits page. Choose the account you want to access from the dropdown at the top of the screen and scroll to the “Credit card benefits” tile. Clicking on the top part of this tile will take you to a screen that details all of the benefits available on your card.
Finally, of course, you can always call the number on the back of your card and request that a guide to benefits be mailed to you.
Bottom line: Good benefits on a card with no annual fee
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® offers a suite of consumer and travel insurance benefits that makes it a good card to use for most purchases.
The card’s extended warranty and purchase protection benefits mean that we feel good about recommending the Freedom Unlimited as a no-annual-fee card to use either as a single card or as your default card when you aren’t using another card to earn more rewards.
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.
