We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
*Offer may no longer be available
We’re all friends here 🙂
Hurray, once again, you can now earn a referral bonus on the Chase Freedom card. Currently, Chase is allowing cardholders to refer their friends and earn $50 ( or 5k UR ) for each person who is successfully approved for the card. The total number of points you can earn is still capped at $500/50k UR, but the bonus for each referral has fallen from $100/10k UR. It’s great Chase has opened this up, but it’d be better if they allowed cardholders to refer to any card like Amex. Thanks to DOC for this head’s up
Details:
- $150/15k Welcome Bonus after $500 minimum spend in 3 months
- No Annual Fee
- Referrals earn $50 or 5k points
Is Chase Freedom only cash back?
Yes and no. If you only carry a Chase Freedom then it acts as a cash back credit card. However, if you carry any of Chase’s premium credit cards ( Chase Sapphire Preferred, Ink Business Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, etc ) you can move your Chase Freedom cash back into those accounts. Hence, the bonus being $150/15k – $150 as cashback, 15k if you move into an Ultimate Rewards account
Why get a Chase Freedom? 30k bonus points every year is why.
Every quarter, Chase Freedom has categories that earn 5x points/cashback on up to $1500. For instance this quarter you can earn 5x points at Gas Stations, Tolls, and Drugstores. Chase usually puts drugstores on the list once or twice throughout the year. This is the perfect time to stock up on gift cards to give to family and friends to celebrate special occasions. If you max your bonuses out each quarter, you can get $300 or 30k bonus points.
Interested…click here for my referral bonus. Or you can leave your referrals
Need help getting your referral? Go here
Referrals and 1099s
Do be aware that Chase has been sending out 1099s on referral bonuses. Meaning, you may end up owing taxes on your referral bonuses.
Here are all the cards with Referral Bonuses
Just think…if you signed up, maxed the 30k quarterly bonuses and your referrals – you’d have earned 95k points. Here’s 5 of our favorite uses
In case you’ve forgotten…
ANA First Class Via Virgin Atlantic
One of the sweetest of sweet spots is flying ANA First Class through a Virgin Atlantic redemption. In fact, you can do it roundtrip starting at 110k from the West Coast. That is an unreal value.
Lufthansa First Class via Singapore Airlines or United
It now costs 95k Singapore miles, which is quite steep, but Singapore miles are one of the easiest currencies to accrue as they partner with all 4 major flexible point programs ( SPG, Chase, Citi, and Chase). Additionally, Singapore has comparatively low change fees, meaning you can book into business class as a backup, and when Lufthansa releases space ( roughly 14 days ahead of departure) swoop in. Alternatively, if you see space avail, and are willing to fork out a few more miles, but avoid fees – you can redeem 110k United for the same award.
You can read about our experience on the A330 or the incredible 747-8i
Singapore Suites via Singapore Airlines
For 76k Singapore miles you can fly from JFK to FRA or vice versa, and experience one of the most aspirational first class experiences in the sky, Singapore Suites. It’s truly incredible. You can read our review here
68k Roundtrip Business Class to Europe with Iberia Avios
One of the great spots on Iberia’s award chart is flying business class from Chicago/East Coast to Madrid on Iberia’s own lie-flat business class. I just flew this route as part of my New Years in Europe trip.
Transfer to Air France for sweet-spot biz redemptions 52k-67.5k
Air France offers a great reverse herringbone business class that you can find on their 772, 773s, some A330s, and eventually on their A380s. You’ll be hard pressed for find a better way to fly across the pond. I was able to score a Paris to DC flight for just 55k points in January. Incredible deal IMO.
You’re welcome to leave your referrals at the bottom
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.