Everything You Need to Know About 5 Things That Count as Travel for the Chase Freedom Unlimited
Here’s a breakdown on 5 things that count as travel for the Chase Freedom Unlimited. Enjoy!
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5 Things That Count as Travel for the Chase Freedom Unlimited | Video Transcript:
So this past week, I got an email asking about the chase freedom unlimited, and it’s one of my go-to credit cards. It’s always in my wallet, it’s in my wife’s wallet, but it was a kind of strange question. They were asking me what things count as travel on the chase freedom unlimited card. Now, for those of you out there who love credit cards, as much as me, you know, that you don’t really think of the freedom unlimited card or the freedom flex card as a travel card, really at all, still I did some digging. So today I’m going to share with you five things that count as travel when you’re using your chase freedom unlimited card. You’re not going to want to miss this. So you heard, right? For those of us that have been in this credit card game for awhile, you know, that the old freedom card, the freedom unlimited and the freedom flex aren’t really viewed as a travel card.
However, there have been some changes specifically to the unlimited and the flex card that I researched. And I think some beginners or people that don’t want to pay any sort of annual fee for our card could get a lot of points out of if they sort of did their spending for travel a very specific way. And before I dive into how you can get up to 5% cash back on your travel purchases with your unlimited card, please hit that little like button down below. It really helps me out and it makes these videos, you know, get out to a larger audience. And I really appreciate it. So thanks. All right. So let’s dive in. When you use your chase freedom unlimited card, you get 1.5% cash back and that earns yeah. Cash back, but it is essentially ultimate reward points. So how do people think it’s actually a travel card?
Well, the answer is that chase has some new rules that you don’t really hear too much about and you end up getting 5% cash back. When you make five different types of travel purchases using your unlimited card. When you go through the chase ultimate rewards portal. Now, personally, I know that that isn’t always the best redemption value for those points. Specifically, if you’re going to end up getting something like the chase Sapphire card, or maybe an Amex card, you know, that you can transfer these points to travel partners. But so many people, you know, probably a handful of them just like I do so many people don’t want to get into all of that transferring points. They just want something that’s simple and cash back. So I think chase is trying to appeal to those people. Maybe they’re just beginners, like I said before in this credit card world.
So if they log onto the chase travel portal, there are five different categories where they could shop for things like flights and cars, and I’ll get into a few more. And when they make those purchases using their freedom unlimited card, meaning they don’t use points or anything, they actually like just charge it, put it right on the card. And they go through that portal. They end up getting 5% cash back on all their travel purchases. So if you’re looking to avoid having a card with any sort of annual fee, but you can still like rack up those points, this could be a pretty good option. Oh, and one quick word of warning. This does not apply. If you have that old freedom card, I still have mine. My wife, she ended up you know, like changing hers to the freedom flex. And this 5% does apply to the freedom flex when you go through the same portal, along with the unlimited, but it doesn’t apply to the old freedom card.
So again, kind of just a few things to keep track of. So let’s dive into the first type of travel purchase that you can do through this portal. And I’m talking about flights, definitely flights count. When you go through this portal and you book one way flights or round trip tickets. Now, one thing that I will say is that the chase travel portal, isn’t always the easiest to use. For example, if you’re looking to book like a Southwest flight, or if you are looking to get the lowest price possible, it’s a really good idea to actually check with the airlines and make sure that the price that’s showing up on the travel portal that you’re about to pay for, with your unlimited card is the lowest price around number two, we have the hotels and vacation rentals. So whether you’re looking just to stay at a place for a night or maybe more of an extended stay, you can actually earn 5% cash back.
When you go through this chase travel portal. And it’s really cool. It’s very similar to like Expedia Travelocity. You can see the ratings and reviews. You can even like review your itinerary or cancel, and it’s going to be very user-friendly based on the type of amenities that you’re looking for. For example, if I’m traveling by myself, I might look for like a free breakfast or, you know, really good wifi. But if you’re traveling with your family, you might want that like little kitchenette. So you can kind of check those two different filters and see what pops up. And I’m sure many of you already knew this. I mentioned Expedia before this travel portal is powered through Expedia. So it’s essentially going to be the exact same thing. It’s just Chase’s interface. And of course you can use chase points, but you can also use your card.
Number three, we have cars and I’ll be honest with you that I always use a chase card and this chase travel portal, when I’m booking rental cars, I’m typically traveling with my family and I want some sort of like large minivan with a ton of storage in the back enough room for the car seats. And when I book, I’m probably going to use points, let’s be honest and probably put it on one of my like Sapphire cards, but you can book and use your unlimited card as well. When you do that, you will earn 5% cash back. And there is a form of rental car insurance it’s specifically going to cover damage or theft. However, unlike some of the more elite travel cards, it isn’t a primary collision coverage insurance provided by the card. Now, another way of saying that is the insurance that you have every day for your own car.
If you, if you have a car that kicks in first and then any additional damage, if there was ever, you know, a claim would be covered through this card. So it’s a good car to use, but there are better ones out there. And number four cruises in this house, we love taking cruises. We haven’t gone on them. And in a while, let’s be honest, but I’m looking forward when the kids are a little bit older, maybe going on like a nice family cruise. And I know that you can book through this chase travel portal, but it’s actually a little trickier than it needs to be. For example, you can search by destination like type in Florida, or if you love a specific cruise line, like you could type in celebrity or Norwegian, however, you’re not actually able to complete the booking on the portal.
And it’s very strange because it’s an online portal, but they make you call an 800 number and talk to a travel specialist. Now, personally, I always like calling those numbers anyway, because it can help answer other questions you might have about where you’re going, the poor, maybe even some of the stops along the way, but it is possible if you want to go through your chase travel portal and here’s your unlimited card to earn there’s that same 5% that we’ve been talking about. But again, as always, just maybe go on the cruise line’s website itself and see if they’re offering any sort of promotions that might make it a little bit cheaper for you. I’d hate for you to get like 5% cash back, but miss out on taking a few hundred bucks off or getting some in-room credit and number five would be things to do activities, excursions think tours and sightseeing.
Most people wouldn’t consider going on a chase travel portal to book an experience like, like a beer and wine tasting or taking like a museum, like double Decker bus tour. But you know how all those things are offered in cities and towns like around America. And you might be able to go on a website like, like Groupon, or you might be able to just go on the actual, like the tour buses website and buy a ticket. But if you go through the chase travel portal and I’ve kind of like compared prices for a few of these, you actually pay the exact same price chase in, in most cases is not jacking the price up for these experiences. So not only can you book them for the same price, but you can put them on your credit card, you kind of got that credit card protection and you’re earning the 5% cash back.
I would just recommend reading any sort of fine print about cancellations. I would hate for you to be stuck with like a ticket to Lino, right around a double Decker boss, or hop on a boat and your whole flight got canceled or delayed. And now you can’t go on that, you know, that sightseeing tour. But I think because it’s on the credit card, most likely chase would help like work with you with that travel, you know, cancellation or interruption insurance, a few key takeaways. When somebody reached out to me and said, Hey, rich, what do you think about the chase freedom unlimited card as a travel card? I just sort of shook my head and said, it’s, it’s not a good travel card, but I can totally see how someone who just wants to sort of dip their toe in the water of the credit card world would be able to save essentially 5% on any sort of travel, whether it’s airfare, like we mentioned hotel stays or vacation or vacation rentals, excuse me, maybe they are looking to get a rental car or, you know, book a book, a cruise, or even just some like activities in town, or if they’re staying somewhere, you know, find something to do.
It may maybe seek out some nightlife. All of these options are available through the chase travel portal, a guy like myself. I always use that travel portal. If I’m looking to like, you know, boost the points I already have, because I like to use my chase Sapphire card. And you know that it, many of you know, that you can get even better redemptions by transferring these points to the travel partners and then booking directly. However, I know that beginners out there don’t like paying annual fees. So it’s a really good idea to consider this type of card. If you’re in the market for booking some travel coming up and you want to save, you know, right around 5% on basically all the travel you’re going to be doing, I should mention also that most of what I said with booking travel on the travel portal applies to the chase freedom flex.
They have some different like rotating categories though. So potentially, you know, if you’re, you’re using the flex at a time when like, you know, restaurants are 5% and, and travel, you’re booking through the portal and you get 5%, then you’re going to get a ton of redemption as always, I’ll leave a link down below in the description to the chase freedom unlimited line of cards along with maybe that Sapphire card. If you heard me kind of smile and talk about that, if you use those links that helps support the show. And of course everything that I’m doing, I really appreciate it. So check it out. Also, I just launched my brand new website. It’s a rebranding teaching millionaires.com. It is full of YouTube videos like this, but also some resources like, like money blog, articles and podcasts. So please, if you haven’t go check that out also, you can follow me on Instagram at rich Smith, EDU, I’ve been posting there a lot more frequently, and if you are new to the channel, please don’t forget to hit subscribe and ring that notification bell. All right. As always I’m Rich and until next time.
