# Freedom Card, Anyone?



## George K (Oct 3, 2015)

Has anyone gotten their replacement Chase Freedom Card to replace the AGR MasterCard?

I haven't.


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## jebr (Oct 3, 2015)

I think my letter said it would be 4-6 weeks (or was it 6-10?) before we'd get the actual replacement card. Until then the AGR card should work fine.


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## jis (Oct 3, 2015)

Normally they said it would be two to three to six weeks into October. In the meantime your current card will continue to work as Freedom Card.

I had a long drawn out chat with three different people including a Supervisor at Chase due to a different screwup involving the AGR Card (which I have detailed in the "AGR Mastercard" thread) that was specific to me, and to fix that they are sending me an expedited Freedom Visa Card which I am suppose to get early this coming week.


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## Tennessee Traveler (Oct 3, 2015)

Chase transisted all my AGR data to a new Freedom card number on line. Since I did not choose to accept the Freedom card, I called and they have now closed my Freedom card account so I do not expect to receive a card AT ALL.

in other news, BofA has finally removed the multiple "pending charges" AGR created by attempting to process my new BofA card about 3 times unsuccessfully before finally processing the card for $1,000+ purchase of Amtrak tickets. As of today, the correct amount and charge has posted to my BofA account and closing date for my account is 10/7 so will be able to check posting of my AGR points soon I hope.


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## TinCan782 (Oct 3, 2015)

jebr said:


> I think my letter said it would be 4-6 weeks (or was it 6-10?) before we'd get the actual replacement card. Until then the AGR card should work fine.


Yep...you may keep using the AGR card until the new one arrives. I'm not because I switched over to BofA when I received their AGR card.

The Freedom card (when it arrives) will just get filed away with my other (currently unused) Freedom card.


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## jis (Oct 3, 2015)

I actually used this opportunity to consolidate my portfolio of Chase credit cards, by reducing the number of cards to three, while keeping the total line of credit constant.


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## The Davy Crockett (Oct 3, 2015)

Oh. 

By the title I thought someone was giving away their card for someone else to use!


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## NAVYBLUE (Oct 3, 2015)

The Davy Crockett said:


> Oh.
> 
> By the title I thought someone was giving away their card for someone else to use!


You can have BOTH of mine, but they are canceleld (LOL). Joke I used to use was a crook stole by credit card, but I never reported it because they spent less than my wife.


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## Anderson (Oct 3, 2015)

I swapped out of Sleazedom and onto the Sapphire Preferred. As I explained to someone early on in this process, normally I'd want the 40k point bonus; at this point, however, since the AGR account is one of my oldest and I've just technically acquired like five accounts in the last year (two BofA AGR cards, one BofA Virgin Atlantic card, one Comenity Virgin America card, and I _think_ my Hyatt card was acquired during the last 12 months as well).


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## chakk (Oct 5, 2015)

The note I got from Chase indicated that the Freedom Card replacement for their Amtrak mastercard would arrive some time in early November -- 6 weeks or so after the expiration of their AGR-linked card.


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## Big Green Chauvanist (Oct 5, 2015)

I haven't gotten the replacement card yet, but some of the charges I thought would still be on the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards card were shunted over to the new card. I called and apparently nothing to do there, I guess. Now, I already have one Freedom card I received as a replacement some years ago when an environmental organization whose Chase card I had did the same switch over to BOA. I don't need two Freedom cards, but I'm wondering how to proceed with the least damage to my FICO score, which is currently very high. I can keep both cards (one has a credit limit of 10K, the other 11.5K) and leave one in the drawer, or I can cancel one. Would my FICO score take a hit if I canceled a card with such a high credit limit? I called the three credit reporting companies, but that didn't work. I will go to the bank to ask there, but so many of you are knowledgeable on this issue, I thought I'd ask here.


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## Ryan (Oct 5, 2015)

I would take a chill pill and not stress over dumb things like a small fluctuation in an already-high score.


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## StanJazz (Oct 5, 2015)

Big Green Chauvanist said:


> I haven't gotten the replacement card yet, but some of the charges I thought would still be on the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards card were shunted over to the new card. I called and apparently nothing to do there, I guess. Now, I already have one Freedom card I received as a replacement some years ago when an environmental organization whose Chase card I had did the same switch over to BOA. I don't need two Freedom cards, but I'm wondering how to proceed with the least damage to my FICO score, which is currently very high. I can keep both cards (one has a credit limit of 10K, the other 11.5K) and leave one in the drawer, or I can cancel one. Would my FICO score take a hit if I canceled a card with such a high credit limit? I called the three credit reporting companies, but that didn't work. I will go to the bank to ask there, but so many of you are knowledgeable on this issue, I thought I'd ask here.


What you can do is move the credit line from one card to the other and cancel the $0 one. You just have to call the number on the back of the card. Just make sure you keep the older account to help your average age of accounts. I will be canceling my Amtrak Freedom with an account date of 2008 and keeping my other Freedom with an account date of 1976. That is my oldest account.


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## Anderson (Oct 6, 2015)

I've switched my Freedom card over to a Sapphire...Freedom's rotating categories and otherwise anemic cash back rate made it a decidedly awful card for me. At least with Sapphire I've got somewhere I can dump points that's vaguely productive.

That being said, in the mail on Monday (10/05) I got something special: One of the last AGR/Chase cards ever issued. It'll never be able to be used as such (the program having flipped over), but it feels kinda cool to have managed to wind up with one of those that was presumably stamped out on 09/29 or 09/30.


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## Bigval109 (Oct 7, 2015)

jebr said:


> I think my letter said it would be 4-6 weeks (or was it 6-10?) before we'd get the actual replacement card. Until then the AGR card should work fine.


 just wondering if we will still get points for all shopping until September 30. And what about points until the replacement card arrives?


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## boxcarsyix (Oct 8, 2015)

Bigval109 said:


> jebr said:
> 
> 
> > I think my letter said it would be 4-6 weeks (or was it 6-10?) before we'd get the actual replacement card. Until then the AGR card should work fine.
> ...


I just looked at my statement. Looks like points were awarded for charges posted before the September statement date. Mine was September 7 so I lost most of September's charges.


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## jis (Oct 8, 2015)

You will get points for all charges upto Sep 30th. Those after your Sep bill date will be handled at your Oct bill date.


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## Blackwolf (Oct 10, 2015)

Anderson said:


> I swapped out of Sleazedom and onto the Sapphire Preferred. As I explained to someone early on in this process, normally I'd want the 40k point bonus; at this point, however, since the AGR account is one of my oldest and I've just technically acquired like five accounts in the last year (two BofA AGR cards, one BofA Virgin Atlantic card, one Comenity Virgin America card, and I _think_ my Hyatt card was acquired during the last 12 months as well).


Hmm, I have to wonder now what my options are. I already have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, and I _will not _be getting the new AGR card because I refuse to do business with BofA under any circumstance. But since I will agree that the Freedom is indeed "Sleazedom" I'll have to do some research now and see about getting it transferred into a different, better Chase product other than CSP.


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## NW cannonball (Oct 11, 2015)

Blackwolf said:


> Anderson said:
> 
> 
> > I swapped out of Sleazedom and onto the Sapphire Preferred. As I explained to someone early on in this process, normally I'd want the 40k point bonus; at this point, however, since the AGR account is one of my oldest and I've just technically acquired like five accounts in the last year (two BofA AGR cards, one BofA Virgin Atlantic card, one Comenity Virgin America card, and I _think_ my Hyatt card was acquired during the last 12 months as well).
> ...


I'm thinking that Chase has nothing better than the CSP.

If you totally despise some bank that has screwed you -- yeah -- maybe try Credit Unions


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## Ryan (Oct 11, 2015)

You guys can bag on the "sleazedom" all you want, I'll be over here bagging 5x bonus points every month on stuff I'm already buying.


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## jis (Oct 11, 2015)

I have no idea why people think it is "sleazedom". I would appear to disagree since I am keeping mine. Each to his own I suppose


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## George K (Oct 11, 2015)

Ryan said:


> You guys can bag on the "sleazedom" all you want, I'll be over here bagging 5x bonus points every month on stuff I'm already buying.


I assume you mean through the portal, right?

That's what has been the most useful for me as well.


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## Ryan (Oct 11, 2015)

No, through the quarterly bonus categories. This quarter nets 5x points for the Christmas shopping I do am Amazon. Can't go wrong with that.


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## jis (Oct 11, 2015)

Yup, I have a few significant Amazon purchases lined up for it as soon as it arrives. Funny thing is, I have already registered it for the 5x as soon as it showed up on my Chase page, but I have not seen the card, nor its full particulars other than the last four digits yet!


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## Blackwolf (Oct 11, 2015)

NW cannonball said:


> Blackwolf said:
> 
> 
> > Anderson said:
> ...


Kind of already been there with the Credit Union option for about 9 years when it comes to personal banking. I've not had any bad experiences with Chase, American Express or Capitol One, so I do business with them on a level I am agreeable to (credit card accounts only, no traditional banking.)

But I was seriously boned by BofA just as the whole economic meltdown was gaining a head of steam. I've more than fully recovered financially, but I won't use their services ever again and would have rather seen them relegated to the history books than bailed out. This means losing a major source of AGR point accrual, something I am very annoyed with, but that is life sometimes. I still have the PFS portal for now, and can use a card like the CSP to get points that are still valuable on modes of transport _other_ than the train.


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## Eris (Oct 11, 2015)

jis said:


> Yup, I have a few significant Amazon purchases lined up for it as soon as it arrives. Funny thing is, I have already registered it for the 5x as soon as it showed up on my Chase page, but I have not seen the card, nor its full particulars other than the last four digits yet!


I have used my old (Chase AGR) card number at Amazon since October 1: it worked, and it received the 5x points.


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## jis (Oct 11, 2015)

Well, my old Chase AGR card won't work for reasons that are too convoluted to explain all over again. I mentioned some of it in one of the threads here, I forget which.


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## vickinish (Oct 13, 2015)

Question for experienced Freedom Card folks. I can see my activity and an Amazon purchase shows the 5% bonus. But I also made a purchase online with Lowe's. Lowe's is one of the merchants who has a 3% bonus for online purchases but my activity statement only notes the usual 1%. I purchased this direct from the Lowe's website. To get the 3% did I have to click on Lowes on the Chase site, rather like buying through an AGR vendor? If so, wonder if I can fix it as it was a goodly amount of money.


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## jis (Oct 13, 2015)

I received my Freedom card late last week.

And while I was at it, I received two, one of which had already been canceled due to a mixup at Chase, where for some reason they thought they had mailed it in August and I had not received it. Turns out they managed to mail both to me on the same day suggesting that their processes are almost as goofy as BoA's.


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## vickinish (Oct 14, 2015)

Found the answer while at Chase for another issue. Yes, you must enter the vendor website via your Chase account rewards link to get the additional points. There are 253 vendors including Sears, Best Buy, Etc. Also had them call and arrange to send my card now instead of "by 11/7". Got the account number so I can notify automatic payers excepts for the ones who need the three digit number on the back. Have to wait for the card itself to do that.

Meanwhile asked B of A for more than the $5000 line of credit they were so kind to provide. Made a charge to enable the bonus points and may not use the card much thereafter.


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## George K (Oct 15, 2015)

Well, yesterday, I checked my Chase accounts at Chase.Com and I saw that my AGR card had been switched to a Chase Freedom card, even though I had not received the actual card yet. Some of my Amtrak purchases on the old AGR MasterCard had been migrated over to the new account.


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## Blackshirt Husker (Oct 15, 2015)

Nope. Nice of Chase to take their sweet time sending it, when we're the ones being inconvenienced by loss of a card due to their failure to come to terms with Amtrak.

I'm still pretty disappointed by the whole situation--I don't like BOA, and losing the Amtrak account makes it unlikely that I'll be doing much future business with Chase, either.


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## Cho Cho Charlie (Oct 16, 2015)

FrensicPic said:


> The Freedom card (when it arrives) will just get filed away with my other (currently unused) Freedom card.


Ditto. Never even activated the first Freedom Card they forced upon me (Sorry, sir, you can't op'ed out). Don't plan on activating this second Freedom card either.


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## Ryan (Oct 16, 2015)

I fail to see the issue, the card in my wallet works as a Freedom card today, it just looks like an AGR card.


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## Tennessee Traveler (Oct 16, 2015)

Just yesterday, I got a mailer with blank checks from Chase for my AGR credit card number although they have already transferred all my data from the AGR card to the new Freedom CC which I have already closed and verified as closed on line. My suspicion is that I will never see the 198 AGR points posted for the $99 charges posted to my Chase AGR card account last half of September after my September statement. Oh, well!


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## jis (Oct 16, 2015)

Blackshirt Husker said:


> Nope. Nice of Chase to take their sweet time sending it, when we're the ones being inconvenienced by loss of a card due to their failure to come to terms with Amtrak.
> 
> I'm still pretty disappointed by the whole situation--I don't like BOA, and losing the Amtrak account makes it unlikely that I'll be doing much future business with Chase, either.


It is not Chase that could not come to terms with Amtrak. It is Amtrak that started a new RFP process. So blaming Chase for it is pretty weird at best.


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## printman2000 (Oct 16, 2015)

Tennessee Traveler said:


> Just yesterday, I got a mailer with blank checks from Chase for my AGR credit card number although they have already transferred all my data from the AGR card to the new Freedom CC which I have already closed and verified as closed on line.


I got the envlope of AGR Chase checks as well. My online stuff has already been switched to Freedom but no cards yet. Cannot even download my transactions cause I don;t have the card number.


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## printman2000 (Oct 16, 2015)

jis said:


> Blackshirt Husker said:
> 
> 
> > Nope. Nice of Chase to take their sweet time sending it, when we're the ones being inconvenienced by loss of a card due to their failure to come to terms with Amtrak.
> ...


I sent a message to AGRInsider asking if it was Amtrak or Chase who ended the relationship because if it was Chase I was going to complain to them. Got no response. Guess because it was not a Chase decision like you said.


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## Cho Cho Charlie (Oct 16, 2015)

George K said:


> Well, yesterday, I checked my Chase accounts at Chase.Com and I saw that my AGR card had been switched to a Chase Freedom card, even though I had not received the actual card yet. Some of my Amtrak purchases on the old AGR MasterCard had been migrated over to the new account.


Ditto.

Right now, it seems that old Chase AGR purchases that are migrated over to the new Freedom account, are being given Freedom Ultimate reward points, instead of AGR reward points, even if the purchase was before the 9/30/2015 deadline. In other words, if the purchase appears on a Chase AGR statement, you get AGR points*;* if the purchase appears on a Chase Freedom statement, you get Freedom points*; *regardless of what card you actually used, and the date the purchase was actually made. :angry2:

I have escalated this at Chase. The CS rep that is attempting to help me, has bumped this up the ladder to someone in their rewards dept. I'm now waiting to see the outcome.


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 16, 2015)

Sounds like Chase, AGR and Amtrak Insider @_Flyer Talk will be getting LOTS of inquiries!

Where's the Points???


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## Blackshirt Husker (Oct 16, 2015)

"It is not Chase that could not come to terms with Amtrak. It is Amtrak that started a new RFP process. So blaming Chase for it is pretty weird at best."--jis

Any particular reason for the snark, or are you just a huge fan of Chase Bank? Just curious.


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## jis (Oct 16, 2015)

Blackshirt Husker said:


> "It is not Chase that could not come to terms with Amtrak. It is Amtrak that started a new RFP process. So blaming Chase for it is pretty weird at best."--jis
> 
> Any particular reason for the snark, or are you just a huge fan of Chase Bank? Just curious.


 It is not a snark. It is a statement of a fact. I have nothing for or against Chase or Amtrak. Business deals like this happen all the time.


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## Blackshirt Husker (Oct 16, 2015)

Ryan said:


> I fail to see the issue, the card in my wallet works as a Freedom card today, it just looks like an AGR card.


The issue is that the cc numbers have changed (at least for me--maybe other people's experience is different). My AGR credit card is no longer valid.


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## Ryan (Oct 16, 2015)

Mine still works just fine with the old number, I've been putting all of my Amazon spend on it without issues.

The online account shows the new last 4, which I presume will become active when I get the new card and activate it.


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## Blackshirt Husker (Oct 16, 2015)

Ryan said:


> Mine still works just fine with the old number, I've been putting all of my Amazon spend on it without issues.
> 
> The online account shows the new last 4, which I presume will become active when I get the new card and activate it.


Interesting. I don't know why mine is no longer valid, but at least it explains the delay in getting the new card (i.e., if most people are able to use the old card until receipt of the new one). Thanks for the info.


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## Ryan (Oct 16, 2015)

If you call 'em up and tell them the old one has quit working, I'll bet you get a new one at the front of the line like Jishnu.


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## Everydaymatters (Oct 17, 2015)

I got my monthly statement with the new credit card number on it. I don't have the new credit card with that number yet. When I called, I was told it hasn't been mailed yet.


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## jis (Oct 17, 2015)

It's fine since the old AGR Card will continue to work as its proxy until you get the new card. If for some reason the old card stops working then getting in touch with Chase and complaining will cause them to even overnight the new card to you.


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## Blackshirt Husker (Oct 17, 2015)

nm.


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## Railroad Bill (Oct 29, 2015)

New Freedom Cards arrived in the mail yesterday. Probably will put them in the safe deposit box for future reference.


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## jis (Oct 29, 2015)

My Freedom Card has been placed in my Amazon Prime account as the preferred card to use to capture the 5% cash back. I have already captured back thirty some dollars. Not bad.


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## JayPea (Oct 29, 2015)

I got mine yesterday and immediately consigned it to my lockbox where it will be about as useful as another item in the box, a 10 ruble coin.


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## jis (Oct 29, 2015)

Why do you keep a card around that you won;t use. I would simply transfer the credit line to another card and get rid of the card. Actually I am in the process of ding so with two cards. The number of cards that you have does not have any effect on your FICO score. The total line of credit that you have and how much of it you use does.


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## me_little_me (Oct 29, 2015)

jis said:


> Why do you keep a card around that you won;t use. I would simply transfer the credit line to another card and get rid of the card. Actually I am in the process of ding so with two cards. The number of cards that you have does not have any effect on your FICO score. The total line of credit that you have and how much of it you use does.


But that would only work with a Chase card. I doubt BoA is going to up the credit on their card just because you closed your chase account. I figure I will keep mine for a while so BoA will see the Chase is not used then call BoA, ask for higher credit equal to what I have with Chase THEN dump the Chase card to avoid a hit.


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## jis (Oct 29, 2015)

That makes sense.


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## Bob Dylan (Oct 29, 2015)

I got my replacement "Freedom Card" today, but since I already have two long standingv Chase Cards with adequate credit lines, plus the new BOA AGR Card, I will cancel it now since Chase wouldn't let us opt out during the transition period!

I never had any problems with Chase, received excellent service and all my last months AGR Points so will miss the AGR/Chase Partnership!


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## Tennessee Traveler (Oct 30, 2015)

Not sure you are correct about Chase not letting you opt out of the Freedom card during the transition. I called and successfully closed the still unsent Freedom card account after Chase transferred AGR card data to the new Freedom card number. In other words, the AGR/Freedom cc was closed and I will not receive a new card since I let Chase know I would not activate any new Freedom card they sent me.


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## OlympianHiawatha (Oct 30, 2015)

My Freedom Card came yesterday and I am going to let it simply die on the vine, not bothering to activate it.


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## jis (Oct 30, 2015)

Tennessee Traveler said:


> Not sure you are correct about Chase not letting you opt out of the Freedom card during the transition. I called and successfully closed the still unsent Freedom card account after Chase transferred AGR card data to the new Freedom card number. In other words, the AGR/Freedom cc was closed and I will not receive a new card since I let Chase know I would not activate any new Freedom card they sent me.


That is absolutely correct. But if you wish to retain the line of credit for purposes of gussying up your FICO score then that purpose would not be served by canceling the card, unless you could transfer that line of credit to some other card.


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## Palmetto (Oct 30, 2015)

OlympianHiawatha said:


> My Freedom Card came yesterday and I am going to let it simply die on the vine, not bothering to activate it.


Likewise.


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## Ryan (Oct 30, 2015)

I'm happily collecting my 5x bonus on Amazon, not going to let that pass me by.


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## NW cannonball (Oct 31, 2015)

Ryan said:


> I'm happily collecting my 5x bonus on Amazon, not going to let that pass me by.


Yup, that's a much-better-than-average rebate. Use it while it lasts.


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## NW cannonball (Oct 31, 2015)

jis said:


> Tennessee Traveler said:
> 
> 
> > Not sure you are correct about Chase not letting you opt out of the Freedom card during the transition. I called and successfully closed the still unsent Freedom card account after Chase transferred AGR card data to the new Freedom card number. In other words, the AGR/Freedom cc was closed and I will not receive a new card since I let Chase know I would not activate any new Freedom card they sent me.
> ...


Chase actually offered me to transfer credit limits card-to-card a few months before the AGR change. I had an old "low-rate" card with a big (for me) limit, the CSP and the AGR.

So shuffling limits around between different cards at same bank is possible.

"Gussying up your FICO score" -- it's getting more difficult to do that -- maybe with the old, now cheap, original FICO score (that's the one I see (for free) on my CSP and Discover card accounts), getting higher and higher limits might help.

BUT, now, there's maybe a dozen different FICO scores, for each Credit Bureau, for different "target consumers and lenders" *

If you want a good credit score -- as the free credit reports note- do "Paid in full, never late".

If you like a 5% rebate better than 2% or 1%, for what you are buying now, maybe the Chase Freedom is a good deal.

*(I recently applied for a home equity loan, and the lender disclosed the credit bureaux and scores, none of which matched the "FICO score" that Chase gives me monthly. They were all "FICO+(subscript) scores -- and ranged, not in points, but in percentiles, from 78 to 99  ) (I got the loan, at a good rate, but ???)


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## jis (Oct 31, 2015)

Those percentile ranks are of the specific score that you have, and will get affected by how good or bad the score is. If your score increases so will the percentile rank.


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## NW cannonball (Oct 31, 2015)

jis said:


> Those percentile ranks are of the specific score that you have, and will get affected by how good or bad the score is. If your score increases so will the percentile rank.


Yeah, I think I get how the scores work,

But, the range of scores, there's not just one, there's dozens, and they diverge so much. It's baffling, and not that easy to game.

Anyhow, for people wanting both the Chase Freedom and the new BOA AGR -- it all depends on personal financial position - do the math for your own needs (and FICO score(s)).


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## jis (Oct 31, 2015)

NW cannonball said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > Those percentile ranks are of the specific score that you have, and will get affected by how good or bad the score is. If your score increases so will the percentile rank.
> ...


Exactly!


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