Jacqueline MoodyJammin’ Jests, Jukin’ Jives, & Jolly Roger Justice

I got my first rewards based on my new Chase Freedom Plus world card.  The basics of the plus are that I earn 3% cash back on 6 categories instead of 3, there’s no limit to the bonus cash back rewards earned,  and some other things such as rewards not expiring.  On the downside, there is a $30 annual fee in order to get the unlimited bonus. 

I sifted through my bill and tried to pick out all the categories.  Chase doesn’t label them, and they also state that it depends on what category the company itself reports for the potential bonus, so the only thing to do is go through and guess what was labeled as what category.  I had the added difficulty of not really knowing if the bonus applied for the entire billing cycle or not.  So it came down to questions such as, is it Zaxby’s or Waffle House listed as the quick service restaurant?  After an hour of trying different combinations at 1% and 3%, I did get my total to within a penny, but was still off a bit on how much was bonus and how much wasn’t.

I did get it down to what I really needed to know. Was the card change worth it?  Here’s the basic facts:

The previous card would have limited my extra bonus for the month to $12.  I earned $21.34, so that’s an extra $9.66 in bonuses for one month.  In addition, I earned $6 in the three extra categories.  $4 of that is already counted in th $21.34, so that is 23.34 less the $12  would have earned, or $11.34 extra for one month using the card.  If that proves to be the average, that’s $136.08 more annually, less the $30 annual fee, or $106.08 extra per year.

It’s not a lot more; however, it is $106.08 more than I would have without it.  By saving up for the 1.25% interest instead of the 1%, that will increase it even more.  I will be interested to see how it plays out next month, but all-in-all I am happy with the case rewards I’m earning.