Managing your credit with Chase Freedom credit cards

Quick insights

• If you have a credit card, such as a Chase Freedom credit card, one way you can view your credit score for free is by enrolling in Chase Credit Journey^®.
• It can be helpful to continue to manage your credit wisely even if you’ve been approved for one of the Chase Freedom credit cards.
• You may be able to improve your credit score by implementing a few helpful strategies.

Chase Freedom credit cards offer attractive rewards and perks, but you may be wondering how you can check your credit score and stay on top of it as a Freedom cardmember. Let’s review how to manage your credit and ways you can help improve it in more detail below.

Steps to obtaining your credit score as a Freedom cardmember

Whether you have one or several Chase Freedom credit cards—Chase Freedom Flex^®, Chase Freedom Unlimited^® or Chase Freedom Rise^®—you might be wondering how you can check your credit score. Understanding and monitoring your credit score can be a helpful step toward managing your credit cards so you can make adjustments as needed.

If you have a Chase Freedom card and want to check your score, one way you can do so is with Credit Journey^®:

Step 1. Enroll in Chase Credit Journey. This is a free online tool anyone can use to access their credit score with no impact. You can enroll in Credit Journey^® even if you’re not a Chase customer.

Step 2. Once enrolled, you can view your free credit score and credit report, which is provided by Experian™, within the platform. Credit Journey is accessible both on mobile and desktop.

Understanding the Chase Freedom credit card and credit score requirements

Credit cards vary in their approval requirements, and the same can be said about the Chase Freedom cards. Credit scores are just one of many factors lenders use to determine your eligibility for a credit card.

No matter which card you’re applying for, a higher credit score may help increase not only your odds of approval, but also help you get a lower annual percentage rate (APR) and a higher credit limit. This is because your credit score is one indication of your risk, and a higher credit score can help show potential lenders that you are responsible with making your payments on time.

Key benefits of Chase Freedom credit cards

You may want to consider applying for a Chase Freedom card for some of their benefits, including, but not limited to:

• Rewards on eligible purchases and a variety of redemption options.
• Purchase protection and trip cancellation coverage
• Low annual fee.

To help you understand the specific perks that come with each credit card, let’s review the benefits of each Freedom card below.

• Freedom Flex
  • Earn 5% cash back on up to $1,500 on combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate. Plus, earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel, 3% on dining including takeout and drugstores, and 1% on all other purchases
• Freedom Unlimited:
  • Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on all purchases or more in selected categories, like 3% on dining and drugstores and 5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel.
• Freedom Rise:
  • Earn 1.5% cash back on all purchases and receive a $25 statement credit when you sign up for automatic payments in the first three months of account opening.

Please note that it is always a good idea to read the terms and conditions of your card in order to fully understand the offered benefits.

Managing credit wisely with a Chase Freedom credit card

If you have a Chase Freedom credit card (or several), it can be important to monitor your credit and continue to use your card wisely, as with any card. Some strategies for responsible credit card usage include, but are not limited to:

• Make your payments on time. This can help you avoid added costs like late fees and interest as well as help you keep a healthy credit score, since positive payment history is a large factor that’s considered when calculating your credit score.
• Try your best to maintain a credit utilization of about 30% or lower. You can do so by making your payments and keeping your balances low. Your credit utilization ratio—the amount of credit you use against your total available credit limit—is a key factor that impacts your credit score. A low credit utilization ratio may help improve your score.
• Avoid applying for too many cards at the same time. This is because your application leads to a hard credit check. Hard credit checks can temporarily hurt your credit score.

Conclusion

With patience, focus, self-awareness and determination, you can manage your credit wisely. You can check and monitor your credit score as well as implement strategies to help improve or maintain a healthy credit score.

If you’re thinking about applying for a Chase Freedom credit card, consider the features and rewards that come with each of them and if they complement your spending and lifestyle. You may want to review the terms and conditions, Chase’s website or discuss these terms in more depth with a credit card representative.

Whether you’re just starting out or continuing to build on a long credit history, responsible credit card usage and management can be important parts of building up a positive credit score and history. Doing so may open doors to more financial opportunities and may help improve your credit profile.