Cross marketing and confusion when it comes to Chase. They call my card a Chase Business Visa Ink Card and then call it a "Freedom Card". I have no clue. Called them and they said customers were confused so they added the Freedom back to the Ink. Confused ... yeah! The business card does have Chase's "Blue Print" option too.

That is confusing, but great that the business card earns rewards!

I didn't even know they had a Freedom for Business. I am suprised that it isn't an Ink card. That is pretty cool though. I think we have Ultimate Rewards or something with our Freedom cards which sounds similar (points instead of cash). I prefer cash back, but on the website to redeem you can choose between cash and other items. I guess technically, we earn points regardless and they can be used for anything, inlcuding cash.

Cross marketing and confusion when it comes to Chase. They call my card a Chase Business Visa Ink Card and then call it a "Freedom Card". I have no clue. Called them and they said customers were confused so they added the Freedom back to the Ink. Confused ... yeah! The business card does have Chase's "Blue Print" option too.

Yes, I thought about converting the Slate to Freedom this once the 0% APR expires on the new account, that way I can close the newer account and keep my 10 year old account. I just worry about an upgrade to World MasterCard for credit line reporting purposes. Most reward cards these days are World/Signature because the issuer gets a larger merchant fee for the higher level cards-this offsets the cost of the reward. And you are absolutely right about average account age, I had a 786 FICO when I applied and now it is down to 775 due to the new account. I currently have 5 accounts that are between 11-13 years old; next month Kohl's turns 10 and in May BofA turns 10 and in September the aforementioned Chase Slate turns 10 so my credit is aging pretty well; not bad for 32 years old. But yes, opening new accounts will only hurt. It is good to know that closing your Cap 1 cards did not have a profound effect on your score.

For the FG site readers, ColoNative has displayed credit savy methods to achieve great credit. Such activities allow him to benefit from the best rates and products. Whether were starting out, rebuilding, or in a re-start mode... being credit smart will help us with lot's of patience and time to move up the credit scoring ladder. The real FICO Scoring model places a heavy emphasis (weight) on the "average credit length" and "oldest account life". That said, you cannot rush those two components of your credit score. ONLY time will work this part of the scoring model. ColoNative has been working the scoring model. As for myself, I had near perfect credit from 1972 to 2001 and ended up with a lost business and had to re-build with nine years on my scoring model. Today, I am finally seeing myself move back towards the level of the high achievers but, I need a longer average account life and too loose the too many inquiries off my record (they are starting to fall off) ... oops!

I agree with you the vertical design is ugly on the slate card. I was wondering does your freedom card have blueprint feature as well. I know that is the primary feature on the slate card. I've got the freedom with blueprint as well.

Yes, my Freedom also has Blueprint. I've never used it on either account, but it looks like it could help savvy consumers pay down debt.

Bizarre idea... why not consider consolidating your Chase Slate Bank Credit Card and credit line into your Chase Freedom Card?! Now I know you pay attention to "average account history" as wells as "oldest account history", and yes, they all affect your FICO scores. Note however (speaking with experience), if you closed the Chase Slate account, it would show "closed consumer request" and since it is a positive, it will continue to report as closed and paid for at least ten years. By then, you will have that many more years on all your other credit accounts. The average high scoring FICO achiever shows at least one account over sixteen years old and average account histories over six years. Since you are a high scorer the affect would be nil. Now I realize every generalization is affected some by the individual credit report, I have done exactly what I just placed in writing. Also, FICO high achievers are those in the 760's+. Today, according to Experian's methods of score reporting I have moved up to 767. Yes, I closed Capital One accounts with eight plus years (mad at them) and the affect was nil as they still report as a positive and in my case it actually helped to lower my outstanding available credit. Food for thought!

Yes, I thought about converting the Slate to Freedom this once the 0% APR expires on the new account, that way I can close the newer account and keep my 10 year old account. I just worry about an upgrade to World MasterCard for credit line reporting purposes. Most reward cards these days are World/Signature because the issuer gets a larger merchant fee for the higher level cards-this offsets the cost of the reward. And you are absolutely right about average account age, I had a 786 FICO when I applied and now it is down to 775 due to the new account. I currently have 5 accounts that are between 11-13 years old; next month Kohl's turns 10 and in May BofA turns 10 and in September the aforementioned Chase Slate turns 10 so my credit is aging pretty well; not bad for 32 years old. But yes, opening new accounts will only hurt. It is good to know that closing your Cap 1 cards did not have a profound effect on your score.

Yeah, it didn't do it for me. I was also reading on different blogs etc where merchants, mostly smaller ones, wont accept the veritcal cards. Just a preference thing I guess. Different strokes sort of thing.

Bizarre idea... why not consider consolidating your Chase Slate Bank Credit Card and credit line into your Chase Freedom Card?! Now I know you pay attention to "average account history" as wells as "oldest account history", and yes, they all affect your FICO scores. Note however (speaking with experience), if you closed the Chase Slate account, it would show "closed consumer request" and since it is a positive, it will continue to report as closed and paid for at least ten years. By then, you will have that many more years on all your other credit accounts. The average high scoring FICO achiever shows at least one account over sixteen years old and average account histories over six years. Since you are a high scorer the affect would be nil. Now I realize every generalization is affected some by the individual credit report, I have done exactly what I just placed in writing. Also, FICO high achievers are those in the 760's+. Today, according to Experian's methods of score reporting I have moved up to 767. Yes, I closed Capital One accounts with eight plus years (mad at them) and the affect was nil as they still report as a positive and in my case it actually helped to lower my outstanding available credit. Food for thought!

That is important too, but I think you'd agree the Slate card is ugly.

I agree with you the vertical design is ugly on the slate card. I was wondering does your freedom card have blueprint feature as well. I know that is the primary feature on the slate card. I've got the freedom with blueprint as well.

Got'cha... I didn't realize you already had the Chase Freedom Card. My write up was to give you the info for an opportunity you already took! Yeah... personally, I don't think most of the bank credit cards today are all that exciting for looks. I do understand your view point on having a card that has a special and maybe even unique look. Years back, Michigan National Bank came out with an all Black Visa Bank Card with a minimum credit line of $5,000 in 1982 (which was huge at the time) with the Gold Visa Insignia in the center. People used to ask me about it every time I used it. Special and sharp. Not many of that quality anywhere today! Oh yeah and Michigan National Bank ... history (you probably knew that).

I appreciate it! Yeah, $5,000 does sound like a huge deal for 1982. Heck, there are people now that wouldn't mind a credit line like that. As far as Michigan National Bank, never heard of it but it brings the point that after degregulation the small, State-centric banks all but disappeared. Now we have huge national banks and regional banks....not sure if that is a good thing or bad.

While I was busy writing about the Chase Freedom Card for personal use (...which you already had...) I forgot to mention that I have a Chase Freedom Business Bank Credit Card of the "Cash Rewards" variety with the flexibility to switch it back and forth from points to cash whenever the spirit moves me. This card has no AF, 12.24% purchases, 19.24% cash, with the "blue print" option included and a CL of $10,000. Not bad for Chase!

I didn't even know they had a Freedom for Business. I am suprised that it isn't an Ink card. That is pretty cool though. I think we have Ultimate Rewards or something with our Freedom cards which sounds similar (points instead of cash). I prefer cash back, but on the website to redeem you can choose between cash and other items. I guess technically, we earn points regardless and they can be used for anything, inlcuding cash.

I actually already have one. I finally gave into their 30+ pre-approvals for Freedom in November. It is a Visa Signature and I am pretty happy with it and I agree the rewards are not bad. Like I said, I wish their sign up was smarter...meaning, if I have already signed up for groceries, I wish they would stop reminding me LOL.

I didn't want to change my Slate MasterCard to Freedom for fear that they would want to make it a World MasterCard and change the account number. I have already had BofA and Nordstrom recently upgrade my accounts to Signature so I don't want any other banks to follow suit because I need those limits to report.

Again thanks everybody for the advice. I realize it seems dumb to most people about how a card looks-especially to those just thankful to have a card while rebuilding. FG, if you'd like to delete this thread I would not be upset at the least.

While I was busy writing about the Chase Freedom Card for personal use (...which you already had...) I forgot to mention that I have a Chase Freedom Business Bank Credit Card of the "Cash Rewards" variety with the flexibility to switch it back and forth from points to cash whenever the spirit moves me. This card has no AF, 12.24% purchases, 19.24% cash, with the "blue print" option included and a CL of $10,000. Not bad for Chase!

I actually already have one. I finally gave into their 30+ pre-approvals for Freedom in November. It is a Visa Signature and I am pretty happy with it and I agree the rewards are not bad. Like I said, I wish their sign up was smarter...meaning, if I have already signed up for groceries, I wish they would stop reminding me LOL.

I didn't want to change my Slate MasterCard to Freedom for fear that they would want to make it a World MasterCard and change the account number. I have already had BofA and Nordstrom recently upgrade my accounts to Signature so I don't want any other banks to follow suit because I need those limits to report.

Again thanks everybody for the advice. I realize it seems dumb to most people about how a card looks-especially to those just thankful to have a card while rebuilding. FG, if you'd like to delete this thread I would not be upset at the least.

Got'cha... I didn't realize you already had the Chase Freedom Card. My write up was to give you the info for an opportunity you already took! Yeah... personally, I don't think most of the bank credit cards today are all that exciting for looks. I do understand your view point on having a card that has a special and maybe even unique look. Years back, Michigan National Bank came out with an all Black Visa Bank Card with a minimum credit line of $5,000 in 1982 (which was huge at the time) with the Gold Visa Insignia in the center. People used to ask me about it every time I used it. Special and sharp. Not many of that quality anywhere today! Oh yeah and Michigan National Bank ... history (you probably knew that).

I actually think that the design on the Chase Slate card is pretty cool especially the ones that have all the info engraved vertically on the card.

I'm not familiar with their rewards program but I'm sure that it's not as good as the American Express Blue Cash.

Yeah, it didn't do it for me. I was also reading on different blogs etc where merchants, mostly smaller ones, wont accept the veritcal cards. Just a preference thing I guess. Different strokes sort of thing.

Chase actually changed the look of the Freedom card a few years ago which I think is really bland. I have the old octagon card which is pretty cool looking.

Yeah I prefer the old version as well. When they first started pre-approving me early last year that was the design, and then around summer it changed. It is actually kind of cool because the Visa logo is holographic. But yes, not as flashy overall.

I actually think that the design on the Chase Slate card is pretty cool especially the ones that have all the info engraved vertically on the card.

I'm not familiar with their rewards program but I'm sure that it's not as good as the American Express Blue Cash.

Chase actually changed the look of the Freedom card a few years ago which I think is really bland. I have the old octagon card which is pretty cool looking.