Update 4/18/26: Now $75 for new Chase customers for Freedom Unlimited, $25 for existing.
Update 12/5/25: Right now only Freedom Unlimited has an offer on Rakuten. It’s $65 for new Chase customers and $30 for existing customers.
Update 5/13/25: Fees were reduced to $25 for all three cards. (If you have a friend with a referral link, they can often get $10,000/$100 for referring you to the card.)
Update 5/8/25: Fees dropped to $100/$10,000 for Sapphire Preferred/Ink Unlimited and $75/$7,500 for Freedom Unlimited.
Update 5/4/25: Rates have risen dramatically. $300/$30,000 for Sapphire Preferred/Ink Unlimited and $150/$15,000 for Freedom Unlimited. If you’ve ever wondered how much money we give up by not using the affiliate links on this sitethis gives you some insight.
Check out this next post: Rakuten Credit Card Bonus $300 FAQ (Chase Sapphire, INK, Freedom Preferred)
Original post:
In a surprising move, Rakuten is now promoting a $50/5,000 bonus when you sign up for Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom Unlimited, and Chase INK Unlimited.
Sapphire is preferred | Unlimited freedom | Unlimited ink
This is perfect timing on the preferred Sapphire card which is already offering a great bonus of 100,000 points (ends soon).
Typically, shopping portals are not allowed to offer bribes for credit card registrations. While the affiliate can sometimes earn more than $50 per signup, banks and affiliate networks usually don’t allow incentivizing signups that way. Apparently Rakuten negotiated this deal specifically with Chase. (We never use credit card affiliate links on Doctorofcredit.)
Many of us apply using the referral link of a player-2 or a friend which may be better than using Rakuten. However, many people prefer a light bonus like this, especially if you value Rakuten/MR points at more than 1 cent each. (There is also another option to purchase a card sign-up bonus on eBay.)
It’s kind of weird to earn Membership Rewards points for signing up for a Chase card. 🙂
If you are new to Rakuten, now is a good time to sign up with their 40/$4000 bonus. You can find our referral link in this post.
Hats off to him Greedyenthusaism91
