2024 Ultimate Comparison On How To Supercharge Your Earnings By Creating Your Own Quinfecta Killer Combo!

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Chase Ultimate Rewards cards

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a 60K signup bonus for spending $4K in 3 months, earns 2.1 points per dollar on travel after the card's 10% anniversary bonus, 3.1 points per dollar on dining, streaming, and online groceries after the card's 10% anniversary bonus, has a $50 hotel credit, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
• Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a 60K signup bonus for spending $4K in 3 months, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, has a $300 travel credit, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.5 cents each for paid travel ($550 annual fee with $300 travel credit). Read more here.
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has a 90K signup bonus for spending $8K in 3 months, and earns 3 points per dollar on up to $150K of annual spending on shipping, advertising, and travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel ($95 annual fee). Read more here.

• Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card has a $750 signup bonus in the form of 75K points for spending $6K in 3 months, and earns 1.5 points per dollar on business purchases ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
• Ink Business Cash® Credit Card has a $350 signup bonus in the form of 35K points for spending $3K in 3 months and another $400 signup bonus in the form of 40K bonus points for spending another $3K in 6 months for a total of 75,000 Chase Ultimate points, plus if you have a Chase business checking account open on the card's first anniversary you will get a 10% points bonus on all earnings from card spending, this card earns 5 points per dollar on the first $25,000 in combined purchases on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, and office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas on up to $25,000 in purchases ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
• Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus, plus 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited® has a signup bonus that earns an extra 1.5% cash back in the form of 1.5 points per dollar everywhere on up to $20K of spending during your first year, on top of at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar (marketed as 5% cash back) on travel purchased through  Chase Travel℠, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.

Current signup rules

• Some Chase cards are subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you might not be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months. Enforcement of 5/24 has been patchy and the only way to know if you can get approved is by trying to apply. Anecdotally, the automated system is more likely to bypass 5/24 for Ink cards, while reconsideration reps can usually only bypass 5/24 if the system miscounted the 5/24 count.
• Note that business cards, even Chase business cards, do not get added to your 5/24 count of recently opened cards.
• Additional user consumer cards from any bank are counted by the system towards your 5/24 count as they appear on your credit report. However, you can have them manually excluded from the 5/24 count by calling reconsideration after you are rejected for a card and pointing out which cards are additional user cards and that you are not responsible for paying the balance on those cards.
• You won’t get approved for a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve if you received a bonus for one of those cards within the past 48 months. You won’t be approved for a Sapphire family card if you already have an open Sapphire card. However you can change a Sapphire card to a Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex card, wait 2-3 days, and then apply for a Sapphire card, and you will get the signup bonus. If you apply and get rejected for being ineligible to open a Sapphire card due to these rules, your credit will not be pulled and your score won’t be affected.
• As long as you are approved for a Chase Ultimate Rewards card, you will get the signup bonus.
• If you are an additional user on someone else’s account you can still apply for the same card yourself and get the signup bonus.
• You won’t get approved for a Freedom Flex card if you received a bonus for a Freedom Flex card within the past 24 months.
• You won’t get approved for a Freedom Unlimited card if you received a bonus for a Freedom Unlimited card within the past 24 months.
• If you apply and get rejected for being ineligible to open a Freedom card due to these rules, your credit will not be pulled and your score won’t be affected.
• You can receive signup bonuses on Chase Ink cards multiple times. You can get the same card for the same business if you have a reason to need multiple cards or you can open the same card for different businesses.

Which cards are best?

All of these are excellent cards that each excel in their own areas. The good news is that you can convert from any of these consumer cards to another consumer card or from any these business cards to another business card as needed. There is no hard credit pull needed to change cards. You will only get a signup bonus for opening a new card, not for a card conversion. Note that some reps will only allow card conversions after you have had the card for 12 months.

How do these cards stack up against each other?

Ultimate Comparison Chart Of Chase Ultimate Rewards Cards

Create your own bifecta, trifecta, quadfecta, or quinfecta killer combo to supercharge your earnings

I’ve been talking about creating a Chase Trifecta since 2011. Over the years the components have changed, but the overall strategy to maximize your earnings has not.

As each Chase Ultimate Rewards card has its own benefits, the more diverse of a portfolio that you and/or your household have, the better you can optimize your spending. Chase allows you to transfer points between authorized users in your household, so you can maximize your spending and limit annual fees by taking advantage of household members. You can give authorized user cards to everyone in your household so that everyone can maximize their spending strategy.

You can transfer points from all of your Chase cards to your most valuable premium Chase card by clicking on combine points in the Chase Travel portal. That portal also allows you to transfer points to authorized users, to airline miles, or to hotel miles. You can also check how much free travel or bonus category spending you’ve done on each of your cards in the portal. You can also book travel at a increased value of 1.25 cents or 1.5 cents by clicking on your most premium card in the portal.

Premium cards

The first key is to determine which of the premium cards to get. The no annual fee cards earn lots of points, but they can’t transfer points into airline miles and hotel points unless someone in your household has a premium card with an annual fee. There are 3 premium cards that will allow you to make those transfers, so someone in your household will want to have at least one of these cards.

The premium cards also don’t have foreign transaction fees.

• The Sapphire Reserve is a consumer card with a $550 annual fee, but it’s actually only going to cost you $250 out of pocket or less,
  • The signup bonus on this card is 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in 3 months, worth $900-$1,200 when used ideally.
  • The card offers $300 in annual refunds that post automatically whenever you charge something that is categorized as travel, which includes airfare, Airbnb, car rentals, cruises, hotels, Lyft, subways, taxis, tolls, trains, Uber, UberEats, etc. It’s pretty easy to spend $300 over the course of a year given the wide range of eligible categories.
  • You’ll earn 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through the Chase Travel portal.
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Airfare booked through the Chase Travel portal.
  • You’ll earn 10 points per dollar on Chase Dining booked through the Chase Travel portal.
  • You’ll earn 3 points per dollar on all other travel.
  • You’ll earn 10 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • You’ll earn 10 points per dollar on $250+ Peloton purchases through 3/31/25.
  • Cardholders get $5 monthly DoorDash credit. Credit expires every 3 months, so you can stack up to $15 and get $60 credit/year.
  • Cardholders get $10 off, twice each calendar month at checkout on grocery, convenience, or other non-restaurant orders on DoorDash.
  • Cardholders get a free DoorDash DashPass through 12/31/27 to save money on deliveries, a $9.99 monthly value.
  • You’ll get a Priority Pass lounge membership that allows you to bring 2 guests with you into over 1,000 airport lounges.
  • You’ll get a full rebate every 4 years when you buy Global Entry/Pre-Check/NEXUS membership. That means you can skip the lines and forms when flying back from abroad and you can leave your shoes on, laptops in their bags, and go through metal detectors when flying from the US or transiting between the US and Canada. It makes flying so much easier!
  • You’ll get free roadside assistance and a plethora of travel/medical/baggage insurance and benefits.
  • All of your Chase points can be used for a minimum value of 1.5 cents each towards travel if you have this card. Or you can transfer Chase points from any of your household’s cards into airline miles or hotel points.
  • This is the only card that charges an annual fee for additional cardholders as they each get their own Priority Pass lounge membership. If you don’t care about that membership, you can always request replacement cards or non-metal to have spare cards. If you do add an additional user card you can cancel the card within 30 days to get back the fee. The secondary Priority Pass membership will be cancelled, but the credit card will still work as secondary Chase consumer cards have the same exact card number, expiration date, and CVV as the primary cardholder’s card.
  • You can use Pay Yourself Back to use points to offset any purchases on gas, wholesale clubs, pet supply stores, or the card’s annual fee at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. You also keep the points earned on purchases that you offset with points, which makes your points worth up to 1.28 cents each!
• The Sapphire Preferred Card is a consumer card with a $95 annual fee.
  • The signup bonus on this card is 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in 3 months, worth $750-$1,200 when used ideally.
  • This card offers a 10% anniversary points bonus on all spending. For example, if you spend $20K on your card in a cardmembership year, you’ll get a 2,000 point bonus. The bonus does not apply to the signup bonus or bonus point categories.
  • Get a $50 annual hotel credit as a statement credit when you book a hotel through the Chase Travel portal.
  • Cardholders get $10 off each calendar month at checkout on grocery, convenience, or other non-restaurant orders on DoorDash.
  • Cardholders get a free DoorDash DashPass through 12/31/27 to save money on deliveries, a $9.99 monthly value.
  • Earn 5.1 points per dollar on all travel booked through the Chase Travel portal, after the 10% anniversary bonus.
  • Earn 3.1 points per dollar on select streaming include Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+, Netflix, Sling, Vudu, Fubo TV, Apple Music, SiriusXM, Pandora, Spotify and YouTube TV, after the 10% anniversary bonus.
  • Earn 3.1 points per dollar on dining, after the 10% anniversary bonus.
  • Earn 3.1 points per dollar on online grocery shopping, excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs, after the 10% anniversary bonus. The online grocery category includes purchases for grocery pickup and delivery that are placed online with grocery stores, specialty food stores, or delivery service merchants that classify as grocery store merchants such as Instacart (excluding membership and subscription fees). Meal kit delivery services are included in this category.
  • You’ll earn 5.1 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • You’ll earn 5.1 points per dollar on $250+ Peloton purchases through 3/31/25.
  • All of your Chase points can be used for a minimum value of 1.25 cents each towards travel if you have this card. Or you can transfer Chase points from any of your household’s cards into airline miles or hotel points.

Note: The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve’s spending categories are similar, but Sapphire Reserve is no longer the clear winner that it once was.

While Sapphire Reserve still earns more points than Chase Sapphire Preferred for travel not booked in the Chase portal (3 vs 2.1), you will be better off with Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card for most other purchases.

Still, the card are similar enough that you’ll only need one of them as part of an optimized spending strategy. Personally, I prefer the Sapphire Reserve as that card allows you to redeem all of your Chase points (including the points of an authorized user) at a minimum value of 1.5 cents per point on paid airfare, car rentals, hotels, and vacation activities. You will still get trip insurances, even when you use points to pay for the trip.

My goal is to receive a value of 2 cents per point via transfers to miles, but having a minimum value of 1.5 cents per point when mileage redemptions aren’t valuable can be very useful and it makes your points much more versatile.

That being said, Chase Sapphire Preferred also makes your points more valuable and transferrable to miles and points at a much lower annual fee.

It’s always important to check and see if you’ll do better with airline miles/hotel points for a redemption or if you’ll do better by just using Chase points for a redemption. You’ll also need to bear in mind the taxes owed on an award ticket and the miles you can earn by using Chase points towards a paid airline ticket or hotel stay. Finally you also need to bear in mind that it is typically free to cancel and refund an award ticket, while paid tickets may have free changes, but won’t have free cancellations.

• The Ink Preferred Card is a business card with a $95 annual fee.
  • The signup bonus on this card is 90,000 points for spending $8,000 in 3 months, worth $1,200-$1,600 when used ideally.
  • This card offers 3 points per dollar on up to $150K in annual spending on online advertising, shipping, and travel.
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • All of your Chase points can be used for a minimum value of 1.25 cents each towards travel if you have this card. Or you can transfer Chase points from any of your household’s cards into airline miles or hotel points.
• The Ink Plus card is no longer offered to new customers. The Ink Plus card is a premium card with a $95 annual fee. Benefits are similar to the Ink Cash card, with 5 points per dollar earned at office supply stores and telecom, but it has a higher annual cap of $50K in 5x spending instead of $25K on the Ink Cash card. The Ink Plus card also earns 2 points per dollar on up to $50K of annual spending on gas and hotels and it has no foreign transaction fees. You can convert an Ink Plus card into any existing business card, but you can’t convert back to an Ink Plus card again.
• The JPMorgan Reserve card is only available to JPMorgan private bank clients. It mimics the Sapphire Reserve card, with some added benefits like United Club membership and a credit line that is not reported on your personal credit report.

Non-premium cards

The next step is to determine which of the non-premium cards to get. These no annual fee cards earn lots of points, but they can’t transfer points into airline miles and hotel points unless someone in your household has a premium card with an annual fee. There are currently 4 non-premium cards to choose from, and it’s ideal for someone in your household to have 1-3 of these cards. These cards all carry a 3% foreign transaction fees.

• The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a consumer card with no annual fee.
  • This card is currently offering a bonus 1.5 points per dollar on up to $20K of purchases during the first year, which means you’ll earn at least 3 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per dollar within 12 months.
  • This card markets itself as earning 1.5% cash back, but really it earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere. Used ideally, that’s 1.88%-3% back everywhere.
  • This card earns 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstore purchases, which will be increased to 4.5 points per dollar during your first year!
  • This card earns 5 points per dollar on travel booked via the Chase portal, which will be doubled to 10 points per dollar during your first year!
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
• The Ink Unlimited Card is a business card with no annual fee.
  • The signup bonus on this card is marketed at $750, but will actually come in the form of 75,000 points for spending $6,000 in 3 months. Used ideally, those points will be worth $1,112.50-$1,500.
  • This card markets itself as earning 1.5% cash back, but really it earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere. Used ideally, that’s 1.88%-3% back everywhere.
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • 0% APR on purchases for 12 months, with the added benefit of there being no effect on your personal credit score as this is a business card.

Note: The Freedom Unlimited and Ink Unlimited cards are very similar, so you’ll only need one of these cards as part of an optimized spending strategy, though you can always take advantage of the signup offers on both.

• The Chase Freedom Flex is a consumer card with no annual fee.
  • The signup bonus on this card is marketed at $150, but will actually come in the form of 15,000 points. Used ideally, those points will be worth $225-$300.
  • This card markets itself as earning 5% cash back in rotating categories, but really it earns 5 points per dollar in rotating categories. Used ideally, that’s 6.25%-10% back in rotating categories.
  • The maximum spending in the rotating categories is $1,500 per quarter.
  • Rotating categories have included restaurants, Amazon, Paypal, Walmart, telecom, department stores, grocery stores, gas stations, wholesale stores, mobile payment purchases, and more.
  • This card earns 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstore purchases, plus 5 points per dollar on travel booked via the Chase portal.
  • Cardholders get $10 quarterly Instacart credit.
  • Cardholders get 3 months of Instacart+ membership.
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • 0% APR on purchases for 15 months.

Note: The old Freedom Visa card is no longer offered but you can still change from another consumer Chase Ultimate Rewards card to it. The Freedom Visa is very similar to Freedom Flex Mastercard. The Freedom Flex Mastercard adds cell phone insurance, as well as 3x points on dining and drugstores and 5x points on travel booked via the Chase Travel portal. One potential downside of the Freedom Flex Mastercard is that Costco only accepts Visa, so the Freedom Flex Mastercard won’t work there. Generally speaking, this isn’t a good card for Costco anyway as it only earns 1 point per dollar there, but when Freedom has wholesale clubs or gas (which works at Costco) as the quarterly bonus then you may want the Freedom Visa. However, you can also purchase Costco Cash cards on Costco.com with a Mastercard that can be used in store.

• The Ink Cash Card is a business card with no annual fee.
  • The signup bonus on this card is $350 in the form of 35,000 Chase Ultimate points for spending $3,000 in 3 months and another $400 in the form of 40,000 Chase Ultimate points for spending another $3,000 in 6 months for a total of 75,000 Chase Ultimate points. Used ideally, those points will be worth $937.50-$1,500.
  • This card markets itself as earning 2% cash back or 5% cash back in select categories, but really it earns 2 or 5 points per dollar everywhere. Used ideally, that’s 2.5%-4% or 6.25%-10% back in those categories.
  • The 2 point categories include up to $25,000 of annual spending on gas stations and restaurants.
  • The 5 point categories include up to $25,000 of annual spending at office supply stores and on internet, cable, and cell phone bills.
  • Your local school or charity will be more than happy to accept donations of Amazon gift cards for supplies or any other useful gift cards for chinese auctions, raffles, fundraisers, etc. They will give you a tax deductible receipt for the full face value-the price you paid for the gift cards. And at the same time you’ll earn 5 points per dollar. So while doing good you can still get a nice chunk of points and you’ll save on your taxes.
  • You’ll earn 5 points per dollar on Lyft through 3/31/25.
  • 0% APR on purchases for 12 months, with the added benefit of there being no effect on your personal credit score as this is a business card.

Creating a Killer Combo with Hybrid Points:

Having cards from the same bank that complement each other can help you rack up the miles more rapidly and spend them more lucratively. The sum of a killer combo is worth more than its parts.

While airline miles and hotel points can allow you to get some truly insane values for your points, they can also be devalued at any time. That’s why I keep transferable points and send them over to airlines and hotels on demand as needed.

I call points like Chase Ultimate Rewards “hybrid points” as you can get an increased value for your points when they are used towards travel or you can transfer the points into airline miles or hotel points.

The increased value of points sets a minimum value you can get from your points and it protects you from points being devalued. You can get a higher value for your points by transferring them into airline miles and hotel points, but having the ability to use your points at an increased value for paid travel makes them into hybrid points. You can choose to redeem them for either paid travel or award travel, depending on which provides a better value.

Creating A Chase Quinfecta Killer Combo

Stacking multiple Ultimate Rewards cards together can supercharge your earnings by getting you more points per dollar while increasing the value of all your points.

A Chase Bifecta would consist of a household that has the Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve and the Freedom Unlimited or Ink Unlimited. The total effective annual fees would be either $95 with Sapphire Preferred or $250 with Sapphire Reserve after accounting for that card’s $300 annual travel credit. With the Sapphire Preferred + Freedom Unlimited or Ink Unlimited you would earn 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 2.1 points per dollar on all travel after the Sapphire Preferred annual bonus, , 3 points per dollar on drugstores, 3.1 points per dollar on dining, streaming, and online grocery shopping after the Sapphire Preferred annual bonus, and 5.1 points per dollar on travel booked via Chase after the Sapphire Preferred annual bonus. You’ll be able to transfer all of your points into airline miles or hotel points or use the pay yourself back feature. Read more about Freedom Unlimited here and about Ink Unlimited here.

A Chase Trifecta adds a no annual fee card like Ink Cash or Chase Freedom Flex into the mix, so your total effective annual fee will still be $95 or $250. Both of those cards give options to earn a whopping 5 points per dollar in various categories on top of the 2-3 points per dollar that the Sapphire cards offer and the 1.5-5 points per dollar everywhere else with a Freedom Unlimited card. Read more about Freedom Flex here and read more about Ink Cash here.

A Chase Quadfecta would add both the Ink Cash and Chase Freedom Flex on top of a Sapphire card and an Unlimited card, so your total effective annual fee will still be just $95 or $250. The Quadfecta is the sweet spot and allows you to really supercharge your spending everywhere.

A Chase Quinfecta could add the Ink Preferred Card to that mix, adding $95 to the annual fee total. This make sense if you spend money on shipping, social media advertising, or search engine advertising, or if you want free cell phone insurance.

Alternatively, you can create a Chase Quinfecta by adding the Chase United℠ Explorer card, United Gateway℠ Card, United Quest℠ Card, United Club Infinite Card, or Chase United Business Card into the mix. Those cards don’t earn Ultimate Rewards points, but it makes your Ultimate Rewards points more valuable. Having a United card enables you to have access to significantly expanded United saver and standard award space in addition to benefits like 2 free club passes, a free checked bag, a free carry-on bag, and priority boarding, even when you’re on a basic economy fare. See more about those benefits here.

Again, all of these cards don’t need to be in one person’s name. 2 people from the same household can split up the requisite cards that make up the Quinfecta, as they can transfer the Ultimate Rewards points back and forth between themselves freely and they can add each other as an authorized user on their cards!

Once you have these cards and create your own killer combo, here is the the ideal way to spend

• Everyday spending: Freedom Unlimited or Ink Unlimited 1.5x (2.25%-3% back)
• Airfare: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Airfare booked via the Chase portal: Sapphire Preferred 5.1x after annual bonus (7.65%-10.2% back)
• Airbnb: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Amazon: Buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Car rentals: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Car rentals booked via the Chase portal: Sapphire Reserve 10x (15%-20% back)
• Cruises: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Drug stores: Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Federal taxes (1.85% processing fee applies): Freedom Unlimited or Ink Unlimited 1.5x (2.25%-3% back)
• Foreign currency transactions: Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card depending on the transaction type.
• Gas: Ink Cash 2x (3%-4% back or 5%-6% back on Chevron, Sheetz, or Texaco with Visa Savings Edge) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x, or buy during Freedom 5x Quarterly spending (7.5%-10% back).
• Gift cards for other stores or Visa gift cards: Ink Cash bought at office supply stores 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Groceries: During rotating quarter on Freedom 5x (7.5%-10% back), during the first year of Freedom/Freedom Unlimited 5x (7.5%-10% back), buy gift cards for stores like Safeway or Whole Foods at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back), or Freedom Unlimited 1.5x (2.25%-3% back).
• Groceries online/grocery delivery: During rotating quarter on Freedom 5x (7.5%-10% back), during the first year of Freedom/Freedom Unlimited 5x (7.5%-10% back), or Sapphire Preferred 3.1x (4.65%-6.2% back).
• Hotels: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Hotels booked via the Chase portal: Sapphire Reserve 10x (15%-20% back)
• Lyft: Sapphire Reserve 10x (15%-20% back)
• Office supplies: Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Peloton over $495: Sapphire Reserve 10x (15%-20% back)
• Restaurants and restaurant delivery: Sapphire Preferred 3.1x after annual bonus (4.65%-6.2% back).
• Restaurants booked via Chase Dining: Sapphire Reserve 10x (15%-20% back).
• Rotating category spending (Up to $1,500 of mobile payments, gas, grocery, Amazon, Walmart in their respective quarters): Freedom 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Shipping: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Social media and Search Engine advertising: Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Starbucks: Sapphire Preferred 3.1x after annual bonus (4.65%-6.2% back) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Streaming: Sapphire Preferred 3.1x after annual bonus (4.65%-6.2% back) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Subways/Trains: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Taxis: Sapphire Reserve 3x (4.5%-6% back)
• Telecom/Internet/Cell Phones/Cable: Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back). However, Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card 3x (4.5%-6% back) and Freedom Flex 1x (1.5%-2% back) come with cell phone protection.
• Travel booked via Chase portal: Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Uber/UberEats: Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Flex, or Freedom Unlimited 3x (4.5%-6% back) or buy gift cards at office supply stores on Ink Cash 5x (7.5%-10% back)
• Wholesale Clubs: During rotating quarter on Freedom 5x (7.5%-10% back) or Freedom Unlimited or Ink Unlimited 1.5x (2.25%-3% back)

There are some caveats to all this of course…

• This scenario is just for Chase cards and ignores other point currencies. It’s a good idea to have multiple currencies.
• Using gift cards means the loss of credit card protections like extended warranty or air travel protections, so use them only when it makes sense to earn more points at the expense of potential protections.
• The value received per point is highly variable based on how you will use it. The nice thing about having a killer combo with a Sapphire Reserve is that you’ll receive a minimum of 1.5 cents per point. 2 cents is a good goal to set, so just compare the cost of a ticket or hotel to the amount of miles you’ll need for it to see how much value you are receiving.

Business card information, benefits, and 5/24

The Ink cards are business cards, but you may already have a business that needs a card to keep track of expenses. For example if your name is Joe Smith and you sell items online, or if you have any other side business and want a credit card to better keep track of business expenditures you can open a business credit card for “Joe Smith” as the business name. You don’t need to file any messy government paperwork to be allowed to do that. Just be sure to select “Sole Proprietorship” as the business type and just use your social security number in the Tax Identification Number field.

If you have business paperwork you can apply under your business name. Otherwise, it’s critical to just write your own name as the business name if you are just applying for your own small business as a Sole Proprietorship that doesn’t have any business paperwork. You can then send in bills in your own name for verification.

If you’re like me and you run more than one business, you can signup for multiple of the same card for each business to manage each businesses expenses separately.

Typically, Chase cards are subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you are not likely to be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months.

However, a pattern has developed where Chase often waives 5/24 rules when they launch a limited time offer, so it can be worth trying, even if you are over 5/24. If you try, be sure to leave a comment with the results!

Note that the Chase system automatically counts cards like authorized user cards and store cards as cards that count towards 5/24, but if you explain to Chase that those cards are merely authorized user cards or store cards they can manually approve you for a new card. You can check your credit report for free at the federally authorized annualcreditreport.com to check how many accounts are shown as being open in the past 24 months.

It’s important to note that business cards from most banks, including Chase business cards, do not get added to your 5/24 count of recently opened cards. That’s because business cards from most banks don’t show up on your personal credit report and the 5/24 count is based off of your personal credit report. That means that applying for these cards won’t “hurt” your 5/24 count.

Another benefit of the card not reporting on your personal credit report is that when you spend money on personal cards your credit score will be hurt even if you pay your bill on time. A whopping 30% of your credit score is based on credit utilization. You can pay off your card bill before your statement is generated to avoid that, but that takes effort and laying out money well before you have to. Additionally it’s good to have the statement close with a couple dollars to show the card is active and being paid every month. On an business cards from banks like AMEX and Chase it’s just not reported, so you can wait until the money is due without it having a negative effect on your score. That also means if you close the card, it won’t have an effect on your credit score.

While carrying balances on consumer cards can have a very harmful effect on your credit score, because the Ink cards are business cards, those balances won’t hurt your credit score! That makes the 0% APR on purchases for 12 months on a business card a very strong offer.

The great thing about Chase Ultimate Rewards is how versatile and valuable they are

The Ink Preferred Card and Sapphire Preferred cards allow you and anyone in your household to transfer Chase points into miles. They also allow you to use points at a value of 1.25 cents each towards travel.

The Sapphire Reserve also allows you and anyone in your household to transfer Chase points into miles. Plus it allows you to use points at a value of 1.5 cents each towards travel.

The fixed value is excellent and doesn’t require hunting down award space, but those points can be much more valuable by transferring them into airline miles or hotel points. They can easily be worth 2 cents each or much more than that.

• If I want to stay in a 5 star Park Hyatt in the Maldives, Melbourne, NYC, Paris, Sydney, or Tokyo that would cost over $1,000/night, I can instantly transfer 25-40K points to Hyatt to do that, a value of up to 6 cents per point.
• If I need a one-way flight from Cleveland (or Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Montreal, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Toronto, etc) to NYC that can cost $500 each way, I can instantly transfer 6K points to Avios to book a short-haul on American with no last minute booking fees. Or if American doesn’t have availability I can instantly transfer 5K-15K points to United for their short-haul award. That’s a value of up to 7 cents per point.
• Air Canada offers one-way short haul awards for just 6K miles. You can also get stopover awards for 5K miles, build round-the-world awards, and get free lap child awards in the US/Canada and bring lap children to anywhere else in the world for just C$25!
• If I want to stay in a non-chain hotel that costs $300/night and don’t want to pay cash, I can redeem 20K points for the room thanks to my Sapphire Reserve card’s minimum redemption value of 1.5 cents per point or 24K points with the Sapphire Preferred Card’s minimum redemption value of 1.25 cents per point
• Flying Blue has award flights to Israel for 25K miles for adults or 18,750 miles for kids.
• If I want to fly in a $25,000 ANA First Class Suite round-trip from the US to Tokyo, I can instantly transfer 145K or 160K points to Virgin Atlantic. That’s a value of up to 23 cents per point. You can now redeem one-way awards for half the price as well!
• If I want to book a $2,281 business class ticket on Air Canada to Tel Aviv I can redeem 152K points for the flight thanks to my Sapphire Reserve card’s minimum redemption value of 1.5 cents per point or 182K points with the Sapphire Preferred Card’s minimum redemption value of 1.25 cents per point, plus I’ll earn Qantas miles for more future travel as it’s considered a paid flight instead of an award flight.
• And thousands of other possibilities from Singapore couples suites to booking Southwest awards with 2 free bags and free cancellations, to stealing 2nd base in middle of an MLB game.

Chase 1:1 transfer partners include:

• United (Star Alliance)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (Star Alliance)
• Singapore (Star Alliance)
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue (Skyteam)
• British Airways (OneWorld)
• Aer Lingus (OneWorld)
• Finnair (OneWorld, transfer via BA)
• Iberia (OneWorld)
• Qatar (OneWorld, transfer via BA)
• Emirates
• JetBlue
• Southwest
• Virgin Atlantic
• Hyatt
• IHG
• Marriott
• Hilton (1:1.5 via Virgin Atlantic)

What cards do you have in your killer combo?

I personally have 25 active Chase credit cards, including all of the cards in the Quinfecta mentioned in this post (Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, Freedom Unlimited, Freedom Flex, Freedom, Ink Cash, United Lifetime Club, and United Quest). I also have multiples of cards like Chase Freedom and Ink Cash as those cards have caps on their bonus spending categories.

That has allowed me to build up a nice stash of Ultimate Rewards points over the years:

By transferring points into airline miles and hotel points on demand as needed, I’ll make them worth far more than Chase thinks they are worth.

I don’t save the points as they don’t earn interest. Instead, I spend 7 figures of miles every year and see the world in ways that I never imagined possible.

Some will call that crazy, but I just call it the best hobby on Earth.

So, which cards do you have to create a killer combo?