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An optimized wallet carries a combination of rewards and cash back credit cards that work in concert to get you the most out of your spending. Like instruments in an orchestra, each card plays its part.
What optimized looks like will vary from person to person based on spending habits and goals, but one strategic pairing is common among beginner and veteran points seekers alike: The Chase Freedom/Sapphire double whammy.
Why combine Chase Freedom and Sapphire points?
Chase credit cards are incredibly popular, partly because Chase points are both valuable and versatile. Thanks to the flexibility of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points and Chase Travel℠ program, Chase points can be used for travel, merchandise, statement credits, and more. Chase’s transfer partners give you even more opportunities to squeeze value out of every point.
To understand why you should pair a Chase Freedom with a Chase Sapphire card, it helps to look at what these credit cards have to offer.
There are three Chase Freedom cards: The Chase Freedom Flex®, the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and the Chase Freedom Rise®. The plain ol’ Chase Freedom card was closed to new applicants in 2020 but can still be useful if you already have one (though some cardholders report forced product changes indicating an effort to totally sunset the card).
All three of these cards earn cashback rewards.
| Card | Annual fee | Rewards |
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Chase Freedom Flex® |
$0 | 5% cash back on rotating quarterly categories you activate (on up to $1,500 spent) and travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery service); and 1% cash back on all other purchases |
/images/2024/12/16/chase-freedom-unlimited-12162024.png)
Chase Freedom Unlimited® |
$0 | 6.5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 4.5% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service and 3% cash back on all other purchases (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year). After your first year or $20,000 spent, earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery service and unlimited 1.5% cash back on all other purchases |
/images/2024/12/16/chase-freedom-rise-12162024.png)
Chase Freedom Rise® |
$0 | 1.5% cash back on all purchases |
But these generous cashback rewards actually become even more valuable when you also have a card that offers generous redemption options — such as one of the Chase Sapphire cards.
The two Sapphire options are the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
| Card | Annual Fee | Rewards | Redemption perks |
/images/2024/12/16/chase-sapphire-reserve-12162024.png)
Chase Sapphire Reserve® |
$550 | 5X points on flights and 10X points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel℠ immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually; 3X points on other travel and dining & 1X points per dollar on all other purchases |
|
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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card |
$95 | 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases |
|
Since rewards can be transferred between Chase cards, you can take that cash back you earn on a Chase Freedom card, transfer it to a Chase Sapphire card, and then redeem it through Chase’s travel portal, getting the elevated redemption rate that comes with the Sapphire cards.
How to use a Chase Freedom and Chase Sapphire together
To better understand how pairing a Chase Freedom with a Chase Sapphire card can allow you to maximize returns on everyday spending, consider what would happen if you had a Chase Sapphire Reserve and a Chase Freedom Unlimited card.
Earning
The Sapphire Reserve comes with an annual travel statement credit of $300. This credit is applied incrementally as you spend in the travel category until you reach $300 in spending, after which point you begin earning the full 3X rate. If you spend $5,000 per year on travel, you’d get your $300 statement credit right away on the Sapphire Reserve, bringing your actual spending down to $4,700 per year. You’d earn your 3X points per dollar on that amount, leaving you with 14,100 points.
You could then make all your other purchases with your Chase Freedom Unlimited, getting you the regular earn rate of 1.5% cash back on all other purchases.
Let’s say you spend $20,000 on non-bonus categories (i.e., “all other purchases”) on the Freedom Unlimited card, you should get $300 cash back. That’s great, but if you transfer your rewards to your Sapphire Reserve at a rate of 100 points per dollar, you could turn that $300 into 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points that can now be transferred to Chase’s roster of high-value airline and hotel partners.
Redeeming
At this point, you’d have 44,100 Ultimate Rewards points to redeem. On your Sapphire Reserve card, those points are worth 1.5 cents each if you redeem them for travel through Chase Travel℠.
Remember, Sapphire Reserve cardholders get a 50% bonus on their redemptions in the portal. If you only held a Freedom card, your Ultimate Rewards would be worth a flat 1 cent in the portal. The Sapphire Reserve card gets you that extra 0.50 cents.
Without that bonus, you could redeem 44,100 points through the portal for $441 in travel at the 1-cent redemption rate. But with that Sapphire Reserve portal redemption bonus, those 74,100 points translate to about $661 in travel.
When transferred to partner loyalty programs, you could get even more out of your points, with some of the best redemptions converting to as much as 2 cents in value per point or $882 in total value. That’s a potential 3.5% return on $25,000 in spending, far greater than the 1.5% cash back you would have gotten with just your Chase Freedom card, which doesn’t allow for transfers to travel partners.
Why transfer anyway
Even forgetting partners, you’d still be increasing the value of the cash back earned on your Freedom Unlimited if you transfer to the Sapphire Reserve and then take advantage of the portal redemption bonus, from 1 cent per point to 1.5 cents per point.How to transfer Chase Freedom points to a Sapphire Card
Transferring Chase Freedom points to a Chase Sapphire card is easy. You simply need to:
- Log into your Ultimate Rewards account and select “Combine points” from the “Reward details” dropdown menu
- Review the list of credit cards that currently have transferable points and choose your Chase Freedom card
- Select the Chase Sapphire card as the account you want to transfer your points to
- Specify the number of points you want to transfer; your options include transferring all your points or choosing a specific amount
- Review your transaction and select “Submit”
Points transfer instantly, and you can redeem them through Chase’s travel portal or transfer them to a travel partner of your choosing.
FAQs
How many Chase credit cards can you have?
There is no hard limit to how many Chase credit cards you can have by official policy. However, there seem to be some rules about whether applying for multiple cards too quickly will mean one application is automatically rejected. The reported, but unofficial, 2/30 rule indicates that a second application in 30 days has a higher likelihood of rejection.
What is the 5/24 rule?
The famous Chase 5/24 rule limits your ability to qualify for a Chase card if you’ve opened five credit cards from any issuer within the past 24 months. Although this rule is unofficial, there are many data points in the credit card community to back up its existence and application by Chase.
Not every Chase credit card is subject to the rule, but both the Freedom and Sapphire cards are. So, if you have opened five new cards from any issuer in the past two years, you may not be able to get approved for a Freedom or Sapphire card. If you have recently applied for a Chase card, learn how to check on your Chase credit card application status.
Do Chase points expire?
Chase Ultimate Rewards points don’t expire as long as your account is open.
Can I combine Chase points with my spouse?
Yes, it’s possible to transfer points between account holders in the same household. However, Chase allows you to declare only one official household member to receive these transfers. You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to another person’s hotel or airline loyalty account, but that person must be an authorized user on your Chase card. You can make this kind of transfer in 1,000-point increments.
Bottom line
As it turns out, in some cases, two cards are better than one. On their own, few cards can beat the return on your spending that you could get by pairing a Chase Freedom with a Sapphire card.
Transferring your rewards happens instantaneously, so there’s no stress involved when converting your cashback rewards into valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points. All you have to do is figure out which Freedom card and which Sapphire card will work best for you.
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Great for Flexible Travel Rewards
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Current Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Rewards Rate
5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠; 3X points on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; 2X points on all other travel purchases, and 1X points on all other purchases
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