Ultimate Hack to Credit Card Points: Chase Card Combo

Ultimate Hack to Credit Card Points: Chase Card Combo

As I talked about in my previous blog post: A Guide to Affordable Travel with Credit Card Points the key to cheap travel is via credit card points!

There are a lot of different travel credit cards out there that offer a variety of different bonuses and perks but for the last 7 years I have religiously stood by my opinion that the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is the best on the market. And it's even better when coupled with the Chase Freedom card. Most travel cards at this point have absurdly high annual fees. Chase is no different in that at a lofty $550/yr for the Reserve card, however, I believe that the perks more than make up for this! Let me explain.

1. Bonus points: The Reserve card is currently offering 60,000 bonus points for signing up and spending $4,000 in the first three months. Worth $900 in travel when redeemed through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal (more on this later).
   

2. Each year you earn $300 back, automatically as a statement credit, in travel related purchases. (Brings the annual fee down to $250/yr!)
   

3. Standard Points: 3x on dining and travel related purchases, 1x on everything else. However, you can boost the 3x to 5x on flights and 10x on hotels when they are booked through the portal.
   

4. Redeeming points for Travel: when you redeem your earned points for travel related purchases on the portal you get to redeem them for 1.5x the amount. That is how $60,000 points can equate to $900 in travel. Therefore, the standard 1x points earned equates to 1.5x, 3x becomes 4.5x, 5x becomes 7.5x and 10x equates to 15x the points earned, when redeeming those points for flights, hotels, rental cars or other travel experiences.
   

5. Free Lounge Access to all Priority Pass lounges: there are many lounges in airports across the US and even more when traveling abroad. Lounges offer amenities such as free food and drinks, a quiet place to relax, showers (less so since COVID), reliable WiFi, and so much more.
   

6. Free TSA Pre-Check or Global Entry, able to renew every 4 years. A $78 fee and $100 fee, respectfully.
   

7. Free Lyft Pink membership, DashPass (DoorDash) and Instacart memberships, with a monthly credits.

Now let's talk about the Chase Freedom Card

This card has no annual fee, which makes it an easy adjunct to the Reserve card as all the points can be transferred to this card via the Ultimate Rewards Portal.

1. Bonus Offer: There is currently a signup offer for $200 cashback (or 20,000 points) after spending $500 in the first three months and is also offering 5x points at grocery stores and gas stations for the first year.
   

2. Standard points: for the Freedom card the standard earning is 1.5 points on all purchases.
   

3. Redeeming Points: this card allows you to redeem your points for cash back at a standard 100pts per dollar. However, you can also transfer these points to the Sapphire Reserve card via the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal. When doing so the 20,000 points becomes $300 when redeemed for rewards travel. The standard 1.5x becomes 2.25x and the 5x (for the first year on groceries and gas) becomes 7.5x; again when redeemed for reward travel.

It is for this transfer benefit that I like to use both cards for my daily and travel purchases. I will use the Sapphire Reserve card for booking all travel and dining purchases so I earn anywhere from 4.5x-15x the points in reward travel and the Freedom card for all other purchases to maximize on the 2.25x-7.5x the points that would otherwise only be 1.5x when purchased with the Reserve card.

It is because of this card combo that I have been able to travel abroad 4x within the last 16 months, without paying more than $100/flight, and often paying nothing. Between those trips this combo has also afforded me the ability to take many domestic flights for free or significantly discounted rates. So if you're looking for a great travel card that will afford you the ability to travel at a lower cost, I don't think you'll find a better deal than this! And if you do, please let me know! :)