If you’re financially disciplined enough to track your spending and pay off your credit card balances each month, having multiple rewards credit cards can allow you to earn and redeem rewards faster.
Choose two rewards credit cards with complementary earning structures, benefits and redemption options, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® Card. While both cards are excellent on their own, they’re even more valuable together. They offer different bonus categories that complement each other and provide the opportunity to pool your points for better redemption options in the future.
Here’s how to pair the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card with the Chase Infinite Freedom Card to maximize the potential of both cards.
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Why you should link your Chase Sapphire Preferred with your Chase Freedom Unlimited
Welcome Bonus
Welcome bonuses are the best way to collect a lot of points quickly, and two welcome bonuses are better than one. The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 75,000 points worth $937.50 through Chase Travel after you spend $4,000 in the first three months of account opening. The Chase Freedom Unlimited welcome bonus earns an additional 1.5% cash back on all purchases (up to $20,000 in purchases in the first year), for up to $300 in cash back. That total value can be up to $1,237.50, depending on how you use your points.
Keep in mind that you have to apply for each card separately, and you may want to wait a few months between applications to maximize your chances of approval.
You also need to keep in mind Chase’s unofficial 5/24 rule, which means Chase won’t approve you for a credit card if you’ve opened more than five cards from any one issuer in the past 24 months. If you plan on applying for multiple credit cards, be sure to apply for the Chase card you want first, then apply for cards from other issuers.
Earn and redeem rewards
Using the Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited cards together can also help you earn more rewards over time, as long as you use each card strategically in their respective bonus categories. Since these cards offer different bonus rates in different categories (although there is some overlap), you have more opportunities to earn more rewards on your everyday spending than if you just held on to one card.
At the end of the redemption period, Chase allows cardholders to consolidate all of their rewards into one account for seamless, convenient redemption. While most cards in the Chase ecosystem earn the same rewards currency, Ultimate Rewards points, different cards have different redemption options.
As a premium travel card, the Sapphire Preferred has two advantages over the Chase Freedom: a 25% redemption bonus when you redeem travel rewards through Chase Travel℠ and the option to transfer points 1:1 to Chase’s airline and hotel partners. However, by transferring the points you earn on your Chase Freedom Unlimited to your Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can use the Preferred’s redemption options and get more value from your points.
How to use credit cards simultaneously
In most cases, you’ll use the card that offers the most rewards for each purchase. Here’s an overview of how to use these cards together:
- Use the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card for dining, online shopping, select streaming services and travel . Earn 5X points on travel booked through Chase Travel, 2X points on other travel, and 3X points on dining, online shopping and select streaming services. You can also earn 5X points on Lyft rides through March 31, 2025.
- Use the Chase Freedom Unlimited card for drugstore purchases and all other expenses . While the Chase Freedom Unlimited® has some overlapping bonus categories with the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, where it really shines is that it offers 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and 1.5% cash back on all purchases.
By using both cards for purchases that earn the most rewards, you could eventually earn 5x points on travel booked through Chase and Lyft, 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, and 2x points on travel purchases not booked through Chase.
You’ll also get 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and 1.5% cash back on everything else, which will eventually translate into 3x points and 1.5x points per dollar spent in those categories, respectively.
Maximizing and transferring points
The main reason to have both cards is to pool your rewards into your Chase Sapphire Preferred account for better redemption on travel. The Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more value when you use points to book travel through Chase Travel, and it allows you to transfer points to the program’s airline and hotel partners.
All Chase Ultimate Rewards partners allow 1:1 point transfers (with occasional transfer bonuses that can make your points more valuable), including:
Aviation partners
- Aer Lingus, AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club
- Emirates Skywards®
- Flying Blue Air France KLM
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Rapid Rewards®
- United Airlines MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hotel Partners
- IHG® Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy®
- World of Hyatt
Unlike redeeming directly through Chase, which assigns a set value to your points, the value of your points can vary greatly when you transfer them to a travel partner.
Once you transfer your points to a hotel or airline, they become the reward currency for that hotel or airline’s own loyalty program, subject to its own rules and redemption rates. You can then book your trip directly with the airline or hotel.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth about 2 cents on average when transferred to travel partners, and sometimes more, according to recent estimates from Bankrate. While it takes a little more work to find deals to use your points this way, it’s a better value than the 1 cent per point you’d get from cash back or statement credits when earning rewards through the Chase Freedom Unlimited’s redemption options.
Should I upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve?
While pairing the Chase Infinite Freedom Card with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card makes sense if you want better travel redemptions and the ability to maximize rewards on everyday purchases, there’s another card you can pair with the Infinite Freedom Card—the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card®.
Despite the $550 annual fee, the Sapphire Reserve’s premium travel benefits and enhanced travel rewards potential may make sense for frequent flyers and those who want an upgraded experience at the airport.
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, cardholders automatically receive $300 in travel credits per year that can be applied toward any travel paid for with the card, as well as a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership valued at $469. Members can also earn 50% more value when using points for travel through the Chase Travel Portal.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card also offers comparable earning rates to the Chase Infinite Freedom card. With this premium travel credit card, you can earn:
- Earn 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel (after applying $300 in travel credits)
- 10x points on Chase Dining purchases
- Earn 5x total points on flights with Chase Travel (after applying $300 travel credit)
- 3x points on other travel and dining
- 1 point per USD spent on all other purchases
If you can take advantage of all that the Sapphire Reserve program has to offer and you have enough budget for your trip, you’ll get more value than with the Sapphire Preferred program.
Other cards that pair well with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom Unlimited
There are several other rewards credit cards that can be paired with these two cards because they also earn Ultimate Rewards points or because they have higher rewards rates in other categories. If you want more than two credit cards, consider these options:
In the Chase ecosystem:
- Chase Freedom Flex : Chase Freedom Flex* offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in rotating bonus categories, activated quarterly, and the bonus categories change (then 1% back), plus 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases and 1% back on all other purchases. Like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you can pool all your rewards into a Chase Sapphire Preferred account to redeem for premium travel. There’s no annual fee, either.
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card : If you’re a small business owner, the no annual fee Ink Business Cash® Credit Card is a great option for earning Ultimate Rewards points on your business purchases. Like the Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Freedom Flex, you can pool your points onto the Sapphire card (or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card if you prefer a business travel card) to earn Chase Travel redemption rewards and 1:1 transfers to travel partners.
Outside the Chase ecosystem:
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card : The Citi Strata Premier Card offers a different rewards ecosystem than the Chase card, but it’s just as useful. Citi ThankYou points can be used for a variety of flexible options, such as gift cards, cash back, merchandise, travel through Citi, or transferring points to Citi’s 18 airline and hotel partners. This card also comes with a great welcome offer and generous travel rewards.
- Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express : Finally, if you want to earn cash back on everyday purchases with no annual fee, consider the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express. Unlike the previous cards, the Blue Cash Everyday earns cash back rather than flexible rewards points. Cash back is received in the form of rewards dollars that can be redeemed for statement credits. As such, you can’t transfer points to travel partners, but the card’s high rewards rates on common everyday spending categories make it a good choice if you want an easy way to earn rewards on your spending.
in conclusion
While a solid rewards credit card can help you earn rewards on most or all of your spending, it’s better to use a few really good credit cards strategically. This is especially true when you link a Chase credit card, which allows you to pool your points into a travel card account for better redemption.
Still, it’s important to remember that having multiple credit cards means juggling multiple bills and payments each month. Also be aware that the high interest rates charged by credit cards can make carrying debt very expensive in a short period of time, so focus on developing good habits, like paying your bills in full and on time, every month before worrying about maxing out your points.
Our advice? Try out a rewards card for a few months until you’re sure you can rack up points without going into debt. Once you’re sure you’re ready to add a new card, you can link a few different options to increase your rewards.
Frequently Asked Questions
There is no specific limit to the total number of Chase credit cards you can have. However, you can only hold one Sapphire card at a time: either the Chase Sapphire Preferred or the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
The Chase 5/24 rule is an unpublished policy of Chase Bank that states that you will not be approved for a new Chase credit card application if you have held five or more new credit cards from any issuer in the past 24 months.
*All information about the Chase Freedom Flex was collected independently by CNET and has not been verified by the issuer.
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