The Best Points-Boosting Credit Card Groupings For Under $100 Per Year – Forbes Advisor – Technologist

By using this Chase triad of credit cards, you can effectively earn at least 1.5 Chase Ultimate Rewards® points per dollar spent on all purchases, plus:

• 5 points per dollar spent on travel booked through Chase Travel℠ and on up to $1,500 in combined purchases per quarter in rotating categories with activation
• 3 points per dollar spent on dining at restaurants and drugstores, for online groceries and on select streaming services
• 2 points per dollar spent on all other travel

Points can be transferred to participating airlines and three hotel partners. Of the three cards, only the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card charges an annual fee of $95.

Earning Strategy

The Chase Freedom Flex® is a cash-back card that earns 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined purchases in categories that rotate quarterly (requires activation), 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases.

The rotating category changes each quarter. Previous quarterly categories have included grocery stores, gas stations, wholesale clubs, internet, cable, phone services and select streaming services. Given these purchases can earn an elevated 5% cash back, you should at least use your Freedom Flex card for purchases in those rotating categories. As an added bonus, when the Freedom Flex offers restaurants as your rotating category, you’ll actually earn 7% cash back on restaurant charges.

You could also use it on travel booked through Chase, on dining at restaurants and at drugstores as it earns the same number of points per dollar for these categories as the other cards in the trifecta.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on eligible dining and drugstores and 1.5% on all other purchases, plus an additional 1.5% cash back on the first $20,000 in purchases the first year.

If those bonus categories sound familiar, there’s a reason. These are three of the bonus categories offered by the Chase Freedom Flex. However, it still makes sense to get the Chase Freedom Unlimited® in addition to the Chase Freedom Flex. That way, you can boost the trio’s minimum point-earning rate on non-bonus purchases to 1.5% cash back.

The premium card for this triad is the $95-annual-fee Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You can also use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® if the additional earnings, bonus points and perks can justify the much higher $550 annual fee. You’ll want one of these two cards as both earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points and gain additional redemptions options.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card cardholders can earn 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3 points per dollar on dining, select streaming services, and online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs), 2 points per dollar on all other travel purchases and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

Redeeming Points

Chase Sapphire Preferred members can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 rate to eligible airline and hotel programs—including well-known programs such as Air Canada, British Airways, JetBlue, Southwest, United, Marriott and Hyatt. That makes Chase Ultimate Rewards a flexible and valuable points currency for many cardholders. Plus, you can also redeem points through Chase Travel℠ for 25% more value with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

On their own, the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited earn cash back. However, the earnings on these cards become transferable to other partners by using the “combine points” option to transfer the cashback earnings to your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

In addition to transferring points, you can also redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards through Chase Travel or by using the Pay Yourself Back feature. Plus, redeeming points through Chase Travel earns you a 25% bonus with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. That redemption rate is boosted to 1.5 cents per point if you redeem the points through the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The Chase Sapphire Preferred also gives you an anniversary bonus of 10% of your total purchases made in the previous year.

Pay Yourself Back gives cardholders the opportunity to use points to erase purchases in a rotating set of categories.

Welcome Bonuses

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering the chance to earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.

Meanwhile, the Chase Freedom Flex offers a $200 bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is offering an additional 1.5% cash back on up to $20,000 spent in the first year, worth up to $300 cash back.

Keep in mind that Chase has an unadvertised, but firm rule for new accounts known as the 5/24 rule. If you’ve opened more than five new credit card accounts in the past 24 months with any bank, Chase will not approve an application for any of these cards.

If you’re near this limit, you’ll want to be strategic in which card you apply for first. We recommend starting with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, followed by the Chase Freedom Unlimited to boost your everyday purchases and unlock additional bonus categories. Finally, get the Chase Freedom Flex to boost your earnings in rotating bonus categories.

Annual Fees

As with the Citi trifecta, the Chase triad isn’t going to break the bank. Both the Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited have no annual fee. Considering the benefits, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a reasonable $95 annual fee. That means you’re paying less than $100 out of pocket for this powerful triad.