5X miles on dining and more!

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I previously recommended the Chase Sapphire Preferred here. And for the ultimate 1-2 reward punch I am also recommending the Chase Freedom.

These are two cards that I currently have and actually work together.

The Chase Freedom is a ZERO annual fee cash back card. Zero annual fee meaning it’s good to keep for life, it’s a card even if you never use it again but keep open will help your credit by extending it’s overall credit age. I am usually not a fan of cash back cards because I can usually redeem those rewards for a higher value with airlines but there’s a secret why this card is not like the others.

Chase Freedom Bonus Quarter 3 2018
Chase Freedom Bonus Quarter 3 2018

They give you 1% cash back for every dollar you spend and 5% on bonus categories (up to $1,500 in spending) which are different each quarter of the year. This quarter, July 1 – September 30, is 5% at gas stations, Walgreens, and Lyft. The final quarter of the year is usually holiday shopping (previously Amazon.com).

Don’t get me wrong, I like cash. But I also like getting the best value. The Chase Freedom deposits those cash back rewards as Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. If you remember with Chase Sapphire Preferred they also use Ultimate Rewards points. If you’re wondering, yes they are the same! With only this card your UR would be displayed as points with an equivalent cash back. Therefore for every dollar you spend you would get a penny back, or 5 cents in one of the bonus categories. The UR equivalent is one point for every dollar, or 5 points, respectively. Therefore 2000 UR points is the same as $20 cash back.

If you apply for the Sapphire Preferred you can easily transfer between your Chase UR accounts. Thus you can move your 2000 Freedom points to your Sapphire UR, redeem them with an airline partner and now they’re of much more value. I’ll explain the valuation of airline miles but for the most part you can redeem for a lot more than the cash back, usually for 2-3 times more. Thus if you’re expecting $200 cash back you can turn that to at least $400 worth, if not more.

Chase Freedom 2018
Chase Freedom 2018

So during the quarter where restaurants earn 5% back I’ll use the Freedom card to pay instead of the Sapphire Preferred (This is the one quarter where I’ll actually leave the Sapphire at home since most of my travel expenses are booking online or when I’m out-of-state). Then once the points credit I’ll switch them to the other UR account. If you spend the max $1,500 each quarter that’s 7500 points, and at end of the year would be 30,000 points!

ZERO Annual Fee!

With no annual fee this one is a no brainer. And they have zero APR for transfer balances incase you need help paying a higher rate card. The sign up bonus is also a nice $100 cash back for spending $500 in 3 months. But remember to transfer those rewards which then become 10,000 UR points. The sign up bonus is CURRENTLY $150 cash back for spending $500 in 3 months! That is now 15,000 UR points!! (offer expires soon, so do it quick!)

A simple example to help understand this:
For my flights to Vegas I used 26,500 UR points. If I had redeemed that in cash back it would have only been $265. Seeing how all the flights for this week to Vegas were at least $1000 at the time of my booking I got a lot more value than if I had cashed out and paid for the flight myself. This was with both the Freedom and Sapphire Preferred.

Here’s a referral link to get your very own and get the $150 signup bonus: Apply Here – Chase Freedom

Also, if you sign someone up as an authorized user they give you another $25 cashback bonus which transfers to 2500 UR points!

The big caveat here is that the Chase Freedom is subject to the 5/24 rule, meaning that you won’t be able to get the card if you’ve opened five new credit card accounts in the last 24 months from any bank/credit card issuer. 

The links in the article are referral links, it just helps me get some miles so I can continue traveling and bringing you more tips to do the same!  If you don’t want to use them just go on the Chase website and apply yourself. The reason I recommend this card is because it is a great tool that I use on a regular basis.

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