If you are financially disciplined enough to track your spending and pay off your credit card balances each month, then having more than one rewards credit card can let you earn and redeem rewards faster.
Pick two rewards credit cards that have complementary earning structures, benefits and redemption options, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. While both cards are excellent in their own right, together they’re even more rewarding. They offer different bonus categories that enhance each other and give the opportunity to pool your points for better redemption options down the line.
Here’s how pairing the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Chase Freedom Unlimited can help you maximize both cards’ potential.
- Intro Balance Transfer APR
- N/A
- Intro Purchase APR
- N/A
- Regular APR
- 21.49% – 28.49% Variable
- Balance Transfer Fee
- Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
- Intro Balance Transfer APR
- N/A
- Intro Purchase APR
- N/A
- Regular APR
- 21.49% – 28.49% Variable
- Balance Transfer Fee
- Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
- Intro Balance Transfer APR
- 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers for 15 months
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% Intro APR on Purchases for 15 months
- Regular APR
- 20.49% – 29.24% Variable
- Balance Transfer Fee
- Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
- Intro Balance Transfer APR
- 0% Intro APR on Balance Transfers for 15 months
- Intro Purchase APR
- 0% Intro APR on Purchases for 15 months
- Regular APR
- 20.49% – 29.24% Variable
- Balance Transfer Fee
- Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Why you should pair the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom Unlimited
Welcome bonuses
Welcome bonuses are the best way to rack up lots of points quickly, and two welcome bonuses are better than one. The Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you 60,000 points worth $750 in travel when you spend $4,000 on purchases within three months of account opening. The Chase Freedom Unlimited’s welcome bonus earns an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy (on up to $20,000 spent in the first year), worth up to $300 cash back. Combined, that’s up to a $1,050 value depending on how you redeem your points.
Just remember that you have to apply for each of these cards separately and you may want to wait a few months between applications to maximize your chances of approval.
You’ll also want to keep in mind Chase’s unofficial 5/24 rule, where Chase won’t approve you for a credit card if you’ve opened more than five cards from any issuer in the past 24 months. If you plan to get multiple credit cards, make sure you apply for the Chase cards you want before applying for cards from other issuers.
Earning and redeeming rewards
Pairing the Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited cards can also help you earn more rewards over time when you use each card strategically in their respective bonus categories. Because the cards offer different rewards rates in different categories (though some overlap), you have more opportunities to earn elevated rewards on your everyday spending than if you only held one card.
On the redemption end, Chase lets cardholders pool all their rewards in a single account for seamless and convenient redemptions. Though most of the cards in Chase’s 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 your rewards for travel booked through Chase Travel℠, and the option to transfer points to Chase airline and hotel partners at 1:1 ratio. However, by transferring points earned on your Chase Freedom Unlimited to your Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can access the Preferred’s redemption options and get more value out of your points.
How to use your credit cards together
For the most part, you’ll use whichever card yields the most rewards for every purchase you make. Here’s a rundown of how you could use these cards together:
- Use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for dining, online grocery purchases, select streaming services and travel. This will net you 5x points on travel booked through Chase Travel, 2x points on other travel and 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases and select streaming services. Through March 31, 2025, you can also earn 5x points on Lyft rides.
- Use the Chase Freedom Unlimited for drugstore purchases and all other spending. While the Chase Freedom Unlimited® has some overlapping bonus categories with the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, it really shines because it offers 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and 1.5% cash back on everything else you buy.
By using these two cards for the purchases they earn the most rewards in, you can ultimately earn 5x points on travel booked through Chase and Lyft rides, 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases and select streaming services and 2x points on travel purchases not booked through Chase.
You would also earn 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and 1.5% cash back on everything else, which would ultimately be converted to 3x points and 1.5x points per dollar spent in these categories, respectively.
Maximizing and transferring points
The main reason to have both of these cards is to pool rewards in your Chase Sapphire Preferred account for better travel redemptions. The Chase Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more value when you use points to book travel through Chase Travel, and it lets you transfer points to the program’s airline and hotel partners.
Chase Ultimate Rewards partners, which all allow transfers at a 1:1 point ratio (with occasional transfer bonuses that may give you more value for your points) include the following:
Airline 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 Airlines Rapid Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hotel partners
- IHG® Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy®
- World of Hyatt®
Unlike redemptions directly through Chase, which gives a flat value for your points, the value of your points can vary widely when you transfer them to travel partners.
Once you transfer your points to a hotel or airline, they become the rewards currency of that hotel or airline’s own loyalty program, subject to their own rules and redemption rates. You can then book your travel directly through the airline or hotel.
According to recent valuations from Bankrate, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth around 2 cents apiece on average when transferred to travel partners, and sometimes much more. Although redeeming your points in this manner takes some additional legwork to find a good deal, it gives you a lot more bang for your buck compared to the one cent/point you’d get from cash back or statement credit if you redeemed your rewards via the Chase Freedom Unlimited’s redemption options.
Should I upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve?
While pairing the Chase Freedom Unlimited with the Chase Sapphire Preferred can make a lot of sense if you want better travel redemptions and the ability to maximize rewards on everyday spending, there’s another potential card to pair the Freedom Unlimited with -- the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
While it charges a $550 annual fee, the Sapphire Reserve’s premium travel benefits and enhanced rewards potential for travel can make sense for jet-setters and people who want an upgraded experience at the airport.
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, cardholders automatically get a $300 annual travel credit that applies to any travel purchase charged to the card as well as a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership that’s valued at $469. Members also get 50% more value when redeeming their points for travel through the Chase Travel portal.
Earning rates for the Chase Sapphire Reserve also pair well with the Chase Freedom Unlimited. With this premium travel credit card, it’s possible to earn:
- 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase Travel (after the $300 travel credit has been applied)
- 10x points on Chase Dining purchases
- 5x total points on flights through Chase Travel (after the $300 travel credit has been applied)
- 3x points on other travel and dining
- 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases
If you can fully take advantage of everything the Sapphire Reserve offers, and you have the travel budget to match, you’d get more value from it than you would with the Sapphire Preferred.
Other cards that pair well with the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Freedom Unlimited
There are several other rewards credit cards that pair well with these two cards, either because they also earn Ultimate Rewards points or for their superior rewards rates in other categories. If you want more than two credit cards, consider the following options:
Within the Chase ecosystem:
- Chase Freedom Flex: The Chase Freedom Flex* offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 spent in rotating bonus categories that change each quarter you activate (then 1% back), plus 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases and 1% back on everything else. Like with the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you can pool all your rewards in your Chase Sapphire Preferred account for superior travel redemptions. 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 to earn Ultimate Rewards points on your business spending. As with the Chase Freedom Unlimited and Chase Freedom Flex, you can pool your points onto a Sapphire card (or the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, if you prefer a business travel card) to access the Chase Travel redemption bonus and 1:1 transfers to travel partners.
Outside the Chase ecosystem:
- Citi Premier® Card: The Citi Premier® Card offers a different, but no less useful, rewards ecosystem than Chase cards. Citi ThankYou points can be used for flexible options like gift cards, cash back, merchandise, travel through Citi or point transfers to Citi’s 18 airline and hotel partners. This card also comes with a generous welcome offer and solid travel rewards.
- Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express: Finally, consider the Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express* if you want to earn cash back on everyday purchases with no annual fee. Unlike the previous cards, the Blue Cash Everyday earns cash back, not flexible rewards points. Cash Back is received in the form of Reward Dollars that can be redeemed as a statement credit. As such, you can’t transfer your points to travel partners, but the card’s high rewards rates in common everyday spending categories make it a good option if you want a simple way to earn a return on your spending.
Bottom line
While having one solid rewards credit card can help you get something back on most or all of your spending, using a few really good cards strategically can be even better. This is especially true when you’re pairing Chase credit cards that let you pool your points in a travel card account for better redemptions.
That said, it’s important to remember that having more than one credit card means juggling multiple bills and payments each month. Also, be aware that credit cards charge high interest rates that can make carrying debt very costly in a hurry, so focus on building good habits like paying your bill on time and in full every month before worrying about maximizing points.
Our advice? Try out a single rewards card for several months until you’re sure you can rack up points without accruing debt. Once you’re sure you’re ready to add new cards, you can pair a few different options to level up your rewards.
FAQs
There are no specific limits on 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 rule from Chase that says you cannot get approved for a new Chase credit card if you have had five or more new credit cards from any issuer over the previous 24 months.
*All information about the Chase Freedom Flex and Blue Cash Everyday Card from American Express has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
The editorial content on this page is based solely on objective, independent assessments by our writers and is not influenced by advertising or partnerships. It has not been provided or commissioned by any third party. However, we may receive compensation when you click on links to products or services offered by our partners.
