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I recently wrote a couple articles detailing the Chase Freedom card: Wholesale Clubs and How to check your 5x category spend.
- I used points earned from such bonus categories to fly on United Global First on a Wedding trip in 2015.
In case you’re unfamiliar with Chase Freedom 5x Category bonus:
Every quarter the Chase Freedom Card gives a quarterly bonus on specific categories. The bonus applies to the first $1500 that you spend on those categories, each quarter, earning you $75 cash back or 7500 Ultimate reward points. It’s an absolutely fantastic way to earn bonus points on money that you would ordinarily spend. If you were to max out the categories each quarter you’d earn a total of 30,000 points on $6000 spend. A great way to earn more points and get you closer to some aspirational travel!
Technically the Chase Freedom card is a cash back card, so if getting a statement credit is your top priority you can use the credit you earn to get cash back on your statement. But, if you hold a premium, Ultimate Rewards earning credit card ( Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus or the retired Ink Bold ) and you’re more interested in using the points on travel, then you can transfer your accrued ‘cash back’ to one of those other cards and redeem Chase Ultimate Reward points.
$100 of cash back = 10,000 Ultimate Rewards
You can then use those Ultimate Rewards to transfer 1:1 to their Air and Hotel partners
- Air
- United Mileage Plus
- British Airways Avios
- Korean Air Skypass
- Singapore Krisflyer
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Air France Flying Blue
- Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Hotel
- Hyatt
- Marriott
- Ritz Carlton
- IHG
Here’s the current 2016 calendar:
You must activate those Chase Freedom 5x categories and today you can activate those categories for spend July – September. Click here or the images
You’ll see this after you’re activated and then you’re good to go! Start earning those 5x points
You could also Use your Ultimate Rewards to fly on Virgin Atlantic Upper Class like Miles did – everyone on the plane LOOOOOVED HIM!!!!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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