We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Yep, it’s true. And I just did it.
Chase Freedom offers rotating 5x bonus categories every quarter, up to $1500 in total purchases. This quarter it’s Walmart and Department Stores. With the Christmas and holiday season approaching, a lot of cardmembers will easily hit the $1500 maximum and wish that they could spend more at an elevated 5x bonus. An option that isn’t widely written about, is the possibility of carrying more than 1 Chase Freedom. Yes, this is a thing, and you can do it.
I carried a Chase Sapphire Preferred, Reserve, and a Freedom.
I don’t really need a Sapphire Preferred and Reserve. The Reserve is a far better card to keep, yet I don’t want to completely close my Sapphire Preferred as it would hurt my credit. The solution?
Downgrade the Sapphire Preferred into a Freedom.
My annual fee was due in September. I debated keeping the card open with the new restrictions ( unless you concurrently hold a Reserve and Preferred you’ll not be able to get both at the same time), but ultimately decided it wasn’t worth the annual fee. I called up Chase and asked for downgrade options. I was given 2 options: The Freedom Unlimited or the normal Freedom. I love the quarterly bonuses and opted to double up on Freedom.
If you currently carry a Chase Freedom you can not sign up for another one. You can only get a 2nd one with a downgrade from a premium card.
This way I can actually have 5x bonus categories on TWO cards. Each having a maximum bonus of $1500, totaling $3000 per quarter, or $12,000 for the year. That’s 60k points a year with just $1000 a month in spend.
65k points will fly you from the U.S. to Europe in Singapore Airlines Fantastic Business Class. Nearly what I’ll earn in bonus points from these two cards.
You can also fly in Lufthansa First Class ( in the Feature Picture) for 80k points transferred into Singapore Airlines.
Don’t have a Freedom? We’d appreciate you using our referral link 🙂
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
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
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® is exceptional 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: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.