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Don’t forget that this quarter’s bonus categories are: Lyft, Walgreens, and Gas Stations. Don’t forget, by the book, the Chase Freedom is a cash back card, but we know better. Don’t forget, ( Ok I’ll stop saying that ) that this card is a point making machine when combined with another Chase card that earns premium Ultimate Rewards. Remember ;), you can earn 5x points/cash back on up to $1500 worth of spend each quarter on bonus categories. This quarter presents a great opportunity to hit this max by being strategic on your purchases. The most important part of these bonus categories is activation, so if you haven’t done so, do it below, and then make sure you use your Freedom when visiting Gas Stations, Walgreens, and using Lyft.
You can activate here:
Walgreen’s should be a great option to maximize the 5x bonus points on $1500 spend.
YMMV, but I’ve found the Walgreen’s in my area to be fine with visa gift card purchases. Each quarter I have a health insurance premium that I need to pay, and each quarter this year I’ve used a gift card that I purchased with my Chase Freedom. This way I’m earning 5x points on purchases that I’d otherwise earn one point per dollar. You’ll incur an activation fee, mine are typically $5.95, but it’s well worth paying a $6 premium to extract all the bonus points I can out of my purchases.
Don’t have a Freedom?
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The Feature Pic is from EVA’s Royal Laurel Business Class. One of the best in the sky.
I used Ultimate Rewards to transfer into Singapore Airlines to access this award. Cost just 27,500 miles and was an incredible way to fly intra-asia. If you were to maximize each quarter’s $1500 bonus category you’d end the year with 30k miles, more than enough to experience the same route as I did.
I guess this will do 😉
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.
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