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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 🙂
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
A Monkey Miles favorite for beginners and point pros alike – a staple of our wallet that earns Premium transferrable Ultimate Rewards. $95 annual fee
♥ Earn 60k Bonus Points after $4k Spend in 3 months
♥Points are transferrable to over dozen partners, or redeemable for 1.25c in Chase travel
♥5x on travel purchased via Chase Travel and 2x everywhere else
♥3x on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out
♥3x on select streaming
♥ 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs
♥ $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards. *New cardmembers can get this credit immediately – existing cardmembers get it after anniversary
♥ 10% Anniversary Point Bonus. Spend $10k in a year, get 1k bonus points.
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