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Outside of collecting big signup bonuses, earning the maximum number of points for every purchase should be the goal for points and miles enthusiasts. However, with so many credit cards available — each with different earning rates and benefits — it’s easy to overcomplicate the process. But if you have the right Chase credit card combination, you can keep it simple and stack valuable rewards quickly.
Here are some of the best Chase credit card combinations to help grow your Ultimate Rewards balance in a flash.
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How to Build the Best Chase Credit Card Combination
Chase currently offers three cards that earn Ultimate Rewards directly on all eligible purchases:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
- Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
In addition, the following cards earn cash back, which you can combine with your Ultimate Rewards balance if you have one of the cards above. And, best of all, none of these cards have an annual fee:
- Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees)
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
- Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
Choosing a few of these cards to maximize point-earning rates on your purchases is an easy way to quickly earn Ultimate Rewards points. However, you must hold either the Sapphire Reserve, Sapphire Preferred, or Ink Preferred to earn Ultimate Rewards that you can redeem with Chase's transfer partners. Otherwise, you will earn cash back instead of points, which you can only redeem less valuable ways.
The Best 2-Card Chase Credit Card Combination
If you desire a simple rewards strategy to minimize the number of cards in your wallet, we recommend combining the Sapphire Reserve with the Freedom Unlimited.
Even before new cardmember offers and temporary promotions, the Freedom Unlimited‘s base earning rate is 5% on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% on dining at restaurants and drugstores, and 1.5% on other eligible purchases, making it one of the most rewarding cards available for everyday spending.
By comparison, the Sapphire Reserve offers 3x points on travel and dining, has an annual $300 travel credit, elevated redemption rate of 1.5¢ per point when booking through the Chase Travel℠ Portal, complimentary access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, credit to reimburse your application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, and charges no foreign transaction fees.
With this two-card pairing, you have access to outstanding travel benefits and the ability to transfer points to partners — while only needing two cards in your wallet. The Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550, while the Sapphire Reserve has no annual fee.
- Earn 5% on purchases through Chase Travel℠
- Earn 3% on dining at restaurants
- Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
- Earn 1.5% on all purchases
- 10X points on hotels and car rentals purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 10X points on Chase Dining (including prepaid reservations and prepaid takeout purchased through Chase)
- 5X points on airfare purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on all other travel
- 3X points on dining at restaurants
- 1X points on all other purchases
Maximizing your earnings
Make sure to use your Sapphire Reserve for dining and travel purchases to earn 3x points per $1 spent (or up to 10x if booking travel in Chase's portal). Utilize your Freedom Unlimited for drugstore purchases (3x) and all other purchases (minimum 1.5x). Then, you can combine the rewards online to have all Ultimate Rewards points rather than a mix of points and cash back.
Keep in mind that you'll want to use your Sapphire Reserve for any foreign transactions as the Freedom Unlimited has foreign transaction fees.
Note: If you’re new to earning points and miles or don’t think you’ll take full advantage of the travel benefits associated with the Sapphire Reserve, you can replace it with the Sapphire Preferred, which comes with a lower annual fee of $95. The Sapphire Preferred earns 5X on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ (2X on all other travel purchases); 3X on dining, select streaming services, and online groceries; and 1X on all other purchases.
The Best 3-Card Chase Credit Card Combination
By adding the Freedom Flex to go with the Sapphire Reserve and Freedom Unlimited, you can take advantage of rotating quarterly 5% category bonuses. These elevated earning rates apply to the first $1,500 in combined eligible purchases each quarter — making this one of the best Chase credit card combinations out there if you want to earn a lot of points.
Better yet, the Freedom Flex has no annual fee, so it won't cost you anything to add this card to your wallet.
- Earn 5% on up to $1,500 on combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter you activate
- Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Earn 3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services
- Earn 3% on drugstore purchases
- Earn 1% on all other purchases
Maximizing your earnings
Use your Freedom Flex on purchases covered by a quarterly category bonus (5x), your Sapphire Reserve for dining (3x) and travel (3x–10x, depending on what and where you book), and your Freedom Unlimited for drugstore purchases (3x) as well as all other purchases (1.5x).
The Best 4- or 5-Card Chase Credit Card Combination
To take advantage of a four- or five-card strategy, you’ll need to add a Chase Ink-branded business card to your rewards arsenal. And you can round out your Chase credit card combination with one (or multiple) of the products below:
- The Ink Preferred earns 3x points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year, in addition to offering cell phone insurance covering up to $1,000 per claim. You'll have to pay your credit card bill with this card in order to use this benefit. This card also has access to transfer partners, while the cards below don't (unless you have an eligible card to pair it with).
- The Ink Cash earns 5% cash back at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV services and 2% cash back at gas stations and restaurants on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases each account anniversary year. Points earned on Ink Cash can be transferred to the Ink Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, or Sapphire Preferred for transfer partner redemptions.
- The Ink Unlimited earns a flat 1.5% (1.5x points) on all purchases. There's no limit on the amount of cashback or points you can earn.
- 3X points per $1 on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases on travel, shipping purchases, Internet, cable and phone services, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines each account anniversary year
- 1X point per $1 on all other purchases
- 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year
- 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants each account anniversary year
- 1% cash back on all other card purchases with no limit to the amount you can earn
- Earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase made for your business
While Chase also offers the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), its cash-back earnings cannot be transferred into Ultimate Rewards.
Which Ink-branded card should you add to your Chase combination?
Our pick for the best Ultimate Rewards credit card combo is the premium Sapphire Reserve with these no-annual-fee cards: Freedom Unlimited, Freedom Flex, and Ink Cash.
Taking the combo above and adding the Ink Cash adds earnings of up to 5x at office supply stores. You'll also earn 5x on internet, cable, and phone bills. Plus, you'll earn up to 2x back at gas stations.
Maximizing your earnings
Take the logic from our previous examples and apply it to the 5x and 2x earning categories associated with the Ink Cash, as well as with the 3x earning categories on the Ink Preferred. Doing so will determine which Chase business card will earn you more points from your spending habits.
Use the table below to see which Chase card earns the highest number of points in common spending categories:
| Spending Category | Chase Card To Use | Point Earning Rate |
|---|---|---|
| Travel (purchased outside of Chase) | Sapphire Reserve | 3x |
| Dining | Sapphire Reserve / Sapphire Preferred | 3x |
| Travel (purchased via Chase) | Freedom Unlimited | 5x |
| Drugstores | Freedom Unlimited | 3x |
| All other purchases | Freedom Unlimited | 1.5x |
| Quarterly spending categories | Freedom Flex | 5x |
| Online grocery purchases | Sapphire Preferred | 3x |
| Streaming services | Sapphire Preferred | 3x |
| Office supply stores | Ink Cash | 5x |
| Internet, cable, and phone bills | Ink Cash | 5x |
| Gas stations | Ink Cash | 2x |
| Shipping | Ink Preferred | 3x |
| Advertising | Ink Preferred | 3x |
Related: 22 Different Ways To Redeem Ultimate Rewards
Be Aware of Chase's Application Restrictions
Before submitting an application for any Chase card (personal or business), you should note that there are application restrictions at play that can determine your eligibility:
- 5/24: If you’ve opened five or more new credit cards in the previous 24 months (across any card issuer), it's unlikely that you'll be approved for any Chase credit cards. While applications for Chase business cards are also subject to the 5/24 rule, the 5/24 rule does not count opening a Chase business card as one of the five cards opened in the last 24 months. If you plan on utilizing Chase cards to earn points and miles, we strongly recommend picking up all the Ultimate Rewards earning cards you can while under the 5/24 limit.
- 2/30: Chase typically won't approve you for more than two cards in 30 days, and there is a maximum approval of one business card in a 30-day period. This information isn't published anywhere. It's crowdsourced and based on the information we've gathered, along with information provided by our readers.
- Sapphire-branded cards: Chase prevents applicants who currently hold a Sapphire-branded card or have received a bonus for one in the previous 48 months from applying for another card within the namesake family of cards.
Check out our post on understanding credit card application rules and restrictions to learn more.
Final Thoughts
Sign-up bonuses should just be one part of your overall credit card strategy to earn rewards. By utilizing the combinations detailed above, you can continue to grow your balances on everyday spending. Then, when it's time to redeem, check out our posts on the best ways to use those points. We hope this post helped you find the best Chase credit card combination for your wallet.
Have a favorite Ultimate Rewards earning combo? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (Rates & Fees)
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