The credit card reward space is heating up again. You care, because huge bonuses mean the potential to earn $1000’s in future travel, without leaving home.
Even though people aren’t traveling in big numbers right now, there’s more opportunity than ever to stock up on points and miles which fuel future journeys, whenever they may be. A variety of lucrative rewards credit cards have their best ever offers right now, but there’s one combo which ticks so many boxes, including low annual fees.
Two Card Combos Are Great
Signing up for rewards cards in a series of two card combos can be a clever play, allowing you to cover different bases with each card, but use the rewards in tandem for incredible trips. Some cards even make points from another more valuable.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Flex combo is easily one of the best combos on the market, with Chase offering an all time high 80,000 point bonus on the $95 annual fee Sapphire Preferred, and 20,000 point bonus on the no annual fee Freedom Flex.
On its own, Freedom Flex is a cash back card, with huge earning rates on a variety of things you inevitably spend on. But paired with Sapphire Preferred, the points can then be transferred into airline miles, hotel points, or used at 1.25 cents a piece for travel without blackout dates, via Chase Travel, which is powered by Expedia.
In other words, these two cards could pool together to bring you 100,000 points, good for airline or hotel points transfers, or $1250 in travel the way you want it, and when you want it, booked via Chase Travel.
The Case For Freedom Flex
Freedom Flex is the newest Chase credit card, offering incredible earning rates like 5X points on travel booked with Chase Travel, 5X points on groceries for your first year, 5X rotating categories each quarter, like Amazon and Walmart. It doesn’t stop there! Flex also offers 3X on dining, takeout and delivery, as well as pharmacies and drug stores.
Again, this is a card with no annual fee, and huge upside. It earns you points from daily purchases better than many cards with $450 annual fees, and you can earn the 20,000 point bonus after just $500 in spending in the first three months of card membership.
The Case For Sapphire Preferred
Chase Sapphire Preferred brings the weight of the rewards in this compelling combo, turning a $95 annual fee into at least $1,000 in travel rewards via the welcome bonus of 80,000 Chase Ultimate Reward Points.
The card is a leader in low annual fee travel protections, including primary rental car collision coverage, trip delay insurance and trip cancellation insurance as well. With 2X earning on travel and dining, it’s not the most compelling card for spending, but that’s why you pair it with the Chase Freedom Flex.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred limited time 80,000 point bonus is worth $1000 toward travel on Chase Travel by Expedia, and requires $4,000 in spending in the first three months of card membership. For people who can pay rent or other daily expenses via card, it’s a no brainer.
Putting 100,000 Points Together
Once you earn 20,000 points from Freedom Flex and 80,000 from Sapphire Preferred, you’re able to combine them into 100,000 Sapphire Preferred Points. You want to do that, because they’re worth 1.25x more than otherwise. The combined 100,000 points can be used to cover $1250 in travel booked at Chase Travel by Expedia, which brings blackout free options.
Put simply, you can use some, or all of your $1250 in rewards to cover some or all of a purchase. If you wanted to book a $2,000 vacation, you’d be able to cash in your points and pay just $750. If you wanted to book a $1000 trip, you could use 80,000 points and still have 20,000 points worth $250 left over.
Chase also allows you to transfer Sapphire Preferred Points into points with a variety of transfer partners, including: Hyatt, Hilton, Southwest Virgin Atlantic, United, British Airways and more. This creates opportunities to extract higher value out of the points, by making use of award charts from each program.
For example, a top fo the range property booked with World Of Hyatt Points may cost 30,000 points, and cover a room worth $1000 per night, thereby making 90,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points, which you can transfer into Hyatt, worth over $3,000.
Huge Rewards Without Huge Spending
Taking up this lucrative duo would require $4,500 in spend to trigger the bonuses of both cards, $4,000 in three months for Sapphire Preferred, and $500 in three months for Freedom Flex. Since Freedom Flex has no annual fee, you’d be on the hook for just $95 in the first year, which can easily be offset via the travel protections or DoorDash fee free delivery pass.
Being able to turn $4,500 of every day essential spending, and perhaps a few nice meals into at least $1250 to fuel future travel is a brilliant proposition, and the points don’t expire as long as your cards remain open.
Basically, there’s no stress about using them now, or even soon. Just keep earning via the huge spending bonuses on Freedom Flex, and enjoy the rewards when you feel like it. Check out the offers for Chase Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Flex.
