Freedom

On the last entry I mentioned some of my top favorite Cash Back credit cards. Of those mentioned two hold a special place near and dear to my heart. These are the Chase Freedom® and the Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit cards. Below are some of the reasons why these two are so valuable to me.

Flexibility

Both cards accumulate points and these points can then be redeemed for cash back and gift cards. You could also book travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal or transfer your points to different travel partners (more details on this later, so keep reading).

Earning Points

As a refresher, the Chase Freedom card earns 5% Cash Back on up to $1500 in combined purchases in bonus categories each quarter and 1% on all other purchases. As for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card, you earn a flat 1.5% on all purchases. You can also take advantage and earn even more points when you shop online through the Ultimate Rewards Portal. Select stores offer additional cash back earning potential by going through Chase’s link.

Travel Partners

As mentioned in point #1 you may redeem your points with up to 13 different travel partners:

9 Airlines

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• British Airways Executive Club
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• Korean Air SkyPass
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Iberia Plus

4 Hotels

• World of Hyatt
• Marriott Rewards
• IHG Rewards Club
• The Ritz-Carlton Rewards

All points transfer at a 1:1 ratio in increments of 1,000 points (meaning 1,000 Ultimate Rewards Points transfer to 1,000 miles or points). Most transfers are Instant except for Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer. VERY IMPORTANT— In order to transfer points to the travel partners you must also have a Premium Chase credit card such as a Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or the Chase Ink Business Preferred. I will go into more details regarding these last cards in my next post and I will specify how I use these cards to unlock all their potential.

Now that I have mentioned these benefits, keep in mind that I recommended both the Freedom and the Freedom Unlimited cards for beginners since they have No Annual Fees and their credit score requirements are not as stringent as for some of their premium credit cards. Nevertheless, I would like to mention that if and once you are able to obtain one of their premium cards (such as the Chase Ink Business Preferred, Sapphire Preferred or the Sapphire Reserve) you can take advantage of transferring points to one of the above mentioned travel partners. One other benefit of obtaining a premium card is unlocking discounts when redeeming points for traveling through their portal. These last two features make the redemption of points for Cash Back and gift cards less valuable and therefore not the best use of said points.

May the points game begin!

 

Remember to subscribe to be notified of the next post via email!