Cards Required to Transfer Chase Points to Partners: The Cornerstone of Your Chase Strategy

Chase’s travel rewards credit cards can play a significant role in any robust points and miles strategy since they offer some of the most lucrative bonus spending categories, cardholder perks and travel protections on the market. Additionally, Chase Ultimate Rewards points are a fully transferable rewards currency, opening up endless opportunities for sweet-spot award travel redemptions.

However, navigating Chase’s wide array of cards, from cashback and fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards to co-branded airline and hotel cards, can prove challenging. This becomes particularly complicated if you’re a novice points and miles enthusiast.

On top of that, Chase’s 5/24 rule—the unofficial application rule that limits your application for a new Chase card if you’ve opened five or more cards with any issuer in the last 24 months—makes it even more crucial that you select the right Chase cards early in your points and miles adventure.

In this article, we’ll cover the basics of Chase’s cashback and transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards, and how the latter variety plays a key role in any Chase card combo strategy. We’ll also discuss different Chase card combos you can pursue to maximize your rewards earnings while minimizing the annual fees you pay.

Chase Credit Cards: An Overview

Chase’s travel rewards credit cards come in four varieties:

1. Fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards
2. “Cashback” cards
3. Co-branded airline cards
4. Co-branded hotel cards

Chase’s co-branded airline and hotel cards earn points (or miles) with the specific airline or hotel that co-issues them. For instance, Chase’s range of co-branded United Airlines cards earn United MileagePlus points while its co-branded Marriott Bonvoy cards earn Marriott points. While Chase’s co-branded cards can certainly form a key part of a successful card strategy, they’re not the focus of this article.

Aside from Chase’s co-branded cards are its “cashback” and fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards.

Chase’s fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards allow you to do exactly what the name suggests—transfer your earnings to any of Chase’s 14 airline and hotel transfer partners. These transfers typically net you the greatest value when it comes to maximizing your points.

On the other hand, Chase’s so-called “cashback” cards also earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points. However, Ultimate Rewards points earned on these cards can be redeemed as cash back only, unless you simultaneously hold an eligible fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning card from Chase.

If you hold a cashback card from Chase and a fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning card, you’re able to transfer your “cashback” points (i.e. your non-transferable Ultimate Rewards points) from the former card to the latter card. This enables you to then transfer these rewards to Chase’s full range of airline and hotel partners.

By pursuing this strategy—holding a cashback card and a fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning card—you can maximize your earnings and expand your redemption opportunities without paying any extra annual fees.

Which Cards Do You Need to Transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards to Partners?

Chase has up to 14 airline and hotel transfer partners to whom you can transfer your hard-earned Ultimate Rewards points. These include the following rewards programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• IHG Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy
• World of Hyatt

But to transfer your cashback to Chase Ultimate Rewards points, you need to hold the right card.

The following two consumer cards and one small business card enable you to earn fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points and accept point transfers from Chase’s cashback cards:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
• Chase Sapphire Reserve®
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card

The Chase Sapphire cards are some of Chase’s most popular travel rewards cards. The Chase Sapphire Reserve offers luxury travel perks, robust bonus spending categories and heavyweight travel protections, for an annual fee of $550. From a complimentary Priority Pass Select membership to an annual $300 travel statement credit, the frequent traveler will offset the Sapphire Reserve’s annual fee with ease. Bear in mind though that points are not earned until after the first $300 is spent annually on purchases in the travel category.

In contrast, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a similar range of bonus spending categories and travel protection benefits, with slightly fewer luxury perks compared to its sibling card, for a lower annual fee of $95. For those looking to balance card benefits with annual fees, the Sapphire Preferred is hard to beat.

Finally, the Ink Business Preferred Credit Card offers small business owners lucrative rewards on typical everyday business expenses in addition to solid travel protection perks.

As long as you hold one of these cards, you’ll be able to transfer points earned on Chase cashback cards to your account for lucrative award travel redemptions with Chase’s travel partners.

In addition to allowing point transfers to all of Chase’s travel partners, these three cards also offer high fixed redemption rates for award travel purchases made through Chase Travel℠: 1.25 cents apiece for Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Preferred cardholders and 1.5 cents apiece for Sapphire Reserve cardholders.

Which Chase Cashback Cards Allow Point Transfers to Ultimate Rewards Cards?

Once you have a Chase Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card, you’re set for lucrative point transfers to Chase airline and hotel partners. But if you’re looking to maximize your earnings with a two-card combo strategy, holding a Chase Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card is just half of the puzzle.

The next task is to open a Chase cashback card that allows you to transfer your earnings to your Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card.

You can choose from the following two Chase Freedom cards and two Ink Business cards, all of which have $0 annual fees:

• Chase Freedom Flex®
• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
• Ink Business Cash® Credit Card

The Chase Freedom Flex offers a lucrative quarterly-rotating 5% cashback bonus category as well as fixed cashback categories. It’s a solid choice if you don’t mind staying on top of the quarterly rotating category (which requires activation).

In contrast, the Freedom Flex’s sibling—the Chase Freedom Unlimited—offers cardholders a simple yet lucrative rewards structure. Among other bonus categories, the card earns a solid baseline 1.5% cashback rewards rate. That makes it perfect for funding purchases that don’t fall into any other bonus categories, ensuring you always earn 1.5% cash back on every dollar spent.

For small business owners seeking competitive rewards on common business purchases, the Ink Business Cash Card is a solid choice. You can earn up to $1,250 in cash back in its 5% category and up to $500 in its 2% category, assuming you hit the annual spending caps.

If you’re a small business owner hankering for simplicity, the Ink Business Unlimited could be the card for you. Like its consumer card counterpart, the Ink Business Preferred earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases, enabling you to pull the card out in every situation—be it for utility bills or tax payments.

All of these $0 annual fee cashback cards earn points that you can transfer to your Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card. From there, you’ll be able to use your converted cashback earnings as Ultimate Rewards points for transfers to any of Chase’s airline and hotel partners.

Chase Two-Card Combo Strategies

Now that we’ve covered which cards you need to convert your cashback earnings to fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points, the next question is which cards you should choose.

Depending on your spending habits, travel goals, 5/24 status and whether or not you qualify for a small business card, there are different card combinations available to you.

Let’s run through the best options when it comes to creating your Chase card strategy.

Chase Two-Card Combo Strategy: Classic Version

One of the most common two-card combo strategies is combining the Chase Sapphire Reserve with the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex.

If you combined the Sapphire Reserve with the Freedom Unlimited, you’d be able to earn 1.5X points on non-bonus category spending as well as 3X points on drugstore purchases.

According to a study by Forbes, Americans spend an average of $5,151.96 per year on utility bills. If you charged this spending to your Freedom Unlimited, you’d earn 7,727 Ultimate Rewards points after converting your cashback earnings to transferable Ultimate Rewards points in your Sapphire Reserve account. That’s an extra 2,576 points you’d earn, simply by charging your expenditure to your Freedom Unlimited and transferring your points to your Sapphire account.

You can then redeem these extra points for 1.5 cents apiece through Chase Travel℠ or transfer them to one of Chase’s partners for even higher per-point redemption rates.

Alternatively, if you combined the Sapphire Reserve with the Freedom Flex, you could take advantage of the 5% rotating cashback bonus category for even more lucrative rewards.

The Freedom Flex’s 5% category can earn you up to $75 in cash back per quarter, adding up to $300 annually, assuming you hit the maximum spending cap of $1,500 each quarter. If you then transferred these earnings to your Sapphire Reserve account, they would be converted to 30,000 fully transferable Ultimate Rewards points. If you were to then redeem these 30,000 points at 1.5 cents apiece through Chase Travel℠, they’d be worth $450.

In both examples, you’ll only have to continue paying the Sapphire Reserve’s $550 annual fee without having to pay anything extra for the Freedom Unlimited or Flex. It’s a win-win situation whereby the only cost you’ll incur is an extra spot taken in your 5/24 count.

Chase Two-Card Combo Strategy: Lite Version

An alternative but similar two-card combo strategy is to hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card alongside either the Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited.

By pursuing this strategy, you’ll need to fork out $95 in annual fees, compared to the $550 annual fee incurred by holding the Sapphire Reserve card.

Combining the Sapphire Preferred card with the Freedom Flex means you could still earn up to 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points in the Flex’s rotating 5% category, which you could then redeem at 1.25 cents apiece through Chase Travel℠ for a value of $375. Alternatively, you could transfer these points to any of Chase’s travel partners for sweet-spot award redemptions.

Chase Two-Business Card Combo Strategy

If you’re a small business owner looking to maximize your earnings across Ink Business cards, you can apply the same card combo strategy. You can pair the Ink Business Preferred with either the Ink Business Cash or Ink Business Unlimited card, all for the same annual fee of $95.

If you pair your Ink Business Preferred with your Ink Business Unlimited, you’ll enjoy 1.5X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent on all non-bonus category purchases. Depending on how much your business spends on miscellaneous purchases that fall outside of bonus categories, this high baseline rewards rate could be advantageous.

For example, if your business spent $20,000 on non-bonus category purchases, that would work out to 30,000 Ultimate Rewards points, which you could redeem for $375 through Chase Travel℠ or even more by transferring them to partners.

On the other hand, if you combine your Ink Business Preferred with your Ink Business Cash, you could take advantage of the Cash card’s 5% cash back on office supply stores, internet, cable and phone service purchases and 2% cash back on gas stations and restaurants.

If you hit the maximum spending caps of $25,000 in both categories, you’d earn $1,250 in cash back in the 5% category and $500 in the 2% category. If you transferred those earnings to your Ink Business Preferred account, you’d have 175,000 Ultimate Rewards points—enough for almost any award travel redemption. And if you redeem them through Chase Travel, they’d have a redemption value of $2,187.50.

Even if you hit the maximum spending cap in one category only, you’d still net yourself an extra 50,000 to 125,000 Ultimate Rewards points which—without the help of an Ink Cash and Preferred card—you wouldn’t otherwise be able to transfer to Chase’s airline and hotel partners.

The Chase Trifecta

When two cards aren’t enough, there’s always the option of three: enter the “Chase Trifecta.”

The Chase Trifecta is a term used to describe the simultaneous holding of both Freedom cards in addition to the Sapphire Reserve (or Sapphire Preferred).

The benefit of this method is the increased potential for rewards across a wider range of bonus spending categories. With the Freedom Unlimited, you’ll enjoy a baseline rewards rate of 1.5X points per dollar spent. With the Freedom Flex, you can earn between $375 and $450 worth of points each year by hitting the maximum spend every quarter in the 5% rotating cashback category.

With the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll benefit from its lucrative bonus spending categories with the ability to earn up to 10X points per dollar spent on certain purchases, while opening up to the possibility of partner transfers for your earnings across all three cards.

Armed with the Chase Trifecta, your bonus spending categories effectively become the following:

• 10X points on car rentals and hotels booked through Chase Travel℠ (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• 5X points on flights when purchased as travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• 5X points on rotating bonus spending categories on up to $1,500 in combined purchases every quarter
• 3X points on eligible delivery service purchases, takeout and dining out
• 3X points on travel purchases (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• 3X points on drugstores
• 1.5X points on all other purchases

The Chase Trifecta offers a powerhouse of rewards rates in which you’ll never earn less than 1.5X points per dollar spent and can even earn up to 10X points per dollar spent. Because the Freedom cards are both free of annual fees, the strategy costs you the same $550 you anyway pay for the Sapphire Reserve (or just $95 if shooting for the Sapphire Preferred).

That said, the Chase Trifecta costs you three spots in your 5/24 count, restricting you to just two more Chase card applications. You need to consider whether the cost to your 5/24 count is worth the benefits of the Chase Trifecta. By opting for the Chase Trifecta over a Chase two-card combo strategy, you’re essentially gaining just one extra bonus spending category—either 1.5X points per dollar spent or the quarterly rotating 5X points category.

Generally speaking, the earlier you are in your points and miles journey, the less advisable it is to pursue the Chase Trifecta. In most cases, you’ll be better off with a two-card Chase combo strategy, leaving you at 2/24 and enabling you to still apply for other Chase credit cards that offer a much wider range of additional perks and bonus spending categories.

The Chase Trifecta for the 5/24 Conscious

If you’re set on the Chase Trifecta but want to protect your 5/24 count, an alternative option is to swap out one of the Freedom cards for an Ink Business card.

Business cards don’t affect your 5/24 count (although your 5/24 count will still be considered during the application process). That means you could apply for and hold the Sapphire Reserve, Freedom Flex and Ink Business Unlimited while remaining at 2/24. That way, you’d get the one extra perk of the Chase Trifecta—1.5X points on non-bonus category spending—without the cost to your 5/24 count.

If you qualify for a small business card, this could be a solid option for maximizing your point earnings and redemption potential.

Two-Player Mode Chase Card Combo Strategies

If you’re looking to stay as economical as possible, consider pursuing a two-player mode card combo strategy.

Between you and your significant other or family member, one of you can open a Chase Sapphire Reserve (or Preferred) card account and the other can open a Freedom Unlimited or Flex card.

You can then combine your earnings by adding a household member to your Chase account. That way, you’ll be able to transfer your earnings between cards easily, opening up the opportunity to transfer to travel partners.

By pursuing this two-player mode two-card combo strategy, you’ll need to pay for one annual fee only between the both of you—either $550 or $95—while retaining all the same benefits of a two-card combo.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a fan of transferable points, it’s easy to forget about cashback cards. But Chase’s range of personal and business cashback cards can form the cornerstone of a solid card combo strategy when held simultaneously with a Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card.

Depending on your travel goals, spending habits, wider card strategy and 5/24 count, you may opt for one card combination over the other. Thankfully, the excellent cards offered by Chase have you covered with each offering a key part to play in your larger credit card strategy.

Once you’re set on your decision, get ready to start cashing in big rewards for lucrative award travel transfers.