How Cashback Cards Can Benefit Your Chase Point Strategy

It’s easy to be misled by a name. But Chase’s range of “cashback” cards aren’t just for earning cash rewards. If you pair them with an eligible Ultimate Rewards card, you can convert your cash back into fully-transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

And not only can you do this—in most cases, you should.

By combining your earnings across multiple Chase cards, you can earn bonus rewards on certain purchases with one card where the other doesn’t and vice versa, while having your total earnings eligible for transfers to any of Chase’s 14 airline and hotel partners.

Let’s look at how to convert Chase cash back to points, compare Chase points vs. cash back, as well as check out some strategies for maximizing your earnings.

Cashback Cards and Chase Points

From general travel rewards cards to co-branded airline and hotel cards, Chase offers a variety of consumer and business credit cards, including some of the best $0 annual fee credit cards. Among its general travel rewards cards are three separate product families—Ink Business cards, Sapphire cards and Freedom cards.

Both Freedom cards, as well as three out of the four Ink Business cards, earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points that can be redeemed for cash back only. In contrast, both Chase Sapphire cards and the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card earn Ultimate Rewards points that can be transferred to Chase’s airline and hotel partners for lucrative award travel redemptions.

However, if you hold a Sapphire card or an Ink Business Preferred card in combination with one of Chase’s cashback cards, you can combine your rewards and then transfer them to Chase’s full range of airline and hotel partners.

The $0 Fee Chase Ink Cards

Whether you have a part-time side gig or run a full-time business, you could be eligible to apply for a Chase Ink Business card.

You have four Ink Business cards to choose from:

• Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card ($0 annual fee)
• Ink Business Cash® Credit Card ($0 annual fee)
• Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card ($95 annual fee)
• Ink Business Premier® Credit Card ($195 annual fee)

Unlike the other three cards, the Ink Business Premier Credit Card earns true cashback rewards that can’t be transferred to other Chase credit cards.

The Ink Business Unlimited Credit Card offers a simple rewards structure, making it perfect for small business owners wanting easy earnings. The card offers the following benefits:

• 1.5% cash back on all purchases
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Free employee cards

You can pull your Ink Business Unlimited card out in any situation and be comforted with the knowledge that you’re earning 1.5% cash back on every dollar spent. That makes it ideal for paying for purchases that fall outside of typical bonus spending categories, such as utility bills or tax payments.

Alternatively, the Ink Business Cash Credit Card comes with a wide range of lucrative cashback categories. It offers the following benefits:

• One-time 10% boost equivalent to 10% of all cash back earned in your first year of card membership, when you hold the Ink Business Cash card and have a Chase Business Checking account open
• 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services
• 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants
• 1% cash back on all other purchases
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

You could earn up to $1,250 in cash back in the Ink Business Cash card’s 5% category and up to $500 in its 2% category, assuming you hit their respective spending caps. The 10% cashback bonus, equivalent to 10% of your total cashback earnings in your first year of card membership, is also a sweet perk for boosting your rewards.

By holding one of these cards, you can earn a rewards multiplier on everyday business expenditure, which you can then leverage to take advantage of point transfers, assuming you hold an eligible Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card simultaneously. As the Ink Business Unlimited and the Ink Business Cash cards are both free of annual fees, it’s easy to keep one (or even both) in your wallet when pursuing this strategy.

Chase Freedom Cards

If you don’t qualify for a small-business card, don’t worry. The Chase Freedom cards offer lucrative cashback rewards to individuals for $0 annual fees. You have two Freedom cards to choose from:

• Chase Freedom Unlimited®
• Chase Freedom Flex®

The Chase Freedom Unlimited earns simple rewards that you can put to use across a range of bonus spending categories. It comes with the following benefits:

• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3% cash back on dining and at drugstores
• 1.5% cash back on all other purchases
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

In contrast, the Chase Freedom Flex offers a mix of rotating bonus spending categories (requiring quarterly activation) as well as fixed cashback categories. It comes with the following benefits:

• 5% cash back on rotating bonus spending categories on up to $1,500 in combined purchases every quarter
• 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3% cash back on dining and at drugstores
• 1% cash back on all other purchases
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

Both cards earn a competitive rate of 3% cash back on dining and drugstore purchases, the latter being a rare bonus spending category for any credit card. Likewise, they both earn 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠ making for lucrative rewards when it comes to cash bookings.

Where the Freedom Unlimited credit card stands out is with its baseline rewards rate of 1.5% cash back on all other purchases. Just like with the Ink Business Unlimited, the Freedom Unlimited is the perfect card when it comes to paying for purchases that fall outside of typical bonus spending categories. Whatever the weather, simply pull out your Freedom Unlimited and earn 1.5% cash back on every dollar spent.

On the other hand, the Freedom Flex stands out with its 5% quarterly rotating cashback categories. You can earn up to $300 back per year in this category alone ($75 per quarter). Everyday purchases, such as gas, EV charging stations, movie theaters, gyms, grocery shopping, Amazon.com purchases and more, are often included in the Freedom Flex’s rotating 5% category.

Chase’s Freedom products can play a key role in your wider card strategy. You can transfer your cashback earnings to fully transferable Ultimate Rewards-earning cards, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® or the Ink Business Preferred, for lucrative partner redemptions.

Converting Cash Back to Chase Points

As mentioned, holding a Sapphire or an Ink Preferred card in combination with one of Chase’s four eligible cashback cards enables you to transfer your rewards earned on the latter cards to one of the former cards.

You can transfer points between Chase accounts by first logging into the Chase card account from which you want to transfer points. For instance, let’s say you want to transfer rewards points between your Freedom Flex and Sapphire Reserve accounts.

Log into your Freedom Flex account and select the option “Combine Points.” From here, select which card you want to transfer points from and to which card account you want to send them.

Enter the exact number of points you want to transfer—no need to worry about a minimum amount or typing in multiples of 1,000. Once you’ve entered the number of points you want to transfer, confirm the transfer.

When your points arrive in your Sapphire or Ink Preferred account, you’ll then be able to transfer them to Chase’s full range of transfer partners or redeem them at high fixed rate values through Chase Travel℠.

Required Chase Cards for Redemption

While a cashback card alone won’t enable you to transfer your earnings, you luckily need only one of the following Chase Ultimate Rewards cards to initiate point transfers:

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

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a heavyweight travel rewards card, offering luxury perks, strong bonus spending categories and solid travel protections. For an annual fee of $550, the Sapphire Reserve includes the following benefits:

• $300 annual travel credit
• 10X points on car rentals and hotels booked through Chase Travel℠ (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• 10X points on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
• 5X points on flights purchased via Chase Travel℠ (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• 3X points on dining, including eligible delivery services and takeout
• 3X points on travel (applies after the first $300 is spent on annual travel purchases)
• Redeem points for 50% more value when used for travel purchases through Chase Travel℠ (1.5 cents per point).
• Up to $100 statement credit reimbursement for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck application fee, every four years
• Complimentary Priority Pass Select™ membership
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Trip delay insurance
• Lost luggage reimbursement
• Travel accident insurance
• Baggage delay insurance
• Emergency evacuation and transportation
• Emergency medical and dental benefit

This wide range of perks and strong bonus spending categories make offsetting its annual fee easy for the frequent traveler.

The Sapphire Reserve’s sibling—the Chase Sapphire Preferred—offers a similarly competitive range of bonus spending categories, travel protections and cardholder perks, but for a lower annual fee of $95.

The Sapphire Preferred includes the following benefits:

• 5X points on travel booked through Chase Travel℠ (excluding hotel purchases that qualify for the $50 annual hotel credit)
• 5X points on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
• 3X points on dining, including eligible takeout, delivery services and dining out
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target and wholesale clubs)
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 2X points on all other travel purchases
• 1X points on all other purchases
• Annual 10% points bonus on total purchases made the previous year
• Annual $50 hotel credit
• Redeem points for 25% more value when used for travel purchases through Chase Travel℠ (1.25 cents per point).
• Auto rental collision damage waiver
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Trip delay insurance
• Travel accident insurance
• Baggage delay insurance

If you’re looking for a balance between annual fees and cardholder perks, you couldn’t do much better than the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.

Alternatively, if you’re after a business card that offers strong rewards on everyday typical business expenses as well as strong travel protections, the Ink Business Preferred Card is the one to go for.

It includes the following benefits:

• 3X points on the first $150,000 spent in combined purchases in the following categories: shipping, advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines, internet, cable and phone services, travel
• 1X points on all other purchases
• Redeem points for 25% more value when used for travel purchases through Chase Travel℠ (1.25 cents per point).
• Trip cancellation and interruption insurance
• Cell phone protection plan
• Auto rental collision damage waiver

Its earnings and protections are simple yet lucrative, all for a $95 annual fee.

All three of these cards offer access to Chase’s 14 airline and hotel partners. So as long as you hold one, you’ll be able to transfer your points to your account from any of your Chase cashback cards.

Maximizing Your Cash Back Earnings

While many of Chase’s cards share similarities, the bonus spending categories can vary widely between cards.

Here’s a quick overview of the bonus spending categories offered by the Ink, Freedom and Sapphire cards.

Maximizing your rewards is a case of knowing which card to use when. While applying for every card listed above would be overkill—not to mention impossible due to Chase’s 5/24 rule and the Sapphire’s one-card rule—it can well be worth it to hold at least a handful of these cards in your wallet to maximize their varying bonus spending categories. Typically, a two-card combo strategy is enough to reap the benefits of Chase cashback cards.

For example, if you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you earn just 1X points on all non-bonus category spending. Given that you can redeem your points through Chase Travel℠ at 1.25 cents apiece, you’re effectively earning 1.25X points per dollar spent—assuming you would redeem them in this way.

However, if you also hold the Chase Freedom Unlimited, you can take advantage of its 1.5% cash back on non-bonus category spending. Given that you can transfer these cashback earnings to your Sapphire Preferred account and redeem them through Chase Travel℠, your baseline rewards rate effectively becomes 1.875X points per dollar spent.

If you were to pursue the same strategy but held the Sapphire Reserve instead of the Sapphire Preferred, you’d effectively earn 2.25X points per dollar spent on every non-bonus category purchase, as you can redeem your points through Chase Travel℠ at 1.5 cents apiece.

Since the Freedom Unlimited costs you nothing in annual fees, it’s easy to keep it in your wallet and reap the full benefits of higher earnings.

If you’re a small business owner, you could pursue the exact same strategy with the Ink Business Unlimited combined with the Ink Business Preferred.

The Ink Business Unlimited earns 1.5% cash back on non-bonus spending while the Ink Business Preferred earns 1X points per dollar spent. The Ink Business Preferred cardholders can redeem their points through Chase Travel℠ at a value of 1.25 cents apiece just like Sapphire Preferred cardholders, effectively turning 1.5% cash back into 1.875X points per dollar spent.

Not to mention, Chase’s cashback cards also earn rewards where the Ultimate Rewards cards don’t. For instance, both the Freedom Unlimited and the Freedom Flex cards earn 3% cash back at drugstores, a category that’s absent from most other credit cards. By holding both a Freedom and a Sapphire or an Ink Preferred card, you can turn your earnings made at drugstores to transferable Ultimate Rewards points.

Likewise, small-business owners can take advantage of 5% cash back at office supply stores (on up to $25,000 in spending per year) and turn those rewards into 5X points per dollar spent by transferring them to their Ink Business Preferred account.

Pursuing a two-card combo strategy such as this costs you nothing in extra fees and offers significant rewards. Not to mention, you can combine the welcome offers across two or more cards into one single account for a lucrative award travel redemption. The only consideration is how it will affect your 5/24 count.

Best Practices for Redeeming Chase Points

If you’re looking for a simple redemption strategy, you can redeem your Chase points for 1.25 to 1.5 cents apiece through Chase Travel℠, depending on which card you hold.

However, if you’re up for reaping the most value out of your points as possible, you can transfer them 1:1 to one of the following 14 airline and hotel loyalty programs:

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

This wide selection of partners includes airlines from all three alliances, which opens up oportunities for lucrative redemptions.

You’ll typically get the biggest bang for your buck by transferring your Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners. Booking award travel during peak seasons is often when you can get the greatest value for your points. This is because cash prices run high, meaning you can reap big rewards if what you pay in points has a much lower equivalent cash price than the price for a peak-season booking.

For example, let’s say a flight costs $500 in peak season and $200 on off-peak dates. If an airline uses dynamic pricing, it ties the cash cost of an airfare to its price in miles. This means that the same flight will cost 50,000 miles in peak season and 20,000 miles on off-peak dates. In this case, you’d be getting 1 cent per mile.

However, you can often make your miles go further by booking an award flight with one airline through one of its partners. While many airlines employ dynamic pricing for their own flights, they still use distance-based award charts for their partner award redemptions, which are unaffected by changes in peak and off-peak pricing.

That means if a partner-booked award flight of a certain distance requires 20,000 miles regardless of the season, as opposed to 50,000 miles in peak season if booked directly with the airline, you could save up to 30,000 miles by taking advantage of partnerships between airlines.

The flipside of the coin is that you should avoid using your Ultimate Rewards points for redemptions during off-peak seasons when cash prices run low—unless you have more than enough points to spend. If you can get a value of only 1 cent per point, you’d often be better off paying cash and saving your points for a sweet-spot redemption during peak season.

Unlock the Full Potential of Your Chase Points Strategy

If you’re fixed on earning transferable points, you might not have given cashback cards any thought. However, by combining Chase’s cashback cards with an eligible Sapphire or Ink Business Preferred card, you can have all your cashback earnings turned into transferable points.

By pursuing this two-card (or even three-card) combo strategy, you can maximize your earnings while not having to pay an extra dime in annual fees. That equals out to bigger earnings and more frequent redemptions for the same annual fee.

Check out our article if you want to learn more about the difference between points and cash back.