How Our Credit Journey Began: The Foundation
Our journey into the world of travel credit cards started back in 2021, probably in the same way it does for a lot of people. I wanted to use credit card points to make travel more affordable, so I took one of those generic online quizzes to find the “best” travel card. The result? The Chase Sapphire Preferred.
It just so happened that the card was offering a 100,000 point welcome bonus at the time - a massive offer - so I jumped on it. One of the main perks of the card is that the points are worth 25% more when redeemed through the Chase Travel Portal, which sounded great. More value, more travel, right?
We ended up using almost all of those points on a trip to Boston to visit one of my oldest friends. I didn’t really understand how everything worked yet; I just thought it was amazing that we took a trip for “free.”
At the time, that was my entire view of the credit card game: Get one travel card. Earn points. Book trips in the portal. Repeat.
It wasn’t until about a year later that things really shifted. One day, the YouTube algorithm served me a video on how to redeem Chase points for maximum value - and it was a total light bulb moment. I realized that earning and redeeming points is about so much more than having just one travel card.
That’s when I discovered the Chase Trifecta:
Each card in this trifecta has its strengths when it comes to everyday spending. The Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex are technically marketed as “cash back” cards, but the cash back is earned as Ultimate Rewards (UR) points. Here’s the key, the points earned on those two cards can be transferred to the Sapphire, which unlocks much more value. On their own, the points earned on the Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Flex can only be redeemed for cash back or used in the Chase Travel Portal at 1 cent per point (CPP). But when you transfer them to your Sapphire, they’re worth 25% more in the Chase Travel Portal - or even better, you can transfer them to any of Chase’s airline and hotel transfer partners for even more value.
💡Quick note: We personally have the Sapphire Preferred, not the Sapphire Reserve. Chase only allows you to hold one Sapphire card at a time, so you have to choose between the Preferred or the Reserve. With the Sapphire Reserve, the portal value bumps to 50% more, but both Sapphire cards offer access to Chase’s full lineup of transfer partners. For most people starting out, the Preferred makes more sense due to the lower annual fee and strong value. If you sign up for one and want the other, you don’t have to apply for another credit card. Chase will allow you to upgrade or downgrade from one to the other (pending approval).
This is the setup that forms the foundation of our credit card strategy.
When we’re not working on meeting a spending requirement for a new card’s welcome bonus, we use this trifecta for most of our daily spending:
Sapphire Preferred for 3x on dining and 2x on travel
Freedom Flex for 5x rotating quarterly categories
Freedom Unlimited as our “catch-all” card with 1.5x on everything else
It took some trial and error to get here, but understanding how these cards work together was a game-changer. We started with one card and one simple goal - travel more for less - but we’ve since built a full system that helps us earn points faster and redeem them for maximum value.
This blog is where we’ll share every step of that journey, from new cards we add to how we use them, so you can see the game plan in action and build one of your own.