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You’ve come a long way on your credit card journey – so far, in fact, that you’re exploring additional cards and really wanting to dig into the rewards, benefits and perks the cards can offer you.
To truly get the most out of credit card rewards, you’re going to need more than one card. That’s the only way you can strategically choose a card to use for each purpose so you maximize your rewards. Furthermore, some cards offer better protections when you travel than others, so you want to ensure you’re carrying a good traveling card in your wallet.
The bottom line is it’s time to expand your credit card portfolio. Whether you’re focused on cash-back or travel rewards or some flexible currency, we have some options for you as well as strong pairings for each card.
Top travel rewards card
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At this point in your journey, you may have already explored travel rewards cards and may be quite familiar with the CardNamediscontinued. That means it could very well be time to level up your Ultimate Rewards game with the Reserve version of the card, which offers additional perks and benefits in return for that higher annual fee.
Whichever Sapphire card you choose to carry, pair it with CardNamediscontinued and one of the Chase Ink business cards to truly maximize your rewards earning.
➤ FURTHER READING:Guide to Chase Ultimate Rewards
Chase’s signup bonus eligibility
In order to earn the Sapphire Reserve bonus you can’t have earned a signup bonus on any other Sapphire product within the past 48 months.
BONUS TIP!
Don’t remember when you earned a Sapphire bonus? Look back at your old statements; look for the statement period in which you earned a large chunk of points (probably in the 60,000-point range based on historical bonus offers). Remember, the 48-month clock doesn’t start from the time you opened your card; it’s from the time you earned the bonus. So make sure you’re more than 48 months past the statement on which your earned your last Sapphire bonus.
Top cash-back cards
for straight cash back
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for maximizing travel rewards
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A big appeal of cash-back cards is that they often offer higher rewards in everyday spending categories – think, groceries, gas and drugstores, for instance – than travel rewards cards do. For people interested in straight cash back, that’s good news. It means cards like the CardName can become lucrative additions to your wallet. In particular, that Bank of America card allows you the flexibility to choose a category in which you’ll earn top rewards (up to a quarterly cap), making it an excellent choice for the focused, experienced cardholder who is ready to take a hands-on approach to earning rewards.
But what if you want the earning possibilities of a cash-back card, but you’re still primarily interested in travel rewards? That’s where a card like CardName comes into play. That’s because, although Freedom Unlimited® is marketed as a “cash-back card,” cardholders accumulate rewards as points through Chase Travel. Sure, you can redeem those points for cash back, but you can also combine them with other Chase Travel earned with other cards to continue padding your travel rewards bank.
A truly powerful rewards earning strategy known as the Chase Trifecta involves carrying multiple Ultimate Rewards-earning cards in order to use the card that will earn you the most rewards on a given purchase as well as all the options you need to maximize your redemptions.
There are several combinations of cards that can make up a Chase Trifecta, but keep in mind that at least one of your cards should be a premium card, that is Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or CardNamediscontinued, for instance. You need one of these premium cards for the ability to transfer points to one of Chase’s travel partners, which is most often the best possilble value for your rewards.
Top balance transfer card
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You’re at the stage of your credit card journey when you can think about the full gamut of options that credit cards can offer you. One of those options is an interest-free short-term loan in the form of a balance transfer. But – and this is an important point – this is only an option for people with a solid plan to pay off the balance IN FULL before the intro 0% APR period expires.
➤ FURTHER READING:Getting the benefits of a balance transfer credit card
Now, both of the cash-back cards mentioned above offer solid intro balance transfer periods, but they aren’t as long as what the CardName offers. Therefore, if you’re truly interested in the longest possible balance transfer offer, you may need to go for a card that won’t offer you ongoing rewards. Keep in mind you won’t earn rewards on a balance transfer either way. This really comes down to your needs as a cardholder.
Top luxury card
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You’ve put in the time and learned the ropes; it’s time to think about luxury credit card. Sure, the annual fee is high, but the potential benefits more than offset that fee. You know enough to do the math. Determine whether all of the various credits and perks this card offers will be of use to you. Will they be of enough use to offset the annual fee?
This is another card that works within a vast rewards system. In this case, it’s the American Express Membership Rewards world. That means you can combine points earned with this card with points earned through using other Memebership Rewards-earning cards.
➤ FURTHER READING:Guide to American Express Membership Rewards
You can consider pairing this card with a business card like CardNamediscontinued to rack up Membership Rewards points more quickly.
Keep in mind that unlike the Chase cards mentioned above, American Express’ cash-back cards do NOT earn points that can be redeemed as travel rewards. The CardNamediscontinued, for instance, is an excellent cash back card, but you won’t be able to redeem those earnings as Membership Rewards points.
Top card for groceries and gas
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Part of growing in your experience with credit cards means expanding your options beyond a single bank or rewards currency. Citi ThankYou® Points are often overlooked, but shouldn’t be. The ThankYou Rewards program features numerous travel partners to which cardholders can move their rewards for top value. The CardName offers solid rewards earning opportunity on everyday categories, plus access to the ThankYou Rewards world.
Pair this card with the no-annual-fee card CardNamediscontinued to maximize your rewards opportunities in the ThankYou® Points space.
