If credit cards made music, the Chase Freedom Flex℠, Chase Freedom Unlimited®, and Chase Sapphire Preferred cards would be a virtuoso trio.
The unique qualities of these cards support each other like a well-practiced musical ensemble, offering you a beautiful opportunity to optimize your rewards. That’s why credit card fans refer to using them in concert as the Chase trifecta—a veritable credit card hat trick.
Each of the three Chase cards are targeted to a different type of user. With its 5% cash-back quarterly bonus categories, the Freedom Flex appeals to shoppers who like to squeeze every drop of cashback bonuses from their spending. The Freedom Unlimited is tailored to holders who just want basic cash back rewards. The Sapphire Preferred is a travel card that’s best for weekend getaways and family vacations.
The Chase Freedom Flex and Chase Freedom Unlimited are great cashback cards in their own right, but pairing them with the Chase Sapphire Preferred unlocks a superpower: The ability to transfer points to travel partners or use points for travel at a turbocharged redemption rate.
“The Combine Points option from Chase Ultimate Rewards is massively underrated,” says Chris Butsch, a credit cards points and miles expert who has perfected his use of the Chase Trifecta. “It allows me to earn points using my Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex card, and simply move those points onto my Chase Sapphire Preferred account where they’re instantly worth 25% more in travel redemption value.”
The Chase trifecta at a glance
Before we get into the weeds of the trifecta strategy, let’s review the rewards available from each member of the Chase trifecta.
The Chase Freedom Flex offers holders a base 1% cash back rewards rate on regular purchases, plus 5% rewards on a quarterly rotation of special categories. In the first quarter of 2025, these include spending on gym memberships, spa services, and groceries.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited gives holders 1.5% cash back on all purchases, with no need to fuss over quarterly categories. Meanwhile, the Chase Sapphire Preferred provides a grab bag of travel perks, although it’s also worth highlighting that the card is the only member of the trifecta to charge an annual fee:
- 2X points on travel spending, 5X points on travel purchased via Chase Travel, plus 3X points on dining, online groceries, and streaming services—and 1X points on everything else.
- A 25% travel redemption bonus when you redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points through Chase Travel. For example, if you redeemed 10,000 points, you would get $125 in value.
- Ability to transfer points to travel partners such as Hyatt Hotels and United Airlines.
- 60,000-point welcome bonus after spending $4,000 within three months.
- $50 annual statement credit good towards a hotel booked through Chase Travel.
Optimize your rewards with the Chase Trifecta
Chase informs holders of the Sapphire Preferred that the 60,000-point welcome bonus is worth $750 in travel redemptions, thanks to that handy 25% redemption bonus Chris Butsch mentioned above. That also means the points you earn with the card are worth 1.25X towards travel, too.
Here’s the superpower of the trifecta: As long as you’re redeeming points through Chase Travel, your rewards chart really looks like this:
- When booking travel via Chase Travel, 5X points becomes 6.25X points
- If you’re dining out, buying groceries online, or paying for Netflix, 3X points transforms into 3.75X
- General travel spending rises from 2X points to 2.5X points
- The Freedom Unlimited 1.5% base bonus jumps to 2.25%
- For the Freedom Flex and the Sapphire Preferred, base rewards rise from 1% and 1X to 1.25% and 1.25X
Those are some mighty impressive multiples. But here’s the crazy thing: that 25% bonus multiplier applies to every Chase Ultimate Rewards point you earn, regardless of which card you earn it with.
Earning and combining points
The Chase Trifecta allows you to earn the most points you can, but you have to use the cards correctly and in tandem.
- Use the Freedom Flex to maximize your 5% quarterly earnings
- Use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for general travel
- Use the Freedom Unlimited for everything else
Once you earn the points, you’ll want to combine them into your Sapphire Preferred’s Ultimate Rewards account. Combining points allows you to move Chase Ultimate Rewards points from one Chase card to another–meaning you can earn points with the Freedom cards and spend them with the Sapphire Preferred.
This trick also works with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card where you’ll get 50% extra value (provided you’re cool with the card’s $550 annual fee).
Redeeming points
Chase Ultimate Rewards offers many ways you can redeem your hard-earned Chase points. But with the Chase Trifecta the best usage will be for travel. You can use points for travel in two ways:
- Redeem points through Chase Travel. By using the points through Chase Travel, you’ll have ultimate flexibility to choose whatever flights, hotels, and even tours that work best for you, while getting 1.25 cents per point in value.
- Transfer points to travel partners. Chase Ultimate Rewards provide the most value for most when you transfer them to partners such as Hyatt, United Airlines, or KLM/Air France Flying Blue.
The takeaway
The Chase Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited, and Sapphire Preferred offer lovely solo performances, but getting the band together in the Chase Trifecta makes sweet music. Might I suggest Debussy’s Rhapsody in Blue, which you’ll hear aboard a United Airlines flight booked with your Ultimate Rewards points?
