Disclosure: Super Value Town is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as Milevalue.com. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Get Free Flights, Hotels, Rental Cars & More
Get rewarded with Chase Ultimate Rewards.
Businesses have a lot of expenses. By paying those expenses with specific credit cards from Chase, you'll get free flights, hotel stays, rental cars, and so much more. That's because Chase's Ultimate Rewards program gives you points every time you pay. Once you have enough points, you can turn them into the rewards you want most! This step-by-step guide shows you exactly how to get the most freebies with the least amount of effort.
Before we get started though, there are some key things that you need to know:
- Chase has a 5/24 rule. That rule states that if you’ve received five or more personal credit cards within the past twenty-four months, Chase will automatically deny you for any new credit cards. Fortunately, business cards don’t count towards your card total. That’s why you should always apply for business credit cards first.
- Several Chase credit cards give you Ultimate Reward Points (UR). I'll show you which cards give you the most.
- Instead of converting your UR into cashback, you can transfer those points to travel partners like Southwest, United, or Hyatt.
The key to getting amazing freebies is to focus on using your UR as transferrable points instead of cashback. Here’s an example of how points can be more valuable than cash:
Imagine spending $5,000 per month on a Chase credit card that gives you 1.5 UR per dollar. $5,000 x 1.5 points = 7,500 UR each month. Over a year, that’s $5,000 x 12 months = $60,000 x 1.5 points = 90,000 UR. You could convert 90,000 UR into $900 or transfer those points to a travel partner. Chase has eleven different airline transfer partners and three major hotel partners including United, JetBlue, and Southwest. At the time of this writing, Southwest Airlines values its points at 1.37 cents each. So if you transfer all 90,000 points to Southwest Airlines, you get $1,233 in free flights. That’s 37% more value. And if you have a
Southwest Companion Pass that allows one person to fly with you for free, that’s $2,466 worth of free flights. That’s 174% more value!
Now that you know all that, here are the four Chase credit cards you need, why you need them, and the order in which to apply for them:
Card #1: Chase Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
This Chase credit card is the foundation of every effective freebie strategy. Just like my example above, it gives you unlimited 1.5 points on all your business expenses. There are no special bonus categories. You get a reliable and unlimited 1.5 points for everything. So $1,000 in spend gives you 1,500 UR. Easy.
Card #2: Chase Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
Now we’re cooking with gas! This credit card gives you 5 points for every dollar on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet, cable and phone services each account anniversary year. It also gives you 2 points for every dollar on the first $25,000 spent at gas stations and restaurants. All other spending gives you 1 point per dollar. So every time you go to Office Depot, or Staples, you’ll give 5 points per dollar. Let’s say you go to Office Depot and buy $500 worth of supplies, spend $100 to print some documents, and buy a $50 Amazon gift card. That $650 equals 3,250 UR. Now let’s say you also pay for your monthly business cell phone, as well as internet service for your office. That $250 equals 1,250 UR. Then you drive to meet a client, buying $50 in gas, and spend $50 to take that client out to lunch. That $100 equals 200 in UR. That’s a total of $1,000 in spending. If you put all that on your Ink Unlimited Card, you would have 1,500 UR. However, by using your Ink Cash Card instead, you made 4,700 UR. That’s 213% more value!
Card #3: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
This credit card is the icing on the UR cake. Instead of using this for business purchases, you’ll use it for personal ones. It gives you 3 points for every dollar spent on online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs). You get 3 points for restaurant and food delivery service purchases. You also receive 3 points when you pay for streaming services like Netflix, Disney+, Spotify, etc. If that weren’t enough, they also give you a 10% point bonus every year. So let’s say you spend $500 on groceries, $300 on eating out and DoorDash, and $200 on streaming services. That $1,000 gives you 3,000 UR. And at the end of the year, you’ll get an additional 300 UR. Most importantly though, this card gives you 25% more value when you buy flights, hotels, car rentals, etc. through the Chase Travel Portal. So if you have 100,000 UR, that’s generally worth $1,000. However, if you were to rent a car through Chase for example, they’ll give you $1,250 in value. So good!
Card #4: Chase Freedom Unlimited®
This is the exact same as the Ink Unlimited Card, except it’s for personal use instead of business use. You get 1.5 points for every dollar you spend on personal things like going to the movies, or your electric bill. This is a great catch-all for all your non-bonused personal spending.
Now that I’ve shown you all four cards,
here's the exciting stuff – freebie math!
At the time of this writing, every card I showed you above, has a sign-up bonus. That means that when you apply for the card and spend a certain amount, you get free UR points as a thank you. Here they are:
- Chase Ink Business Unlimited - Earn $750 Bonus Cash Back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's equivalent to 75,000 points.
- Chase Ink Business Cash - Earn $750 Bonus Cash Back after you spend $7,500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's equivalent to 75,000 points.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $1,000 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited – Earn $200 Bonus Cash Back after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's equivalent to 20,000 points.
The safest strategy is to get one card at a time, in the order above. It's best to meet each spending requirement before applying for the next card. Here’s how much a year’s worth of business and personal spending could get you:
Category | Spending | UR Points |
Ink Cash |
Office Supply Stores | $20,000 | 100,000 |
Business Cell Phone | $2,400 | 12,000 |
Business Internet | $2,400 | 12,000 |
Misc. Internet Services | $6,000 | 30,000 |
Gas to Visit Business Contacts | $2,000 | 4,000 |
Entertaining Business Contacts | $5,000 | 10,000 |
Sign-up Bonus | $0 | 75,000 |
Ink Unlimited |
Misc. Business Spending | $50,000 | 75,000 |
Sign-up Bonus | $0 | 75,000 |
Sapphire Preferred |
Groceries | $5,000 | 15,000 |
Restaurants & Food Delivery | $5,000 | 15,000 |
Streaming Services | $2,000 | 6,000 |
Sign-up Bonus | $0 | 80,000 |
Freedom Unlimited |
Misc. Personal Spending | $20,000 | 30,000 |
Sign-up Bonus | $0 | 20,000 |
Total | 559,000 |
That’s a LOT of Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. You could convert that into $5,590. You can also reward yourself with much higher value freebies. I've outlined two examples below. The
Freebie Value is the amount you would pay if you bought each freebie with cash. The
Cashback Value is the amount you receive if you convert those UR points to cash instead.
Freebie @ Source | UR Cost | Freebie Value | Cashback Value |
1 Week Vacation Trip to Aruba |
2x roundtrip flights @ Southwest Airlines | 87,648 | $1,200 | $876 |
6x nights @ Hyatt Hotels | 40,000 | $1,187 | $400 |
6x days car rental @ Chase Travel | 19,200 | $240 | $192 |
2x Catamaran Dolphin Snorkeling Cruise @ Chase Travel | 12,000 | $150 | $120 |
2x UTV Cave Tours with Cliff Jumping @ Chase Travel | 24,000 | $300 | $240 |
TOTALS | 182,848 | $3,077 | $1,828 |
Using your points,
you could take three free trips to the Caribbean, activities included, and get 68% more value than you would with cashback. Do you prefer luxury? Want to spoil yourself after doing all that great work with your business? Here’s a higher-end trip example:
Freebie @ Source | UR Cost | Freebie Value | Cashback Value |
1 Week Luxury Vacation to London |
2x roundtrip 1st class flights @ United Airlines | 240,000 | $13,438 | $2,400
|
6x luxury nights @ Hyatt | 138,000 | $3,330 | $1,380
|
6x days luxury car rental @ Chase Travel | 160,000 | $2,000 | $1,600
|
TOTALS | 538,000 | $18,768 | $5,380 |
By using your points to take a weeklong luxury trip to England,
you get a massive 249% more value than you would with cashback.
In conclusion, if you use credit card points right,
they'll give you tons of free stuff. You deserve it.
Return to blogSuper Value Town (SVT) is a subsidiary of WebTYs. We save entrepreneurs time, and make you more money, by helping you plan, launch, and grow your small business. We accomplish this with all-inclusive, low-cost, done-for-you packages. SVT is honored to have helped more than one thousand small businesses over the past 31 years. Let Super Value Town help you for less -- a lot less. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.