So far… all of my posts have been about Chase, and well, today will be more about Chase. We’ll take small steps to get you up to speed on how to make plenty of points and some money at the same time.
So what do I have in my wallet?
- Chase Freedom – Visa
- Chase Sapphire – Visa (will stop using as soon as all pending activity is cleared, likely to be converted into an Ink if Chase does not approve)
- Chase Sapphire Preferred – Visa
- Chase Amazon – Visa
My first credit card was the Chase Amazon. They offered $30 back on the first purchase, there was no annual fee and I was buying all of college textbooks and with 3% back, why not? Today, I still make plenty of purchases on Amazon and is my go to card.
In between I’ve opened various and closed a couple of credit cards and am now down to these 3 that I use almost everyday.
Amazon, I use strictly for Amazon until Freedom 5% back arises. I buy lunch almost every day and if it is more than $10 I use my Sapphire. Blue section is Sapphire Preferred scenarios, and the highlighted green area is the winner on when to use.
| Freedom | Sapphire | |||||||
| Purchase | Points | Purchase (non dining or travel) | Points | |||||
| 5 | Purchase | 5 | 5 | Purchase | 5 | |||
| 10% | 1 | 7% | 1 | |||||
| Checking account | 10 | |||||||
| Total | 16 | Total | 6 | |||||
| Purchase dining | Points | Purchase dining | Points | |||||
| 5 | Purchase | 5 | 5 | Purchase | 10 | |||
| 10% | 1 | 7% | 0.7 | |||||
| Checking account | 10 | |||||||
| Total | 16 | Total | 10.7 | |||||
| Purchase | Points | Purchase (non dining or travel) | Points | |||||
| 10 | Purchase | 10 | 10 | Purchase | 10 | |||
| 10% | 1 | 7% | 1 | |||||
| Checking account | 10 | |||||||
| Total | 21 | Total | 11 | |||||
|
Purchase dining |
Points | Purchase dining | Points | |||||
| >10 | Purchase | 10 | >10 | Purchase | 20 | |||
| 10% | 1 | 7% | 1.4 | |||||
| Checking account | 10 | |||||||
| Total | 21 | Total | 21 | |||||
| Bonus Category @ 2x and up | Bonus Category @ 2x and up | |||||||
| >100 | Purchase | 100 | >100 | Purchase |
100 |
|||
| 10% | 10 | Bonus | 200 | |||||
| Checking account | 10 | 7% | 21 | |||||
| Bonus | 200 | |||||||
| Total | 320 | Total | 321 | |||||
| Purchase @ 1x | Purchase @ 1x | |||||||
| 200 | Purchase | 200 | 100 | Purchase | 100 | |||
| 10% | 20 | |||||||
| Checking account | 10 | 7% | 14 | |||||
| Total | 230 | Total | 114 | |||||
As you can see from the above table, as soon as there is a bonus greater than $10 Sapphire Preferred is the best card to use. The 10% is only good for a high purchase, but the SP you are able to get a 7% dividend on all points earned.
