Chase Trifecta: The Ultimate Guide

I was very fortunate to have my parents open a credit card for me while I was in high school. Throughout my college career, I found many of my friends were not so fortunate.

The importance of a credit card is something that is not stressed early enough in our educational system. In this article, it is my goal to educate you on the power of credit cards as well as introduce one strategy to get the maximum benefits.

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Why get a credit card?

A credit card is important for a plethora of reasons, including flexibility with payments, convenience, building credit, rewards, and protection.

Of these, it is important to understand what they truly offer. Building your credit will not only increase the line of credit banks will give you, but will raise your credit score. When applying for housing or a mortgage, a high credit score can secure you a better interest rate on a loan, something that can save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

When you buy something with your credit card, you borrow money from the bank, with a promise to pay it back later. Because of this structure, you gain protection from fraud and scam purchases. It is the bank's money that is being lost, and they are a lot more inclined to get their money back than they would be if it was your money.

Speaking from experience, I have had fraudulent activity on both my credit and debit cards. When dealing with the credit card, the process was very smooth and easy. More importantly, I had lost zero dollars. However, with my debit card I had lost hundreds of dollars out of my checking account, and to get that money back was a long, dreary process.

Finally, most credit cards offer you some sort of rewards when you spend money. These are usually in the form of points, and when you save up enough points, you can spend them on gift cards, travel, etc. The true power comes in maximizing the amount of points you get; which leads us to an excellent strategy: The Chase Trifecta.

What is the Chase Trifecta?

The Chase Trifecta is a strategic pairing of three Chase credit cards that maximizes your point potential. It does this by increasing the amount of rewards you earn from spending, as well as redeeming the points for more value.

The most common three cards used for this setup include the Chase Freedom Flex, Chase Freedom Unlimited, and Chase Sapphire Reserve (sometimes this is swapped for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which will be discussed later). It is important to note that you can mix this combination up, especially with their business cards, but for simplicity's sake we will be going forward discussing each of these cards and how the strategy comes together.

The Chase Freedom Flex card is a classic cashback with a twist. It has a $0 annual fee and earns 5% cash back on rotating categories. The categories rotate each quarter, and the cashback is capped at $1,500 combined per quarter.

It also offers 3% cashback at restaurants and drugstores, and 1% everywhere else.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited card is your ace. It has a $0 annual fee and earns 5% cashback on travel booked through Chase, 3 % at restaurants and drugstores, and unlimited 1.5% everywhere else.

Starting to see the strategy? You want to use the Freedom Flex card on the rotating categories each month, and the Freedom Unlimited on everything outside those categories.

Finally, you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve. This card has a steep $550 annual fee and offers 10 points per dollar spent on hotels, rentals, and dining through Chase, 5 points per dollar spent on flights booked through Chase, 3 points per dollar on travel and dining, and 1 point everywhere else. This card also offers benefits including a $300 annual travel credit, priority pass select membership, $100 reimbursement for application to TSA PreCheck, and more common perks like trip cancellation, lost luggage, and delay coverage.

However, the true power of this card is that it multiplies your reward points upon redemption. When redeeming points with this card (points from all cards can be pooled into one), they are worth 50% more through the Chase Travel Portal. In addition, you gain the ability to transfer points to one of Chase's 11 airline and 3 hotel partners. You have to check to see if transferring is worth it, but it provides more flexibility to cardholders.

The alternative to the Reserve card is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. It has a $95 annual fee, earns 5x points on travel through Chase, and has similar multiplies for other spending categories. However, like the Reserve card, it allows you to redeem your points for more value, although it is 25% more for this card. It also will still allow you to transfer your points to Chase airline and hotel partners.

Why is the Chase Trifecta worth it?

The Chase Trifecta is worth it because, with a little bit of effort, you can get more points for the same spending. You have to keep track of the quarterly reward categories, and it will take some getting used to, but after a little bit, it will become second nature. Now, you are going to earn points faster and unlock the ability to redeem them for more value.

How to maximize the Chase Trifecta?

Still not sure how this is working. Well, below is an example of annual spending using the Trifecta system compared to individual Chase Cards.

What's more is that because of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, the 40,313 points can be redeemed for 50% more, meaning your 40,313 points could be transferred into $403 or redeemed within the Chase Travel Portal for a total value of $604 (50% more!).

Do not forget you will have the ability to transfer the points to one of the partner airlines and hotels. To get the best deal, you should see if it is more valuable to transfer the points or redeem them directly in the Chase Travel Portal.

Benefits and drawbacks to multiple cards

There are some important considerations to be made before you dive in with this system. Chase has a 5/24 rule, meaning you can not open 5 credit cards within 24 months, or you will get automatically declined. When opening credit cards, you should wait generally 6 months between each one (at least) to avoid damaging your credit score.

You will only be allowed one sapphire card. So you have to pick between the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards.

You will be limited to booking exclusively through the Chase Travel Portal for the most benefits. The only exception is the travel airlines and hotel to which you can transfer your points.

While juggling multiple cards, you can be enticed to spend more money. While credit cards are an excellent financial tool for people to get ahead in life, being irresponsible with them can do the exact opposite. You should never buy anything you can not pay off, otherwise you will find yourself in a lot of trouble.

If you like the sound of this system, you should do more research and look into each card individually to understand all the benefits they offer. You can also look into other strategies, there is no shortage of them out there. This is not the “golden key” to success, just an example of one way you can maximize the rewards through spending. My goal, with anything, is to provide some education on a topic. However, I also want my readers to want to research more for themselves. So be responsible, and remember, the greatest tool you have is your mind.