5 Reasons You Should Prioritize Chase Travel Rewards Credit Cards

Chase travel rewards credit cards, including the freedom, freedom unlimited, ink business cash, southwest personal, southwest business, united business chase sapphire reserve

When starting your rewards credit card journey, you should always start by getting into the Chase travel rewards system.

I don’t say this out of any particular loyalty to the bank. You should do this for five very specific reasons.

1. Chase travel rewards are locked behind 5/24

This is the most important reason why you want to go after Chase cards first. When you first delve into the world of travel credit cards, you’ll inevitably hear whispers about the dreaded Chase 5/24 softban.

What is the Chase 5/24 rule?

In most cases, if you’ve signed up for five or more personal credit cards in the past 24 months, Chase won’t let you sign up for ANY new credit cards. This is regardless of your income, credit score, or relationship with Chase. There are occasional exceptions to this rule, but they change at the whims of Chase’s shadowy cabal of credit card overlords (Illuminati?).

NOTE: 5/24 is not an “official” rule–it’s just something that the credit card community has noticed–so don’t bother calling Chase to ask about your 5/24 status. The person on the other line will likely act as if they have no idea what you’re talking about. 

What counts towards the Chase 5/24 rule?

  • New personal credit cards (this includes store credit cards)

  • Being added as an authorized user on someone else’s credit card account

  • Signing up for business credit cards from Discover or Capital One (there are others, but these are the two biggest ones)

Is there a way around the Chase 5/24 rule?

There are two reliable ways to duck 5/24 status:

1. Get business credit cards

Most business credit cards (including, strangely enough, business credit cards from Chase) don’t count towards your 5/24 status.

If the word “business” terrifies you, never fear. You don’t need an established, or even traditional business to open a business credit card. You can open a business card for any practical reason, whether you’re trying to launch a startup, plan on doing some consulting on the side, or even if you do ridesharing or delivery service.

Outside of stating what your business is and your annual revenue (don’t lie or guess what you think it will be–$0 is fine), the sign up process is the same as a personal one.

NOTE: Double check with the issuer whether or not they report business credit cards on your personal credit report. Most don’t, but there are exceptions, such as Capital One and Discover.

2. Request that an authorized user account be removed from your credit report

You can request that a credit reporting bureau remove an authorized user account from your credit report. This usually isn’t the best tactic if you’re well under 5/24 and have a thin credit file, since the account will contribute to your overall credit health. If you are close to or at 5/24, though, getting them removed can help you get the card you want. I’ve also heard rumors of people convincing Chase to ignore authorized user accounts, but I’ve never seen this done myself, so I can’t say how effective it is.

A few other (usually temporary) exceptions to the 5/24 rule occasionally pop up, but the only guaranteed way to ensure you’re eligible for a new Chase credit card is to stay under the limit.

2. Chase travel rewards connect you to Hyatt

Chase is the only major credit card issuer with a relationship with Hyatt. This is huge.

Why is Chase’s relationship with Hyatt so important?

If you’re all about value, no other hotel chain comes close when it comes to the worth of their rewards points. In most cases, you can book a Hyatt hotel for at least 1.5 cents per point. The points of other chains like Hilton, whose points can dip below 0.4 cents in value. Marriott isn’t much better in this regard. This isn’t commentary on the quality of other hotel chains in any other regard. It’s just that Hyatt can’t be matched in rewards points value.

The value becomes especially notable when you factor in Chase Ultimate Rewards points (Chase’s cashback/travel rewards currency), which can be transferred at a 1:1 value to any hotel chain. This means that your Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred to Hyatt are worth more than triple what they would have been if you transferred them to another hotel chain.

Are there any other credit card companies that transfer points to Hyatt?

Although no major issuers transfer to Hyatt, there is one other notable transfer partner: Bilt. They have some unique, interesting offerings that are especially great for anyone renting an apartment.

3. Flexible rewards points (for non-cobranded Chase travel rewards credit cards)

Chase Ultimate Rewards is the most flexible major rewards points system. Here’s why:

Chase transfer partners

Chase has a lot of Transfer Partners, including 11 airlines and three hotel chains.

Chase Airline Partners

  • Air Canada

  • Air France

  • British Airways

  • Emirates

  • Aer Lingus

  • Iberia

  • Jetblue

  • Singapore Airlines

  • Southwest Airlines

  • United Airlines

  • Virgin Atlantic


Chase Hotel Partners

  • Hyatt

  • IHG

  • Mariott

Chase travel rewards cards offer points and cashback flexibility

TLDR: Chase travel rewards points can be converted to cashback, and vise versa.

If, for example, you have been stacking rewards with a cashback card like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, but want to use your shiny new Chase Sapphire Preferred powers to convert your cashback into Hyatt, Southwest Airlines, ect. Points, you can do that.

If, on the other hand, you just got a huge 60,000 point sign up bonus from a Chase Sapphire Reserve card, but you just want that as $600 cash, Chase lets you do that too. Most credit card issuers force you to choose one or the other with each card, and their cashback and rewards points systems aren’t interchangeable.

Chase’s premium credit cards unlock extra value

If you don’t feel like poking around hotel and airline sites to find the best points valuation, you don’t have to. You can book with Chase via their travel portal.

In addition, certain cards offer a boosted value for your points when booking via the travel portal. These cards are the Chase Sapphire Reserve (1.5 cents per point), Chase Sapphire Preferred (1.25 cents per point) and Chase Ink Business Preferred (1.5 cents per point). If you had 60,000 points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, for example, those points would be worth exactly $1,200 via the Chase travel portal, as opposed to $800 cash back.

4. Lots of travel rewards card options

The Chase travel reward card offerings go well beyond their solo Sapphire, Freedom, and Ink brands. They also offer a wealth of cobranded credit cards with a multitude of hotel and airline brands. 

Why would I want a cobranded credit card?

More sign up bonuses

One of the most powerful tools you should learn to unlock is the all-mighty sign up bonus. With these, you can instantaneously gain a wealth of points that would normally require tens of thousands of dollars worth of spend to acquire. As a part of their partnership with many of their transfer partners, they also offer credit cards that include huge sign up bonuses for a given airline or hotel chain. So once you’ve completed your standard Chase card setup, you can pursue additional massive bonuses with your favorite places to stay or fly.

Unique benefits

Cobranded credit cards always offer unique benefits that can make them worth keeping. The Hyatt and Mariott Bonvoy Boundless credit cards, for example, include elevated status and a free night every year; this more than offsets their $95 annual fees. Airline credit cards often provide perks such as free checked bags. Some cards like their Southwest Credit cards even offer annual points bonuses that offset the annual fee, if there is one.

5. Chase has the best starter credit card

If you’re building your credit, it can be tough to get the hottest Chase travel rewards credit cards. In many cases, you end up stuck with a starter card that offers little to nothing in the way of benefits. 

Enter the Chase Freedom Rise.

What is the Chase Freedom Rise?

This is a new (as of June 2023) credit card that works very much like the Chase Freedom Unlimited, my personal favorite general-use card. 

Chase Freedom Rise sign up bonus

The Chase Freedom Rise offers $25 for enrolling in automatic payments. This may not seem like much, but remember that most credit builder credit cards offer you nothing at all.


Nigel Lum-Cox

I want to show you how you can reach your dream destination for almost no money by leveraging the power of credit cards. As I explore the world myself, I also want to offer you some first-hand perspective on what some of the world’s most interesting destinations are like.

The things Kendall and I will show you are especially important for Black Americans, who often view credit cards as nothing more than a predatory trap (mostly because we’re not taught how to properly use them and leverage their value) and consider global travel to be impossible.

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