How to use cash back cards to earn a ton of points.

My Dad is really smart.

I tried to explain to him this morning why his cash back Chase card was great, but he couldn’t use it to book great travel deals.

I don’t think he had any idea what I was saying.

(My fault, not his).

So I’m writing this to you, Dad. Here’s to making complicated stuff simple.

Why are we talking about cash back?

Cash back cards are trash. I went (kinda) viral on LinkedIn when I posted, “I’d never get a cash back credit card.”

Why?

Because I can get a higher ROI from my spending on a travel card than a cash back card, if and only if I know how to effectively transfer my points to airline & hotel partners.

BUT, many banks allow you to earn cash back, then combine your cash back rewards with travel rewards/points from a premium travel card.

For example, I just moved $2,000 of cash back from my Chase cash back card to my Chase Sapphire Preferred travel card.

That $2k is now 200,000 fully transferable Chase Ultimate Rewards points worth (in my hands) $4k-$10k.

This is why cash back credit cards matter. They can get you buckets of points.

How to earn points & miles with cash back cards

You can’t earn points & miles with cash back cards, but you can combine cash back earned with travel cards with certain banks/cards.

I just gave an example of moving $2,000 of cash back from my Chase cash back card to my Chase travel card. That $2,000 of cash back became 200,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Not every bank allows this!

• Chase is very friendly with this.

• Capital One does this but there’s really no reason to do it because their travel cards earn the same as their cash back cards.

• Amex does not allow this.

• Citi allows this and has a great option.

The easiest way to combine cash back rewards with travel rewards is usually to just call your bank and ask them to do it!

I’m highlighting this strategy specifically as a way to earn more points per dollar, as cash back cards often earn better than travel cards. However, cash back cards often have small welcome bonuses, so you can earn more points that way as well!

The best cash back/travel card duos (+trios?)

Ok Colin, tell me how to do this.

Citi:

Citi may have the best option… I’ll just screenshot my previous newsletter.

The Citi Strata Premier + Citi Double Cash is a solid duo. You’ll earn 2-3x on every purchase.

Chase:

Many of you have heard of the, “Chase Trifecta." Basically, it’s just strategically combining Chase travel & cash back cards to earn as many points per dollar as possible.

You know about the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but you likely haven’t thought as much about the Freedom Unlimited & the Ink Business Unlimited. I’m a huge fan of these cards. Why? You earn more per dollar than you do on Chase’s travel cards. But you can turn those earnings into hyper-valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Capital One:

Like I said, I don’t see a huge reason to use Capital One cash back cards over the Venture X (my top-recommended travel card) because both cards earn 2x on all purchases.

How I used a cash back card to get business class flights to Europe

All the points I used to get my family business class flights to Europe this summer were earned on a cash back credit card.

Let that sink in.

I earned a bonus from the Chase Ink Business Unlimited (90,000 points), then earned 150k+ more points from REFERRALS from you all. Thanks!

But, I can’t transfer those points to airline and hotel partners.

Luckily, I have a personal Chase Sapphire Preferred card. I called Chase, asked them to send all my Ink points over to my Chase Sapphire card. That was super easy and took 10 minutes.

Then, I transferred my (fresh) Chase points to Air Canada to book business class flights.

210,000 Chase points for $18,000 of flights. Wild!

Don’t sleep on cash back cards for travel.

Questions? Reply to this.

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