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I hold considerably more credit cards than I can fit into my wallet, so only a few of my cards come with me wherever I am and wherever I go. Some cards have a home in my smartphone wallet but not my actual wallet, and some have to make do with a space in my desk drawer until such time that they’re called into action. One or two, however, never leave my side.
The card_name, lives in my smartphone and in my real-life wallet and that’s because it’s a card that works for me every day whether I’m home in LA, home in London, or traveling to some far-flung part of the world.
Someone asked me, the other day, what cards never leave my side, and after I answered, they then wanted to know what made those cards special.
At the time, I only offered up 8 reasons why the card_name is such a key part of my miles and points strategy, but now that I’ve had more time to think, I can extend that list to 11 … and here they are:
The annual fee
The card_name costs annual_fees/year and for a card that comes with all the benefits that this one does, that’s a low fee to pay.
Better yet, there’s no fee to add authorized users, so you can add someone to your account at no extra cost and they too can enjoy a lot of the card’s benefits while they earn you more points.
No foreign transaction fees
As someone who travels quite a bit, I like to know that I don’t have to worry that when I pull a card out of my wallet when outside of the US, it’s going to sting me for a fee when I use it to pay for a coffee, a meal, a taxi, or whatever else it may be that I’m buying, and that’s why the card_name never leaves my side.
Whether I’m home or traveling abroad, this card behaves in the same way and continues to offer its benefits and earning rates without adding on any fees.
3 points/dollar on worldwide dining
The card_name offers good earning rates in a variety of spending categories …
- 5 points/dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠*.
- 5 points/dollar on Lyft rides (through March 2025) – link.
- 3 points/dollar on online grocery spending#.
- 3 points/dollar on select streaming services.
- 2 points/dollar on all travel that isn’t booked through Chase Travel℠^.
- 1 point/dollar for spending in all other categories.
… but it’s the earning rate on dining that I like the most.
No other Chase-issued credit card can beat the card_name when it comes to the earning rate on worldwide dining (not even the considerably more expensive card_name), and as it doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, it is one of the most economical cards to use whether you’re dining at home or overseas.
*Hotel purchases that qualify for the $50 Anniversary Hotel Credit will not earn 5 points/dollar.
^Chase’s “travel” category is very broad, so you’ll earn 2 points per dollar on everything from airfare, rental cars, and hotel bookings through to car parking, tolls, and ride-sharing services.
#Excludes Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs.
Ultimate Rewards partners
Ultimate Rewards partners with a variety of other airline and hotel loyalty programs (more details here), so the points that the card_name earns (which are Ultimate Rewards points) can be converted (in a 1:1 ratio) to programs like United’s MileagePlus, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and the World of Hyatt, and this opens up a wide world of fantastic redemption opportunities.
Effectively, you can think of the the card_name as earning 1 to 5 points/miles per dollar in all of these loyalty programs:
Some points are more valuable than others, so not all transfer partners offer a great return, but when you have the Word of Hyatt as an option, you know that you’re always going to be able to get outsized value out of whatever the card_name earns you.
Chase Travel℠ bookings
Holders of this card use their points to book travel through the Chase Travel℠ portal with each point worth 1.25 cents towards whatever travel is booked.
The beauty of booking travel in this way is that a cardholder hands over points in exchange for a travel booking that Chase then books with cash, so there’s no need to search for award availability – all the airfares and hotels that are booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal are seen by the airline or hotel as cash bookings.
Flights booked through the Chase Travel℠ portal will earn frequent flyer miles/points and credits towards elite status, but because hotels view portal bookings as 3rd party bookings, hotel reservations made using Ultimate Rewards points will not qualify guests for loyalty program points/credits and elite status benefits are unlikely to be honored.
The welcome offer
The card’s welcome offer currently looks like this:
bonus_miles_full
That’s not the best bonus that we have ever seen this card offer, but it’s still a very valuable one.
As the offer shows, if you redeem Ultimate Rewards through the Chase Travel℠ portal, you’ll get 1.25 cents of value out of each point and that makes the welcome bonus worth at least $750.
Personally, however, I know that I can get greater value out of my points by transferring them to Ultimate Rewards partners and then either booking high-end premium cabin flights or great hotels, and so for me, Ultimate Rewards are worth at least 1.5 cents each. That means that I value the welcome offer at an impressive $900.
The $50 hotel statement credit
Cardholders can earn up to $50 in statement credits each card anniversary year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel℠, and while this is a benefit best used when booking a stay at a boutique hotel, or at a hotel whose loyalty program you don’t value*, this can effectively cut the cost of holding the card by over 50%.
Personally, I use this when I need to book a 1-night stay at an airport hotel where I’m usually arriving too late and departing too early to care about elite benefits, and where the rate is low enough that the loyalty points that I’m giving up are irrelevant.
*Hotel bookings made through Chase will not earn points in a hotel’s loyalty program and will not be eligible for elite status benefits.
Security with a transferable currency
There’s no deadline by which you have to use or transfer over Ultimate Rewards points (they don’t expire), so you can hold any points you earn as an Ultimate Rewards balance until you know what program you’d like to use them in.
Then, when the timing is right for you, you simply transfer them across.
When you earn points in a single loyalty program (e.g. United MileagePlus) you’re limited to using those points through that one program only, and to make things worse, you’re also at the mercy of that one program – if (when!) that program devalues its currency, your balance devalues too.
By holding your points as a transferable currency like Ultimate Rewards, you limit your exposure to single program devaluations and you give yourself considerably more flexibility when it comes to how those points can be used.
Great primary rental car cover
The card_name gives cardholders primary rental car cover when they decline the rental company’s collision insurance and pay for the whole of their rental using the card_name.
As coverage is primary, there’s no need for a cardholder to get their own car insurance company involved in the case of an incident, and they can feel safe in the knowledge that the card’s coverage provides reimbursement up to the actual cash value of the vehicle for theft and collision.
Importantly, this protection covers most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.
Soild trip protections & insurances
For a card that comes with an annual fee of just $95, the travel protections that the card_name offers are pretty good.
This is what’s covered and how it’s covered:
When you consider that you can pay a lot more for a credit card and not receive any of those protections at all (I’m looking at you Citi), this level of cover looks pretty good (although you’ll get even better cover with the card_name which, admittedly, costs considerably more to hold).
It makes other cards better
Not only is the card_name a great card in its own right, it also makes other cards even better than they already are.
Take these three very good cards as examples:
The Chase Freedom Flex® Credit Card comes with a $0 annual fee and, on its own, earns 5% cash back in rotating quarterly categories (on up to $1,500 in spending) and on travel purchased through Chase. It will also earn a cardholder 3% cash back on dining and on drugstore spending.
The card_name also comes with a $0 annual fee and, on its own, earns 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase, 3% cash back on dining and on drugstore spending, and 1.5% cashback on spending in all other categories.
The card_name comes with a $0 annual fee and, on its own, earns 5% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on internet/cable/phone services. It also earns 2% cash back on the first $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and at restaurants.
When any (or all) of these cards are held by someone who also holds a card_name, all that cash back can be taken in the form of Ultimate Rewards points (1% cash back = 1 point) and that can result in fantastic returns on spending.
Someone holding a card_name and one of these cards as well, can earn a significant number of Ultimate Rewards points without much effort (that’s what I do).
Bottom line
I make no apologies for loving the card_name as much as I do because it’s a truly great card. It’s a card that works well for people taking their first steps in the miles and points world and it’s a card that works for someone like me (a dinosaur who has been around the miles and points world for far too long).
It’s inexpensive to hold, it has good earning rates, it offers very solid benefits, and because it earns one of the best currencies around, it offers cardholders a great deal of flexibility when it comes time for them to decide how they’d like to use those points.
Personally speaking, I can never have too many Ultimate Rewards points, and that’s why as I sit here typing this in an airport lounge, the card_name is in my pocket ready to be used.
I’ll use it to pay for the rental car I’ll be picking up in a few hours, I’ll use it to pay for the dinner I’ll be eating later on, and I’ll use it to pay for my overpriced coffee tomorrow morning.
Best of all, I know that the points that the card earns me during this trip will go towards paying for the next great Hyatt stay that Joanna and I book, and by doing so, will save us a considerable amount of money.
That’s probably the biggest reason I love the card_name so much.
Currently, successful new applicants for the 
My issue is with their online travel portal. It’s more than contacting airlines directly and heaven forbid if you cancel a flight you have to call them and get on the phone with someone to reschedule it with the credit. It’s the hardest hoops I’ve ever had to go through and it’s a real pain.