Why I Choose 1.5X Chase Points Over 2X Rewards for Everyday Spending

I have multiple cards that earn 2x rewards on all purchases, but my go-to card earns 1.5% cash-back. That’s not a mistake — I prefer earning Chase Ultimate Rewards even though I have other cards that earn more.

My Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card earns unlimited 2x miles, and my Citi Double Cash^® Card earns 2% cash-back (1% when I make a purchase and an additional 1% when I pay my bill). Both are good for everyday purchases, but I usually use my Chase Freedom Unlimited^® instead because it’s easier to use Chase rewards for the trips I take.

Here’s why I still use Chase cards for everyday purchases, even when the math is better on other cards.

I Use a Chase Trifecta for Spending

I do most of my spending with my Freedom Unlimited card, Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, and Ink Business Preferred^® Credit Card.

Here’s what each card covers for rewards earning:

• Freedom Unlimited card: 5% cash-back on Chase Travel, 3% on drugstores and dining, and 1.5% on all other purchases
• Chase Sapphire Preferred card: 5x on Chase Travel, 3x on dining, vacation homes, gas and EV charging, top streaming services, and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases
• Ink Business Preferred card: 5x on Lyft rides (through September 30, 2027), 3x on the first $150,000 spent on travel, shipping, internet, cable, and phone services, and on advertising purchases with social media sites and search engines

Between these 3 cards, I earn at least 3x on most of my everyday expenses: dining, online groceries, gas and EV charging, and travel. I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred card for dining, gas, EV charging, streaming services, and online groceries. My Ink Business Preferred card is a catchall for travel expenses I can’t earn more on with another card, like a co-branded hotel or airline card. For everything else, like utilities, I use my Freedom Unlimited card to get 1.5% back.

I have my cards linked, so all of the cash-back I earn with the Freedom Unlimited card can be redeemed as Chase Ultimate Rewards points with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Ink Business Preferred card. Both the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and the Ink Business Preferred card can be used to transfer points to Chase airline and hotel transfer partners.

Another benefit of using Chase cards for most purchases is that I’m concentrating more points in a single program rather than spreading rewards across multiple programs. Even if I earn points at a higher rate with another card, I might not have enough to book anything useful for a while. With more concentrated spending with Chase, I can make significant redemptions rather than having a little bit here or there in various rewards currencies.

I Give Up Rewards Value by Spending With Chase

The Freedom Unlimited card’s 1.5% cash-back is less than the unlimited 2x miles I can earn with my Capital One Venture X card or the 2% cash-back I can earn with my Double Cash card (1% with the purchase, 1% when I pay my bill). But neither of those cards is my default for everyday purchases.

For every $1,000 I spend on my Freedom Unlimited card earning 1.5% cash-back instead of earning 2x miles with my Capital One Venture X card, I give up about $6 in rewards value. We value Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 2 cents each, slightly higher than the 1.8 cents each Capital One Mile is worth, but my Capital One Venture X card offers more value by earning more on every purchase.

The $6 difference is based on estimated point valuations, so it’s not guaranteed. On $10,000 in purchases, the estimated difference grows to $60 when I choose Chase over Capital One. But I’ve found it easy to get solid redemptions by transferring my Chase Ultimate Rewards points to partners, so I put more weight on how I’ll actually use my points than their estimated value.

Chase Transfer Partners Fit My Travel Habits

I prioritize earning rewards with Chase because I can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to some of the travel rewards programs I use the most: United MileagePlus, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, and World of Hyatt.

Many of my Chase points transfers go to United. I live in the Houston area, and George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) is a United hub with a newly transformed Terminal B featuring the largest United Club in the Americas.

Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points with the plan to transfer them to United gives me access to more than 180 direct routes to 30 countries from IAH, plus a lot of flexibility for last-minute domestic flights — including Saver Award fares.

In July, I booked a same-day United flight to Orlando (MCO), Florida, for my husband and me that would have cost nearly $4,100 in cash but was only 54,000 miles plus $22.40 in taxes and fees. It was Chase Ultimate Rewards points transferred from my Ink Business Preferred card that made it happen, and I got 7.5 cents per point in value.

Chase points also came in handy for an unexpected April trip, so I like having points available for last-minute flights. And because I can keep my points with Chase until I’m ready to redeem them, I have the flexibility to use other transfer partners if I don’t like what I find with United.

Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) is a major operating base for Southwest Airlines and serves as an international gateway to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. I fly Southwest less often than United, but the Southwest partnership gives me more options and another reason to keep earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points on everyday spending.

I also value Chase’s partnership with World of Hyatt. I don’t usually transfer points to hotel programs, but World of Hyatt is the exception. It’s possible to find points bargains on Hyatt properties, such as a Grand Hyatt for 8,000 World of Hyatt points (11,000 Chase points when transferred from my Chase Sapphire Preferred card or Ink Business Preferred card).

Chase recently changed the World of Hyatt transfer ratio from 1:1 to 4:3 for my Chase Sapphire Preferred card and Ink Business Preferred card, but I can still find worthwhile redemptions, even when cash rates are high. It just means I have to be more selective about which stays are worth booking with points. I always compare the cash rate to the number of points needed to book an award night before I transfer points and commit. Still, Hyatt is another practical use for my Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

I Get Less Value From Capital One and Citi Rewards

I use my Capital One Venture X card to book hotels on Capital One Travel using the card’s $300 annual travel credit and make other occasional purchases. I’m more likely to use my Capital One Miles to pay myself back for travel purchases that exceed my $300 travel credit than to transfer them to partners. It’s nice to have access to those partners if I want to use them, but I haven’t encountered as many opportunities to use my Capital One Miles as I have my Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

That’s not a limitation of Capital One Miles but a reflection of how I travel. Capital One has numerous airline partners with good redemption opportunities, including programs that can be used to book flights with partner airlines. I just haven’t planned travel where Capital One partners would be more valuable than Chase’s.

The Double Cash card earns a solid 2% cash-back rate (1% when I make a purchase and 1% when I pay it off), but it’s rare that I make a purchase intending to only get cash-back. I find more value in transferable rewards points and don’t have a Citi Strata Elite℠ Card or Citi Strata Premier^® Card to unlock premium-card transfer rates to Citi’s transfer partners.

When I Choose 2x Rewards

Earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points makes sense for me most of the time, but I still use my 2x cards for some purchases.

I can shift some of my spending to my Capital One Venture X card when I need more Capital One miles for a particular redemption, such as an award flight or a travel booking that exceeds the card’s $300 annual travel credit. I also do it when I have plenty of Chase points without immediate plans to use them.

The same goes for cash-back if I have a more immediate need for cash than for additional travel rewards. I use the Double Cash card when I’d rather get 2% back (1% when making the purchase, 1% when paying the bill) than turn rewards into travel. Sometimes, it makes sense to get 2% back as a discount rather than save up for a travel redemption.

I also choose other cards when a bonus category beats my catchall rate. For example, I use co-branded airline and hotel cards when I have a card from that brand.

Final Thoughts

I could earn an estimated $6 more in rewards value per $1,000 with my Capital One Venture X card, but I’m not optimizing my rewards value for a spreadsheet valuation — I do it for rewards I actually book. Chase Ultimate Rewards redemptions work best for my travel habits, so it’s more valuable to me to earn an effective 1.5x on rewards I can easily redeem than 2x miles that might sit unused until I find a worthwhile redemption.