My everyday credit card

The baseline of travel hacking is being strategic with which credit card you’re opening and when. If you’re not working on a sign-up bonus, however, it’s important to know which credit cards can get you the most amount of points on regular items. There are a number of credit cards on the market, so many so where you should never get less than 1.5 points per dollar you spend.

Which card do I use?

My go-to credit card for daily spend is the Chase Freedom Unlimited, which gives a minimum of 1.5 points per every dollar spent. The offer right now is earn a $200 bonus when you spend $500 within the first three months of opening the card. While this isn’t a bad offer, there are certainly better ones on the market.

Why do I like this card?

As mentioned above, I get 1.5 points per dollar on every purchase. In addition to that baseline, you can earn 5 points per dollar on purchases made through Chase Ultimate Rewards. The card offers 3x points on dining and 3x on drug store purchases. This drug store feature is nice because many sell gift cards. So, if you wanted to make an Amazon purchase, you could get yourself a gift card for 3x instead of earning only 1.5 points. The card also has a $0 annual fee.

Because I have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, I can combine the points I earn on this card with the Sapphire and redeem those for travel. Without a Sapphire, you can only pay yourself back with the cash back feature.

Should I get a Freedom Unlimited?

It depends! We mostly accrue points through Chase because we’ve found we have the best redemptions, so this makes sense as our everyday card. We always recommend having the Sapphire as the first travel hacking card you get, but the Freedom Unlimited offers a nice compliment and expands your point-earning options.