Best Cards for Flexibility: Future Travel AND Cash Back
All information about American Express has been collected independently by Travel Freely.
If you want rewards that can become travel or cash, start with a card that earns flexible points, like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. The same points can book a flight or land in your bank account as straight cash, so you don’t have to decide today how you’ll use them. Below are our picks for flexible cards and for pure cash back cards, with the tradeoffs on each one spelled out.
One note before we get into the cards: everything here assumes you pay your statement in full and on time every month. Interest charges cost more than any rewards you’d earn back, so this only works when the balance gets paid off.
Cards with the Option for Travel or Cash
Chase cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points can be redeemed for cash where one point equals one cent.
The cards listed below offer points that are more valuable when used towards travel. In order to understand how valuable each of the below offers is, convert the number of points to cash back, in your head by following this pattern (drop the last two zeros and add a dollar sign):
- 25,000 points = $250
- 50,000 points = $500
- 60,000 points = $600
- 80,000 points = $800
- 100,000 points = $1,000
That cash number is your floor, not your ceiling. Cash back is the simplest way to use Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and it’s also the lowest-value one. Transferring the same points to travel partners usually stretches them further. Our Chase Ultimate Rewards Guide covers how those transfers work and what the points are worth.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Read our Complete Guide on the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Chase Freedom Unlimited®
Chase Freedom Flex®
How to Get Cash Back on Chase’s Portal
If you decide to take the cash instead, here’s the walkthrough. It takes about two minutes inside your Chase account.
Best Pure Cash Back Cards
These cards pay in straight cash rather than travel points. They’re a good fit if you’d rather see the money hit your account than learn a loyalty program, or if you want a simple everyday card sitting alongside a travel card.
Citi Double Cash® Card
Pros
- Can earn ThankYou® Points
- No annual fee
Cons
- Foreign transaction fees
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Blue Cash Everyday® Card from American Express
Capital One Quicksilver Cash Rewards Credit Card
Pros
- 1.5% cashback on spend
- No annual fees
Cons
- After the 0% APR introductory period, you’ll pay high APR rates depending on your credit scores
Best Pure Cash Back Business Cards
Capital One Spark Cash Plus
This one is built for small business owners who want flat-rate cash back without tracking categories. It carries a $150 annual fee, so it earns its keep once your business spending is high enough for the rewards to cover that fee and then some.
Pros:
- Unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases.
- If your card is lost or stolen, you pay $0 for Fraud Liability.
- As long as the account is existing, the rewards earned don’t expire and you redeem any amount.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Damage coverage for auto rental collision.
Cons:
- High APR.
- Lack of travel transfer partners.
- Has a $150 annual fee.
- A card without an annual fee is a better option if you spend less than $1,000 monthly.
Ink Business Cash® Credit Card
This card is a top pick for cash back lovers and travelers. We have a complete guide for you to learn more about this card.
Great signup bonus for a card with no annual fee. Excellent companion card to Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred. Like the Sapphire cards, this card earns valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards. You can earn 5X rewards (on first $25k spent) for phone service, cable, internet, and office supply stores.
Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card
This is a great business card from Chase. A great bonus with no annual fees. You can combine points with other cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards. Like the name says, you earn unlimited 1.5% cash back (or 1.5x points) per $1 spent on all purchases. Note that unlike many Chase cards, this card does charge foreign transaction fees.
The American Express Blue Business Cash® Card
Maximize Rewards in Shopping Portals
Shopping portals are an easy add-on: you click through to a store you were already going to shop at, and you earn extra cash back or points on top of what your card earns. Here’s the short version.
- Check CashbackMonitor.com first. It compares the portals side by side so you can see who’s paying the most for the store you want.
- Join Rakuten, one of the simplest portals to start with, and pick up an easy signup bonus.
- Sign up for your favorite airline’s shopping portal so those extra earnings land in the program you’re already building toward.
- Keep the welcome bonus as your main event. Portals are a nice bonus on top, not a replacement for it.
Our full article on maximizing rewards in shopping portals has the step-by-step.
Final Thoughts
Flexible rewards are one of the easiest wins in this whole strategy. You earn on spending you’re already doing, and you decide later whether that turns into a flight or a deposit in your checking account.
If you’re not sure where to start, our usual first recommendation is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, because its points can go either direction. Pick one card, earn the welcome bonus on spending you’d do anyway, and pay the balance in full along the way. That one step does most of the work.
Keeping track of it all is easier in the free Travel Freely app, which holds your cards, bonuses, and deadlines in one place.
