A credit card trifecta is a strategic combination of credit cards, typically from a single rewards program, that boosts your rewards-earning potential. It is used in the credit card rewards world to maximize your everyday spending.
Both the American Express Membership Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards programs have their own trifectas that can be used to maximize your rewards.
The AMEX Trifecta consists of The Platinum Card® from American Express, American Express® Gold Card, and The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express. This is two personal credit cards and one business credit card — all of which earns Membership Rewards Points.
The Chase Trifecta consists of two Ultimate Rewards credit card which is the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and one cash back credit cards which is the Chase Freedom Unlimited®. Cash back earned with Chase is displayed in Ultimate Rewards Points which can be redeemed for high value if you have at least one Ultimate Rewards credit card (e.g. the Chase Sapphire Reserve).
Build Your Own
While these are the "popular" trifectas for each program, the credit cards used in a trifecta are not set in stone. The best trifectas for others might not be the best trifecta for you or for someone else.
Maybe your spend justifies a Quadfecta (4) or Quinfecta (5). Or maybe a 2-card combo is the best option for you. It all comes down to your spend habits.
The calculators on this page calculates rewards for the standard AMEX Trifecta and Chase Trifecta. You can build your own combination of credit cards from AMEX, Chase, and any other card provider using the Credit Card Comparison Tool.
Card Details At-A-Glance
Comparing Rewards
Before you dive into which combo is the best for you, you'll first want to understand the rewards you'll be earning with these cards and the value they provide based on redemption. Just figuring out which cards earn you the most points is not enough.
Membership Rewards Points is a flexible rewards currency that is best used for travel. This includes booking flights and prepaid hotels through American Express travel and transferring points to AMEX's airline and hotel partners.
Chase Ultimate Rewards Points is also a flexible rewards currency that is best redeemed towards travel either booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards or through the transfer of points to Chase's airline and hotel partners. Chase also offers a solid return on cash-like redemptions such as cash back, statement credits, and gift cards which is a big plus.
The table below lists the average value you'll get out of Membership Rewards Points and Ultimate Rewards Points based on the cards offered in each trifecta.
| Membership Rewards Points |
|
|---|---|
| Ultimate Rewards Points |
|
Point Transfers To Partners
Transferring Membership Rewards Points and Ultimate Rewards Points to airline and hotel partners will give you the chance to get the most value out of your points. Through point transfers, you can get as much as 2 cents or higher depending on the partner and redemption.
Ultimate Rewards Points can be transferred to 13 travel partners and Membership Rewards Points can be transferred to 20 travel partners.
The table below lists the side by side comparison of AMEX travel partners vs Chase travel partners and the transfer ratio of each.
Airline Miles
Airline miles with most major frequent flyer programs have an average value of 1.2 to 1.5 cents each with the chance to get higher value with a little research and effort, especially for upper class redemptions on 5-star airlines.
For Membership Rewards Points earned with the AMEX Trifecta, you'll only get 1 cent in value or lower when redeeming points through American Express. So transferring points with AMEX is pretty much the only way to go if you want exceptional value.
With Ultimate Rewards Points, you have the ability to get an easy 1.5 cents in value towards travel made through Chase Ultimate Rewards or transfer your points to partners. That gives the Chase Trifecta a little bit more flexibility when it comes to getting great value out of airline redemptions.
All-in-all, the value you can get out of either Trifecta for transferring points to frequent flyer programs is high and neither program is better than the other in this case.
It really comes down to personal preferences such as which airlines you enjoy flying or if you have a favorite airline alliance.
Hotel Rewards Points
Membership Rewards Points and Ultimate Rewards Points can be transferred to a handful of hotel loyalty programs.
For AMEX Membership Rewards, your best option is going to be Marriott Bonvoy. The Point Calculator values Marriott Bonvoy Points at 0.7 cents each, but it's easily possible to get higher than 1 cent in value with a little bit of research.
Marriott has many sweet spots in their program which includes Category 1, Category 7, and Category 8 hotels as well as popular beach and ski resorts.
Choice Privileges and Hilton Honors are good options, but it will take a little more effort to get great value when transferring to these programs.
For Chase Ultimate Rewards, the answer is: Hyatt. The Point Calculator values Hyatt Points at 1.8 cents each, but it's very easy to get over 2 cents per point with little to no effort.
As with AMEX, Marriott Bonvoy is also a solid transfer partner for Chase Ultimate Rewards for the same reasons. IHG is a decent partner, but it will take some time heavy research to get solid value unless you're staying at a high-end resort.
Travel Redemptions
Membership Rewards Points can be redeemed for 1 cent per point towards airfare purchased through American Express Travel. This is the highest value you can obtain unless you have the The Business Platinum Card from American Express or American Express Business Gold Card in which these cards offer point rebates giving you 1.33 or 1.54 cents per point in value.
With The Platinum Card being in the AMEX Trifecta, you'll also be able to redeem points for 1 cent each towards Fine Hotels & Resort hotel bookings made through American Express Travel. This can be useful for free nights or just to shave off some of the cost of the stay.
For Chase Ultimate Rewards, you'll be able to redeem points for 1.5 cents per point towards travel redemptions made through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This is due to the 50% boost to point value the Chase Sapphire Reserve offers.
This gives you an extremely easy way to get fantastic value out of your points and provides an alternative to transferring points. Just be aware that if you have elite status or your going for elite status, it will likely not be honored since you're booking through a third party.
Cash Back & Statement Credits
If you're looking for cash-like redemptions such as cash back, statement credits, and gift cards, the Ultimate Rewards program is the winner by a landslide.
With the Chase Trifecta, you'll be able to redeem your points for a minimum of 1 cent per point towards cash-like redemptions.
For AMEX, you'll only get 0.6 cents per point for statement credits and anywhere between 0.5 cents to 1 cent per point for gift cards.
So if you want the option to cash out your rewards, the Chase Trifecta is the route to take.
Comparing Earning Rates
In order to maximize your rewards, the credit cards featured in the AMEX Trifecta and Chase Trifecta must be used strategically. This means using certain cards for the categories they excel in.
Membership Rewards Points all share the same balance assuming you have all cards in the AMEX Trifecta connected to a single login for the AMEX website.
Ultimate Rewards Points are earned per card and you'll have the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards Points between Chase credit cards. For the Chase Trifecta, you'll want to transfer all of your points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve as it offers the higher 1.5 cents redemption rate and the ability to transfer points to partners.
The table below lists which cards to use based on the bonus categories and how much you'll earn with each card.
| AMEX Trifecta |
The Platinum Card
American Express Gold Card
The Blue Business Plus Card
|
|---|---|
| Chase Trifecta |
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Chase Freedom Unlimited
|
For the AMEX Trifecta, you'll be using The Platinum Card to pay for any kind of airfare or American Express Travel bookings, the AMEX Gold Card to sweep in a whopping 4X on restaurant and U.S. supermarket purchases, and the Blue Business Plus Card to earn 2X on all other purchases (on up to $50,000 per calendar year).
Do note that the Blue Business Plus Card is a business credit card. If you can't get a business credit card with AMEX or want to stick with personal credit cards, you can replace this card with the AMEX Everyday Preferred Card which will earn you up to 1.5X on all other purchases.
For the Chase Trifecta, you'll use the Chase Sapphire Reserve for all travel and dining purchases, the Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card for it's line-up of utility and business categories, and the Chase Freedom Unlimited to pick up 1.5X on all other purchases.
If you're not big enough on travel to warrant having the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it can be swapped out with the Chase Sapphire Preferred which offers lower earnings at a significantly lower annual fee. It also offers a few different bonus categories such as online grocery shopping.
If the business categories of the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card are not useful to you, you can replace it with the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card for higher earnings across the utilities or you can replace it with the Chase Freedom Flex℠ if you wish to earn on quarterly rotating categories (though I recommend adding the Freedom Flex to your line-up regardless).
Comparing Benefits
With either Trifecta, you'll be showered in elite travel benefits. Which benefits are better depends on what you're looking for when traveling.
Lounge access? Increase point value? Top-tier concierge?
The table below lists out all of the benefits you'll make use of with the AMEX Trifecta and Chase Trifecta by card. If another card in the Trifecta offers a better variation of the same benefit, it will not be listed.
| AMEX Trifecta |
The Platinum Card
American Express Gold Card
The Blue Business Plus Card
|
|---|---|
| Chase Trifecta |
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Chase Freedom Unlimited
|
Comparing Fees
The AMEX Trifecta has a combined fee of $945 annually while the Chase Trifecta has a combined fee of $645 annually.
AMEX Trifecta
For the AMEX Trifecta, The Platinum Card will cost you $695 annually and the American Express Gold Card will cost you $250 annually. With these cards, you will have to take into account the value of the benefits offered across each card.
Between the cards in the AMEX Trifecta, you're looking at over $1,600 in annual credits which pretty much drowns out the combined annual fee between the cards. The real question is how much of those credits will you be able to actually use and how many of those will be "I'm just using the credits because they're offered on the card but I would never shop here" credits?
Not including the credits, the AMEX Trifecta still offers extensive lounge access, great travel insurance, and pretty high multipliers across several categories. This adds even more value to the Trifecta.
Overall, it's not hard to get thousands in value between the three AMEX credit cards and if you use the cards often as well as travel at least occasionally, you'll easily be able to make up for the combined annual fee.
Chase Trifecta
For the Chase Trifecta, the Chase Sapphire Reserve has an annual fee of $550 and the Ink Business Preferred has an annual fee of $95. The only credit is the $300 in annual travel credits offered on the Chase Sapphire Reserve which brings the overall combined fee of the trifecta down to $345.
Lounge access, great returns on travel, dining, and business category purchases, the ability to redeem points for 50% more value towards travel, fantastic reward flexibility, superb travel insurance... it's not hard to see that you can easily get hundred if not thousands of dollars worth of value with these cards.
Other Chase Trifectas
Listed below are a few popular trifectas for Chase. If you want to build these trifectas, you can do so by using the Credit Card Comparison Tool.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
Prior to all the bonus category and card changes that happened within 2020 and 2021, this was the "original" popular Chase Trifectas. Even still, it's a great option if you don't need the categories offered on the Chase Ink Business Preferred.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve bumps the redemption value of Ultimate Rewards Points up to 1.5 cents each for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, grants the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Chase's airline and hotel partners, and comes with a long list of travel benefits such as lounge access and up to $300 in annual travel credit.
The Chase Freedom Flex earns 5% back on quarterly rotating categories as well as 5% back on Chase Travel and 3% back on both dining and drugstore purchases.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited takes care of all additional spending across categories not covered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Freedom Flex. This will earn you 1.5% back on miscellaneous spend.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Chase Freedom Flex℠
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
This is an alternative to the above trifecta where the Chase Sapphire Reserve is swapped out for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. This can be the better option if you don't find value in the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred bumps the redemption value of Ultimate Rewards Points up to 1.25 cents each for travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards® and grants the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards Points to Chase's airline and hotel partners.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred also earns 5X points on travel purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3X on online grocery purchases, select streaming services, and dining purchases, 2X on other travel purchases, and 1X on everything else.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited is used to take care of all miscellaneous spend not covered by the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Freedom Flex.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Chase Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
This is another common trifectas, but includes the Chase Ink Business Preferred credit card for earning 3x on the categories of shipping, internet, cable services, phone services, and advertising.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you the 50% boost in point value for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards and the long list of travel benefits.
The Chase Freedom provides 1.5X on all miscellaneous spend not covered by the Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve®
- Chase Ink Business Cash® credit card
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
If you want to earn a high 5X return across several categories, the Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card can fit nicely into the trifecta.
The Chase Ink Business Cash credit card earns 5X Ultimate Rewards Points on office supply store, internet, cable services, and phone services purchases. This is a pretty popular trifecta due to office supply stores offering gift cards which means you can technically earn 5X at any retailer in which you can buy a gift card for.
You can also use the Chase Ink Business Cash credit card to earn 2X on gas station purchases.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve give you the 50% point boost for Chase Ultimate Rewards and grants the ability for you to transfer your points to partners as well as the 3X to 10X earnings across the various travel and dining categories featured on the card.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited makes sure you earn no less than 1.5X when used on categories not covered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and Chase Ink Business Cash credit card. It can also be used to earn 3X on drugstore purchases.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Chase Ink Business Cash® credit card
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®
This trifecta is great if you want the high earnings of the Chase Ink Business Cash® credit card, but don't need the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. It's a solid option if you plan on transferring points to Chase's travel partners.
Other AMEX Trifectas
Listed below are a popular trifectas for American Express. If you want to build these trifectas, you can do so by using the Credit Card Comparison Tool.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express
- American Express® Green Card
- American Express Everyday® Preferred Credit Card
If you want more travel focused spending, this could be a great trifecta of AMEX credit cards.
The Platinum Card will supply you with the luxury travel benefits and 5X earnings on airfare purchased directly with an airline as well as 5X on airfare and prepaid hotel bookings through amextravel.com.
The American Express Green Card can be used to earn 3X on travel, transit and dining purchases. The card also offers up to $100 in annual CLEAR credits and up to $100 in annual LoungeBuddy credits.
The American Express Everyday Preferred Credit Card earns 50% more points when you make 30 or more transactions on the card during a statement period. This means it will earn up to 4.5X on U.S. supermarket purchases, up to 3X on U.S. gas station purchases, and up to 1.5X on all other purchases. That makes this the go-to card for all miscellaneous purchases not ran across The Platinum Card or American Express Green Card.
Point Calculator
Calculate how many Membership Rewards Points you can earn with the AMEX Trifecta and how many Ultimate Rewards Points you can earn with the Chase Trifecta. You'll also be able to calculate the average cash value of the points earned, the transfer of points to partners, and the cash value of each Trifecta.
American Express Membership Rewards
Chase Ultimate Rewards
