Spending on a credit card is a great decision if you can treat it as cash and always pay your bills on time.
There are dozens of great cards with different benefits for each person’s needs.
If someone has no interest in travel, I’d tell them to get a 2% cash back card such as the Citi Double Cash card. That card gives 2% cash back, though there are also paths to convert those to miles with other cards if wanted.
But if you do travel, you can easily start saving 7.5% back on tons of purchases with what may be the best card duo of all time.
- The Chase Ink Cash is a no annual fee business card which earns 5 points per dollar at office supply stores up to $25,000/year per Ink Cash Card.
- The Chase Sapphire Reserve is a $550 annual fee card that has a plethora of incredible benefits such as a $300/year travel credit, $180 annual Instacart credit, $60 annual DoorDash credit, Priority Plus lounge access including non-traditional lounge access, airline and hotel transfer partners, Global Entry/PreCheck/Nexus credit, and more benefits that can easily offset that annual fee. You can also use points to offset your annual fee at a value of 1.25 cents per point.
The reason these cards pair so well together, is that with the Chase Sapphire Reserve you can redeem points on the Chase travel portal at a value of 1.5 cents each, that is good for flights, hotels, car rentals, activities, and more. That means those 5 points per dollar you earned on the Chase Ink Card are now worth at least 7.5 cents towards travel, or potentially more via transfers to airlines or hotels.
The best part is that office supply stores sell gift cards to other stores enabling you to earn 7.5% towards hundreds of stores!
We often post Visa or Mastercard gift cards for sale with no fees, that would enable you to earn the 5 points per dollar, or 7.5% back on all of your purchases!
Amazon gift cards are only sold in store, but when you do go to a store you can stock up on them and add them to your Amazon account where they can be saved.
Additionally you can do even better than 1.5 cents per point if you transfer these points into airline or hotel points and use them for travel, I have redeemed miles for insane deals where they have been worth 15 cents each! That means those 5 points you earned would be worth a mind boggling 75% back!
- If you want a fantastic credit card to use as your default card for every spending you can use the Ink Unlimited Card that combined with the Chase Sapphire Reserve will earn 2.25% back towards travel.
- If you don’t want to have a $550/year card, you can get a Chase Sapphire Preferred Card with a $95/year annual fee, plus you can still redeem those points at 1.25 cents each for travel or transfer them to airline miles or hotel points.
Here is a list of cards sold at Staples that will earn you 5 points per dollar:
eGift cards sold on Staples.com:
- 1800Flowers
- Advance Auto Parts
- Aerie
- Aeropastle
- Airbnb
- American Eagle
- Amtrak
- AMC Theaters
- Applebees
- AT&T Prepaid
- Athleta
- BabyGap
- Banana Republic
- Barnes & Noble
- Bath & Body Works
- Bass Pro Shop
- Bed Bath & Beyond
- Belk
- Big Lots
- Blomingdale’s
- Bob Evans
- Bonefish Grill
- Boost Mobile
- Boston Market
- Brinker
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Build-A-Bear
- Buy Buy Baby
- CB2
- CPK
- Cabela’s
- Carrabba’s
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili’s
- Chipotle
- Cinemark
- Claire’s
- Coldstone Creamery
- Cracker Barrel
- Crate & Barrel
- Darden
- Dave & Busters
- Delta
- Destination Maternity
- Disney
- Domino’s
- DoorDash
- DSW
- eBay
- Express
- Fandango
- Finish Line
- Foot Locker
- Forever 21
- Friendly’s
- GameStop
- Gap Inc/Athleta/Banana Republic/Old Navy
- Golden Nugget
- Google Play/YouTube Premium
- Groupon
- Grubhub
- Guess
- Guitar Center
- Home Depot
- Hulu Plus
- J. Crew
- JCPenney
- Jack In The Box
- Jiffy Lube
- Jo-Ann
- Kirkland’s
- Kohl’s
- LL Bean
- Landry’s
- Longhorn Steakhouse
- Lowe’s
- Macy’s
- Michael’s
- Net10
- Netflix
- Nordstrom
- Nordstrom Rack
- Old Navy
- Olive Garden
- Omaha Steaks
- Osh Kosh/Carters
- Outback Steakhouse
- PacSun
- Panera
- Petco
- Pottery Barn
- $300 Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
- $200 Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
- Rainforest Cafe
- REI
- Red Robin
- Regal Cinemas
- Safeway
- Sephora
- Simple Mobile
- Southwest
- SpaFinder
- Spotify
- Staples
- Steak N Shake
- Stitch Fix
- StubHub
- Sunglass Hut
- Sur La Table
- Target
- Texas Roadhouse
- ThinkGeek
- Total Wireless
- Tracfone
- Verizon Prepaid
- Wayfair
- West Elm
- Williams-Sonoma
- Uber/UberEats
- Ulta Beauty
- XBox
Gift cards sold in Office Depot/Office Max stores:
- Advance Auto Parts
- Amazon (Valid for anything from Amazon and can be saved to your Amazon account)
- Amazon Fire (Valid for anything from Amazon and can be saved to your Amazon account)
- Amazon Kindle (Valid for anything from Amazon and can be saved to your Amazon account)
- AMC Theaters
- American Eagle
- Applebee’s
- Banana Republic
- Barnes & Noble
- Bass Pro Shops
- Bath & Body Works
- Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby
- Blomingdale’s
- Boost Mobile
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Build-A-Bear
- Burger Kind
- CVS
- Cabela’s
- Catherine’s
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili’s
- Chipotle
- Claire’s
- Coldstone Creamery
- Cracker Barrel
- Dairy Queen
- Darden
- Delta
- Denny’s
- Disney
- Domino’s
- eBay
- Express
- Fandango
- Finish Line
- Foot Locker
- Forever 21
- Gap Inc/Athleta/Banana Republic/Old Navy
- GameStop
- Google Play/YouTube Premium
- GreenDot
- Groupon
- Home Depot
- Home Goods
- Hulu Plus
- Ihop
- iTunes
- J. Crew
- Jack In The Box
- JCPenney
- Jiffy Lube
- Jo-Ann Fabric
- Justice
- Kohl’s
- Lands End
- Lowe’s
- Macy’s
- Michael’s
- MoneyPak
- Netflix
- Net10 Wireless
- Nike
- Nordstrom
- Nordstrom Rack
- Office Max/Office Depot
- Old Navy
- Olive Garden
- Omaha Steaks
- Outback Steakhouse
- Petco
- PetSmart
- PF Chang’s
- Prepaid AMEX (Fee applies)
- Prepaid AMEX Serve (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Mastercard (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Five Back (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Fuel Everywhere (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Movies Everywhere (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Shoes Everywhere (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Simon Malls (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa Style Everywhere (Fee applies)
- REI
- Red Lobster
- Red Robin
- Regal Cinemas
- Reloadit
- Ruby Tuesday
- Panda Express
- PayLo
- Sephora
- Skype
- Southwest
- SpaFinder
- Sports Authority
- Starbucks
- Stockpile
- Subway
- Sunglass Hut
- TGIFridays
- Taco Bell
- TJMaxx/Home Goods
- Tracfone
- Uber/UberEats
- Virgin Mobile
- Zappos
Gift cards sold in Staples stores:
- Airbnb
- Amazon (Valid for anything from Amazon and can be saved to your Amazon account)
- Amazon Kindle (Valid for anything from Amazon and can be saved to your Amazon account)
- American Eagle
- AMC Theaters
- Applebees
- AT&T Prepaid
- BP
- Barnes & Noble
- Bath & Body Works
- Bass Pro Shop
- Bed Bath & Beyond/Buy Buy Baby
- Best Buy
- Blomingdale’s
- Bonefish Grill
- Boost Mobile
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Build-A-Bear
- CVS
- Cabela’s
- Carrabba’s
- Cheesecake Factory
- Chili’s
- Chipotle
- Coldstone Creamery
- Cracker Barrel
- Darden
- Delta
- Disney
- eBay
- Express
- Fandango
- Foot Locker
- GameStop
- Gap Inc/Athleta/Banana Republic/Old Navy
- Google Play/YouTube Premium
- Groupon
- Happy Beauty
- Happy Bites
- Happy Eats
- Happy Guy
- Happy Her
- Happy Lady
- Happy Teen
- HBO
- Hello Fresh
- Home Depot
- Home Goods
- Hotels.com
- Hulu Plus
- iTunes
- J. Crew
- JCPenney
- Kohl’s
- LL Bean
- Longhorn Steakhouse
- Lowe’s
- Macy’s
- Marshalls
- Michael’s
- Net10
- Netflix
- Nike
- Nordstrom
- Old Navy
- Olive Garden
- Outback Steakhouse
- Panera
- Petco
- PetSmart
- PF Chang’s
- PlayStation Store
- Prepaid AMEX (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Mastercard (Fee applies)
- Prepaid Visa (Fee applies)
- Red Robin
- Regal Cinemas
- Sally Beauty
- Sephora
- Shell
- Simple Mobile
- Southwest
- SpaFinder
- Spotify
- Staples
- Starbucks
- Subway
- Target
- Texas Roadhouse
- TJMaxx/Home Goods
- The Children’s Place
- Total Wireless
- Tracfone
- Virgin Mobile
- Wayfair
- Wendy’s
- Uber/UberEats
- Ulta Beauty
- XBox/XBox Live
These are the gift cards that I’ve found at my local stores in the past. If you find more please post a comment!
Of course, your local school or charity will be more than happy to accept donations of Amazon gift cards for supplies or any other useful gift cards for chinese auctions, raffles, fundraisers, etc. They will give you a tax deductible receipt for the full face value, the price you paid for the gift cards. And at the same time you’ll earn 5 points per dollar. So while doing good you can still get a nice chunk of points and you’ll save on your taxes!
Of course you can do further than a pair of cards. Read this post in the Chase Quinfecta to dive deeper!
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23 Comments On "The Best Credit Card Duo Of All Time? Earn 7.5% Back At Dozens Of Stores And More Awesome Benefits!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
It’s not 7.5% 5+1.5=6.5
5×1.5=7.5
Ink Unlimited would be a better everyday card than Sapphire Reserve?
1.5% flat on everything vs. 1% on everything (and higher on certain categories).
Sure, though not as good as using GCs bought with Ink Cash.
Does my Chase United Club Card combine in the same way as the Saphire Reserve mentioned above?
No.
can i get approved for the ink cards again if i got them last year july under same name?
any risks?
Yes.
No. worst case is you’re denied.
got declined worth to call reconsideration?
100%
Many readers just this week have gotten cards approved through reconsideration.
Here are some tips: https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/ultimate-beginners-guide-credit-cards-points-2023-start-need-know-best-cards/#Turning_a_rejection_into_an_approval
even the reason could be that i already got the cards in july as i wroth above?
You need to give them a reason that you need this card. Perhaps to track different expenses in your business?
B”h after calling to reconsider I got approved for both cards, now I have the cash, unlimited and reserve, can you please write when to use which card.
What benefits do I have by having the reserve together with these cards?
Congrats, that’s a great combo of cards!
See the chart and post here:
https://www.dansdeals.com/credit-cards/2023-ultimate-comparison-chart-chase-ultimate-rewards-cards-supercharge-earnings-creating-chase-quinfecta-killer-combo/
I had to fight for mine and my wife’s cards, the hardest question was, why do you need both cards? I didn’t have what to answer…
Any ideas what to answer?
Sure, just explain the spending benefits that each card offers.
I applied for.the business ink unlimited and don’t have a registered business and I got an email to upload a.tax document under the business any tips?
Did you apply with the card as your own name and as a sole proprietor?
Yes
Can you transfer / combine points between the Chase Ink Business Cards and Chase Saphire Cards?
Yes.
Got my wife the ink unlimited 2 months ago and just got myself the ink cash to go with a bunch of other inks, reserves, unlimiteds, and freedoms that we’ve had for several years. I have perfect credit and I’m a Chase Private Client and they still put me through the ringer for 15 minutes on the phone to get this card approved. It’s getting harder to come up with stories for these new businesses that I supposedly have.