Going for the Chase Quadfecta: Reserve, Ink, and Freedom(s)

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“The Chase Quadfecta” (QF) is one of the most powerful combinations of travel rewards earning credit cards available. It’s a combination of three no-annual fee credit cards along with one premium card known as the Sapphire Reserve. Together these cards essentially create one super-card that offers extremely valuable reward earning potential along with superb travel benefits. I’ll explain what it is and how you might go about obtaining it strategically yourself.

“The Chase Quadfecta”

There are a few forms that the QF can take but here is the form that I’ll be referring to that consists of the following credit cards:

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve: 100,000 Ultimate Rewards signup bonus 
  • Chase Freedom: 15,000 Ultimate Rewards signup bonus 
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited: 15,000 Ultimate Rewards sign up bonus 
  • Chase Ink Cash: 60,000+ Ultimate Rewards sign up bonus 

This is a phenomenal combination because it affords you with exceptional bonus category earning potential, great benefits, and the potential to rack up around 200,000 Ultimate Rewards. 

Bonus earning potential

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve
    • 3X on dining and travel
  • Chase Freedom 
    • 5X on rotating categories up to $1,500 (dining, groceries, department stores, etc.)
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited
    • 1.5X on all purchases
  • Chase Ink Cash
    • 5X on up to $25,000 spent in combined purchases at office supply stores and on cellular phone, landline, internet and cable TV services
    • 2X on up to $25,000 spent in combined purchases at gas stations and restaurants

*The Chase Ink Preferred will be launched soon and we are waiting to see if a no annual fee version of that card will be released.

All of that bonus category earning potential is extremely valuable, and I can’t think of another card combination that works out this great. Because the Reserve is a premium card, this means that all of your points earned from the other cards (the Freedom cards and the Ink card), can be transferred out to all of the different airline and hotel partners of Ultimate Rewards.

Annual Fees

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve
    • $450 but offset with $300 travel credit to $150 
  • Chase Freedom 
    • $0
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited
    • $0
  • Chase Ink Cash
    • $0

Because so many of these cards come with no annual fees you can think of them together as one super card with a $450 annual fee that is reduced to a $150 annual fee with the travel credit. If that $450 is just too expensive for you to consider (even with the $300 travel credit), then you can always replace it with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, which only has a $95 annual fee.

Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Reserve comes with the following benefits:

  • Priority Pass airport lounge access with unlimited guest access (worth $400 per year)
  • $300 annual travel credit
  • $100 statement credit for Global Entry/TSA Pre-Check 
  • Add authorized users for $75 per person
  • Primary rental car insurance 
  • Rental car benefits with National Car Rental, Avis, and Silvercar
  • Visa Infinite concierge service
  • Elite Hotel Benefits at Relais & Château
  • As a Chase Sapphire Reserve card holder,  if you book travel through the Ultimate Rewards Portal you can redeem points as 1.5 cents per point.
  • Access to the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal 

With all of these benefits, the “super card” becomes even more apparent. The Reserve offers one of the best Priority Lounge access memberships and the $300 travel credit can be used on a wide variety of purchases, making it not only one of the most valuable travel credits but one of the easiest to use. 

Getting the Chase Quadfecta

Due to Chase’s application rules, if you want to get your hands on all these cards you’ve got to make sure that you’re utilizing the proper application strategy. And that gets tricky because there are three different factors to consider that can all potentially work against each other: 

5/24

The Chase 5/24 rule means that for certain Chase cards (like all of the ones in the QF), you cannot get approved for them if you have opened up 5 cards or more within the past 24 months. (The main exception to this rule is if you get an in-branch pre-approval.) Thus, if you’re a beginner who hasn’t opened any cards in the past two years, then you’d want to go after these cards first. And if you have opened a few cards in the previous two years, you may be limited to only a couple of these cards.

Two Chase house cards/ 30 day rule

Chase almost always limits you to 2 cards within a given 30 day period. What’s more, Chase sometimes won’t approve you for you two Chase house cards at once. So for example, some people struggle to get approved for both the Freedom and the Sapphire at the same (although others have success).

Combining inquiries

Credit bureaus will often combine inquiries when you apply for two Chase cards at the same time. This helps you mitigate the damage done by hard pulls on your credit report.

The problem

You might be able to already see the potential conundrum here, which is the following….

If you try to apply for these Chase house cards at the same time in order to get the inquiries combined and to quickly obtain the QF, you might get rejected for some applications since you’d be applying for two Chase house cards at once.

Also, If you try to combine inquiries by applying for a Chase house card along with a co-branded card each time, you’ll eventually hit 5 new credit card accounts before obtaining the QF and therefore be excluded from getting all four of the QF due to 5/24.  

So there are a few ways you can go about applying for these cards. 

Two Chase house cards at once

This option is for those people who are lucky enough to get approved for two Chase house cards at one time. For these people, the plan is very simple.

For the first round of applications they can go for:

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve + Freedom

And then 30 to 60 days later they can go for

  • Freedom Unlimited + Ink

And just like that, they’ve got the QF. This plan may or may not work and you might just have to risk a rejection in order to find out if it can work for you. It does seem like a lot of people are having success with getting two Chase cards at once (like the Freedom and Sapphire), so it’s probably not a large risk of getting rejected. 

Keep in mind that getting approved for the Chase Ink cards has always been a bit of a black box. There are so many conflicting data points that it’s often impossible to predict who might get approved for the Chase Ink cards. Before applying for any Ink card, I suggest reading up on my tips for getting approved for the Chase Ink Plus and my article on what to expect in a Chase business reconsideration call.

One Chase house card at once

It gets more complicated if you don’t go for more than one Chase house card at once. That’s because if you still decide to combine inquiries with two simultaneous applications, you will fill up your “5” cards for purposes of the 5/24 rule before you even acquire the QF.

For example, if you applied for: 

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve + Chase co-branded card
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited + Chase co-branded card

You’d only be able to pick up one more Chase house card before 5/24 would kick in and you’d end up with only three of the QF. 

Thus, if you really wanted the QF and you haven’t been able to get approved for two house cards at once, then you might want to consider not combining inquiries and just applying for the QF cards one at a time, perhaps waiting 30 to 60 days between apps. This will take a lot more patience and hit your credit report with more inquiries but it could be the only way to obtain the QF. 

Co-branded cards subject to 5/24

Finally, there’s one more thing to add to the mix.

Several Chase co-branded cards are also subject to 5/24 including all Chase Southwest cards, the Chase Marriott Premier personal card, and all of the Chase United cards.

Thus, you’re often forced to make a decision on whether or not you want to give up on getting certain Chase house cards in order to get the Chase co-branded cards. So for example, if you wanted to earn the Southwest Companion Pass (one of the most valuable travel rewards) by getting two Chase Southwest cards, then you’d have to limit your applications to three total Chase house cards. 

In that case your applications could look like this:

For the first round of applications they can go for:

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve + Chase Southwest Plus

And then 30 to 60 days later they can go for

  • Chase Freedom Unlimited + Chase Southwest Premier

And then another 30 to 60 days later they can go for

  • Chase Ink

This application would land you with the “Chase Trifecta” but you’d still be able to obtain the Companion Pass, so it might be worth it for a lot of people. 

In the end, it will always come down to your personal preference and how much you value the different Chase co-branded cards that are subject to 5/24. But when considering the Chase QF it’s really important to know which co-branded cards are subject to 5/24 and whether or not you’re interested in the Southwest Companion Pass before you start applying. 

Final word 

The Chase QF is one of the best credit card combinations available if you value Ultimate Rewards. With it, you can unleash all kinds of bonus point earning potential and take advantage of some great travel benefits. However, due to Chase’s application rules you need to implement a smart strategy to ensure that you don’t unintentionally exclude yourself from being approved from other Chase cards.