You might think that in 2 player mode you’ll just both be doing the Chase Trifecta at the same time but that would not be the smartest way to handle things. The best part about 2 player mode is referral bonuses. I’m going to give you a suggestion on how to handle all of this over the course of a year. This is for demonstration purposes only and you are obviously free to handle this however you see fit.
Hypothetical Scenario
This suggestion is based upon a hypothetical where both of you are 0/24 (neither of you have opened any credit cards in the last 24 months), you both have good credit and you are starting on January 1st. I’m only using January 1st to keep things simple, it really doesn’t matter what day you start and this whole process does not have to take a year.
To start off the process, P1 applies for a card such as the Chase Freedom Unlimited card on January 1st. The card will arrive in a week or two and the sign up bonus is not that hard to meet. So let’s say it’s met by January 15th. So on that date, you will refer a card to P2. Please note you don’t have to wait to refer anyone a card but I’m just trying to keep this very basic.
Before we go any further, let’s talk referrals. Each card has a different bonus structures. For example, you need a Chase Sapphire Reserve to refer someone a Chase Sapphire Reserve. With one of the Chase Freedom cards, you can refer someone either card or even two other cards which you shouldn’t even bother with (I’ll discuss that in another post). The Freedom cards each have a 10,000 points bonus while other cards have different bonuses. You’ll earn those points once the other person meets their own sign up bonus. The refer a friend page for Chase is at https://creditcards.chase.com/refer-a-friend
P2 should go for the Chase Freedom Flex card so that you can maximize the quarterly bonus. Remember that you have to activate the bonus first which you can do in your Chase account. Once that’s done, the two of you will focus on meeting that bonus. Spending $500 will also net P2 a sign up bonus and you’ll get the referral bonus. We’ll assume that you got the card in the 3rd week of January and by the 31st, you spent $500 on the card.
So let’s stop here and recap where we are at. You applied for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card with a 20,000 sign up bonus. To get that, you spent $500. You earned 1.5x and then another 1.5x on that spend due to the sign up promotion. You could have maximized this and spent $500 at a pharmacy but let’s assume you wanted to keep this simple. So for that 500 you got 3x which equals 1,500 points. With the sign up bonus that is 21,500 points. You also got a referral bonus from P2 so that is another 10,000 points making your total for the month of January 31,500 points. P2 spent 500 at 1x so your total as a couple for one month is 32,000 points. Not a bad start!
Now let’s assume over the course of February the only spend you put on the credit card is $1,000 to meet the quarterly bonus. Remember, this has to be in the bonus category so if the category is gas, you had to spend $1,000 at a gas station. If it’s grocery, you need to spend $1,000 at grocery stores. Some of these quarterly bonuses are easier to reach than others and I’ll write a separate post about how to do that. But in this example, you met the $1,500 Q1 bonus by the end of February so that is $1500 x5 or 7,500 points. Obviously in a real world example you would have probably had more than $1,000 in expenses so you would have used your other card. At the end of February as a couple you now have 39,500 points.
Now it is time for you to decide which Sapphire card you are going to pick. Let’s assume you want to keep it simple so you are going to pick the Sapphire Preferred card and that the sign up bonus is 80,000 points after spending $4000 in the first three months. You apply on March 1st and it arrives a week later. You both work on putting spend on this card and you are able to spend $2000 by the end of the month.
Now it’s April 1st which is the 2nd quarter or Q2. Time to meet another bonus on that Freedom Flex card. You put $500 on that and $1500 on the Sapphire. In May, you put $500 on the Sapphire and $1000 on the Freedom Flex. Let’s assume you only got 1x on the Sapphire so that 4000 points on the spend, 80,000 for the sign up bonus and another 7,500 for the Freedom Flex. You’re doing really good so it’s time to move onto the next card.
At this point, you have two options, either do another Freedom referral or do the Sapphire referral. I would suggest that P2 refer you the Freedom Flex card. It’s still Q2 and if you time this out right, you can apply for the card in the middle of May and have the card by June 1st. You’ll then have all of June to put $1,500 on the card. Let’s assume that happens and you now have another 7,500 points. So you’ve now applied for 3 cards within 5 months. That could cause a bit of a concern for some people but you should be fine as long as you have a good credit score. If this is really a concern, you could have P2 apply for the Sapphire in the middle of March. This way, you’ll each have two applications by June 1st. It’s up to you.
July 1st and another decision to make. Since it now the beginning of the 3rd quarter and you have two quarterly bonuses to work on, I’d suggest that P1 refer the Chase Freedom Unlimited to P2. Same as before, you spend enough to meet the sign up bonus, P1 gets 10,000 points for the referral while P2 gets 20,000 for the sign up bonus and then 1500 points for the spend. You also both put a dent into both Freedom Flexes. Let’s assume that by the end of August, you both met your spend for the quarterly bonus so that’s 7,500 points for the both of you. This is a lot of math and planning I know, but that’s where spreadsheets help or whatever works for you to stay organized.
So to recap where you should be on September 1st, you both have a Freedom Unlimited card, you both have a Freedom Flex card and you have a Sapphire Preferred card. Let’s assume you are going to stick with the Sapphire Preferred so you refer that to P2. I like this timing because if you get the card around this time, you could focus all of your spending on that card in the month of September. Let’s assume you got halfway there. You then have all of October and November to finish it out. That will also leave you room to meet your Freedom Flex bonuses during that time as well as December. So if you do this right, you’ll both have the 7,500 from the Flex’s, P2 will get 80,000 points from the Sapphire Preferred and you’ll get your referral bonus. Phew, you did it!
Let’s see where you all ended up.
P1:
Chase Freedom Unlimited: Sign up bonus 20,000, Spend 1500, Referral Bonus 10,000
Total: 31,500
Chase Freedom Flex:
Sign up bonus, 20,000 Spend 22,500
Total: 42,500
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Sign up bonus 80,000, Spend 4000, Referral Bonus 15,000
Total: 99,000
Total for P1: 173,000
P2:
Chase Freedom Unlimited: Sign up bonus 20,000, Spend 1500
Total: 21,500
Chase Freedom Flex:
Sign up bonus 20,000, Spend 30,000, Referral Bonus 10,000
Total: 60,000
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Sign up bonus 80,000, Spend 4,000
Total: 84,000
Total for P2: 165,500
Total for couple: 338,500
Total referral bonuses earned: 35,000
I know this was a lot to go through but I hope that this example helps you understand the power of travel hacking via two player mode. The referral bonuses alone can pay for a flight or several hotel nights. Unfortunately, you can’t repeat this every single year for the same cards but you can apply for other cards. You can both optimize your spend each year so that you are working together to acquire as many points as possible.