You’ve completed the Chase Trifecta either by yourself or in two-player mode with P2. You’re getting the hang of this and you have those two slots open. Where should you go from here? A lot is going to depend on your travel plans, goals and spending habits. I strongly suggest that you only focus on one card here and not two. You don’t want to use up those the last two 5/24 slots that you have, at least not yet.
At this point, you have four options.
1. Business credit cards
2. Airline credit cards
3. Hotel credit cards
4. The Bilt Mastercard
I’m going to summarize these options here but there are more in depth courses that you should review.
Business credit cards
Business cards are one of the best tools that travel hackers have access to. For some reason, the concept really confuses people. They seem to associate business with something more official when the term “business” is used very loosely by the credit card companies. A lot of people also seem to think that they are going to break some type of law by applying for one. I don’t understand where this comes from especially since tens of thousands of travel hackers have dozens of business cards for years without issue. However, if you still have concerns, hiring a lawyer for a quick consultation will pay for itself immediately because I can’t imagine that there is a lawyer in this country that will tell you not to go for it.
Business cards are important because they often have incredible SUBs and they allow you to add numerous cards without impacting your 5/24 status. In other words, these are the cards that will really kick your game into high gear if you have what it takes to do that (more on that here). Chase had three business cards that earn URs. Those are called the Chase Business Trifecta. Note that there are other Chase business cards that are affiliated with airlines and hotels. So while they are both business cards and airline or hotel cards, they generally fall under the airline or hotel category. That’s because they don’t earn URs and your priority should be a flexible points current over airline miles or hotel points.
Airline credit cards
These are cards that most people have and while they certainly hold a place in your wallet, they are usually a poor place to start off. Of course in this example we’ve already completed the Chase Trifecta so we are considering what to get for card number 4. Every airline has a credit card associated with it. The first question is whether you should go for an airline credit card now or if something else makes sense. If you don’t want to get an Ink and you don’t really want/need a hotel credit card, then an airline credit card may make sense at this point. The third question should be: what is the benefit of the card (and do not say the SUB). For example, do you want the United Explorer card for free checked bags because you’re going to fly a lot with checked luggage over the next year? You really have to do the math to see if the other benefits of the card will outweigh getting an Ink or some other card. The next question is to what airline to choose.
Unfortunately, Chase does not partner with every airline. In additional to some foreign airlines, they partner with United and Southwest. I would strongly suggest picking one of those two cards so that you don’t take up a 5/24 slot with a non-Chase card at this point unless you know that you are not going to fly either one of those airlines. For Southwest, you’re either a fan or you’re not. I don’t think there are too many people that will fly Southwest on occasion, at least in my experience. I fly on them once a year at most so I would never need that card. Of course, if I lived near Dallas or one of their other airports where they dominate, perhaps that’d be different.
United has hubs across the country and they fly almost anywhere so I think they are a really good option even if you don’t live near a hub. My home airport is TPA and the only United flights out of there are usually to hubs like EWR, IAH, ORD, DEN, etc where I will have to take another flight to get to my destination. A little annoying but its not the end of the world.
If you fly another airline often and you don’t already have their card, it may make sense to grab that card with this slot if you think you can use the miles and the other benefits of the card. Once again, this is where planning comes in. You should know where you want to go and who flies there. For example, if you wanted to fly to country X and United (and its partners) doesn’t actually fly there, wasting time earning United miles may not make any sense. If however you generally fly American but you want to fly to Tokyo, then the miles you get from signing up for the United card will cover most if not all of your miles to get there and back (at least in economy). But again, consider that you’d be much better off with earning more URs with Inks which can then be transferred to United.
Hotel credit cards
These credit cards are not the most suitable cards for beginners. Instead, they are better for people that are more advanced and are working on status with a specific hotel brand. I don’t think the beginner will really be chasing hotel status anytime soon. I think the only card that would really make sense for the beginner is the Chase World of Hyatt card. Of course, this assumes that you need those points for a specific booking. As indicated previously, this is why it’s important to have a plan.
Co-branded business cards
As previously stated, there are co-branded credit cards that are business cards. These are great because you can get some of the benefits that come with a co-branded card, earn miles or points with that hotel or airline and not use up a 5/24 slot. However, these should be lower on your priority list especially the Chase business cards. In 2025, Chase seems to be getting stingy with business cards. While there’s not a set rule (at least not yet) like 5/24, you have to assume that it could be difficult to go beyond the Business trifecta. That should be your focus first and only once you have completed that should you consider co-branded business cards.
The Bilt Mastercard
If you’re a home owner, you can skip over this (until they release their mortgage product). If you rent, you’ll want to strongly consider this. Not everyone agrees that this is worth of a 5/24 slot but I suppose a lot depends on the amount of rent you pay and a few other factors. It’s at least worth considering but since it’s involved, it has it’s own course which you can read here.
Spending requirements could make the choice for you
Only you can decide for yourself which way you want to go here but the most ideal situation is to apply for a Chase Ink Cash. It won’t count towards your 5/24 status, there’s no annual fee and the sign up bonus is great, even if it isn’t what it used to be. But spending $6,000 in 3 months could be a challenge for some people. We’ve discussed how to meet higher SUBs in this course.
Don’t mix points!
Mixing points is a very common mistake that I see newer people make. While you eventually want to have at least some other points currencies besides Chase URs to give you some added flexibility, you don’t want to do that when you are just starting out. There’s a number of reasons for this but the primary one is that different points currencies have different transfer partners. While there’s some overlap here and there, there’s enough differences to make trip planning difficult.
Let’s assume you have 150,000 Chase URs and 60,000 Amex MRs. If you were considering a Hyatt stay and/or a United flight, those Amex MRs would be worthless. Likewise, if you wanted a Hilton stay, your Chase URs would be worthless. So why do people do this? It seems to me that a lot of people apply for a bunch of cards and try to learn later how this works. They don’t appreciate how transfer work and that different points currencies have different transfer partners. That’s why we created these courses so you can learn in a proper order. It’s only once they are ready to book a trip do they realize that having scattered points and miles aren’t really going to help them book the trip that they want.
So start with Chase and don’t leave the Chase ecosystem until you have completed both trifectas. Note that one exception to this rule is a credit card affiliated with a hotel or airline that is not issued by Chase. That is because that card is not going to earn a points currency so you’re not really mixing points. For example, getting a United Explorer card issued by Chase or an American Airlines card issued by Citi will leave you in the exact same position: you’ll use up a 5/24 slot and the card will earn you miles for that airline.
Proper planning
Regardless of where you go after the Chase Trifecta, you want to have a plan. Let math and your personal situation guide you. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing. While your plan may change over time, what’s important is that you at least have one instead of just randomly applying for cards.
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