Best Chase Credit Cards of January 2021

What Is Chase?

Chase is the largest commercial bank in the U.S. It issues credit cards under its own brand, and with merchants like Amazon, Southwest, United, Marriott, and Disney. 

Chase grabs headlines for its travel rewards cards, but the bank also offers good cards for small businesses, earning cash back, and making balance transfers. 

Nearly all Chase credit cards are Visa cards, with one Mastercard exception: the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card. Since Mastercard and Visa are both globally accepted card networks, you can use Chase cards easily when traveling internationally. 

Here’s another quick rundown of the Chase credit cards we think are best:

How Does Chase's Ultimate Rewards Program Work?

Ultimate Rewards is Chase’s primary rewards program. It’s available with the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom, Chase Freedom Student, Chase Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Preferred, Ink Business Unlimited, and Ink Business Cash.

Depending on the card, you’ll earn points for each dollar spent, extra points on select purchase categories, flat-rate cash back, or up to 5% back on rotating categories. Chase Ultimate Rewards program points are usually worth 1 cent each, but when the points are redeemed for travel in the Ultimate Rewards portal, they may be worth 1 to 1.50 cents each, depending on the card. Chase Ultimate Rewards never expire as long as your card account is open and in good standing. 

Ultimate Rewards points are flexible rewards that can be redeemed in many ways, including but not limited to:

• Travel
• Gift cards
• Cash back
• Apple merchandise
• Amazon.com shopping
• Event tickets 

With some cards, points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio with Chase’s travel partners, which include major airlines and hotel brands like United, Marriott, and Hyatt. To learn more about how to earn and use Chase Ultimate Rewards points, read "Chase Ultimate Rewards Program: Your Complete Guide."

Chase 5/24 Rule

Chase follows an unofficial card application approval process that’s been dubbed the 5/24 rule. If you’ve opened five new credit cards with any issuer in the past 24 months, it’s unlikely you’ll qualify for most Chase cards—even if you have a stellar credit score. 

How Good Is Chase Customer Service?

Chase receives fairly good ratings for its customer service and was ranked No. 4 out of 11 major card issuers in the 2020 J.D. Power U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction Study. The bank’s online credit card services rated first in another 2020 J.D. Power study. The bank's mobile app was ranked sixth in that same study.

The Chase customer service phone line is open 24/7, 365 days a year. Chase also offers secure messaging via email and even a designated support account on Twitter. 

If you open a Chase credit card, you’ll also have a number of self-service resources at your disposal. View your FICO Score online and via the Chase mobile app for free. You can also track your credit health via Credit Journey, a credit dashboard that summarizes your credit report and credit score, and offers tips on managing credit.

Methodology

We collect data on hundreds of cards and score more than 55 features that affect your finances. We do this because it's our mission to give you unbiased, comprehensive credit card reviews.

About This List

The Balance editorial team compiled this best card list using the same factors used to evaluate our best overall card rankings, but focused just on cards issued by Chase. We excluded co-branded airline and hotel cards, because knowing the best airline card issued by Chase is only helpful if you fly that airline.

What We Score

Rewards, annual fee, and regular APR are the most important things people consider when choosing a credit card, so we weigh those features most heavily. Beyond limiting this list to cards issued by Chase, we applied the same methodology we use to determine our best overall credit cards. For full details on how we evaluate credit card attributes, check out our full methodology.