4 Best Credit Card Combinations to Maximize Rewards

You can create a credit card combination powerhouse based on your household needs.

Written by
Melissa Lambarena
Senior Writer & Content Strategist
10 years of experience

Expertise

• Credit cards
• Debt

Melissa Lambarena is a senior writer on the credit cards team at NerdWallet. She has enthusiastically covered credit card-related topics for over nine years. Her prior experience includes nine years as a content creator for several publications and websites. Through her work, she aims to help readers extract value from credit cards to meet financial goals like stretching their budget, building credit, traveling to dream destinations, and paying off debt. Her articles have been published in The Associated Press, The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, USA Today, and Yahoo Finance, among others. Melissa has a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Edited by
Kenley Young
Managing Editor
25 years of experience

Expertise

• Credit cards
• Credit scores

Kenley Young directs daily credit cards coverage for NerdWallet. Previously, he was a homepage editor and digital content producer for Fox Sports, and before that a front page editor for Yahoo. He has decades of experience in digital and print media, including stints as a copy desk chief, a wire editor and a metro editor for the McClatchy newspaper chain.

Updated Jul 15, 2026

How to Maximize Rewards

Two rewards credit cards can be better than one — as long as you're prepared for a little extra legwork to maximize those rewards. The right combination will depend on your spending habits, but in general, your options include:

• A bonus category credit card: These cards earn a higher rewards rate (often 3% to 5% back) on specific kinds of purchases like food, travel, gas, groceries, etc. — but a lower rate (usually 1%) on everything else.
• A flat-rate rewards card: These cards earn the same rewards rate on all purchases, regardless of category. The industry standard was once 1.5% back on everything you buy, but higher flat rates now exist.

Our pairing for: Cash back

Discover it® Cash Back and Citi Double Cash® Card

Doubling up on cash-back credit cards can yield hundreds of dollars in rewards annually.

The $0-annual-fee Discover it® Cash Back offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in combined spending in bonus categories that rotate each quarter when you activate. (All other purchases earn 1%.) In the past, bonus categories have included things like gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores, and wholesale clubs.

For anything that doesn't fall into a bonus category, you could use a flat-rate credit card so you don't have to settle for just 1% back on those purchases. One excellent choice among flat-rate cards is the Citi Double Cash® Card. It offers 2% cash back on purchases: 1% back when you buy, and 1% back when you pay your purchases off.

Our pairing for: Frequent travelers

Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Freedom Flex® earns 5% back in rotating bonus categories throughout the year, up to the quarterly maximum of $1,500 (you must opt-in each quarter to get those earnings), and 1% back on all other non-bonus-category purchases.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card ($95 annual fee) offers 5 points per dollar spent on travel booked through Chase, 3 points per dollar spent on eligible dining, select streaming services, and select online grocery purchases, 2 points per dollar spent on all other travel, and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Our pairing for: Families

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express and Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card

If you've got a lot of hungry mouths to feed, the Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express can be a valuable companion. It earns 6% cash back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 in spending per year, 6% back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions, 3% back on transit and U.S. gas stations, and 1% back on everything else. It comes with a fee, currently: $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95. But if you spend at least $31 a week at the supermarket, you'll make up for that cost in rewards.

Our pairing for: Everyday purchases

Citi Strata Premier® Card and Citi Double Cash® Card

The $95-annual-fee Citi Strata Premier® Card and Citi Double Cash® Card are an excellent duo for everyday use. The Citi Strata Premier® Card earns 3 ThankYou points per dollar spent on air travel and most hotels, 3 points at supermarkets, 3 points at gas stations, and 3 points at restaurants. You'll also earn a whopping 10 points per dollar on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi. Everything else earns 1 point per dollar.

The Citi Double Cash® Card can complement just about any card, but it’s especially compatible with the Citi Strata Premier® Card since both earn rewards as ThankYou points. The Citi Double Cash® Card gets you 1% back when you buy and 1% back when you pay off your purchases.