The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is designed for those who want to earn points toward free travel on all of their purchases, but don’t want to be restricted to any single airline or hotel program. This has become the most flexible travel reward card on the market by giving cardholders the option to redeem points for just about anything – airfare, rental cars, hotel rooms, rail transportation, cruises, dining, shopping and even cash back.
The combination of this reward flexibility, travel benefits and a great 50,000 point sign up bonus make this a card one of the best options on the market today. There is currently no scheduled end date to the 50,000 point bonus offer, but it could be reduced or eliminated at any time.
Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review
Sign up Bonus, Rewards and Transfer Options
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers a great sign up bonus. With this bonus offer you will receive 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 within the first three months of having the card. You will receive an additional 25% bonus when you redeem your reward points and book your travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Points never expire and there is no cap to the number of points you can earn in the program from this card.
Chase added another bonus allowing you to get 2 points for every $1 spent on Dining and Travel Expenses. These include restaurants, airlines, airports, car rental agencies, cruise ships, hotels and motels, timeshares, local and commuter transportation (including trains, buses, taxis/limos, ferries, bridges, tolls, and parking), and travel agencies.
Points earned in the first year with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Assume you spend $3,000 per month on the Credit Card in the first 12 months.
+ 50,000 Bonus Miles – Must purchase $4000 within the first 3 months
+ 36,000 Miles from Spending – 1:1 ratio of points per dollar charged on the card (it will most likely be higher as this example does not include the 2:1 points for travel and dining charges)
= 86,000+ Miles earned in the first year. That’s enough for:
- Over $1,000 of free travel rewards, if redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards, OR
- Transfer to Hyatt for 86,000 Points – that will get you 17 free nights at a Category 1 Hyatt property or 3 nights at many of their Park Hyatt properties. Value ranging from $1,200 – $2,000, OR
- Transfer to United Airlines for 3 free domestic round trip flights
Additional Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
The Sapphire Preferred Visa Card comes with a suite of benefits exclusively available to cardholders. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card include:
- No Foreign Transaction Fees: This is a great benefit for international travelers that will save you from having to pay the 3% surcharge placed on international credit card transactions.
- First year annual fee waived: $95 savings.
- Points can be transferred 1:1 to other travel program: Points can be transferred at a 1:1 ratio to other programs including Hyatt, Marriott, Intercontinental Priority Club, United, and British Airways. The points generally transfer within 24 hours.
- Points can be redeemed for retailers and restaurants: Such as Home Depot, Banana Republic, Morton’s, Starbucks and many more through the Ultimate Rewards Mall.
Chase will often offer the Sapphire Preferred Card as a Visa Signature Card if you have strong credit. The Visa Signature Card provides the following benefits:
- Baggage Delay Reimbursement: If you experience a baggage delay, you can be reimbursed up to $100 per day, for five days (anything over 18 hours is considered a delay).
- Trip Cancellation / Interruption Insurance: In the event of the Insured person’s trip cancellation or interruption, Chase will pay up to $10,000. The trip cancellation / interruption must be the result of: 1.) accidental death, injury disease or physical illness of the cardholder or immediate family member or 2.) default of the common carrier resulting from financial insolvency.
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver: The Visa Signature card provides coverage, at no additional cost, for damage due to collision or theft when you charge the entire rental to your covered card and decline the collision damage waiver offered by the rental policy. Here is a great example of this feature being put to use!
- Trip Delay Reimbursement: If your flight is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket.
- Extended Warranty Protection: For manufacturer’s warranties of 3 years or less, the extended protection feature doubles the eligible warranty for up to 1 additional year.
- Purchase Protection: Within the first 90 days of purchase, Purchase Protection will replace, repair or reimburse you for eligible items of personal property purchased up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per cardholder, in the event of theft, vandalism, accidentally discharged water, or certain weather conditions.
Our take on the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Is it Right for you?
With the 50,000 point bonus and the flexibility to use points for just about anything, this is one of the best Travel Credit Cards on the market. The flexibility of being able to use your points for any type of travel reward – including hotels, airlines, cruises, etc. is a great feature that rarely comes with such a large sign up bonus.
As stated in the example above, the Hyatt transfer option is an exceptional value, but not the only great value this card offers. Transfers to other frequent flyer programs or booking travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal are great sources of value as well.
Apply here with this secure link to the The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card.
Know Your Credit Score:
Before you apply for any credit card, you should make sure you have an understanding of your credit score and credit history. Most Travel Credit Card Companies require you to have a strong credit score, ideally they will prefer a FICO score of at least 700.
Once you apply for a credit card, the credit card company will perform a credit inquiry. Be aware that credit inquiries will affect your credit score. Each time you apply for a credit card (or any type of loan for that matter), the inquiry will reduce your score anywhere from 2-5 points.
By law, you are allowed to obtain a free copy of your credit report from each of the credit bureaus once a year. The free annual copies of your credit report will give you all of the data that provides the foundation for your credit score, but the Credit Reports don't provide the Credit Score itself. You will need both your Credit Report and Credit Score to get the full view of your credit situation.
Here are four links to get your Free Credit Score:
- CreditReport.com Free Credit Score
- CreditSesame (no card required – provides Experian Score)
- CreditKarma (no card required – provides TransUnion Score)
- myFICO (link to the Free credit score estimator page)
Here is the link to get your Free Credit Report:
Disclaimer:
Finally, please only apply for any travel credit card if you pay your bills in full each month. Carrying a balance on any travel credit card will eliminate the benefit of the travel rewards due to the higher interest rates associated with these cards.
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