The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card is one of the most popular cards out there and with just a $95 annual fee, it’s an inexpensive card to earn the points and to figure out if the card works for you for the long term.
Welcome offer: Earn 75,000 points after spending $4,000 on the card within the first three months.
So let’s look at the top four reasons to apply for the card.
1. Earn bonus points from the welcome offer
New applicants for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card will receive 75,000 points after spending $4,000 on the card within the first 3 months. While this is not the highest offer we’ve seen thus far, it’s still a decent amount of points to get you a jump start on traveling.
If you use the “pay with points” option through the travel portal, the 75,000 bonus points are worth a fixed $937 towards travel. This can be used towards any travel experience, including hotels, airfare, car rentals and even house rentals.
Or, you can also transfer your points to many different hotel and airline partner loyalty programs where points are typically worth 2 cents per point. This makes the the 75,000 points earned worth about $1,500.
2. Chase Ultimate Rewards points are extremely flexible
The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns Chase Ultimate Reward points. The points earned can be used in a magnitude of ways, making your points extremely flexible. This allows you to truly redeem your points for a vacation that works for you and not be pigeonholed into just one program.
Typically, you’ll receive the best value by transferring your points to one of 14 different loyalty programs. The airline partners include: Aer Lingus, Air Canada, Aeroplan, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Emirates, Iberia, JetBlue, Singapore Airlines, Southwest, United and Virgin Atlantic. The hotel partners include: Hyatt, IHG and Marriott.
For example, on the hotel front, Hyatt has one of the most valuable programs and you can redeem the 75,000 bonus points for three-night stay at the Grand Hyatt Baha Mar that costs just 25,000 points.
If you are looking to travel overseas at some point, you can fly business class roundtrip from Boston to Spain for just 68,000 points on Iberia. These flights in the front of the plane costs many thousands of dollars if you actually pay for your flight… or you can use your points.
Or, you can use your points at a fixed rate through Chase’s travel portal. Typically, points can be redeemed for one cent per point on any travel booking, but points redeemed through the Chase Sapphire Preferred receive a 25% bonus. This means the 75,000 points earned are worth $937 towards travel. Through this method, you don’t have to worry about transferring your points and award availability.
3. Increased bonus points and statement credits
The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns one point per dollar spent on most everyday purchases, but on select categories, you’ll earn even more points. You’ll now earn 2 points on travel (or 5 total points on travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards), 3 points on dining (including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out), select streaming services and select online grocery purchases.
Fortunately, the travel category is incredibly broad and includes almost every travel-related purchase you make. Unlike some other cards, you aren’t limited to just airfare purchases or hotel purchases. Even taxi’s are included in “travel”.
A recently added perk is also the $50 annual credit on hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards. New cardmembers will start earning towards the credit immediately and existing cardmembers (those who opened an account prior to Aug. 16, 2021) will start earning their next statement credit after their next account anniversary.
Additionally, you’ll earn a 10% anniversary point bonus. Each account anniversary, cardmembers will earn bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year. For example, $10,000 in purchases will earn an additional 1,000 bonus points.
4. Great travel protection
When traveling, it is important to have travel protection in case the unfortunate happens. Of course you can always purchase insurance for your trip… or you can just use a credit card that offers many benefits. Fortunately, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers great travel protection at no additional cost.
As long as you use your card, you’ll receive primary auto rental insurance, trip-cancellation insurance, baggage delay insurance, trip delay protection and no foreign transaction fees. Even if you are using points or miles for your trip, as long as you pay for the taxes with the card, you are still covered.
This will come in handy if you get sick before or during your trip or if your flight is delayed 12 or more hours or require you to spend the night at a hotel. Or even if there is severe weather and you need to cancel your trip, you’re covered.
I’ve personally used the trip delay protection a few times in the past and it has covered all out of pocket expenses up to $500 per person, such as an extra night at a hotel, taxis, food and even clothes.
Overall…
The 75,000 points can easily jump start that much needed vacation. It is an ideal card with a low annual fee, flexible points and great benefits.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. s
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