UPDATE: This offer has expired.
This past week I posted about the possibility of the Chase Sapphire Preferred bonus offer decreasing. It now seems like a sure thing and starting April 3rd the new promotion will be 40,000 points (declining from the current 50,000 point offer). Currently many of the promotional material from Chase have already been decreased to the new 40k offer, but there are still a few links floating around offering the 50k offer – like my affiliate link here (however, I have been told from my contacts that my link will also drop come April 3rd). While there is no telling if there will be some magical link still available post this date with the better promo, I wouldn’t take the chance.
If you are on the fence, this might help sway your decision one way or another. Now, the offer is not totally going away, and 40k points is still a great offer! Especially since the Chase Ultimate Rewards program (which the Chase Sapphire Preferred is part of) is highly valued and those points can go a long way, especially due to the flexibility of the program!
I truly believe that the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, especially when combined with the Chase Ink Bold or Chase Ink Plus and Chase Freedom combo (read more about this trifecta), can provide you with some of the best free travel options. I’ve written about this extensively, but just to quickly recap from my original blog post highlighting this offer:
- 40,000 bonus points for new applicants after $3,000 spend in the first 3 monthsÂ
- 7% annual bonus on all points (including the 50k bonus points!) annually – this means that the 50k points is really worth 53,500!
- Annual fee of $95 waived for the first year (read more about downgrading after year 1 to avoid the annual fee)
- Points transfer 1:1 to the following loyalty programs: Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Priority Club (InterContinental), United, British Airways, Korean Air, Southwest, Amtrak (read more about best airline and hotel redemption)
- Earn double points on all dinning and travel
The 53,000 point bonus almost gets you a free economy class ticket to Europe (60k needed – valued at about $1,200)! Or 2 free nights at the Hyatt Tokyo, Hyatt Park, and Hyatt Maldives (all which run over $700/night).
If you prefer, you can use the points to pay for travel through their online booking services, for a cut and dry 1.25 cents per point. That means that the 53,500 points = $668.75. This is the bare minimum you should receive from these bonus points.
To fully understand the benefits of this offer, I strongly suggest reading the series I recently put together around this card and the Chase Ultimate Rewards program in general. Reading this will be able to tell you whether or not this is the right card for you to travel for free and the best strategy to get the biggest bang for your buck.
Chase Sapphire Preferred/Ultimate Reward Series – everything you need to know about the card and the program to redeem for free travel!
- Post #1: Introduction to Chase Ultimate Rewards Program
- Post #2: Maximizing Chase Ultimate Rewards with Chase Freedom
- Post #3: Downgrading your Chase Ultimate Rewards Card to Avoid the Annual Fee
- Post #4: Best Redemption for Chase Ultimate Reward Points – Hotel Stays
- Post #5: Best Redemption for Chase Ultimate Reward Points – Air Travel
- Post #6: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire
- Post #7: Chase Ultimate Rewards: Sapphire Preferred vs. Ink Bold
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
[…] While the Sapphire Preferred card actually lowered its bonus from 50k to 40k two weeks ago (prior blog post), it looks like the Ink Bold will be keeping the same 50k bonus, but will be increasing the minimum […]
i was just recently approved for sapphire pref but for the 40k sign up bonus. i understand that if you call and ask for the previous bonus they sometimes will credit it to the account. any suggestions for how to best approach this?