Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

EARNING ULTIMATE REWARD POINTS & PREFERRED TRAVEL BENEFITS

3x Ultimate Rewards on Dining/Streaming Services/online grocery (excludes: excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs) – Whether staying local or traveling the globe, one thing that gets us excited is dining out and discovering new delicious foods. Dinner tastes better, and desserts taste even sweeter with 2X Ultimate Rewards points per dollar on dining at restaurants. From London to Tokyo, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be earning 2X Ultimate Reward points. Every bite you take gets you closer to your next first-class flight or relaxing vacation! While some cards might earn a slightly higher bonus for the dining category, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers an above-average earning rate, especially when the points are redeemed in the Ultimate Rewards portal or redeemed with a travel transfer partner.

2X Ultimate Rewards Points on Travel Worldwide – With Chase’s broad categorization of what counts as travel, you’ll be earning 2X Ultimate Rewards points all over the place. You’ll earn 2X on everything from airplane tickets to cruises (which coincidentally makes this one of the best travel cards in its class to book cruises with. We’ll talk about the travel insurance a little later that really saves you money!).

1X Ultimate Rewards Points on all other purchases – Part of everyday life is everyday spending. Why get nothing back with a debit card when you can simply put your everyday expenses on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and earn 1X Ultimate Reward points? You'll be rewarded every time, from Amazon orders to yoga classes and everything in between. These points are worth an additional 25% in the Ultimate Reward portal (more on that in a second), so this is effectively 1.25% “cash back” on every non-bonus purchase.

25% More Value on Ultimate Rewards Points Redemptions – One of Chase Sapphire Preferred’s strengths is that it can bring more value to ANY Ultimate Reward point, regardless of its origin. These Ultimate Reward points can be earned on the card or simply transferred from another Chase Ultimate Reward account. Once transferred into the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s Ultimate Reward account, those points will be worth an additional 25% when redeemed for travel in the Ultimate Reward portal.

Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance – We can travel confidently thanks to the travel protection our Chase cards offer. The Chase Sapphire Preferred includes trip cancellation and interruption insurance. Whether your trip is completely canceled or unfortunately cut short by severe weather, illness, or other covered situations, this benefit covers you for reimbursements up to $10,000 per person and up to $20,000 per trip. This covers prepaid, non-refundable travel expenses that include airline tickets, tours, and hotels. Therefore, we recommend booking travel with a card offering travel insurance, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred.  

Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver – Okay, this is a VERY significant benefit, so pay close attention, and you’ll save hundreds of dollars every year. This benefit alone makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred one of the best cards to pay for any rental car. Most cards market themselves as having “auto insurance,” but what is hidden in the fine print is that those cards actually have what’s commonly called a “secondary” policy. With this perk, you can confidently decline the rental company’s insurance since the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a full primary insurance policy.

If you were to use a different card that has a secondary policy, your personal vehicle auto insurance would have to cover any damage or expenses. That’s why most rental companies strongly encourage you to buy their expensive rental insurance. In the event that the worst happens in this scenario, your personal vehicle insurance rates would likely be affected and result in an increased rate.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll have a primary rental insurance policy, which will cover you for reimbursement up to $75,000, including theft and collision damage in the U.S. and abroad. Your personal auto insurance rates won’t be affected if you need to cover damage on a rental vehicle, for an accident, or even theft. From our travels this has allowed us to decline the rental insurance with confidence in the Cayman Islands, France, Switzerland, and more! This has saved us hundreds of dollars on our rentals with Europcar, Hertz, National, SilverCar by Audi, Sixt, and several other rental companies. You can always call Chase to confirm that this policy is effective in the country you’re traveling to before you go.

Baggage Delay Insurance – You won’t have to worry about your checked bag not making it to your destination. This benefit reimburses you up to $100 per day for up to 5 days if your bags become delayed by the common carrier (i.e., the airline, cruise line, etc.).

Trip Delay Reimbursement – If your trip becomes delayed by 12 hours or more, you’ll be glad you paid for your tickets with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Travel that becomes delayed with a common carrier or requires an overnight stay will allow you to have your expenses reimbursed, up to $500 per ticket. That means if you get stuck in another city during a layover (think winter storm at ORD airport in Chicago), you can book a hotel, grab dinner, and have the Chase Sapphire Preferred cover the expenses.  

Travel and Emergency Assistance Services – If you run into any issues and need assistance during your travels, you can get support from the Benefits Administrator for legal or medical referrals or other travel or emergency assistance. This perk can be your resource for getting the help you need, but please keep in mind that you’ll still be responsible for paying for any services you choose to use.

SHOPPING BONUSES AND PURCHASE PROTECTIONS

Purchase Protection – New purchases on this card will be covered for 120 days against damage or theft, up to $500 per claim, up to a total of $50,000 for the account.

Extended Warranty Protection – The extended warranty benefit adds one year to the manufacturer’s warranty for items with an eligible three-year or less warranty. This benefit is a great way to get additional protection on appliances or purchases for home renovations, such as dryers or, more specifically, Samsung refrigerators that have difficulty making ice right after the manufacturer warranty ends.

No Foreign Transaction Fees – Most debit and no annual fee credit cards, both rewards and cash-back, often charge a 3% fee for any transaction that takes place outside of the United States. That’s not the case with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. While 3% might not seem like much at first, that’s an easy savings of $150 for every $5,000 spent aboard.

Chase Offers – While Chase doesn’t specifically call this out as a “benefit,” we think they could! From 10% off at BarkBox for dog toys to 5% off of Airbnb, Chase competitively adds offers all the time. All you have to do to start saving is log into your Ultimate Rewards account and activate the offers.

Ultimate Reward Shopping Portal - The Chase Ultimate Rewards shopping portal is a great way to earn bonus Ultimate Rewards points on all kinds of purchases. From 4X additional points per dollar at Patagonia to 2X points per dollar at Apple, it can really pay to take a minute to log into your Chase account before buying anything online. So, how does this work? Simply log into your Ultimate Rewards account, scroll down to "stores," and search for your favorite store. From there, you just click the link and go shopping as usual. The bonuses for each store will vary and can change depending on the current promotion. Let's say the portal is offering 5X on Patagonia, and you buy two pairs of Patagonia Better Sweaters at $139 each (we'll ignore taxes to keep it simple). The total is $278 x 5X + 1X (from your card) = $278 x 6X. That totals 1,668 Ultimate Reward points, worth $20.85 in the Ultimate Rewards portal ($33.36 based on our valuation of 2.0 CPP). At $20.85, that works out to be 7.5% "back" on your purchase. Where else can you find a way to save 7.5% at Patagonia essentially? Check out our success story of how we got $1,000 worth of 7 for All Mankind jeans for under $300 using this strategy!

10% Anniversary Point Bonus

10% Anniversary point bonus - 10% Anniversary point bonus. When you renew your card, Chase will offer a 10% bonus spend. For example, if you spend $25,000 you’d earn 2,500 bonus points.  This is awarded after the annual fee is paid. This doesn’t apply to the signup bonus.

THE BUILD: A SOLID METAL CARD

The card itself is crafted out of a sturdy metal featuring tap-to-pay. However, it isn’t quite as thick and heavy as The Platinum Card® from American Express or the American Express® Gold Card, but it does weigh in at the same mass as its own big brother, the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Reserve Preferred to weigh in at a respectable 0.12g. Now that you know what the key benefits of the card are and what you physically get let’s dive into the numbers to make sure the math behind this card’s benefits vs. annual fee works for you.

VALUE PROPOSITION & DATA ANALYSIS

At the Point Passport, we like to make the value proposition of the cards we review easy to understand. To do that, we break down the value into three parts: the initial sign-up and the sustaining costs that occur every year.

Phase 1 - The Bonus Offer (Year 1)

With a current welcome bonus of 60,000 Membership Rewards, and based on an Ultimate Rewards Points value of $0.02/point, the value is as follows:

60,000 Ultimate Rewards Points Welcome Bonus x $0.02 = $1,200

First-Year Benefits:

$50 Hotel Credit

$50 Total First-year Benefits

Sign Up Bonus + Annual Benefits - Annual Fee = Net Cost

60,000 Ultimate Rewards Points Bonus: $1,200 bonus + $50 first-year benefits - $95 annual fee = $1,155 Net Value

Phase 2 - After the Bonus Offer

After the first year, you’ll likely be sitting on a beach somewhere warm, sipping on pina Coladas, and not worried about the upcoming $95 annual fee that got you there for free. Other cards offer additional annual benefits to offset their (usually) higher annual fee, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred, yet again, keeps it simple. We find that the ability to earn points quicker with bonus categories, combined with other built-in features such as travel insurance, more than makes this card worth the annual fee. Now if you don’t want to stick around for the fee in year two, there’s always the option to downgrade to a Chase Sapphire card with a $0 annual fee. 

Now, let’s assume you plan to use this card only for dining out and nothing else starting in year 3 when there aren’t any known benefits to offset the annual fee cost directly. If you spend $2,400/year ($200/month) on dining out or takeaway from restaurants, you’ll earn:

$1,200 x 2x Ultimate Rewards Points = 4,800 Ultimate Rewards Points

Those 2,400 Membership Reward Points are worth approximately $96, based on our valuations. So, updating our formula, we find:

Annual Benefits + Earned Membership Rewards Points – Annual Fee = Net Value/Cost

$0 third year (and beyond) benefits + $96 in Membership Rewards Points + $50 Hotel credit – $95 annual fee = $51 Net Annual Value

Depending on your spending patterns, this may or may not make sense for you, but it’s quite easy to come out ahead every year, even if you don’t necessarily use all of the benefits. Let’s look at whether this card brings any value if you live in a state such as California.

In 2019, data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis found that the average Californian spent $3,295 per person on dining out. You can check out this Business Insider article to see what the average spend was for your state. Let’s assume you pick up the tab for yourself, resulting in just the $3,295 CA average. By using the Chase Sapphire Preferred for those charges, you’ll earn 2X x $3,295 = 6,590 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That works out to be worth $0.0125x x 6,590 = $82.38 inside the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal (this factors in your 25% bonus when used for travel inside the portal). Assuming you apply our strategies, you’ll get a value that’s much closer to $0.02/Ultimate Reward point (typically earned by transferring points to travel partners), which works out to $0.02x x 6,590 = $131.80 in travel value. That’s enough for a free flight from San Francisco to Los Angeles or Las Vegas!

Editor’s Note: Our valuations are based on our ability to use travel transfer partners to get a valuation of 2.0 CPP (Cents Per Point) or greater (>$0.02). We’ve consistently been able to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points for at least this value and have been able to get well over 3.0 CPP. Inside the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, you’ll find that Chase will let you redeem them for a value of 1.5 CPP, or $0.015/UR point. Don’t worry; we’re here to help you learn to maximize your points for far more value than that!

UNLOCK THE CHASE ULTIMATE REWARDS ECOSYSTEM

One aspect of Chase's Ultimate Rewards, which uniquely sets it apart from American Express Membership Rewards, is transferability within the ecosystem. The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the prince of the Ultimate Reward point maximization kingdom. The reigning king of the Ultimate Reward ecosystem is currently the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which adds 50% of value to Ultimate Reward points. While the Chase Sapphire Preferred doesn't quite bring 50% in value, it still adds a respectable 25% to points transferred and redeemed inside the Ultimate Rewards portal for travel. Any Ultimate Rewards points, whether from the no-annual-fee Chase Freedom Unlimited Card or from the Chase Business Ink, can be transferred to a Chase Sapphire Preferred Ultimate Rewards account. This transfer can be between your Chase cards, or from a household member's cards. The ability to earn reward points on a no-annual-fee "cash back" card and then obtain an additional 25% in value or transfer them to a travel transfer partner for a first-class ticket is simply unheard of outside of Chase. Let's take a quick look at how we can supercharge the earning power of some less expensive cards by transferring them to the Chase Sapphire Preferred and redeeming them inside the Ultimate Rewards travel portal:

• Chase Ink Business Unlimited ($0 AF) + Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 1.5X on all purchases + Chase Sapphire Preferred 25% bonus = 1.875X effective earnings

• Chase Ink Business Cash ($0 AF) + Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 5X on bonus categories purchases + Chase Sapphire Preferred 25% bonus = 6.25X effective earnings

• Chase Ink Business Preferred ($95 AF) + Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 3X on travel and other select business categories + Chase Sapphire Preferred 25% bonus = 3.75X effective earnings

• Chase Freedom Unlimited ($0 AF) + Chase Sapphire Preferred

• 1.5X on all purchases + Chase Sapphire Preferred 25% bonus = 1.875X effective earnings

Now that we’ve looked at how powerful the Chase Sapphire Preferred is inside the Ultimate Rewards portal let’s get you some business-class plane tickets to Paris!

CHASE TRAVEL TRANSFER PARTNERS

An in-depth review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the vast Chase travel transfer partners. We often get asked how to make going out for drinks with friends at our favorite restaurant and turn it into business-class round-trip tickets to Paris on Air France. While nothing worth having (or experiencing!) is “easy,” Chase’s travel partners sure make it less painful.

While the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s Ultimate Reward points are worth 1.25 CPP (Cent Per Point) inside the Ultimate Reward portal when booking travel, you can get well over 2.0 CPP or more by leveraging these transfer partners. From Air France to United MileagePlan for airlines and Hyatt to Marriott, these points can transfer at a ratio of 1:1. Let’s use Air France as an example. While you could get the Bank of America Air France KLM World Elite MasterCard, you’d only earn 3X miles per dollar spent on Air France and KLM plane tickets and 1X on everything else. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll earn 2X Ultimate Reward points on all travel, dining, and even online via the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal. Then, when you find an excellent award redemption on Air France, you can simply transfer the points from your Ultimate Rewards account to your Air France Flying Blue account and book your flights. Typically, you’ll be able to maximize your points by redeeming them for first and business-class international flights and luxurious hotels. Earning points in a central “points currency,” such as with Ultimate Rewards, allows you to move your points to travel partners where and when you need them, rather than being locked into one particular airline alliance or hotel brand. One caveat, however, is that once you transfer the points out of Chase Ultimate Rewards, you won’t be able to move them back. Always be careful and take the time to double-check the number of points that you’re moving. Below is a full list of Chase’s current travel transfer partners:

CHASE AIRLINE TRANSFER PARTNERS

Note: the minimum transfer is 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a ratio of 1:1. Most of these will transfer instantly. Flying Blue will take approximately 1 hour, and Singapore KrisFlyer may take up to 1-2 days to post to your KrisFlyer account, so please keep that in mind when redeeming with an airline partner.

• Aer Lingus AerClub

• British Airways Executive Club

• Flying Blue Air France and KLM

• Emirate Skywards

• Iberia Plus

• JetBlue

• Singapore Airlines Krisflyer

• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards

• United Airlines MileagePlus

• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

CHASE HOTEL TRANSFER PARTNERS

Note: the minimum transfer is 1,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a ratio of 1:1. Transfers IHG Rewards Club may take up to 1 day, to Marriott Bonvoy may take up to 2 days, and to the World of Hyatt will be almost instantaneous.

• IHG Rewards Club

• Marriott Bonvoy

• World of Hyatt

CHASE 5/24 AND 48-MONTH SAPPHIRE CARD REQUIREMENTS

You may have heard of something referred to as the "Chase 5/24". Essentially Chase implemented this policy unofficially to limit consumers from "churning" credit cards. Churning is where someone signs up for the credit card bonus and cancels before the next annual fee hits. So, to prevent this, Chase will check your credit when you apply to make sure you don't have more than five credit cards in the past 24 months, which has become to be known as "Chase 5/24." For all the details on the Chase 5/24 policy, check out our post "Chase 5/24: What You Need to Know."

In addition to the 5/24 policy, Chase also requires that you don’t have a Sapphire card product and haven’t received a new card member bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months. This requirement effectively means that you should plan out your Sapphire card strategy so that you’re maximizing taking advantage of the new card member bonuses once every 48 months. As a premium card, Chase also wants to ensure you have an excellent credit score. Now you know exactly what you’ll need to add this incredible card to your wallet!

CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED AUTHORIZED USERS

With the abundance of benefits and 3X earning power for travel and dining, there’s no doubt that you might consider adding an authorized user to your account. The Chase Sapphire Preferred keeps it simple, as there isn’t a fee for adding an authorized user to your account.

If you want to step up your earnings, you could consider having the authorized user get a different Chase card, such as the no annual fee Chase Freedom Unlimited to earn 1.5X Ultimate Reward points and then transfer them over to the Chase Sapphire Preferred's account. Since there aren't any annual fees, you could even do both. There are many strategies with the numerous credit card options that Chase offers, which is why we've found Ultimate Rewards to be the most flexible points ecosystem available!  

FINAL POINT

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a card we currently hold in our wallet. We consistently recommend it to our friends and family who know they want to start earning free travel from everyday spending but aren’t entirely ready for a higher annual fee card. This card is well-positioned for those who want to get started with rewards cards, as it boasts a generous 60,000-point welcome bonus.  The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a well-rounded option for those who enjoy the simplicity of earning 2X points on bonus categories and having easy redemption inside the Chase Travel℠ portal for an additional 25%. That’s the equivalent of “2.5% back on travel and dining”. If you want to maximize the Ultimate Rewards point value, the Chase Sapphire Preferred also unlocks the door to a vast network of travel partners for all Chase cards.

This card will make logical sense for people traveling once or twice a year with travel insurance, primary auto rental insurance, and numerous other protections. After running the math and analyzing the data, the new card member bonus more than offsets the annual cost in the first year, and it could even be argued that the welcome bonus offsets the annual fee for over seven years. Even if you just spend an average amount on dining and travel, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is an excellent, well-rounded card that makes earning and redeeming points straightforward. This is the perfect card to add to your card quiver or start with travel and reward cards. With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can book first-class luxuries on points without a brutally high annual fee. All these benefits become available to you by merely optimizing the money you spend on everyday living. We can get so much value from the Chase Sapphire Preferred that we’ve held it for years and plan to keep it at the top of our wallets for years to come!

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NEXT STEPS

If you’ve decided to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred after reading this in-depth review, please consider supporting Points Passport by using the link below to learn more at our partner’s site, CreditCards.com. Once you scroll down to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you’ll be taken directly to Chase’s secure application page.

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