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Why should you get a Chase Sapphire Preferred?
I’m a huge fan of Chase credit cards. Not only do they have excellent co-branded cards, but their bread and butter Chase Sapphire Preferred has been a part of my wallet for years now. It’s currently advertising a 100k welcome offer after spending $4k in 3 months, and it looks like that offer ends today. Let’s take a quick look at the benefits and a few reasons why I think everyone should have one in their wallet.
You can also read our full review
Straight to it: The 5 Reasons I love keeping the Chase Sapphire Preferred in my wallet
1) No foreign Transaction fees
Anywhere in the world, you don’t have to worry about paying fees. For someone like myself, this is a great benefit, and means I can rest knowing anytime I swipe, I’m not paying some silly surcharge.
2) Primary Rental Car Coverage
A lot of credit cards come with secondary rental card coverage, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers primary and that means I can select, no thank you, when it comes to paying those hefty Collision Damage Waivers. For someone who rents A LOT, that saves me wads of cash every year.
3) Access to Ultimate Rewards transfer partners ” Makes your points more valuable “
This is where you can make your travel dreams come true by accessing partner programs and redeeming for sweet spots. Ability to merge points from Chase “cash back” cards to convert into fully transferrable Ultimate Rewards
4) 3x Bonus categories!
You’ll earn an unlimited 3x on dining + 3x on select streaming services and 3x on online grocery purchases
5) Peloton and DoorDash incentives
Now through the end of the year you can get $60 statement credit on Peloton Digital AND you’ll get a year of DoorDash DashPass which gives $0 delivery fees on eligible orders over $12 on DoorDash and Caviar.
Bonus Reason: Chase refer-a-friend
Chase recently upped the total amount of points that you can earn by referring people to 100k in a year. That’s a massive amount of points and completely outweighs the annual fee just by sharing the love.
Bonus, bonus: $50 hotel credit ad 5x Chase Travel
If you spend book hotels via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel you’ll get a credit up to $50 a year. This begins immediately for new cardmembers, and after your first account anniversary for existing account holders.
Regarding the 5x on Chase Travel…book via Chase Travel and get 5x on eligible purchases!
Don’t have one? Highest ever public offer 100k ends today
This is a great time to consider one. It comes with a great welcome offer of 100k Ultimate Rewards after $4k in purchases in 3 months
This is the best public offer we’ve seen on the card. If you’re eligible to get this card as a new cardmember and qualify for the bonus, there hasn’t been a better time to hop on it.
Who’s eligible?
Chase has some specific restrictions in place for Chase Sapphire cards, so let’s walk through them.
5/24
- If you’re opened more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months Chase won’t approve you for this card
- Make sure you check your credit report to see how many cards are listed
1/48
- If you’ve received a sign up bonus for any Chase Sapphire card ( Preferred or Reserve ) in the past 48 months, you’ll be ineligible.
Here are some examples, but check out our Best Uses of Chase Points
Transfer to United and fly their new Polaris business class.
30k A night for the Best Hyatt in the World ( ranked by me 🙂 ) Alila Villas Uluwatu
Transfer to British Airways and use points to upgrade. Buying cheap business out of Europe and points to first a great use. This is what it’s like:
Overall:
The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers some really great benefits for a card that only costs $95 annually. It not only provides primary rental car coverage, which saves me a ton at the counter, but it also means I can merge points from my Freedom, Ink Cash, and Ink Unlimited that would otherwise only earn me cash back. It’s a fantastic way to increase the value of the points earned on those cards.
Every situation is different, but I ultimately decided to keep a Chase Sapphire Preferred en lieu of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Do the math yourself, but the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a lot of bang for the buck, and is squarely positioned in my wallet.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
A Monkey Miles favorite for beginners and point pros alike – a staple of our wallet that earns Premium transferrable Ultimate Rewards. $95 annual fee
♥ Earn 60k Bonus Points after $4k Spend in 3 months
♥Points are transferrable to over dozen partners, or redeemable for 1.25c in Chase travel
♥5x on travel purchased via Chase Travel and 2x everywhere else
♥3x on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out
♥3x on select streaming
♥ 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs
♥ $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards. *New cardmembers can get this credit immediately – existing cardmembers get it after anniversary
♥ 10% Anniversary Point Bonus. Spend $10k in a year, get 1k bonus points.
Learn more
Keeping the card and carrying it in your wallet are two very different things. There’s little reason to put spend on the CSP though the reasons to hold the card are compelling
Miles,
Why do you keep the CSP over the CSR? The CSR is $55/year more after the travel credit. It also means you have a minimum point value of 1.5 cpp. Anyone spending over $5500/year on the card is almost always better off with the CSR. I do advocate signing up for the CSP though since the sign-up bonus is better. I would upgrade when the fee came due though.
That being said I have neither the CSP nor the CSR. I have the Citi Prestige (for now) and Chase Ink Preferred and Cash. Chase Ink Cash + Chase Ink Preferred is pretty close to the CSR in terms of spending, minus lounge access I get from other cards and the 1.5 cpp. Ink Cash gets 2x on restaurants (up to 25k) and Ink Preferred gets 3x on travel (up to 150k).
Jeremy – I had a reserve and downgraded actually. The reasons I keep it and highlighted have quite little to do with spend, and more to do with benefits + refer a friend, and I don’t really ever redeem my ultimate rewards in the chase travel center. I think the $55 argument is a really good one and for people that don’t keep a lot of cards like myself, it makes total sense ( you also need to assess opportunity cost of that $300 credit, i.e – other cards with higher category bonuses). For me…my dining gets split between amex gold and citi prestige ( which also gives me my priority pass w/ restaurants ) and flights go to amex plat, biz plat, or chase ink biz pref. My other expenses go on cards that earn 1.5x and now 2x with citi double cash. I push spend on this when I’m abroad b/c so many places take Visa, and freedoms/ink cash/unlimited assess foreign transaction, I use it on all my car rentals, and the 75k a year refer a friend is mega valuable – reserve doesn’t have one ongoing. So when it came time for me to keep the reserve, it just didn’t make sense, but easily makes up the $95 a year fee.