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If you’re unfamiliar, Chase has a 24 month rule on many of their credit cards that stipulates you can’t receive a new cardmember bonus until 24 months has passed since you last received one. This is understood to be from the time that bonus hits your account, not from when you sign up. For instance, let’s say you sign up for a Chase Freedom Unlimited® that includes 20k Ultimate Rewards after $500 spend in 3 months in January of 2024. If you hit that $500 spend in the first month, it would appear on your Feb statement, and therefore the 24 month clock would start. It would be Feb of 2026 before you’re eligible agin.
However, some of the offers on these cards include 5x bonus categories for 12 months, or double cashback for 12 months.
DoctorofCredit highlighted a very interesting comment left by one of their readers indicating that for some new Chase cardmembers, it may be 36+ months from card opening until they are eligible for a new cardmember sign up bonus. Why you ask?
- The bonus 5x bonus categories that extend for 12 months are included as part of the sign up bonus, not a separate bonus, so the clock doesn’t start until the last 5x bonus posts
- Currently it’s 5x Gas and Groceries for 12 months up to $12k combined spend
- The double cashback isn’t received until the end of the 12 months
- I’d presume that when this bonus hits your account is when your 24 month clock starts.
Recap
This is a new way of looking at the 24 month clock and one to keep in mind should the bonus language specifically include additional bonus elements that layer upon the traditional spend x amount, get x amount of points/miles/cashback.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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