Over the past year, you've probably heard the buzz around the Chase Sapphire Reserve. That slick, dark, metal card with the 100,000 point signup bonus (now dropped to 50,000) with a multitude of perks looks and feels so cool in your wallet.
However, with so many people talking about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it's easy to forget about the little brother, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and its great value as a travel card. Today I'm going to break down the Chase Sapphire Preferred and why it should have a place in your wallet!
Let's look at four key factors to make our decision.
Purchasing 3 of these tickets would set you back around $810. Pretty steep price to be nice right? This same flight costs 16,166 Southwest points plus $11.20 per flight.
However, with so many people talking about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it's easy to forget about the little brother, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and its great value as a travel card. Today I'm going to break down the Chase Sapphire Preferred and why it should have a place in your wallet!
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| Maui sunsets are on point. |
Let's look at four key factors to make our decision.
- Earning Rates
- Signup Bonus
- Annual Fee
- Redemption Value & Perks
Number One: How well does it earn points?
The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers:
- 2x points for purchases related to Travel or Dining
- 1x points for everything else
Reaction: This is pretty good! Any time you go out for food, drinks, coffee and you use this card, BOOM 2x the points. Same thing on the travel side with taxis, ubers, subways, hotels, flights, etc. This card doesn't have an alliance to a specific airline which gives you so much flexibility to earn more points! (Note: If you want more details on what specifically qualifies within these categories check this link out or call a Chase rep!)
Number Two: What is the signup bonus?
Spend $4,000 within the first 3 months of opening the account for 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points
Reaction: Not too difficult to reach! Shifting $1,300 of everyday spending over to this card for 3 months gets you the bonus. Now what are 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards worth? Going through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal, your 50,000 points can be worth $625 in travel redemption. You can also redeem for $500 cash but that wouldn't come close to maximizing the value. The real value of of Chase Ultimate Rewards points is seen when you transfer over to Chase's travel partners. I'll explain more in the redemption and perks section below!
Number Three: What is the annual fee?
$0 the first year. $95 annually after.
Reaction: Standard. It's nice that they give you the first year free as you check out the card so you don't have to commit $95 immediately upon opening the account.
Number Four: Redeeming and other perks!
Some perks are included insurance (Primary rental car, trip, baggage delay), no foreign transaction fees, purchase protection, and ability to transfer points to travel partners.
Reaction: Wow that's a lot stuff. This card gives you a lot of general perks but the few I've found most valuable are no foreign transaction fees, having the option to forgo rental car insurance, and most importantly, ability to transfer points to travel partners. Let's talk more about that last perk.
What is so exciting about transferring Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners?
Whenever you think of redeeming something, flexibility is always preferred. We prefer cash over gift cards cause now we have the option to spend it wherever we want. Same thing here. Chase gives us the option to transfer our points to a list of travel partners. I'll list a few of the popular ones below.
- Airlines: United, Southwest, Virgin Atlantic
- Hotels: Marriott, Ritz Carlton, Hyatt, IHG
With all these options you can pick and choose how you want to redeem your points to maximize your value.
Let's do a practical example. Say you want to be SUPER NICE and fly yourself and two of your friends down to New Orleans from DC for a week trip.
You see that Southwest has a sale for spring travel. You look up an itinerary and it's only $269 per person round trip.
Purchasing 3 of these tickets would set you back around $810. Pretty steep price to be nice right? This same flight costs 16,166 Southwest points plus $11.20 per flight.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred allows you to transfer points from Ultimate Reward over to Southwest so you can redeem them for this flight. In the end this would cost you (16,166 points X 3 = ~49,000 points) and $33.60 tax for these flights which are worth $810 in reality!!
Your 50,000 point signup bonus goes from Chase's value of $625 to being worth $810 in actuality.
Decision making time.
Earning 2x points for travel/dining paired with a 50k signup bonus makes for a pretty good incentive to have this card. The $0 annual fee for the first year and $95 for the following years is definitely not anything to run away from. Throw on the ability and flexibility to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points with various travel partners gives a tremendous boost to the value of your points!
This is a no-brainer decision in my eyes. Flexibility and value combined make this one of the best travel credit cards out there!
Feel free to connect with me on Facebook and leave a comment below! I'd love to hear about your experiences with the Chase Sapphire Preferred!
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