The Chase Sapphire Preferred Review (Updated 2024)

Posted: 1/14/24 | January 14th, 2024

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Since its launch in 2009, the card_name has been profitable awards for being among the finest journey rewards card.

And for good cause – you’ll be able to’t actually go fallacious with this card. It at all times has a stable welcome provide, nice ongoing rewards charges, beneficial transferrable factors, and a number of perks, corresponding to complete journey insurance coverage.

Unlike quite a lot of journey playing cards, which proceed to roll again advantages and enhance annual charges, the Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to get higher with age. Over the years, Chase has elevated a few of its incomes classes and added perks to the cardboard, all with out upping the annual payment.

Because of all this, the Chase Sapphire Preferred stays one in all my favourite journey playing cards, particularly in the event you’re in search of your first journey rewards card. I take advantage of it typically.

Today, I need to share a bit extra about it so you’ll be able to decide whether or not it’s the precise card for you!

What is the Chase Sapphire Preferred?

The card_name (sometimes called CSP) is a journey rewards card issued by Chase. The card comes with a $95 USD annual payment and a number of advantages.

When you signal for this card, you’ll get:

• 60,000 factors after you spend $4,000 within the first three months
• 2x factors on journey purchases
• 3x factors on eating places, on-line grocery purchases, and choose streaming providers
• 5x factors on journey bought via the Chase journey portal
• 5x factors on Lyft
• 10% anniversary factors enhance (earn bonus factors equal to 10% of your complete purchases made the earlier yr)
• Free DoorDash DashPass subscription for one yr
• Free Instacart+ membership for six months
• $50 Annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit
• No overseas transaction charges

Using Your Chase Ultimate Rewards® Points

With this card, you’ll earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors. You can use these factors such as you would every other rewards program: to get money again, e-book journey immediately, or switch them to journey companions. (You also can redeem them for Amazon or Apple purchases, however these are dangerous redemption values and I might not suggest utilizing factors this manner.)

The best choice is to redeem your factors for journey within the Chase Travel portal, which works like reserving via Expedia or every other on-line journey company. When you do that, you’re principally utilizing your factors as money, at a price of 1.25 cents per level. That signifies that in case you have 20,000 factors, they’ll be price 25,000 factors when redeemed via the portal (which is a greater worth than in the event you merely redeem your factors immediately as money, as you’ll solely get a price of 1 cent per level that means). Just know that there are professionals and cons to utilizing the journey portal.

On the plus facet, utilizing your factors within the Chase Travel portal may be very simple, making it a sexy choice for factors and miles newbies. If that is the one means that you simply’ll use your factors, then utilizing them is best than letting them sit round!

However, you’ll be able to normally get extra to your factors once you switch them to Chase’s 14 switch companions.
 

Taking Advantage of Chase’s Travel Partners

The potential to switch to journey companions is what makes Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors actually beneficial. You can normally discover airline and resort redemptions the place you may get way more than 1.25 cents per level. While the precise worth you may get varies tremendously based mostly on flight or resort, an excellent benchmark is The Points Guy’s month-to-month valuation chart, which values Chase Ultimate Rewards® factors at over 2 cents per level when used as transferable factors. That’s virtually double what you’ll get within the portal!

To give a real-life instance, the 25,000 factors from the instance above may very well be an off-peak financial system fare from New York to Paris when redeemed via the portal. But in the event you switch factors to one in all Chase’s associate airways, you’ll be able to benefit from flash offers and saver house, probably discovering the identical fare for as much as 50% much less factors. Unless it’s a brilliant low-cost flight or room (lower than $150 USD), I at all times switch factors to their journey companions, particularly when reserving enterprise class flights or fancy resort rooms. You simply get extra bang to your buck.

Transferring to journey companions is certainly a bit extra work than utilizing the portal, however there are extra instruments than ever that will help you maximize your factors (use level.me for locating flights with factors and Awayz for locating award resort stays).

Chase’s present switch companions are:

Airline Travel Partners

• Aer Lingus, AerClub
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• British Airways Executive Club
• Emirates Skywards®
• Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
• Iberia Plus
• JetBlue TrueBlue
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
• United MileagePlus®
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hotel Travel Partners

• IHG® Rewards Club
• Marriott Bonvoy®
• World of Hyatt®

Other Perks and Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred

While incomes beneficial transferable factors is the most important cause to get this card, there are fairly a number of different nice perks and advantages.

An enormous one is journey insurance coverage (it’s one of many finest bank cards for journey insurance coverage). While I at all times suggest buying a separate journey insurance coverage coverage, having protection via your bank card is an additional advantage that you simply get at no further value. Some of its advantages embrace journey cancellation and interruption safety, journey and baggage delay protection, and journey accident protection (be sure you learn the effective print for specifics).

Additionally, this card comes with quite a lot of assertion credit, together with a complimentary one-year DashPass membership, a complimentary Instacart+ membership for six months, and an annual $50 USD resort credit score when reserving via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
 

Pros of the Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Great rewards-earning charges
• Large welcome provide
• Low annual payment ($95 USD)
• 14 improbable switch companions
• Solid journey insurance coverage
• Statement credit and complimentary memberships
• No overseas transaction charges

Cons of the Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Must use Chase’s Travel Portal to benefit from some advantages ($50 USD resort credit score, 5x factors on journey booked via Chase)

Who Is This Card For?

This card is finest for factors and miles rookies in addition to rare vacationers, each of whom could not need to shell out for a excessive annual payment. The $95 USD annual payment is straightforward to recoup with the cardboard’s nice incomes charges, anniversary factors enhance, and different advantages.

That being stated, this card is particularly geared towards vacationers and restaurant-goers because it affords 2x factors spent on journey, 3x factors on eating (together with takeout and supply), and 5x factors on Lyft rides.

And whereas extra frequent vacationers could want extra premium bank cards (just like the Preferred’s massive sibling, the card_name), it’s also possible to pursue a extra superior factors and miles technique with this card by pairing it with two different Chase playing cards to create the highly effective “Chase Trifecta.” By utilizing three Chase playing cards in tandem (normally a Sapphire card, the Chase Freedom Flex, and the Chase Freedom Unlimited, though you may do that with enterprise playing cards too), you maximize incomes classes. This ensures that you simply’re at all times incomes probably the most factors per greenback potential, which is vital to any good factors and miles technique. (While this can be an excessive amount of for rookies to juggle, it’s a great way to develop whereas nonetheless retaining this card.)
 

Who Is This Card Not For?

As with any bank card, you shouldn’t get this card in the event you’re already carrying a stability or plan to hold a stability. Interest charges for journey bank cards are notoriously excessive, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred is not any completely different. The factors simply aren’t price it in the event you’re paying curiosity every month.

This card can also be not for anybody with poor credit score, as you want good or glorious credit score to qualify. (If that’s you, try the finest bank cards for low credit score so you can begin enhancing your rating right now.)

Lastly, this card does depend towards Chase’s 5/24 rule (you’ll be able to’t open greater than 5 playing cards inside 24 months). So in the event you’ve already opened 5 playing cards throughout the previous two years (or need to open extra quickly), you would possibly need to skip this one for now.

Whenever somebody asks me which card to open as their first journey bank card, the card_name is at all times on the high of my listing. It’s a wonderful and easy-to-use card, with quite a lot of perks that tremendously outweigh the annual payment. If you’re in search of the right introduction to the world of factors and miles, look no additional. Grab this card so you can begin incomes factors right now in direction of free journey tomorrow!
 

Nomadic Matt has partnered with CardScores for our protection of bank card merchandise. Nomadic Matt and CardScores could obtain a fee from card issuers.