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As I told you to expect last week, the spending requirement to earn a signup bonus with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card has gone up — but fortunately not by much, just from $3000 within 3 months of account opening to $4000. No other changes have been made at this time.
Fortunately that leaves the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card as the best all-around, most rewarding personal credit card.
It has one of the best signup bonuses, has strong benefits, and is a great card that rewards ongoing spending (because it has flexible points that transfer to a variety of airlines and hotels, and because it earns double points on all travel and dining).
- Bonus: 40,000 points after $4000 in spending within 3 months plus 5000 more points for adding a free authorized user to the account and making a purchase within that same time frame
- Valuable points: Chase points are among the two best currencies of any loyalty program. They transfer to United, British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Hyatt, Marriott, and more.
- Strong earning: Double points on travel and dining, useful all over the world with no foreign transaction fees, and Visa acceptance.
- Good benefits: Like primary collision damage coverage on rental cars.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card in my view continues to be the all-around most lucrative credit card in the market as it has been for the past 3 years. There’s no annual fee the first year, then it has a $95 annual fee.
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In the age of constant devaluations by everyone, I can live with an extra grand.
Couldn’t agree more – going for the Southwest / Sapphire family combo to hit the companion pass in Jan (will transfer sapphire points -> hyatt -> southwest)
PointsCentric has a link to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa card that still has a spend requirement of only $3,000 for its 40,000 Ultimate Rewards points bonus. Apparently Chase forgot to change this offer for people referred to the card. Supposedly it expires November 30, but Chase may figure it out sooner and change it to its current standard $4,000 spend requirement.
http://pointscentric.com/2014/11/19/chase-sapphire-preferred-still-available-with-3k-spend-20000-point-signup-offer-on-chase-freedom/
Gary, saying it’s not going up by much is relative, isn’t it? Going up by $1K a month is a big deal for me. I’d have trouble meeting $3K in 3 months (I don’t do MS), and $4K in 3 months would be basically impossible unless I had more than 1 large purchase on the horizon, and even then it’d be a stretch.
@Brian, I agree it is a big deal for many. I’ve had this card several years now, but it seems they keep chipping away at it, and it seems I’m frequently covering a spend bonus or in other categories, so that I’m not using the CSP as much as I used to. The end of the 7% points bonus isn’t huge, but is one more thing to consider. The keep/drop call is getting to be a close one. I’d definitely sign up for it, though, if the $4,000 initial spend can be met.
I got the card last year when they were offering a 50,000 point bonus with $125 annual fee. Has anyone successfully gotten the fee reduced to the current $95?
I am being selfish here, but on the bright side this excludes low-spenders or people who don’t do MS. It may even slow down depreciation of points since there won’t be as many points floating around.
So you’ve been paying the annual fee for a couple of years…?
I think saying its the best card is relative. I don’t have it cos its not an important card to have (I get it for the bonus then shut it down)
PRG offers 3x on flights. (Amazon purchases have posted as 2x)
Amex has a solid extended warranty and return policy (I buy all my electronics on an Amex card for this)
Plain Sapphire has 2x on dining (AND no annual fee)
Arrival+ has 2x on EVERYTHING, and gets 2x + UR points too when used on Chase shopping – or any other portal!
Ink+ gives me access to UR…
Pin and chip is arguably more secure than chip and signature
Hotel cards yield 2/3x(SPG) to 15x /$
Amex gold/platinum now give $75 credit if you use their agency to book 2+ nights (that’s wayyyy better than 2UR points for same night stays)
Ink+ gives me 5x on gas when I travel (that’s 5x of your valuable UR points), plus 5x on a lot of other things, including DINING and TRAVEL and GROCERY and GAS and BOOKSTORES and ENTERTAINMENT and a host of other categories.. I even get 5x when I go to Dave and busters, or wholesale foods… (when used wisely (that’s 5x not 2x))
Freedom arguably gets more UR points than Sapphire preferred.
Seriously, how is CSP “the best”?
When I’m traveling and buy souvenirs (which can be expensive..) or flowers, or fresh fruit from an outdoor vendor in Europe, CSP = only 1x!!! – I can do so much better than that!
Unless you plan to have only ONE credit card in your wallet, CSP is just another plain card with a (currently) OK bonus.
and let’s be honest here, who, on this post, has only ONE credit card….?
If the city forward card weren’t dead, I’d say screw CSP lol (that means, get it for the bonus, then close it!), having Ink + arrival+ + PRG, + (citi forward/chase sapphire(no AF)) totally makes CSP worthless as a card to keep…
CSP is helpful to have (and I’m trying hard to make the card look good) as a backup card to arrival+/an extra card with lounge access when travelling. but seriously, if the pin and chip card doesn’t work, almost EVERY OTHER CARD is chip and signature.. heck, my no AF capital one cards have worked in EVERY COUNTRY I’ve been to.. with no forex fees!
So switch DINING to no AF CS,
Switch TRAVEL to arrival+, hotel cards, ink+ (2x-15x) ALL the time,
PLUS get 2x on every other purchase,
VALUABLE UR points? Freedom + Ink blow CSP out of the water
… what’s left of the CSP? >> an OK bonus, and a $95 fee..
Question: Would you prefer
1.) 2x UR on $95(CSP), 2x UR(CS) for free, or 5x UR(ink+) for free(close card)?
2.) 40000 UR (CSP) or 70000 UR (ink+)?
3.) 2% of €9 (CSP) or the entire freaking €9 itself(arrival+) say for a day travel pass in London????
lol, its OK when other bloggers feed us misinformation because of their affiliates/commissions (or dont show us the good deals bcos they’re not paid to) – they set their reputations.. But when a blog I like, that has a good reputation starts going down that lane.. :)))))
(*grinning* what do y’all think of the lil devil’s advocate rant…?) 😀
I didn’t get the CSP yet, because there are so many other cards with better bonuses than it so far, and its not going away like the US airways or the ink bold.. Heck, when I get back home from traveling (goodness knows when) I’ll probably walk into a chase branch and twist someone’s arm for the ink bold lol (50000 UR points – better than 40000 from CSP hey? *smiling*)
but that 40000(45?) points would be nice to have nonetheless *day-dreaming whimsically*… Besides, getting it for 3k would save the extra 1k for say, the 25k for the companion pass on BA. (this is where I get sad the 30k/yr for 15000 MR is going away… :((( )
I used to feel that the CSP was the best personal card. It had pretty good earning potential and good transfer partners, but as the years have moved on and the CSP continues to bleed from 3rd party devaluations like the recent Korean Air Skypass removal to the devaluation(s) from United. I’m finding it harder to justify keeping it in my wallet.
Personally the Amex Everyday Preferred has been my recent go to card. It has huge earning potential at grocery stores, gas and 1.5x on everything else after meeting 30+ purchase per statement period. I’m earning nearly 5k points per month on the Everyday Preferred before MS, a number that nearly doubles what I was earning on the CSP during this same time period last year.
I think Chase needs to setup its game if it wants to complete with comparable cards like the Amex Everyday otherwise they might lose my business.
The metal card is nice, but 5k points per month is much nicer.
Here’s a working link for a $3,000 spend requirement until Nov 30th (Disclaimer: This is my referral link. Thank you for using it!) https://applynow.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?PID=CFFD2&SPID=F9Y4&CELL=GSJ&MSC=1514826433