Key Link: Chase Sapphire Preferred
If you’re already an expert, stop reading this post now. You already know everything in it, and I don’t want you to waste your time. You won’t be able to get your 45 seconds back. If you have 6 or more credit cards open, this post is not for you.
When I’m asked for frequent flyer advice, I have to resist the temptation to give an oral dissertation defense. I can easily run off at the mouth. I tend to be really quite earnest and feel like it’s important to qualify, to offer precise recommendations. But too much advice can be overwhelming. It’s probably why many of the people I work with think that this ‘crazy frequent flyer thing’ (jetting off in premium cabins around the world multiple times a year) is complicated, something I can do but beyond their reach.
And no doubt this blog isn’t written with the broadest audience in my. My writing, my interests, and my recommendations aren’t always the most accessible.
But I’ve tried to work on that at least where co-workers are concerned (and a dozen or so have likely flown international first class now as a result). Sometimes it’s best to give a simple, concrete recommendation rather than the perfect recommendation — because it’s easily actionable, and because it’s much better than what they were doing before.
And in the credit card space that recommendation is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which has been probably the all-around most lucrative credit cards in the market for the past two years. Back in November 2011 I called it the king of credit cards.
At 40,000 bonus points after $3000 in spending within 3 months, it has one of the richest bonuses of any card. It earns some of the most valuable points. And has some of the best spending bonuses as well.
Why the Expert Recommends This Card , and Why Beginners Can Take Advantage of It
I frequently talk about the different kinds of value that a credit card can provide. There are three different reasons for getting a credit card. There are:
- Those you get just for the signup bonus, but you don’t want to keep spending on them after you’ve earned the bonus
- Those you get for the benefit of having the card, it’s not great for putting spend on
- Those that are rewarding for your spend
This card has one of the strongest signup bonuses and also offers some of the strongest points-earning. You get double points on all travel and dining, Visa acceptance (so you can use it pretty much anywhere even the dry cleaners), no foreign currency transaction fees (so you don’t have to swap out for a different card when you leave the country), and the points are as valuable as any currency out there.
Since it’s more or less tops in two of the three areas that a credit card can generate benefits, and since it’s versatile enough to be one of the best choices anywhere and everywhere, it’s a good card that passes the ‘expert’ analysis … and an easy card to use and benefit from as a beginner, too.
A Very Strong Card for Earning Points
In addition to the standard points-earning, you also get:
- Double points on travel and restaurant spending
- Visa acceptance, so even my dry cleaner takes it
- No foreign currency conversion fee
- Additional points for your online shopping through access to the Chase Ultimate Rewards mall, a mileage-earning shopping portal that often has the most lucrative opportunities to earn extra points for the online purchases you’d make anyway. I love the 2 extra points per dollar on Travelocity purchases, extra point per dollar at Expedia, and I love it when Drugstore.com gets up to 10 points per dollar spent.
Making the Most of the Points You Earn
Chase advertises that you can redeem these points at 1.25 cents apiece towards paid travel, that’s not their best use. You want to hold onto them and transfer them to frequent flyer programs most of the time.
I value ‘flexible’ points the most, points where you can choose where to point them at the time you’re ready to redeem for an award. If you accumulate miles in an airline program, then you need that program to have the award you want at the time you want to fly. But with points that transfer to your choice of programs, you increase the odds substantially of getting the award you want — if one program doesn’t have the award, another one likely will.
The transfer options with this card are:
- Airlines: United, Korean Airlines, Southwest Airlines, British Airways
- Hotels: Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Priority Club
- Train: Amtrak
The best hotel transfer value is Hyatt in most cases, but it’s really valuable to be able to top off an account towards an award no matter which account of yours that winds up being.
Usually I think of United as the best value for points transfers, since the award chart is reasonable and available on Star Alliance partners is really pretty good in business class to Europe and Asia.
But transferring to British Airways Avios can be a good use of points, especially for short-distance non-stop flights (think as low as 9000 points roundtrip for a coach award). And while many awards on BA involve fuel surcharges, if you use those points to fly American Airlines or Alaska Airlines domestic or American or LAN to South America, there are no fuel surcharges. (Also quite reasonable intra-Asia on Cathay Pacific and Aer Lingus Boston or New York to Ireland.)
Meanwhile, not only do you get Star Alliance awards via United and oneworld awards via British Airways, you have coverage of the third alliance — Skyteam — as well. You get access to the same Skyteam award space as if you had Delta miles. And in some cases there’s a favorable award chart.
Plus the ability to redeem for international first class through Korean and not just business class, something Delta doesn’t allow. And one-way awards, also not offered (except at the same price as roundtrip!) by Delta.
I actually value these points the most, probably for transfers to Korean since I used Chase points for Korean first class one-stop back from Kuala Lumpur on the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. (I also want to fly first class on the China Southern A380 and first class on Saudia Airlines as well.)
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers referral credit to me if you apply and are approved using my link, which I greatly appreciate.
Is it time to push affiliate credit cards again? Lol
@Mike thanks for reading and leaving a comment!
@Mike I realize this is “the internet” but sometimes snark is just sad. It reflects more on the person leaving the comment than on anything else.
This is actually a really useful post I think, and Gary tells you that you won’t get much out of it if you’re already an expert, but probably 80% of his readers have that question I’d guess.
There’s actual analysis. This isn’t just a link farm post, the kind of thing that Frugal Travel Guy seems to post all the time. Gary doesn’ do links in every unrelated post the way The Points Guy does. And as we can see from your comment being published, he accepts criticism and provides an open forum — so if you disagree with his advice you can say so and the world can read the analysis.
Your critique (if you can even call it that) seems REALLY misplaced.
So if I convert to a no yearly fee card after the first year, can I still transfer points to southwest and marriott. Why should I keep the paid card after that first year?
In order to obtain 2x points on travel and dining, don’t you have to purchase the travel/dining through Chase’s website? Stating “Double points on travel and restaurant spending” may be misleading as you cannot purchase travel directly through airline sites and using your Sapphire card at restaurants doesn’t get you the 2x. Am I mistaken?
I can see why this is a good card but if I’m only after the sign up bonus it doesn’t seem to be the best. Maybe keeping this card for the long term would be best due to the earning %
@DarinSTL – good for folks new to the game who aren’t churning though i do think it is ONE of the best signup bonuses though not the absolute best
@Eric you are mistaken — you earn 2x on travel and dining directly when purchasing from a merchant. You can earn an ADDITIONAL 2x points with travelocity purchases though…
@Jana – you cannot transfer to a mileage program unless you have a Sapphire Preferred/Ink Bold/Ink Plus open.
I don’t mind the recurring credit card advice so long as it’s updated regularly. To be perfectly frank I often wonder if old advice is still applicable today, especially when someone asks me if the cards I carry are applicable to them. In many cases the terms, conditions, and bonuses have changed, sometimes dramatically. Like many of you I have more cards than fingers and I don’t always have the time or the interest to track down the information necessary to confirm the best deals for a given situation. Being able to send folks to some blogs that return to the topic of credit card signups with current information makes life easier for me and more lucrative for the blogger. There are so many other aspects of easily acquired, easily abused, and highly punitive credit markets to worry about. How much a blog makes from referral commissions seems so low on the list of legitimate concerns to me. If you already know everything and can’t benefit from the information then instead of complaining why not start your own travel blog with a zero commissions no referrals policy?
I highly appreciate the first paragraph caveat. This helped me realize that I should save the subsequent piece for folks who ask me about what to sign up for but that I probably didn’t need to spend time on it myself.
Is your link for the Sapphire Preferred VISA or MASTERCARD? Apparently one person can get the sign up bonuses for both cards though one must be closed before applying for the other product. Is this correct?
@Charlie – From my personal experience today with Chase reconsideration, yes, it is possible to have one card, cancel and then receive the sign-up bonus for the other.
Data Point: Another blogger had erroneously reported of having called Chase to convert his Visa Preferred to MC Preferred and been promised the bonus points for the new card; no such luck for me, as I was told in no uncertain terms that, that kind of thing does not happen. So, I proceeded to close the Visa and then applied for the Preferred MC after a few days. Reconsideration folks okay’ed it and in came a new card with the 40K bonus points. Note, as Gary has pointed out too several times, transfer all your points to a miles/points program before closing, or to a Ink Bold/Ink Plus program; else you lose your accumulated stash with the closure of your first card.
Mike’s right, it’s time to pay the bills. If it weren’t you’ld simply give the link to the MC offer that doesn’t result in any revenue for you. 40k is the lowest it has been in years. Maybe the good times may come again. You only get the bonus once with Chase. I’ld wait. I’ll be canceling mine in a few weeks. Annual fee is ridiculous and I rarely used it. For most CC users, there are much better cards out there.
Thanks Gary! I get so many requests from friends for Primers! I always refer to your site!
Kevin
Gary,
Signup bonus aside, isn’t the Freedom with it’s 1.1x earning rate (due to Chase Exclusives) the superior everyday-spend card?
Cheers
@Ram – If you’re referring to my post as the erroneous report, you’re incorrect. I had applied for the SP MC and was denied because I already have the SP Visa. After calling reconsideration, they canceled the Visa and approved the MC, saying I would get whatever was listed during the day I applied (40K UR after $3K spend).
@Rolling Ze Dice… (1) most can no longer sign up for Chase Exclusives, (2) Sapphire Preferred offers 7% annual bonus which makes up for 70% of that, (3) Sapphire Preferred offers double points on all travel/dining which I find is most of my spend but your patterns may vary. PLUS for the Freedom points to be valuable you need to transfer them either to a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Bold/Plus (since having Freedom only the points are just cash)
@ABC I guess I disagree with you on the substance for reasons I outline in the post. As for I’d “simply give the link to the MC offer that doesn’t result in any revenue” have you seen that Mastercard offer still working? I searched for it when writing this post and couldn’t get it to come up at Mastercard.us/Mastercard.com.
And the offer has been 40k for nearly a year. Sure 50k was better but that hasn’t been on offer.
And is beside the point when recommending a first points earning card to someone, the most important lesson is start now not “pay attention and hope that some other better offer shows up maybe and get started later.”
@Charlie – my link in this post is for the Visa, I haven’t seen an active Mastercard link recently (I can’t find it at Mastercard.com)
I agree that Chase Sapphire Preferred is one of the best cards for beginners, but I think one of the reasons behind that is not mentioned very often. The value of miles and points is constantly being debated and at the end of the day, the value is what you intend to redeem the miles and points for.
For beginners especially, this concept can be very confusing so a valuable card to them in my opinion is one where they can have a benchmark. With Chase Ultimate Rewards, for example, you can redeem your points for cash back. While it’s a terrible waste of value and nobody who’s been in the game long enough would do it, it helps beginners to learn the value of miles and points and eventually understand the concept of opportunity cost etc. At first, they’ll learn that the value of their Chase UR points are worth at least 1c each and then in the future they’ll understand that they are forgoing 2% cash back when they use a points-earning credit card etc. This concept is not as easy to learn for beginners with Starwoods, Membership Rewards, etc.
My ethical recommendation for a first points earning card would be to pick a no-fee card. They are dipping their toe in the water. Regarding Sapphire MC, a quick Google search will get you here https://applynow.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=F4H8&CELL=6H8X&AFFID=EhraRx8K_BE-LEi3yHWp7.OkzsVLGPCmlw&pvid=11159a4820132703fb25154520df18&jp_cmp=cc/277103/aff/3-10001959/na
Given most noobs will be clueless re. how to get maximum efficiency from 40K UR I would think there would be better offers to discuss assuming that is the target audience. So much love for the 40K CSP but rarely do see love for the UA 55K offer. It’s a better offer IMHO, minimal spend, and getting targeted is easy (fresh miles), but it doesn’t even make your best offers page, lol, go figure. I can’t imagine what the reason would be. 🙂
I agree that the Sapphire is the best out there. Anyone reading this blog should get it if they don’t have it. You’d honestly be doing yourself a favor. The ability to transfer points is indeed its best value.
Example: wanted a car rental deal for next month’s vacation-best deals out there for the car we wanted(even on discounts sites) were up to $700-one week-ABQ to DEN (high airport drop charge). Den to ABQ was half that price though. so we decided we would switch plans around to save the money. Then we found an excellent deal on Southwest. Ran over to UR, transferred points to SW. Booked rental- 33,000 points.(I believe Delta was 75,000 points for same itinerary). Saved us some hefty cash and didn’t have to change plans. Next we transferred some UR points to Hyatt. Booked our hotel. We are all set for our vacation.
PS: I get no commission from this post…shooots 🙁
The only (that I know of) Chase Sapphire Preferred MC link is available at creditcards.com.
Just google “Chase Sapphire Preferred Mastercard” and its the first result that pops up. I worked for me as of earlier this month when I could no longer find the card at Mastercard.us.
@HikerT when the United 55k offer works more often than not I include it in my top 10 credit card signup bonus offer. And it is a good signup bonus. This post is not about best bonuses for churning it’s about best card to get and spend on to earn flexible rewards you can use quickly. And Chase Sapphire Preferred gets that. They’re reading this blog which is a start on figuring out how to use the points.
See, I don’t assume newbies are stupid and can’t figure things out, I just know from talking to folks for years that they aren’t going to sign up for cards over and over at the outset, they usually want one card that will earn points that are worthwhile when it comes time to redeem.
And when they redeem, if it’s for a really good award, they’ll be hooked. So my newbie advice is how to position yourself — without doing anything you’re not comfortable with — to get a card that helps you achieve the international business or first class award you’ll want.
That card wouldn’t be the United card anyway which — while a good bonus — isn’t as good for continued earning as the Sapphire Preferred is.
@ABC i disagree that it’s best to recommend a no fee card to someone getting started, i recommend this card which has a $0 fee the first year and then f they’re using it as their sole card (again, not about churning) it’ll probably be worth the fee.
Thanks for the link to the Mastercard, I am curious to hear others’ reports of getting the card with an application after the point at which the card has been removed from the Mastercard site (I don’t know if that means the relationship has ended or there’s no more marketing support from Mastercard for some reason).
@Gary, I appreciate that you take the time to explain logically the different merits of the card. I got my CSP CC just two weeks ago. I am so excited. I often use Korean Air, but this is my last year in Seoul, and I may be headed to Europe or the Middle East for work. With the CSP I can transfer to those airlines, especially a transfer to points to Korean Air, and then fly on their partner Emirates at first class- next goal ticket. I appreciate the walking me through the pluses of this CC. Thank you.
It’s amazing to me that I have waited so long to get this card…….but what ultimately did it was the 5X First Friday restaurant bonus……so now I’ll go to my favorite restaurant that I frequent once a week and buy a gift card good for the month and then repeat the first Friday each month…….damn I love it when a plan comes together………5X or death to the end………….
Oh damn 3X not 5X…….still a great deal………..
Hi Gary,
Your posts are great. I have a question about CHASE cards. I have Sapphire Preferred and Ink Plus. The Sapphire annual fee is due next month, and the Ink is due in august. If I cancel the Sapphire now to avoid the annual fee, move the points to the INK, wondering how soon I can re-apply for a NEW Sapphire, and then hopefully cancel the INK before that annual fee is due, and move points again…will this work?
Cheers, Mariko
@Mariko You could get Ink Bold and move points to that and still be able to transfer points out to miles/points
Gary,
I don’t think I can get another business card. The INK was difficult, so I’d rather avoid that.
I’m a grad student in the US, on a budget, and I need points to visit my parents back in Japan.
I guess the question is how long after I cancel the Sapphire do I need to wait to get a new one?
Also, can I move the points to a Freedom card, and then eventually back to a new Sapphire when I become eligible again?
Thanks again, Mariko