Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is a premium travel rewards credit card for those with excellent credit. It’s ideal for anyone traveling at least a few times a year and planning to spend on dining and other travel-related expenses.

The card’s 2x points on travel and dining, rich signup bonus and no foreign transaction fees place it among the best travel cards available today.

At a Glance

Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
2x points on travel and dining worldwide and one point per dollar spent on other purchases.
1:1 point transfer to select airlines and hotels
No foreign transaction fees
No blackout dates or travel restrictions

Rewards

Earning Rewards

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offers two levels of rewards:

Earn 2 Chase Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent on travel and dining at restaurants.
Earn 1 point per dollar on everything else.

The travel category includes the obvious travel expenses such as airlines, hotels, motels, car rentals and travel agencies. It also includes expenses on passenger train fares, buses, taxis, limos, ferries, toll bridges and highways, parking lots and garages and Uber and Lyft.

The dining category includes most restaurants and bars. You’ll find details on the travel and dining categories, along with other information, in the Chase FAQs.

Also, you earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months from account opening. If redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, the 60,000 points are worth $750 thanks to the 25% redemption bonus described below.

Redeeming Rewards

There are several options for redeeming the rewards from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The first two listed below are the most valuable ways to redeem points:

Ultimate Rewards travel portal: Chase gives a 25% bonus when you redeem points for travel bookings, giving you an effective value of 1.25 cents per point.
Transfer to travel partners: You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points at a 1:1 rate to a number of travel partners, where their value will vary.
Statement credit: When you redeem your points as a statement credit you will get a value of 1 cent per point.
Gift cards: Gift cards will provide different values for your points depending on the store, typically 1 cent per point or less.
Pay with Points with Chase Pay: You can use your points to pay for purchases at certain merchants, like Amazon, but you will only get 0.8 cents per point.

Using Chase Ultimate Rewards is the easiest way to redeem points, allowing you to book a variety of travel, such as:

flights
hotel rooms
car rentals
cruises

Chase Ultimate Rewards also allows users to pay in part with points, while making up the rest with another payment option.

Transferring Points

Chase Ultimate Rewards is the easiest way to redeem points. It may not, however, offer the best value. Transfer points to Chase’s airline and hotel partners can result in a higher rewards rate. Chase travel partners include nine airlines and four hotels.

We recently put this theory to the test on a hypothetical flight from New York to Washington D.C. Based on a recent search, a round-trip flight with Southwest Airlines would cost $511.60 round trip. Using Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards points, the same flight would require 33,814 points. These award flights would also incur a fee of $11.20 ($5.60 each way).

In order to earn enough points to cover this flight using the 2x rate offered by Chase Sapphire Preferred, you would need to spend $16,907 on travel and dining expenses. You could then convert those points at a 1:1 rate.

In this example you spent a total of $16,918.20, after adding in the award flight fee. For that you get a round-trip flight valued at $511.60. That comes to a cash back equivalent of three percent, which is better than the 2.5 percent (2x rewards + 25% bonus) you can get through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Rewards Potential

The rewards potential for any credit card depends on how the card is used. In the case of the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the amount of travel and dining charged to the card is critical.

To assess the reward potential, let’s assume a family of four charges the following to the card in an average month:

Travel: $300 (600 points)
Restaurants: $250 (500 points)
Groceries: $600 (600 points)
Utilities: $500 (500 points)
Shopping: $500 (500 points)

With this basic budget, the family would earn 2,700 points per month. This would be enough to earn the 60,000 bonus points offered to new card members. In total, our hypothetical family would earn 92,400 points the first year and 32,400 points each year thereafter.

The 92,400 first year points would buy $1,155 in travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards. In subsequent years, the 32,400 points earned would buy $405 worth of travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards, though the card would cost $95 a year.

No Introductory APR

The Chase Sapphire Preferred does not offer an introductory interest rate. Therefore, if you usually pay off your balance in full each month, then consider the Sapphire Preferred card. If you tend to carry a balance, pursue other credit cards with low interest rates instead.

Other Card Benefits

Travel and purchase coverage: trip cancellation insurance, baggage delay insurance and purchase protection for 120 days against damage or theft up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.
No foreign transaction fees: For example, if you spend $5,000 internationally, you would avoid $150 in foreign transaction fees.
24/7 Access to a Customer Service Specialist

The Fine Print

Interest Rates (as of February 1, 2019)

APR on Purchases: 18.24%–25.24%
$95 Annual Fee
APR for Cash Advance: 27.24%

Fees

Annual Fee: $95
Balance Transfer Fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Cash Advance: Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.
Foreign Purchase Transaction fee: None
Late Penalty: Up to $39
Returned Payment: Up to $39

Pros & Cons

What we like

Earn 2X points on travel and dining
60,000 potential bonus points to earn
A 25% point bonus when redeeming through Chase Ultimate Rewards
Point transfers at a 1:1 rate
Lots of travel and shopping protections

What could be better

The $95 annual fee is no longer waived the first year.
Loses value to those planning to spend less than $4,000 in the first three months of account opening
Statement credits provide a poor point value. You must redeem for travel expenses or with point transfers to get the best value

Is this the card for you?

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is best for anyone who travels at least once a year and prefers to dine out. With no foreign transaction fees, a smart chip, and 2x points on dining and traveling, the Sapphire Preferred card is also a smart choice for international travelers.