Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review: 75,000 Bonus Points with Valuable Rewards

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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

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• Our Rating 5/5 How our ratings work
• APR19.24% - 27.49% (Variable)
• Annual Fee$95
• Sign Up Bonus 75,000Chase Ultimate Rewards Points More Info

  Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Dollar Equivalent: $1,500 (75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points * 0.020 base)

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is one of the gold standards for earning travel rewards. It has a generous sign-up bonus and you can earn points on travel, gas and dining expenses. The card does have an annual fee, but you can easily offset this with bonus category earnings, an annual travel credit and valuable perks like complementary DashPass and Apple TV subscriptions.

One of the Best Travel Rewards Card for Beginners and Experts Alike

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the gold standards for earning strong travel rewards. As a travel card, it comes with generous travel insurance benefits and various purchase protections, plus a $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit that offsets the annual fee. Cardholders can also earn points faster with elevated rewards on travel, dining, online groceries and select streaming expenses. If you’re looking for a strong travel card with an affordable annual fee, flexible redemption options and access to a long list of popular transfer partners, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is an excellent option.

Sign-Up Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers one of the best credit card bonuses on the market.

• Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

While this bonus is already pretty valuable when redeemed for cash, it's possible to squeeze even more value out of this bonus if you know the best ways to redeem your points. Our points and miles guide estimates that Chase Ultimate Rewards points are worth an average of 2.0 cents per dollar when redeemed for travel. That means this bonus could potentially be worth more if you can find a way to redeem your points for their maximum value.

What Slickdealers Are Saying

“I’ve had this card for seven years now and it’s my go-to card for earning travel rewards. We rack up points pretty fast through 3x points on dining since it includes takeout. I also use it for all other purchases that I don’t have a better rewards rate for through other cards. I love how easy it is to redeem points through the Chase portal as well. You can pay for flights and hotels using a mix of points and cash, which is great when you’re just a few hundred points short. I also use this card anytime I rent a car while traveling since you get car insurance covered for free when you pay for your rental with the Sapphire Preferred.

A couple of years ago I used 100,000 points to pay for five nights at different hotels in Sweden and rountrip airfare for four people from Stockholm to Paris.”

Johan Mengesha Vice President, Content

Earning Rewards

Earning rewards with the Chase Sapphire Preferred is easy if you spend frequently in the areas of travel, gas, dining, streaming and online groceries.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns Ultimate Rewards points at the following rates:

• 5x points per dollar spent on all travel booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3x points on dining, including eligible takeout and delivery services
• 3x points on gas and EV charging
• 3x points on vacation homes
• 3x points on select streaming services
• 3x points on online grocery purchases, excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs
• 2x points per dollar spent on other travel purchases
• 1x point per dollar on all other spending

Chase broadly defines travel to include not just airfare, hotels and rental cars, but expenses like parking, tolls and public transit too.

Ways to Redeem Rewards

There are many ways to use the points earned from holding the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. These are some of the best uses. 

• Transfer to travel partners: Points can be transferred to around one dozen global airline partners and three worldwide hotel partners. According to our points and miles valuation guide, Ultimate Rewards points are worth 2.0 cents each, making them some of the most valuable currencies in the rewards ecosystem. 
• Statement credit: You can apply your Ultimate Rewards points toward your monthly statement balance, which is converted at a rate of one cent per point.
• Gift cards or purchases on merchant sites: You can also use your points in other ways, such as by purchasing gift cards, paying for Amazon.com purchases, or magazine subscriptions. 

Chase Transfer Airline and Hotel Partners

The Chase Ultimate Rewards program gives you access to all three major airline alliances in the United States and several major international carriers. 

Airline Partners

Ultimate Rewards airline partners include:

• Aer Lingus
• Aeroplan/Air Canada
• British Airways
• Emirates
• Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
• Iberia
• JetBlue
• Singapore Airlines (KrisFlyer)
• Southwest
• United Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
  

Hotel Partners

Ultimate Rewards hotel transfer partners include:

• Hyatt
• IHG
• Marriott

It's worth noting that Chase has devalued its transfer ratio for Hyatt points from 1:1 to 4:3. That means for every 1,000 Chase points you transfer, you'll only receive 750 Hyatt points. If this will seriously bother you, we recommend you consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card, which has retained its 1:1 transfer ratio with Hyatt.

Rewards Potential

According to 2024 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), American households (defined as families, single people and people sharing living expenses) spent almost $78,000 annually on living expenses on average. 

If you put the majority of average annual household expenses on the Sapphire Preferred, excluding housing and a few other costs, here’s an example of how many Ultimate Rewards points you could earn each year:

^{Sources: Consumer Expenditures – 2024, Bureau of Labor Statistics}

Card Benefits and Perks

In addition to great travel rewards per dollar spent, you can access several valuable benefits as a Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholder:

• $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit: Every year on your anniversary, you’ll earn a $100 annual credit automatically applied to your statement when you purchase a hotel stay through Chase Travel℠. 
• Complimentary DashPass: Activate by December 31, 2027 and get complimentary access to DashPass, which can be used on DoorDash and Caviar.
• Complimentary Apple TV: Activate by December 31, 2026 and get complimentary access to Apple TV, which is valued at $156 annually.
• Global Entry, TSA PreCheck® or NEXUS credit: Receive a statement credit of up to $120 every four years to cover your application fee for any of these services.
• Travel protections: When you book your trip with the card, you can access various travel protections, including trip cancellation/interruption insurance, trip delay reimbursement, rental car collision damage waiver, lost luggage reimbursement, baggage delay insurance, emergency evacuation and transportation coverage, and more.
• Purchase protection: The card also comes with extended warranty protection and purchase protection on products purchased with the card.
• No foreign transaction fees: The Chase Sapphire Preferred does not charge foreign transaction fees, making this a great credit card to keep in your wallet on international trips. 

Even if you only use the annual Chase Travel hotel credit, you'll already have offset this card's annual fee for the year. However, if you plan to leverage the majority of the card's perks, you'll unlock hundreds of dollars worth of value.

Annual Fee

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has an annual fee of $95. 

This card can easily help the average American household earn over $800 worth of rewards per year, just by charging everyday expenses to this card—and that’s even before factoring in the initial sign-up bonus and breadth of valuable perks.

Furthermore, the annual fee covers several soft benefits such as complimentary travel insurance, a top-shelf perk that many premium credit cards don’t even offer. If you utilize the $100 Annual Chase Travel hotel credit, you can essentially cancel out the annual fee.

APR

Depending on your creditworthiness and several other factors, the card charges a 19.24% - 27.49% (Variable) APR. As always, we highly recommend paying off your account balance in full monthly to avoid high interest rates from credit card debt.

Recommended Credit Score

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a mid-tier travel rewards credit card, and Chase is most likely to approve applicants with good to excellent credit. If you want to add this credit card to your wallet, we recommend having a minimum credit score of 670 before applying. 

It’s worth noting that Chase has a unique and unofficial rule for all credit card applicants, informally called the “5/24 rule” by people in the know. If you opened five or more new credit cards from any issuers within the last 24 months, Chase is likely to deny your application no matter what. 

So if you have great credit but have been denied for recently opening too many credit cards, consider waiting a few months—and hold off on applying for other cards—before trying again. 

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Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Right for You?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a fantastic card for just about any traveler who wants a solid everyday card in their wallet that earns Chase Ultimate Rewards. However, you might want to consider another Chase card if you want to avoid an annual fee or don't travel much. And you should skip this card in favor of the Sapphire Reserve if you want a premium travel credit card.

Recommended Travel Credit Cards

Credit Card	Intro Bonus	Annual Fee	Rewards Rate	Learn More
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Apply Now	75,000Chase Ultimate Rewards Points More Info Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Dollar Equivalent: $1,500 (75,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards Points * 0.020 base)	$95	1x- 5xPoints More Info Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, 3x on vacation homes, 3x on gas & EV charging, 3x on top streaming services and online groceries (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases	Apply Now
Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card Apply Now Rates & Fees	60,000 More Info Earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in purchases in the first 3 months – that’s $600 toward your next trip.	$95	1x - 5xPoints More Info Earn unlimited 5X points with hotels, 4X points with airlines, 3X points on restaurants and other travel, and 1X points on other purchases.	Apply Now Rates & Fees
Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card Apply Now	50,000Southwest Rapid Rewards Points More Info Earn 50,000 bonus points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. Dollar Equivalent: $600 (50,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards Points * 0.012 base)	$99	1x - 2xPoints More Info Earn 2X points on Southwest Airlines® purchases. Earn 2X points at Gas stations and Grocery stores on first $5,000 in combined purchases per year. Earn 1X points on all other purchases.	Apply Now
Citi Strata Premier® Card Apply Now Rates & Fees	60,000Citi ThankYou® Points More Info Earn 60,000 bonus ThankYou® Points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com. Dollar Equivalent: $1,140 (60,000 Citi ThankYou® Points * 0.019 base)	$95	1X-10XPoints More Info 10x on Hotels, Car Rentals, and Attractions booked through CitiTravel.com 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Air Travel and Other Hotel Purchases 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Restaurants 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Supermarkets 3x -- Earn 3 Points per $1 spent on Gas and EV Charging Stations 1x -- Earn 1 Point per $1 spent on All Other Purchases	Apply Now Rates & Fees

Setting the Standard

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What credit score do you need for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card?

  While there isn’t an official credit score requirement for the card, most online affiliates estimate that you’ll need “good” to “excellent” credit scores. As a rule of thumb, higher credit scores are more likely to be approved.

• How do I avoid the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card’s annual fee?

  You can avoid the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card’s annual fee by being an active duty service member or by simply asking the issuer to waive the fee. For eligible service members, Chase will need to confirm your military status, which is typically done during the initial application process. Otherwise, if you choose to call Chase customer service, your agent may offer a one-time waiver for the annual fee. In some cases, they may offer you a statement credit equal to the amount of the annual fee. Keep in mind that Chase is under no obligation to grant you an annual fee waiver.

• What is the minimum credit limit for Chase Sapphire Preferred Card?

  Chase will evaluate your credit report and, if approved, will assign you a limit based on your creditworthiness. The minimum credit limit for the Chase Sapphire Preferred is $5,000, according to Chase’s terms and conditions. The issuer does not publish the maximum credit limit an applicant will receive after approval. However, anecdotal accounts from cardholders online report access to limits between $10,000 to as much as $20,000.

• Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred worth it?

  The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great fit for travelers who want well-rounded benefits, perks and travel protection without spending a high annual fee. This credit card ushers you into the Chase Ultimate Rewards loyalty program, allowing you to earn points that can be shared and pooled with rewards from various other rewards cards in the Chase family.

• Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred hard to get?

  Chase is most likely to approve applicants who have good to excellent credit. If you’re applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, we recommend having a minimum credit score of 670.

• Why is the Chase Sapphire Preferred so popular?

  The Chase Sapphire Preferred provides travel insurance, generous rewards with bonus categories for earning, flexible rewards and easy redemption opportunities, all for a low annual fee.