Effective April 3, Chase is offering the following welcome bonus offer for the Sapphire Preferred:
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening.
Note: Chase says this welcome offer is available to you if “you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.”
This is up from the 60,000-point bonus it was offering prior to the limited-time offer.
You may be wondering how 100,000 bonus points equate to a potential $1,250 valuation. Let me explain.
Typically, Chase Ultimate Rewards have a cash back or statement credit redemption value of one cent per point. However, Chase offers 25% more value when Sapphire Preferred cardholders redeem their points for travel via the Chase TravelSM portal.
So, in the case of this promotion, your 100,000 points would be worth $1,000 as a statement credit or $1,250 toward travel when redeemed through Chase TravelSM.
This “entry-level” travel credit card doesn’t offer lavish lounge access like some more expensive competitors, but it has a palatable $95 annual fee and a good reputation among those who are comfortable booking trips via the Chase TravelSM portal.
Doing so will earn you 5x points on your spending and a 25% boost on points redemption. So, whether you’re spending money or redeeming points, you’re likely getting multipliers working in your favor to lower the effective cost of your travel.
And, assuming you book at least one hotel stay per year, you’re likely to qualify for the $50 annual hotel credit that effectively chops this annual fee in half.
Money expert Clark Howard says this line of credit card, which is anchored with the more expensive Chase Sapphire Reserve, is one of the top two travel card programs on the market.
So, if you’re traveling at least a few times per year and you’re comfortable booking your trips via Chase’s portal, you may find that it’s worth paying the annual fee to carry this card.
About the Author