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Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – Full Review [2023]

Name: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card – Full Review [2023]
Item: Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Rating: 4.59
Author: Jarrod West

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"The #1 First-Time Travel Rewards Card"

A fantastic travel card with a huge welcome offer, good benefits, and perks for a moderate annual fee.

Learn More (at Chase's secure site)

Jarrod West

- Updated: May 25, 2023, 2:18pm CDT|

6Comments

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® card is one of the best travel rewards cards on the market. Its bonus categories include travel, dining, online grocery purchases, and streaming services, which gives you the opportunity to earn lots of bonus points on these purchases.

Additionally, it offers flexible point redemption options, no foreign transaction fees, and great travel insurance coverage. With benefits like these, it’s easy to see why this card is an excellent choice for any traveler.

Pros

5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
5x points on select Peloton purchases over $250 (through March 31, 2025)
5x points on Lyft purchases (through March 31, 2025)
3x points on dining purchases, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services
2x points on all other travel worldwide
$50 annual credit on hotel stays booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
6 months of complimentary Instacart+ (activate by July 31, 2024), plus up to $15 in statement credits each quarter through July 2024
10% annual bonus points
No foreign transaction fees
1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs like United MileagePlus and World of Hyatt
Excellent travel and car rental insurance
Complimentary Spot Club Platinum status with The Parking Spot for 2 years, 20% off of your first reservation, and points for 1 free day of parking (enroll by October 26, 2023)

Cons

$95 annual fee
No elite benefits like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card — Snapshot

Welcome Bonus & Info (Partner Content)
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.
- Enjoy beneﬁts such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases, and $50 annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®. For example, 60,000 points are worth $750 toward travel.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.
- Member FDIC
Card Categories:
Rewards Center
Chase Ultimate Rewards
Customer Service Number
800-493-3319 (Available 24/7)
Login Link
https://www.chase.com/
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Great Card If

You want a card that offers flexible redemption options
You spend a lot on travel, online grocery purchases, dining, and food delivery
You travel frequently for work
You’re new to the world of points and miles
You frequently use rideshare services like Lyft

Don't Get If

You seldom eat out and prefer cooking at home
You don’t enjoy traveling
You prefer a card with increased offerings like airport lounge access or hotel elite status

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card - Card Fees

Annual Fee
- $95
Foreign Transaction Fees
None
Interest Rates
- 21.24% - 28.24% Variable
Late fees
- Up to $40
- Penalty APR: Up to 29.99% Variable
Balance Transfers
- 21.24% - 28.24% Variable
- Fee: Either $5 or 5% of the amount of each transfer, whichever is greater.
Cash Advance APR
- 29.99% Variable
- Fee: Either $10 or 5% of the amount of each transaction, whichever is greater.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card - Is It Worth It?

Chase Sapphire Preferred Upgraded Points LLC 02 Large — Image Credit: Upgraded Points

For starters, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is a workhorse when it comes to earning points on purchases that you likely spend the most on.

From travel to dining, online grocery purchases, and even streaming services, the card will help you rack up points on all of these purchases. Plus, each year, you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year.

Of course, once you’ve earned those points, Chase gives you plenty of redemption options that fit whatever you might be looking for. This includes cash-back, redeeming with a 25% bonus through the Chase travel portal or Pay Yourself Back feature, or our favorite — redeeming with one of the Chase transfer partners.

The card offers more than just the opportunity to earn and redeem points though. Cardholders also get a $50 annual hotel statement credit when booking through Ultimate Rewards. Additionally, your card helps keep you covered when things go wrong with trip delay insurance, lost/delayed baggage insurance, rental car insurance, purchase protection, and more.

So, is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card worth it? If you’re looking for a card that is great at earning points, offers flexible redemption options, and includes solid benefits and travel protections, then yes — the Chase Sapphire Preferred card would be very worth it to you!

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card - Top Benefits

Travel Protections

Your card comes with quite a few benefits to keep you insured while traveling. You’ll receive:

Trip Delay Insurance — Receive reimbursements of up to $500 per ticket if your flight is delayed 12 hours or requires an overnight stay. This includes items like lodging, food, etc.
Trip Cancellation and Interruption Insurance — If you need to cancel a trip due to illness, severe weather, or any other covered circumstance, you’ll receive a reimbursement of up to $10,000 in non-refundable travel expenses if you need to cancel your trip or end it early.
Baggage Delay Insurance — If your checked baggage is delayed more than 6 hours, you’ll receive $100 in reimbursements for essential items per day for up to 5 days.
Lost Luggage Insurance — The costs you incur to repair or replace checked and/or carry-on baggage due to physical loss, theft, or damage are covered up to a maximum of $3,000 per person.
Travel Accident Insurance — In the case of accidental death or loss of speech, sight, or hearing during your travels, you can receive up to $500,000 when the incident happens on a common carrier (airline, cruise ship, etc.) or $100,000 at any other part of your trip.

Annual Hotel Credit

Cardholders receive $50 in annual statement credits when they purchase a hotel stay through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Unlike other credit card credits, this $50 statement credit is very easy to use and effectively brings the annual fee of the card down to just $45.

Note that we’ve seen that this credit isn’t awarded until your card anniversary for existing cardmembers. Explore your card account to see if the credit is already available for use, or when it will be applied to your account.

Rental Car Insurance

An Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver (CDW) is a form of insurance that offers protection against damage or theft of your rental car. The coverage provided by the Chase Sapphire Preferred is primary, meaning you don’t have to file a claim with any other insurance first.

This coverage applies to rentals in the U.S. and in most other countries worldwide. Your coverage extends to any additional drivers listed on your rental agreement, plus any authorized users on your card and additional drivers listed on their car rental agreements.

To activate your coverage, be sure to decline the policy offered by the car rental agency and pay for your entire rental with your card. You’ll also be earning 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar when renting a car!

Purchase Protection

Chase purchase protection provides reimbursement or repair for qualifying items purchased with your card in the event of theft or accidental damage. To qualify, at least part of your purchase needs to be made with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card or points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred card account.

If the item you purchased is stolen or accidentally damaged within 120 days from the date of purchase, you can receive a replacement, repair, or reimbursement for your item at the discretion of the benefits administrator.

The card’s purchase protection policy is capped at $500 per claim and $50,000 per account.

Extended Warranty Protection

Extended warranty coverage increases the U.S. manufacturer’s warranty of an item by 1 year if the original warranty is less than 3 years. At least part of the item needs to have been purchased with your card or points in your Chase Sapphire Preferred card account.

Each claim has a $10,000 maximum, and each account has a maximum of $50,000.

Best Ways To Earn and Redeem Your Chase Points

Aside from using your Chase Sapphire Preferred card for all of your daily purchases, there are many other great ways to earn lots of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and our dedicated guide will show you just that!

Once you’re sitting on a nice stash of Chase Ultimate Rewards points, next is the fun part — redeeming them! While Chase gives you multiple redemption options for your points, we’ve put together an ultimate guide that covers the best ways to redeem your Chase points for max value.

You’ll notice when reading through our redemption guide that most of our favorite ways to redeem our Chase points are by using the Chase transfer partners. While these redemptions require a bit more legwork, they are by far the best way to get huge value from your points — especially if you want to stay in luxury hotels and fly in first or business class cabins!

Alternative Cards to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

Interested in the Chase Sapphire Preferred card but curious to learn about your other options? Check out these other offerings:

Capital One Venture Rewards Card

There’s a lot to love about the Capital One Venture card. With a variety of airline and hotel transfer partners and 2x on all other purchases, it’s easy to see why this is a direct competitor of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

If the majority of your daily spending comes from purchases outside of dining and travel categories, then the Capital One Venture card might be a great option for you.

For more information, check out our detailed analysis of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card vs. the Capital One Venture card.

Citi Premier® Card

The Citi Premier card is one of the few travel credit cards on the market to offer a high return on gas purchases. This makes the card an excellent choice for those who drive often for work or love taking road trips.

Review a detailed comparison in our head-to-head article on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card vs. Citi Premier card.

We’ve also compared the Chase Sapphire Preferred card with other popular cards:

The information regarding the Capital One Venture Rewards Card was independently collected by Upgraded Points and not provided nor reviewed by the issuer.

Featured Image Credit: Chase

Frequently asked questions

What is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card?

This credit card offers great earning potential for restaurants and travel-related expenses while offering a variety of high-value redemption options.

These include 25% flight discounts (at 1.25 cents per point), transfers to travel partners, and the ability to combine with other select Chase cards to earn even more points.

Put another way, get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals, and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

What are the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card?

This credit card earns 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x on dining, and 2x on all other travel purchases. You're able to maximize your redemption on shopping, purchasing travel tickets through the travel portal at 25% off, or transferring to loyalty accounts of partner airlines.

The card also offers a variety of travel insurance coverage, such as travel accident, trip cancellation and interruption, auto rental, lost luggage, and trip delay insurance.

What is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card's annual fee?

The annual fee is $95 per year.

Is there a foreign transaction fee on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card?

No, there are no foreign transaction fees.

How much is 1 Chase Ultimate Rewards point worth?

A point is worth 1 cent if you use it directly for something like statement credit. However, a point's value can vary from 1 to 2 cents if transferred to airline partners and redeemed for international travel.

How do you redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards for this card?

Simply log in to your Chase account, then click on any place that says Ultimate Rewards, and the next screen will let you select which card you want to access rewards for.

All your account information will be available on this screen, and you can switch or transfer points between accounts.

How do you transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to United (or any other airline partner)?

When you are in the Ultimate Rewards portal, go to the Use Points menu and click on Transfer to Travel Partners.

On this next screen, it lists all possible partners and allows you to quickly select how many you want to transfer (in 1,000-mile increments). Allow up to a week for points to transfer.

You can only transfer points to yourself or an authorized card user.

How do you destroy the Chase Sapphire Preferred card?

The easiest way to dispose of your card is to simply request the closure of your account and send the card back in a prepaid envelope to the issuer.

What is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card made out of? Is the card metal?

Yes, the card uses a proprietary blend of metal with a blue finish that creates a unique appearance. It is thicker and heavier than most of its plastic counterparts.

Which is better, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or the Freedom Flex card?

You'll find higher-value redemption options with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, but it is best to use both cards simultaneously.

The Freedom Flex card has no annual fee and offers 5% cash-back in rotating quarterly categories, plus 3% back on drugstore purchases, which is greater than what the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers. You can combine all your points from both cards to use for valuable redemptions.

About Jarrod West

Jarrod has been writing about the ins and outs of credit cards and loyalty programs, along with airlines and hotels, for over 6 years. He is regularly called upon to share his expertise on the latest news within the space, and has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, RetailMeNot, and Yahoo! Finance. Jarrod has over 20 credit cards in his wallet and has tested out dozens more in order to vet the very best card options for readers. As he is constantly sampling new cards, Jarrod also earns (and redeems) over 1 million points and miles each year. This allows him to book luxury travel experiences the world over, and save tens of thousands of dollars in the process.

stephen micheal June 6, 2019
Now I know what chase sapphire preferred card is all about and how much it will cost to get this card. Thanks for passing along this nice information.
- Erin Miller June 6, 2019
  Glad you enjoyed the article Stephen! 🙂
Frank Pace October 30, 2022
Chase Preferred card excludes Walmart and Wholesale clubs from 3x points.
Does one still get 1x points from Walmart and Wholesale Clubs?
- Christine Krzyszton October 30, 2022
  Hi Frank. Yes. While Walmart and wholesale clubs are not included in the online grocery shopping bonus category, you still earn 1x points on those purchases.
George January 17, 2023
I recently obtained the Chase Sapphire card and thus far I’m not all that impressed. Especially when it comes to booking hotels. I’m in the process of planning a 3 week trip where I will be traveling throughout the Mediterranean. Went to Trip Advisor to look for hotels in the areas of where I’ll be traveling and to check out the reviews. When going to the Chase travel site to book the hotel stays, so I could get the 5X points, I discovered that all of the prices were easily 10-30% higher through the Chase portal than if I booked through Expedia or directly through the hotel! Jacking the price up 10-30% does not make it worth it just to get 5X the points, IMHO. I’m going to keep the card for one year so I can get and use the sign-up bonus points, but after that I’ll be doing some serious assessment of this cards worth and decide if it’s worth keeping.
- Jarrod West January 17, 2023
  Hi George,
  If there is a price discrepancy on the dates you are looking at, you can still book through Expedia or the hotel directly to save to 10% to 30% and earn 2x points per $1 for general travel purchases on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.