The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is easily one of the most popular travel rewards cards available thanks to its bonus categories, benefits, welcome offer, and the fact that it earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Like most credit cards, the welcome offer for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card can vary. So, if you’re hoping to get the biggest bonus possible, here are a few ways to help increase your chances.
Benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Before we dive into how you can get the highest bonus possible on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, let’s take a look at some of the card’s best benefits to see if it is a good fit for you.
Other Key Benefits
- Primary Rental Car Coverage — Your rental car is covered for theft and damage in the U.S. and most countries around the world.
- Annual Hotel Credit — Receive an annual statement credit of up to $50 towards a hotel stay purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal.
- Annual Bonus Points — Receive a 10% bonus on your annual spend on your card as bonus points on your account anniversary (i.e. spend $30,000 and receive 3,000 bonus points).
- The Parking Spot Status and Perks — Enroll in complimentary Spot Club Platinum status at The Parking Spot for 2 years and receive 20% off of your first reservation and points for 1 free day of parking.
- Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance — If you need to cancel or cut a trip short due to covered issues (like severe weather or an illness), you’re eligible for up to $10,000 of coverage for prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses.
- 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.
- Purchase Protection — Your new purchases are covered for up to 120 days against damage or theft, up to $10,000 per claim and $50,000 per account.
- Extended Warranty Protection — The time period of a U.S. manufacturer’s warranty is extended by an additional year.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement — If you pay for your trip with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card and it is delayed for 12 or more hours, or long enough to require an overnight stay, you’ll be eligible for reimbursement of up to $500 per ticket in reasonable expenses.
- 25% Point Bonus Through Chase Travel Portal — Your points are worth 1.25 cents apiece, instead of 1 cent, when redeemed through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal.
How To Find an Elevated Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Offer
Where will you travel with your Chase Sapphire Preferred card? Renaissance Pattaya Resort Spa. Image Credit: Marriott
While the standard offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is usually pretty solid, you’ll always want to make sure you’re getting the best offer possible. Here are a few ways to try and track down a higher offer.
Increased Public Welcome Offer — Easiest Way
Naturally, one of the best ways to track down a higher welcome offer is by not having to track it down at all! Occasionally, Chase will offer an increased welcome offer available to everyone for a limited time.
Ultimate Rewards points are worth more when redeemed through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, or even more when transferred to one of Chase’s airline or hotel transfer partners.
Utilizing CardMatch
CardMatch, a tool offered by CreditCards.com, allows users to check for targeted offers from CreditCards.com partners. Many of the larger U.S. banks, like Chase and American Express, publish these targeted offers to CardMatch and then reveal those offers to users when they use the CardMatch tool.
If you’re wanting to make sure that you’re prequalified for a card before you apply, CardMatch offers that as well. While being pre-approved does not guarantee approval, the likelihood of approval will improve significantly compared to someone who applies for the card through its website. Just be aware that there’s no guarantee that you’ll see better offers than what is offered publicly, but in our opinion, it’s worth checking out, especially as it’s free and your credit doesn’t get pulled.
Here is the information that you need to provide CardMatch with in order to use the tool to see your offers:
- Full name
- Address
- Last 4 digits of your Social Security number
While you may have hesitations on inserting the last 4 digits of your Social Security number, the entire CreditCards.com website is secured using 256-bit encryption, and it is a PCI Level 1 Compliant organization — the same level of security offered from a bank.
Furthermore, when you insert these details into CardMatch, you will not receive a hard pull to your credit report. This information is only used to match you with any targeted offers you are eligible for.
Targeted Mailings From Chase
Another great option to increase your odds of receiving a higher offer is by opting into targeted mailings from Chase. Luckily, the process of doing so is pretty simple.
First, log into your account and click over to your Profile, then Settings. Once there, select Marketing Preferences, and then make sure you’ve selected Yes to receive special offers from Chase, which includes credit card offers!
Opt into Chase offers to increase your odds of an increased welcome bonus! Image Credit: Chase
Reasons You May Not Be Able To Get a Higher Welcome Offer
Chase’s 5/24 Rule
The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. If you’re not familiar, the 5/24 rules limit new applicants from opening certain cards with Chase if they have previously opened 5 or more new credit cards in the last 24 months.
Keep in mind that this mostly applies to new personal credit cards, as many business credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, etc., are not counted towards your 5/24 total.
So, if you’ve opened 5 or more new accounts over the past 2 years, you will not be approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card — even if you track down a higher welcome offer.
Low Credit
This reason likely needs no explanation, but if you currently have a low credit score, this will significantly decrease your odds of getting approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card — regardless of how large of a welcome offer you’re applying for.
If you were recently denied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, or think you would be denied if you applied, then your main priority should be to improve your credit score.
Hot Tip: What credit score do you need for this card? Have a look at our detailed credit score guide for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to find out!
You’ve Opted Out of Marketing Offers
This one is very easy to overlook as Chase cannot send you marketing offers if you do not opt-in to receive them. If you want to limit the amount of snail mail you receive then you’re better off avoiding this, but if you want targeted offers mailed straight to you, then you have to opt-in!
Final Thoughts
Overall, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is an excellent travel credit card, especially for beginners and those new to points and miles.
So, if you’re considering adding the Chase Sapphire Preferred card to your wallet, be sure to do some research so that you can make sure you’re getting the best offer possible. Once you’ve earned the bonus, then comes the fun part of deciding how to redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points!
Featured Image Credit:
Hyatt