[Expired] Looking for Your First Travel Credit Card? Start With This 100K Bonus Offer

If you’re getting your first travel credit card, there’s no better time to apply than when an elevated welcome offer is available, giving you the chance to earn far more points than you typically could.

Right now, arguably the best one on the market is featuring its highest ever 100,000-point bonus offer for a limited time only. Since welcome bonuses can typically only be earned once, this is a unique opportunity to maximize the value you can get from a single rewards card.

Here’s why first-time applicants should seriously consider it before this bonus offer is long gone.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card’s 100K Bonus Offer Is Back

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card currently has a limited-time welcome bonus offer: Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. It’s set to end on Thursday, July 30, at 3 p.m. Eastern.

At a minimum, this welcome offer is worth $1,000 for straight cash-back. However, we value Chase Ultimate Rewards points much higher at 2 cents per point, all thanks to the value you can receive from Chase transfer partners, making 100,000 points worth more like $2,000 for travel.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card makes for a great first travel card thanks to the bonus categories, strong rewards ecosystem, and several benefits that help offset the $95 annual fee.

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Right for You?

There are a few factors to consider when deciding if the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is worth applying for as your first travel credit card — beyond just the 100,000 bonus points.

1. Are You Planning To Travel More in the Future?

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, not only do you earn 2x to 5x points on a variety of travel-related purchases, but it also doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees, allowing you to use it during your international travels to earn more points without accruing added fees.

Additionally, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card comes with several great travel protections that help keep you covered during your trips. These protections include trip delay insurance, primary rental car insurance, baggage delay insurance, lost luggage insurance, and more.

2. Do the Bonus Categories Fit Your Expenses?

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you earn points at the following rates:

• 5x points on all travel booked via the Chase Travel portal
• 3x points on dining purchases, online grocery purchases (excluding Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs), gas, EV charging, vacation homes (such as Airbnb and Vrbo), and some streaming services
• 2x points on all other travel worldwide
• 1x points on all other purchases

In addition to rewarding you for travel purchases booked through Chase Travel, general travel, and vacation rentals, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card helps you earn 3x points on several daily expenses like dining, online grocery purchases, gas and EV charging, and some streaming services.

Since these expenses are quite common for most people, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card can help you earn a nice stash of points throughout the year for simply making it your go-to for daily purchases.

3. Do You Want a Card With a Reasonable Annual Fee?

If you’re used to no-annual-fee credit cards, the higher $95 annual fee of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card might initially give you pause.

While it is not uncommon for the best travel rewards cards to charge an annual fee, other premium cards can charge upwards of $800. Therefore, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card strikes a nice balance with perks that easily offset the cost of the annual fee. These include a $100 annual hotel credit via Chase Travel, a complimentary year of DoorDash DashPass (activate by December 31, 2029), a complimentary year of Apple TV+ (activate by December 31, 2026), and a Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck credit.

4. How Do You Plan To Use the 100K Welcome Bonus Offer?

Once you meet the minimum spending requirement and earn the 100,000-point welcome offer, you’ll have a few different redemption options.

At a minimum, you could redeem 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points for $1,000 in cash-back. This benefit alone would cover the annual fee of the card for 10 years, without factoring in the other perks of the card, such as its annual $100 hotel credit.

Alternatively, certain bookings through Chase Travel using your points can be eligible for Points Boost offers. On top-booked hotels and flights with some airlines, points are worth up to 1.5 cents (as much as 50% more than the standard redemption value). For premium cabin tickets on some airlines (e.g., business and first class), the point value could be up to 1.75 cents, which could mean a 75% bonus.

Finally, you can transfer your points to a variety of Chase transfer partners to book luxury flight and hotel experiences for far less than the usual cash price would have been. For instance, you could transfer points to the Air Canada Aeroplan program to fly round-trip between the U.S. and multiple European cities for as low as 120,000 points, which could easily cost you $5,000 or more if you were to pay cash.

Final Thoughts

Put simply, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is already worth it for many frequent travelers, but its limited-time welcome offer of 100,000 points (ending on Thursday, July 30, at 3 p.m. Eastern) makes it an instant first pick. If you decide that the card is a good fit for you, be sure to take advantage of this limited-time welcome offer before it ends.