Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Review – 50,000 Point Sign Up Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) is Chase’s entry level annual fee card. It gives cardholders the ability to transfer points to Chase’s travel partners, has a generous sign up bonus and bonus categories on travel & dining. In this review we will be looking at the benefits & negatives to this card and who it’s best suited to. Along with the minimum credit score we’d recommend you have before applying.

	Interest Rates	Fees	Card Pros 50,000 point sign up bonus Ability to transfer to travel partners at 1:1 rate 25% travel redemption bonus Card Cons Low earning rate on every day spend Annual fee of $95 Chase 5/24 rule applies
	APR: 16.99% to 23.99	Annual Fee: $95, waived first year
	Introductory APR: None	Balance Transfer Fee: $5/5% whichever is greater
	Introductory APR Length: None	Cash Advance Fee: $10/$5 whichever is greater
	Cash Advance APR: 25.99%	Foreign Transaction Fee: None
	Penalty APR: 1	Late Payment Fee: $15-$37
	Grace Period: 21 days	Over The Credit Line: N/A
	Minimum Interest Charge: None	Returned Payment: Up to $37

Application Information

What Credit Score Is Required?

The CSP is considered a premium/prime card so you’ll normally need “excellent” credit to be accepted for this card.

	Credit Boards	Credit Karma
Lowest approved score	629	664
Average approved score	744	727

We suggest that you have a minimum credit score of 700 to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and a recommended score of 720+. 

Common reasons for denial:

• Too many recent inquiries. This is also formally known as the Chase 5/24 rule.
• Limited to one Sapphire card (e.g Chase Sapphire, Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve)
• Income to rent ratio was too high.
• No current cards with a limit over 5,000

[Read: I was denied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, now what]

What Credit Bureau Do They Pull?

The exact credit bureau that Chase pulls for the Chase Sapphire Preferred depends on the state you currently live in. Find out which bureau Chase pulls from your state.

Rewards Program

This card earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

Earning Points

This card earns at the following rates:

• 2x points per $1 spent on travel and dining at restaurants
• 1x points per $1 spent on all other purchases

Sign Up Bonus

• 50,000 points after $4,000 in spend within the first 3 months of account opening. You also receive an additional 5,000 points after you add an authorized user and they make their first purchase

Public bonus history:

Targeted bonus history:

• March 1st, 2017 – ?? : Chase Sapphire Preferred 75,000 Bonus In-Branch [YMMV]
• November 17th, 2016 – ??: Chase Sapphire Preferred 70,000 Point Offer, In Branch & YMMV
• June 28th, 2016 – ??: [Targeted] Chase Sapphire Preferred 55,000 + 50,000 Sign Up Bonus

Redeeming Points

You can redeem points for the following:

• Statement credit/cash back: 1¢ per point
• Chase’s travel portal: 1.25¢ (this is due to the 25% travel redemption bonus)
• Transfer points to one of Chase’s travel partners. They are as follows (1:1 transfer rate):

Chase Travel Partners (All Transfer 1:1)
Airlines
British Airways Executive Club	Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM	Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards	Aer Lingus
United MileagePlus	Iberia Plus	Emirates
Air Canada Aeroplan
Hotels
Hyatt Gold Passport	Marriott Rewards
IHG Rewards Club

Card Benefits

Transfer to travel partners at 1:1 rate

As mentioned above holding this card allows you to transfer to Chase’s travel partners loyalty programs at a rate of 1:1. You can also combine points from Chase’s non annual fee products (Chase Freedom & Chase Freedom Unlimited) and use those points to transfer to travel partners.

25% Travel Redemption Bonus

When redeeming points through Chase’s travel portal you get a 25% bonus making points worth 1.25¢ each rather than 1¢.

Primary Rental Car Insurance

This is one of the few cards that offers primary rental car insurance. Most only provide secondary insurance.

Price Protection

You can read more about their price protection policy here.

Our Verdict

The best feature of this card is really the sign up bonus, as it provides a minimum value of $500 and significantly more if you can take advantage of the transfer partners. That being said second year onwards the card gets less and less attractive due to the $95 annual fee. Earning 1x on all purchases isn’t attractive when you have the Chase Freedom Unlimited earning at a rate of 1.5 and other cards earning 2% cash back or more on all purchases. Earning 2x on dining isn’t that attractive either, with other cards now earning up to 4x.

There is some value in having the primary rental car insurance and also having the ability to transfer Chase UR points, but for the majority of people I don’t think holding the card long term makes much sense. We talk about this more in this post: Keep, Downgrade, Cancel: Chase Sapphire Preferred.

All of that being said, I do think it provides fantastic value in the first year due to that sign up bonus and if you’re eligible for this card I’d recommend applying for it if you can meet the minimum spend requirements. Just remember you’re limited to one Chase Sapphire card, so you might want to consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve. That card has a much higher annual fee of $450, but more benefits and higher earning rates. The sign up bonus is currently the same.

F.A.Q’s

Can you earn the sign up bonus more than once?

Yes it’s possible to earn the sign up bonus more than once. This is known as credit card churning. If it’s been more than 24 months since you last received the bonus on a card then you’re eligible to get the bonus again.

Card History/Changes

• August 28th, 2017: Chase Memo: Customers Can Only Get One Sapphire Card (e.g. CSP Cardholders Can’t Get CSR) + 24 Month Wait for Bonus
• August 20th, 2017: CSP annual fee increased to $85 from $95 for those who had the grandfathered rate
• August 16th, 2017: Chase Fairmont cards product changed to Sapphire Preferred
• 2016: Earning 3x points on restaurants on the first Friday of every month was removed
• 2015: 7% annual points dividend was removed