Card Features and Benefits:

Why is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® so good?

Great question! The answer lies in its low $95 annual fee, rich benefits in relation to that fee, plus 3X bonus points on dining and 2X bonus points earning on travel. And those points, known as Chase Ultimate Rewards points, are extremely valuable as well, more valuable than just earning cash back!

Annual Fee

As mentioned, this credit card does have a $95 annual fee, which is not waived your first year. However, you get a great deal of value out of this card, from unlocking the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners and receiving primary car rental damage protection.

Chase Will Let you “Pay Yourself Back”

Chase Sapphire Preferred cardmembers can always redeem points to book travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal where they get 1.25 cents per point.

Now, you can redeem points in the same manner for select categories (which change regularly).

Instead of using a “portal” to make the purchases, you just pay as you normally would and then go into the Chase website to “pay” for that purchase with points. The feature is branded “Pay Yourself Back^SM“. 

The only requirement is that the merchant category be in one of the specified categories and you must “Pay yourself back” within 90 days of purchase.

As an example, if you spend $100 at a restaurant and you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred. you could spend 10,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to erase that purchase within 90 days.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Benefits:

The Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card has a low annual fee and unlocks transfers from this and any linked Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card to airline and hotel partners, such as United and Hyatt, where you can get a bigger return for your points.

Aside from transfers to airline and hotel partners, you can also redeem your Chase Ultimate Rewards points for travel at the rate of 1.25 cents in value per Ultimate Rewards point. (i.e. $625 in travel for 50,000 points).

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card Earn Rate:

• 5X Chase Ultimate Rewards points on Lyft rides (through March 2025)
• 5X total points on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
• 3X points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out.
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• 2X Ultimate Rewards points on all travel purchases
• 1X points on all other purchases

Important Note on the 5X multiplier for travel:  This card is listed as earning 5X on travel. You will only receive 5X if you book your travel via the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel portal (using cash). Hotels booked via the portal are prepaid will not earn hotel points or provide hotel loyalty program benefits. If you book travel directly with a provider, you will earn 2X instead of 5X.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card® Review and Benefits:

The Sapphire Preferred card comes with excellent built-in benefits for a credit card with a low annual fee. Here are just a few:

• $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards.
• 10% Anniversary point bonus: Each account anniversary year, you’ll earn bonus points that equal 10% of your total spend in points from purchases made with your card during the previous account anniversary year at a rate of 1 point for each $1 spent.
• Trip delay insurance benefits, up to $500 per covered claim
• Trip cancelation insurance benefits, up to $10,000 per person per covered claim $20,000 per trip max.
• Baggage delay and lost luggage insurance benefits
• Purchase Protection covers new purchases made with the Preferred card for 120 days against damage or theft (Up to $500 per claim and $50,000 per account).
• Extended Warranty Protection extends the U.S. manufacturer's warranty by an extra year (on eligible warranties of 3 years or less).
• No foreign transaction fees.
• Primary car rental CDW (collision damage waiver) coverage.

Instacart Benefits

• 6 free months of Instacart Express
• $15/quarter in statement credits

Peloton Benefits

Earn 5x total points on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $250 through March 2025, with a max earn of 25,000 points.

Primary Car Rental Damage (CDW) Insurance

I'd like to really emphasize this benefit as its easy to undervalue it.

Very few credit cards include primary insurance benefits on car rentals.

When that coverage is secondary, as it normally is, any damage claims need to first go through your own insurance carrier - potentially raising your rates.

Since the Chase Sapphire Preferred card's car rental damage coverage is primary, it takes care of any damage without involving your own insurance company.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card DoorDash Benefits

You'll get free access to DashPass which gives you $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card Airline and Hotel Transfer Partners:

The absolute best value of your Chase Ultimate Rewards points are from transferring them to airline and hotel partners. You can transfer the points you earn on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card 1:1 to each of the following transfer Ultimate Rewards partners.

• Aer Lingus AerClub (instant transfer)
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air France/KLM Flying Blue (instant transfer)
• British Airways Avios (instant transfer)
• Iberia Plus (instant transfer)
• JetBlue TrueBlue (instant transfer)
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer (1-2 days)
• Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards (instant transfer)
• United Airlines MileagePlus (instant transfer)
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club (instant transfer)
• World of Hyatt (instant transfer)
• Marriott Bonvoy (instant transfer)
• IHG Rewards Club (instant transfer)

Singapore Suites - Bookable with Ultimate Rewards points

The Suite above can be booked by transferring points to Singapore KrisFlyer (subject to award space availability). And you have a ton more options as well.

For example, you could transfer 110,000 - 120,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points to Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club where you'd be able to book a Round Trip award in First Class from the US to Japan on ANA.

Or transfer to Hyatt, where you can often get more than 2 cents per Chase point in value, or even more when you use Hyatt points to book Suites!

On the more "practical" side, you can transfer to British Airways Avios, whose distance-based award chart means you can get outsized value from short-haul flights on both British Airways and on Oneworld partner airlines like American Airlines.

If you don't want to to learn to "work" the points transfers, you can also redeem your points in the Chase Travel Portal with each point worth 1.25 cents per point (for example, redeem 50,000 points for $625 worth of paid travel).

Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Transfers

By now you can see how you can transfer points to Chase Ultimate Rewards points partners is the way to extract the most value from your points, but what if you and your spouse both have credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points and you want to transfer points from both for an award?

As long as you are living at the same address, you can combine points to one account. And it's super easy to do. Remember, these points aren't "Chase Sapphire Preferred points" - they are simply Ultimate Points you are earning on the Sapphire Preferred. You can transfer points and combine with any other Chase Ultimate Rewards card.

Combining Points from Separate Chase Ultimate Rewards Accounts

To combine your points, just log into your Ultimate Rewards account and you'll see a screen that resembles this:



Then, click on the card you'd like to transfer the points out of and you'll see this banner on the top.



Then, you'll click on See All (on the right) and the banner will expand to give you the option to combine points.



Next, click on Combine Points and then, on the next screen, choose the card to which you want to transfer the points. You'll also see an option to add a household member.



You can transfer between all of your Chase Ultimate Rewards credit cards, including from a Business account to a Personal account, as well as to/from one household member.

Note: do not try to "game" how you define a household member. This would place all of your points at risk as Chase does not mess around there.

No Foreign Transaction Fees

The Sapphire Preferred is intended as a travel and lifestyle credit card. Since you are likely to use it to travel, it's great to know you'll never be charged any foreign transaction fees - those pesky conversion fees that some credit cards will charge on top of the actual purchase cost.

Grocery Store Purchases

For several months, the Chase Sapphire Preferred did offer a bonus on spend on grocery store purchases, but that has ended. If you spend a lot at grocery stores, these are the best credit cards for supermarkets. The Amex Gold is a favorite at U.S. Supermarkets for its 4X points bonus category (up to $25,000 a year), while the Blue Cash Preferred earns 6% cash back on up to $6,000 annually.

Best Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Combos:

Many people pair The Chase Sapphire Preferred card with a Chase Freedom Unlimited (which earns 1.5x points on everything) and a Chase Freedom (which earns 5x points on quarterly rotating categories). You'd use your Chase Sapphire Preferred card on all your travel and dining spend for the 2X bonus.

This allows you to optimize your earnings across various bonus and non-bonus spending categories. Only your Chase Sapphire Preferred card, however, will have no foreign transaction fees among these three credit cards.

Does Chase Sapphire Preferred have lounge access?

It does not. If you'd like airline lounge access, you'll want to consider stepping up to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which includes Priority Pass airport lounge access.

What Credit Score Do You need for Chase Sapphire Preferred®?

What kind of credit score do you need to be approved for a Chase Sapphire Preferred?

Generally, in addition to being under 5/24 (see the end of this post for more info on that), you will need a credit score of at least 740 to have a good chance of being approved.

Is Chase Sapphire Preferred® still worth it?

We get this question a lot - that's why we have this review! It is probably because the Chase Sapphire Reserve has gotten all the airtime lately. With the $455 in additional annual fees to step up to the Sapphire Reserve, though, many people are now choosing to stick with the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card which still earns those valuable Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

In short, if you are pretty new to the credit card rewards game, this card is still an excellent choice. Once you are "more advanced" you will be able to better consider the cards with higher annual fees (and commensurate included perks!).

More Advice from MilesTalk

Chase Ultimate Rewards: How to Earn and Redeem with Transfer Partners

Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire Preferred: Which is right for you?

Note: You will only be approved for a Chase credit card if you have applied for fewer than 5 personal credit cards within the last 24 months from any issuer. (Business cards do not count against the total, except for Capital One and Discover, but are subject to the policy). Learn more about the 5/24 rule here.

You also cannot be approved for a Sapphire Preferred if you currently have this card or a Sapphire Reserve card and/or if you have received a bonus on this card in the past 48 months. 

If you apply for a Chase credit card and don't get an instant approval, you may want to call the Chase reconsideration line.

Related Credit Cards

More Chase credit cards | Travel Credit Cards | More Visa credit cards