If you are looking for a card that doubles as a cashback and a travel card, the Chase Sapphire is worth a look.
A $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards and earnings of:
- 5x total points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, (excludes hotel purchases that qualify for the $50 Annual Ultimate Rewards Hotel Credit).
- 3x points on dining, including eligible delivery services, takeout and dining out.
- 3x points on online grocery purchases (excludes Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 3x points on select streaming services
- 2x on other travel purchases
- 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Plus, a bonus of 10% of your total purchases made the previous year. That means if you spend $25,000 on purchases, you’ll get 2,500 bonus points.
Points Redemption:
Points can be redeemed for travel either through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal at 1.25¢ per point or about 1.5¢ through transfer partners such as:
- Aer Lingus, AerClub
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club
- Emirates Skywards®
- Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
- Iberia Plus
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- IHG® Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy®
- World of Hyatt®
With Chase Pay Yourself Back, you can also redeem points for cash back at a rate of 1.25¢ on rotating purchase categories. You can also redeem points for gift cards at a rate of 1¢ per point.
While the Sapphire Preferred doesn’t offer as many perks as some of the higher-tier cards like the Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve, it does offer greater rewards potential. Using the $50 travel credit effectively lowers the annual fee to $45/year, which is among the lowest that I have seen for a card like this, making this a good option for someone who is looking to rack up points and travel every few years, as opposed to every year. However, what I like the most about the Sapphire Preferred is that unlike most companies, Chase limits the signup bonus to once every 48 months, as opposed to once per lifetime.
If you hold the Sapphire Reserve or Preferred (you can only have one Sapphire card at a time) for 4 years, you can call Chase and ask them to downgrade your card to one of the Chase Freedom cards. You then wait for at least 2 weeks, and then ask them to upgrade your card the your desired Sapphire card, and you can get the intro bonus again. And again. And again.
The Sapphire Preferred offers a good value for the infrequent traveler, especially if you take advantage of the multiple intro offers. If you don’t travel enough to warrant a dedicated travel card or don’t spend enough to warrant a cashback card, the Sapphire Preferred can be a great happy medium.
*Earn 80,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.*
Seaotter Fitness 