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Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card review
A great card just got even better – and might prove the Chase card to beat.
finder.com’s rating: 4.6 / 5
★★★★★
- Get this card if you want one of Chase’s biggest signup bonuses worth up to $750, and you want to dip your toes into the Chase Ultimate Rewards program.
- Pick something else if you don’t plan on transferring your earned points or want more travel perks.
- Apply with a good to excellent credit score of 670 or higher.
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60,000
Points as welcome offer
Up to 5x
Points
$95
Annual fee
20.24% to 27.24%
Purchase APR (variable)
Details
| Annual fee | $95 |
|---|---|
| Welcome offer | 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months |
| Rewards | 5x on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards®, 3x on dining and 2x on all other travel |
| Purchase APR | 20.24% to 27.24% variable |
| Balance transfer APR | 20.24% to 27.24% variable |
| Minimum credit score | 670 |
| Issuer | Visa |
cta text | Go to site |
Review by
Megan Horner
megan.horner@finder.comMegan Horner is head of publishing at Finder, where she leads a team that's focused on publishing personal finance guides and reviews that help readers make informed financial decisions. She's passionate about helping you find the best financial accounts to meet your needs — whether that's earning great rewards or improving your credit score. Megan's expertise has been featured on Lifehacker, CreditCards.com, American Banker and news broadcasts across the country. She has a longstanding background in surfacing the best deals and helping people make decisions, including a start as a writer at a comparison website and editing credit card and credit score content at Credit Karma. She earned a degree in English and editing from Brigham Young University.
Expert review
Big changes abound for this Chase travel favorite. The newly improved Chase Sapphire Preferred offers 5x Ultimate Rewards points on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards, 3x points on dining, eligible streaming services and eligible online grocery purchases, and 1x points on everything else. The card maintains an incredible signup bonus of 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 in your first 3 months. But now the card also offers a $50 annual credit on hotel stays purchased through Chase and 10% anniversary bonus points on purchases made the previous year, all for the same $95 annual fee.
Over the last year or so, Chase has pumped some serious juice into the Preferred to make it worth. The card now earns the same points on travel as the Freedom cards, but also earns bigger points on everyday purchases like dining, streaming and online groceries. It’s now an outstanding all-arounder for value and can easily fit into the wallets of most consumers.
The card consistently garners attention for its reward boost: I get 25% more value when I redeem points for airfare, hotel stays, cruises and car rentals through Chase Ultimate Rewards. I redeemed my signup bonus for two round-trip flights from San Diego to Salt Lake and one round-trip flight from San Diego to Sacramento. Buying these flights with my points saved me around $750. Purchasing them was easy through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal. It looks like a normal flight search engine, with flight options much like Kayak.
Up to now, the Chase Sapphire Reserve was still the ideal choice for most consumers thanks to the overall value it offered and the stronger earning potential. With these changes, the gap between the Preferred and Reserve is much narrower. In fact, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is now the better choice for a majority of consumers, with the Reserve, well, reserved for frequent travelers interested in travel perks.
How to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
- Learn more about how to apply for Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
- Complete the application with details like your name, address, annual income and Social Security number.
- Review and submit your application.
How long will it take to be approved?
Because approval is automated on the Chase website, you’re likely to get a decision within minutes. If there are issues with your application, it could take up to a few weeks to hear back.
Age requirements
To apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you must be at least 18 years old in most places. The minimum age requirement bumps up to 19 for residents of Alabama and Nebraska and 21 in Puerto Rico.
Required documents and information
- Your name, residential status and address
- Your Social Security number and date of birth
- Your email address and phone number
- Financial information, like your annual salary and wages
What credit score do I need?
You’ll have a better chance of approval for this card if you apply with a good to excellent credit score of 670 to 850.
Approval odds
Based on our gathered data, there’s a clear drop off point for qualification when moving from good to fair. Having a credit score on the upper-end of “Good” is your best bet for qualifying. If your credit score is on the lower-end of “Good” or dips into “Fair,” you might want to just apply for a card better matched for your credit history.
Based on a survey of 64 people (out of 365 respondents) on finder.com
| Answer choices | Responses |
|---|---|
| 740-850 | 57.81% |
| 670-739 | 35.94% |
| 580-669 | 4.69% |
| 300-579 | 1.56% |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card benefits
- REWARDS: 5x points on Chase travel and 2x points on other travel purchases, 3x points on dining, select streaming and online groceries. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card rewards can be attractive if you’re a frequent traveler, as you’ll earn 5x points on travel booked through the Chase travel portal. This is a big boost from the card’s old 2x point rate, which you’ll still receive on all other travel purchases. What’s more, the card now also earns 3x points on dining, select streaming services and online groceries (with the exception of Target, Walmart and other wholesale clubs).
- SIGNUP BONUS: Earn up to 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- Annual hotel statement credit. You’ll receive $50 in statement credit each year toward hotels booked through the Chase travel portal.
- A 10% point bonus each year. At each card anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the prior year.
- Points are worth more when redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards. If you redeem your points through Chase Ultimate Rewards, they’re worth 25% more. This is a big perk that elevates the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card above the rest. For example, you can redeem 60,000 points for $750 worth of travel purchases, rather than the industry-standard $600 — 1 point equals 1 cent.
- Point transfers at a 1:1 ratio to airline programs. You can transfer Chase points to airline programs that include Aer Lingus Aer Club, British Airways Executive Club, Emirates Skywards, Flying Blue Air France KLM, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards, United MileagePlus and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
- Point transfers at a 1:1 ratio to hotel programs. Transfer points to hotel programs that include IHG Rewards Club, Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.
- No Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card foreign transaction fee. You wouldn’t expect anything less from a travel card. Many credit cards come with a 3% foreign transaction fee, making the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card an excellent choice when you’re shopping abroad.
- No authorized user fees. There’s no fee to add an authorized user. Unfortunately, you won’t earn the 5,000-point authorized user bonus offered previously, but individuals on your card account will earn points for you whenever they spend.
- Purchase coverage. Purchase coverage includes purchase protection that insures your purchases against theft or damage and provides price protection, return protection and extended warranties.
- Travel benefits. Enjoy Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card travel and purchase benefits, such as trip cancellation reimbursement, travel emergency assistance, baggage delay insurance and purchase protection.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card drawbacks
- Potentially high APR. Depending on your credit, you could be approved for a purchase and balance transfer APR as high as 27.24% variable. The average credit card APR is around 16%.
- Higher cash advance APR. Cash advances come with a 29.24% variable APR.
- No grace period on balance transfers or cash advances. Purchases come with a grace period — that is, you’ll have at least 21 days after the close of the billing cycle to pay off your balance before accruing interest. This isn’t the case with balance transfers or cash advances: You’ll start accruing interest on them immediately.
- No airport lounge access. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card doesn’t offer these benefits, but you can find them with the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
Is the annual fee worth it?
Yes. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a $95 annual fee. That’s comparable to fees of other mid-tier travel cards, and for the price, you get perks and rewards greater than the price would suggest. The points you earn for example are worth 25% more when redeemed for airfare, hotels, cruises and car rentals through Chase Ultimate Rewards. This gives you a 1.25% redemption rate, which is better than that of most other travel cards. At that rate, you’d need 7,600 points to break even on the annual fee with rewards alone.
The card’s signup bonus is also one of the largest for the price on the market and it can pay for your annual fee several times over alone.
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Should I get the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Chase Sapphire Reserve®?
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a mid-tier travel card that can be an excellent starting product to get into the travel game. The Chase Sapphire Reserve®, meanwhile, is a premium card with a hefty price tag — but you’ll find many top-of-the-line features. Which you get greatly depends on how invested you are in the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. You can read our full Sapphire comparison for more insight on which is the better choice for you.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card reviews and complaints
Cardholders generally have great things to say about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card points and travel benefits — even if they’re not thrilled with the annual fee. They say the card is slightly easier to apply for as a Chase customer: Because the bank already has your personal details, you may not have to complete the entire credit card application.
JPMorgan Chase Credit Card is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, but it has an A+ rating and a composite score of 1.06 out of 5 stars based on 176 customer reviews as of June 2022. Most customer complaints revolve around poor customer service and hidden costs Chase credit cards in general. Make sure you read your card’s terms and the rewards agreement to avoid issues with your account.
As of June 2022, Chase earns a Trustpilot score of 1.4 out of 5. Most negative reviews cite slow responses to fraud complaints and less-than-helpful customer service. Positive reviews cite the bank’s great mobile app and quick resolutions to their issues. Overall, your mileage may vary with Chase customer support.
What interests you most about this credit card?
Based on a survey of 215 people (out of 365 respondents) on finder.com
| Answer choices | Responses |
|---|---|
| Rewards | 34.42% |
| Signup bonus | 17.21% |
| Features and benefits | 44.65% |
| APR | 3.72% |
Bottom line
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is among the best travel cards you’ll find. With its new and impressive earning rates on travel, dining and more, it’s a steal at $95 a year and one of the best all-around cards on the market.
Compare Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card with other cards
- Compare with Chase Sapphire Reserve®
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Credit card ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
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