Chase Sapphire and Sapphire Preferred Card Comparison – Which One is Right For You?

I’m waiting to pull the trigger on the SP but I want to see if that sign-up bonus will go up to at least back to 50K. Last year around this time is when the targeted 100K offer was released — with non targeted being able to send a PM to Chase for the difference. Do you have any inside knowledge on the possibility of the 40K bonus increasing?

Are the Sapphire points transferable to other cardholders (ie, your wife’s SP card)? I believe Freedom card’s UR points are transferable to 3rd party SP cards.

No brainer for me to choose Preferred . Of course it iwas OK to get regular as well when CHase was giving huge sign on bonus on BOTH
I convert Ultimate Rewards from 2 Freedom cards to United miles through Sapphire Preferred. I value each Ultimate Reward points under Sapphire is worth at least 1.50cents . Each year with 2 freedom cards I accumulate more than 50 K on my 5% bonus spending plus any 1 % rebate item AND AMEX is NOT welcome ( otherwise AMEX SPG).

I think we may be taking different approaches, because I don’t quite understand your math either. But I do get your overall opinion that the breakeven point for the annual fee doesn’t mean its the point where its more valuable.

Even after the fee is “earned” off, someone would still be better with Sapphire because they’d have been earning points that entire time. So let me re-think this and get back to you!

Correct- if you have a Preferred/Bold or know someone that does, you can transfer your regular Sapphire points to them to make them more valuable.

40K is still awesome I would love to have this 40K again over the 50K from Citi Thanks You Premier which is the card with signon bonus I am working on . I will be shcoked they moved up the sign on bonus again. Do you know you might be also tragteted to get 50K united miles with 1st purchase and 5K more with an AU ?

A few college classmates of mine and their spouses are now back to China /Taiwan on free United flights for the 40 years college graduation reunion. They took cues from me to apply2 Chase Freedom cards 2 Sapphipre Preferred plus opening 2 chase checking caccounts. Each family net about 160K united miles and ~350 taxable checking account signon bonus.

I myself just had a great South America trip though Brazil Argentina and Chile . Chase and Amex were the generous sponsors on my free Sheraton Hyatt free nights and next to free flights.

Is there a way to get the minimum spend waived?

Mark is right. If you spend $592 a month then you are just paying off the annual fee. You may as well have a no fee card with no rewards at all. For the Preferred to be better than the non-Preferred you would need to spend nearly $30k per year. That assumes none of the spending is on travel and that the values are $0.01/point and $0.0125/point as used in the post.

Don’t forget the sign-up bonus. That 30,000 UR points difference alone will take care of at least 4 years of annual fee.

I just got an email from United on May 29th for the 50K with first purchase, 5k with authorized user purchase, and additional 10k if 25k spend in a year.

I also signed up for the SW visa and Sapphire Pref this year (both Chase), so am wondering if I’d have any problems getting the united card.

Does anyone know if you get the 7% bonus on the sapphire preferred card if you transfer your UR points from the Ink bold card? And how are the UR points better on the Ink Bold (for travel redemptions?). Thanks.

I am a bit torn on what to do about my UR cards going forward. I think that the Ink Bold has as good a points earning potential as anything I have seen, based on how I use it. I will have to decide whether to hang onto the Sapphire Preferred before I have to decide on keeping Ink Bold. Probably don’t want to keep them both, though we’ll see how it works out.

I will do some legwork on this. I love my Sapphire Preferred, and Ultimate Rewards is dominating my spending since I received the Sapphire Preferred. But, if the Ink Bold proves more lucrative I’d be a fool to keep the Sapphire Preferred unless it has other benefits the Ink does not.

I let out my old old Chase Visa and Master cards with the old day $100 singon bonus and I am still very happy with it

Let me make sure I follow… if someone ELSE has a UR card that does not allow transfers, they can still move those points to me with my CSP and I can transfer them?

Pretty cool if yes… since the CSP can transfer to ANYONE’s FF accounts, basically I can use my card to help anyone with the regular SP or Freedom card turn their points into miles.

I was thinking about getting this Sapphire Preferred AND the Visa Hyatt because I am planning a trip to Buenos Aires and I could stay for 4 nights at the Hyatt there for free. It would take 44k points to stay for 2 nights (40k coming with the SP bonus) and I would get 2 nights after first purchase with the Visa Hyatt. Thoughts?

Thanks Points Guy! I got the Sapphire Preferred and have spent the $3,000 requirement. What I learned is that I can book the trip and pay myself back with points. I never knew about this until I started reading your blog. I am using my points for 2 nights at the Hilton in Sedona and my Avios points for the flight. The tip to use expert flyer.com was great. I never would have been able to take a vacation otherwise!

If I cancel the Preferred card before the annual fee is due, will the Ultimate Reward Points remain in my account or should I transfer them to, say, Hyatt?

I’d like to keep adding to my ultimate rewards balance with other cards (freedom, sapphire, etc) but I’m not sure I can spend enough to make up the CSP fee. Would I need to get an Ink Bold before canceling the Preferred card to keep the points without having to transfer them to a partner?

You can have them all under one login- I have all of my chase accounts (7 credit cards and multiple checking) a under one

You get an additional point booking through the portal so 3x. Note: you may be able to book through other vendors, like Travelocity- for even more bonus points

I had the same concern as Mark initially. It would seem you would need to spend $28,148 annually to break even.
However, a key factor I realized is the 2x travel rewards that are only on the preferred card.That would mean your point total for travel is 2.07 times the amount spent. That comes out to about 5984 dollars annually spent on travel to break even. Using Mike’s math:
$5984 * .01 = $59.84

$5984 * 2.07 = 12386.88 * 0.0125 = $154.83 – 95 = $59.83

If you fly enough, especially business/first or internationally, as well as other travel expenses (chase’s definition is very broad), it’s not at all unfeasible to spend 6000 a year on travel.

Is that correct, Thepointsguy?

As a long time Chase/Washington Mututal customer in Seattle, I was offered the Sapphire Preferred card with 70,000 points and all the other benefits. I took it.

I wouldn’t worry about it! You can always call Chase to confirm, but I see no reason to worry

Correct- going through portals can rack up the points even quicker- even marriott.com gives extra points via the portal

The 10% bonus for chase checking has an opportunity cost: you have to carry a $1500 avg daily balance at ~0% interest. Also if you ever drop below, you’ll be charged with fees.

Do purchases for cruises count as travel realted and get the 2X bonus?

First of all, thank you for this comparison. I’ve been trying to figure out which of these to get, and this article has been helpful!

I’m a little confused by the “Deciding” section though – you indicated that if one spends more than $592 a month, the 7% bonus plus the 25% increase in points value makes up for the charge.

Let’s say I spend $1000 a month. If I got the regular Sapphire, I get 12000 points a year. If I have the Sapphire preferred, I get 12000 + 840 (7%) = 12840. In other words, I get 840 more points. When redeeming on ultimate rewards, these points translate to 1.25 cents each, so $10.50 (far less than the $95 annual fee)

I think you were trying to see if the points earned on Sapphire preferred would cover the annual fee, and yes, it does. But compared to the fee-free Sapphire, does the same level of spending on Sapphire vs preferred justify the additional $95 annual fee? At $1000 a month spending, no.

(or am I overlooking something obvious?)

I’m just trying to figure out whether I can justify getting the preferred card. Thanks

Yes- if you get the Sapphire Preferred you will be able to transfer all of your “plain jane” points into your Sapphire Preferred account and then transfer onto partners like United and Hyatt. Here is the Sapphire Preferred link with 40,000 bonus point offer after $3,000 spent within the first 3 months http://www.thepointsguy.com/go/sapphirepref

Would transferring $3,000 from another Chase card (Freedom) -since I have upgraded and will now be closing that card be considered in the $3,000 spending in the first three months?

Mike,
Everyone is correct; you, Mark, and TPS poster is correct.

Let me clarify. None of these calculations take the bonus offers into play since we are assuming long term, 2nd year and after.

1.) You are correct in saying that nearly $30k needs to be spent to break even IF and only IF a straight 1% or $0.01 per dollar spent is given back after factoring in the 7% dividend and 25% bonus in the rewards mall for NON-TRAVEL expenses. (I’m just repeating what you said for others who don’t follow, bare with me.)

2.) TPS poster is also correct in saying to break even, you will need to spend $592 a month ($7104 a year) on “TRAVEL” ALONE, not including restaurants since both cards get the 2x points for restaurants. You are getting 2x points for TRAVEL; therefore, basically you are gaining an extra 1x point on “TRAVEL” for the Preferred since the Regular Sapphire will reward you with 1x point alone (due to all “other” purchases gain 1x point on both cards). So to cover your $95 annual fee, you will need to spend

$9,500 (9500 points)..extra 1x point for Preferred “TRAVEL”
- 7% dividend ($9,500/1.07 = $8,878.505)
- 25% with purchase through rewards mall ($8,878.505/1.25 = $7,102.804)
This is how we arrived at $7,102 or $592($7,102/12) a month.

Of course none of these calculations take into consideration the benefits of Preferred like points transfer (getting more points when transferring to a partner). Or the bonus points you will earn through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall affiliate program (Preferred gets better extra $/points per purchase than Regular Sapphire). This will bring the $7,102 break-point even lower!

Deciding which card to get depends on how much you plan on spending each year. The TPS poster has given everyone the conservative, worst-case break even point.

On a side note: you should not use your introductory bonus points to try and pay for the annual fee. Many people are suggesting giving Preferred a test run as it will pay for itself with the bonus points in four years.

However if you went with the Regular Sapphire card for four years, you would not be at break even, you would be at a positive amount (bonus points).