Chase Update on Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Bonus and United's Entry into Ultimate Rewards

Sept. 30, 2011

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2 min read

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Recently I've received a lot of interest and feedback about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Ink Bold credit card (specifically whether the 50,000 point Ultimate Rewards sign-up bonus is included in the 7% annual bonus) from TPG readers so I reached out to some of my Chase contacts to gain some clarification.

Basically here is a rundown of the information I received;

The good news it that the 50,000 sign-up points when you spend $3,000 within 3 months on the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card do count towards the 7% annual bonus. This essentially brings the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card bonus to 53,500 points (even though you'll have to wait until year end to get the 3,500 dividend). Regardless, that's still a great sign-up bonus for a solid (figuratively and literally) card that has no annual fee the first year. Plus, the wording is clear that any points earned via any other promotions (like our friends at Stamps.com and Pitney Bowes) will also count towards the yearly 7% bonus.

My second main question was whether United will be a transfer partner with the Ultimate Rewards program once the Continental Onepass program officially ceases to exist as a separate program starting January 1, 2012. The official response is that there is, "no information at this time." Which leads me to believe they are still in the process of negotiating the addition. My gut tells me that United will indeed join (it would be a huge blow to the Ultimate Rewards program if not), but they may be trying to plan some great marketing around the announcement and not tip off a lowly blogger like me :-)

I also hope that Southwest gets added as a transfer partner since Chase manages their credit card portfolio as well.

For more information check out my posts; My Experience Getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Why I Love Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amazing Deal: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card 50,000 Point Bonus and First Year Fee Waived, and Chase Launches 50,000 Point Sign-Up Bonus for Ink Bold.

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.