Skip to content

Are you eligible for the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s 100,000-point bonus?

Oct. 06, 2021
9 min read
Woman shopping online with a credit card and pc.
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don’t cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
New

Quick summary

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Among all the incredible credit card welcome bonuses that have cropped up in the past year, the chance to earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card stands out from the rest. The offer is scheduled to disappear very soon -- and with history as our guide, the updated bonus will likely offer 20,000+ fewer points.

Since its debut in 2009, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has only raised its public introductory offer as high as 80,000 points — first seen in 2020. But it has never boosted its bonus to the six-figure mark.

The 100,000 points you can earn with the Chase Sapphire Preferred are worth up to $1,250 toward travel booked through the Chase portal. However, given how versatile Ultimate Rewards points are, the bonus actually represents around $2,000 in value (based on TPG valuations) when leveraging the program's hotel and airline partners. It can even potentially be worth more depending on how you redeem those Ultimate Rewards points.

Given that massive bonus and world of redemption opportunities, we don't blame you one bit for wanting to get in on the increased offer. But before you apply for the current Chase Sapphire Preferred offer, you may want to know if you're even eligible for it. If you've got excellent credit and have never had this card or its higher-priced counterpart, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you're probably good to go.

However, if you've dabbled with Chase cards before, or are in the habit of opening multiple new card accounts each year, here's everything you need to know about the Chase Sapphire Preferred's current offer and who is likely eligible to cash in on it.

Chase Sapphire Preferred offer details

Before we get into the nitty-gritty eligibility criteria, these are the details on the current Chase Sapphire Preferred offer and why it's so exciting.

Current welcome bonus

Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. That's 40,000 more bonus points than usual for the same spending requirement.

For some perspective, as mentioned, 100,000 bonus points are worth $1,250 toward travel bookings made through Chase or for things like Airbnb and Away (through awaytravel.com) and select charities until March 31, 2022, thanks to Chase's "Pay Yourself Back" feature.

Daily Newsletter
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts

Don't forget, though, that Chase Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to many airline frequent flyer programs and hotel partners, including Southwest, United, Hyatt, and Marriott, so you can potentially redeem them for much more value by leveraging these partners.

Fly United Polaris using Ultimate Rewards points. (Photo by Zach Griff/The Points Guy)

Related: A top travel card contender: Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card review

Annual fee

$95

Earning

The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns:

  • 5 points per dollar on travel booked through the Ultimate Rewards Travel portal
  • 3 points per dollar on dining
  • 3 points per dollar on select streaming services
  • 3 points per dollar on online groceries (excludes Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
  • 2 points per dollar on travel
  • 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases

Dining includes restaurants, but also takeout, fast food, many bars and most delivery services, like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats.

Travel comprises a vast range of purchases, including everything from flights and hotel stays to train tickets, taxis, ride-sharing services, and even tolls and parking meters, among other possibilities.

When you register your card with Lyft, you can also earn 5 points per dollar on rides through March 2022.

Other benefits

One of the main selling points of the Chase Sapphire Preferred is its incredible suite of travel and purchase protections, which includes trip cancellation and interruption coverage and primary rental car insurance, among other perks. It also waives foreign transaction fees, so it's a good choice for traveling abroad.

Beyond that, cardholders can enroll for at least a year of complimentary DoorDash DashPass membership before Dec. 31, which includes free delivery and reduced service fees on purchases of $12 or more from participating restaurants.

Those with the Chase Sapphire Preferred can also register for $60 back on an eligible Peloton Digital or All-Access membership through Dec. 31.

You'll even get a $50 hotel credit when booking a stay through the Ultimate Rewards Travel portal. And you'll get 10% of your points back each year based on the amount you spend on your card. For example, if you spent $15,000, you'll get 1,500 points.

In short, the Chase Sapphire Preferred remains one of the most compelling travel rewards credit cards around, and it just keeps getting better.

Are you eligible to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred?

Here's what you need to know about eligibility and Chase's application rules.

(Photo by John Gribben for The Points Guy)

Chase 5/24 rule

First and foremost, Chase invokes its notorious 5/24 rule on most credit card applications. If you have opened five or more credit cards in the past 24 months — from any issuer, not just Chase — your application might automatically be declined.

If you're not the type of person to mark monthly anniversaries for your various credit card accounts — and who is, really — you may not know the age of each one of them. However, you can check them on any free credit report site.

Related: Chase's 5/24 rule: Everything you need to know

If your application is rejected, but you're supremely creditworthy and have an excellent score and payment record, you can always call Chase's reconsideration line. But it might be a slog and require you to submit quite a lot more information. And while Chase is known to manually discount a card account on which you might be an authorized user, it's probably not going to override a true 5/24 situation.

Current and prior Chase Sapphire cardholders

Aside from the number of credit cards you've recently opened, you're also going to have to meet a Sapphire-specific stipulation. Just under the bonus terms on the application page, you'll see the following text:

This product is available to you if you do not have any Sapphire card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.

Let's parse that out since there are two provisions.

First, if you currently have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, the Chase Sapphire Reserve or the (discontinued) Chase Sapphire Card and your account is open, you're out of luck.

Second, if you opened any of those cards and earned its welcome bonus within the past 48 months, you're likewise excluded.

So if you applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve within the past four years, keep moving. And remember, it's not when you applied for the card, it's when you earned its welcome bonus.

On the plus side, if you had one of the Chase Sapphire cards in the past, earned its bonus more than 48 months ago, but have closed it — even if it was just a few weeks ago — you might be eligible for this offer.

Other options

If you find you're excluded from the current Chase Sapphire Preferred offer, there are still a few ways to continue racking up Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

You could apply for either the Chase Freedom Unlimited or the Chase Freedom Flex cards instead. Although these cards seemingly earn cash-back rewards, the points they accrue can be combined with Ultimate Rewards points from a linked Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve account and then redeemed at higher values for travel or transferred to the program's various airline and hotel partners.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited is currently offering a $200 (or 20,000 points) bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. It earns 5% back (or 5x points) on travel booked through Chase, 3% back (or 3x points) on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services, as well as on drugstores, and 1.5% back (or 1.5x points) on everything else.

The Chase Freedom Flex is also offering a $200 (or 20,000 points) bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. It earns 5% back (5x points) on travel booked through Chase and on the first $1,500 spent in rotating categories each quarter (activation required). The card earns 3% back (3x points) on dining, including takeout and eligible delivery services, as well as on drugstores, and 1% back (1x points) on everything else.

Cardholders of either Freedom version can also register to earn 5% back (5x points) on Lyft rides through March 2022. Neither card charges an annual fee.

Related: The power of the Chase Trifecta: Sapphire Reserve, Ink Preferred and Freedom Unlimited

Bottom line

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is currently offering an all-time high introductory bonus of up to 100,000 points after meeting minimum spending requirements -- though that offer will likely decrease very soon.

That's an incredible sum in its own right. But it is also more lucrative than anything the Chase Sapphire Preferred has ever offered before and well worth taking advantage of while it lasts if you are eligible.

Before you attempt to do so, though, be sure that you meet the card's application requirements to leverage your spending for all those bonus points and the incredible travel opportunities that they represent.

Application link: Chase Sapphire Preferred available with an all-time high offer of 100,000 bonus points.

Additional reporting by Joseph Hostetler

Featured image by GUIDO MIETH/GETTY IMAGES
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.