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| I'm raking it in with this card |
| by Colin Hogan, Senior Editor |
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“Sounds like a good card, but does it charge an annual fee?”
It’s one of the most common questions I hear. And my answer is always the same: I don’t mind paying an annual fee if the card delivers far more value than it costs.
That’s exactly why the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a favorite among points beginners and experts alike. You simply can’t beat the returns you get from using this card every day, so I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.
For starters, new cardholders can earn a whopping 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points for a limited time after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. That alone is worth $2,050, per our June 2026 valuations — not bad at all for a card whose annual fee doesn’t even break $100.
But my love for this card comes from the long-term value I get from earning Ultimate Rewards points on everyday spending. This card delivers strong earning rates on all of my big spending areas, like dining, online groceries, streaming services, travel, gas and EV charging.
In March, I used points earned from the past year to take my brother to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in England, flying lie-flat business class to Manchester on Virgin Atlantic. I paid just 42,000 Chase points for those seats (plus taxes and fees), thanks to a 40% transfer bonus to Virgin at the time I booked. (Fun fact: There’s actually a 30% bonus available right now!)
Had we paid cash? Those two seats would’ve cost over $6,000. I call that more than a 60X return on that annual fee.
That’s a bucket-list trip so, of course, I’m feeling great about this card’s value. But it was no different the year before, when my wife and I stayed more than a dozen nights at a Hyatt Regency using solely the Chase points I’d earned.
Once again, that was thousands of dollars in value, just for passively earning and using these points.
And right now, you’d get the best possible head start with this highest-ever bonus, which is a generous 25,000 points higher than the typical offer. That’s an automatic $513 more in value (i.e., more than five times the annual fee) just for getting the card at the right time!
If you want a card that delivers big returns, this is it. But don’t miss your chance to earn this rare 100,000-point bonus. Historically high offers like this don’t last forever, and we don’t know when we’ll see one this high again.
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| Photo Credit: MACKENZIE ROCHE/THE POINTS GUY. |
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