Chase Sapphire Preferred

Jul 30, 2020

Overview

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the most frequently recommended starter travel card. It’s cheap, has good bonus categories and Chase points are arguably the easiest transferable currency to spend.

To offset the annual fee, there are usually some perks with partners like Doordash, Instacart and Peloton. Chase publishes these on the offer pages, but we’re hesitant to include them here since they have expiration dates.

Getting the Card

Usually, Chase offers this card with a signup bonus between 60k and 90k points. Sometimes the 90k offer is only available in branch.

Chase has a rule where they won’t approve anyone with 5 or more new personal accounts within the last 24 months. Once you get into the hobby, it really doesn’t take much to cross this threshold. If for example you started with the Citi Preferred, Double Cash and Flex for earnings and then added hotel and airline cards, you would be at five and locked out of Chase for a while.

Basic Information

Cardholder Type: Personal
Network / Type: Visa
Earns: Chase Ultimate Rewards

Annual Fee: $95
Card Type: Credit
Foreign Transaction Fees: No

Earnings

5x Lyft

5x Portal

3x Dining

3x Online Groceries

3x Streaming

2x Travel

1x Everywhere Else

Credits

$50 Hotel Credit: Annual $50 credit on hotels purchased through Chase Travel.

Memberships

Doordash: At least one year of Dashpass when you activate by December 31, 2024.

Travel and Purchase Protections

Baggage Insurance
Up to $100 per day for up to $500 on delays exceeding 6 hours.
Car Rental Insurance
Primary insurance for damage and theft.
Extended Warranty
Up to 1 extra year on warranties 3 years and less.
Purchase Protection
Up to $500 per claim within 120 days.
Trip Delay Insurance
Up to $500 per ticket after 12 hours.
Trip Cancellation Insurance
Up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip.

All policies may:

Have terms, conditions and exclusions not listed here.
Require purchases be made with the card for a non-business purpose.

For exact terms, please carefully read your cardholder agreement.