The Chase Sapphire Preferred card gets a bit of a bad rap in the miles and points community. I get the sense that it’s widely panned by some, because it’s very (VERY) widely mentioned by many travel bloggers. It gets to the point where sometimes it feels like every post by some folks, no matter what the question or topic, ends up with the answer being APPLY FOR THE CHASE SAPPHIRE PREFERRED CARD!
It’s a topic already satirically explored by the amazing Barclay Hawaiian Airlines World Elite MasterCard advice column a few years ago.
Getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred card as a first card
Amongst my family and friends, I am known as the “credit card guy”. I suspect if you’re reading this blog, that probably applies to many of you as well. It is not uncommon that friends or co-workers will ask me my opinion of what credit card to get
Typically, this is someone who is not really interested into getting into MY lifestyle and signing up for multiple credit cards at a time, but is just looking for 1 or maybe 2 cards to take a specific trip, and even that’s only after I make them decide on where they want to go FIRST
I’d say that in over 50% of the cases, Chase Sapphire Preferred is the card (or one of the cards) I recommend they get
Why Chase Sapphire Preferred?
What are some of the reasons I find myself generally recommending the Chase Sapphire Preferred as a “first” card?
- Usually gives a very good signup bonus (currently 50,000 valuable Ultimate Rewards with another 5,000 if you sign up an authorized user)
- No annual fee the first year (then $95)
- Many folks I talk to already have a Chase Freedom as their “go to” card. So signing up for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card lets you use those Ultimate Rewards you might ALREADY have with your Chase Freedom by transferring them to travel partners (instead of only using them for statement credits at 1 cent per point)
- It allows you to get a valuable signup bonus without locking you in to a particular hotel or airline. You can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards to transfer to British Airways (for my friend who is always flying to New York) or United or Southwest or Hyatt (or some combination of the above!)
- Plus if you ARE later going to get into multiple credit cards, the Chase 5/24 rule might make it more difficult to get the Chase Sapphire Reserve card later on
Comparing Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Sapphire Reserve
All the rage over the past few days has been on the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card
(SEE ALSO: Did you get your new Chase Sapphire Reserve card yesterday?)
I do agree that the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a very good card, and for people with a basic understanding of miles and points, it definitely makes sense.
But I’m not sure I feel comfortable recommending the Chase Sapphire Reserve card as someone’s first miles and points card to get. I think that the $450 annual fee (although possibly offset by annual $300 travel credits) has a high chance to be wasted, either from forgetting about the $300 travel credits, or by not redeeming them correctly. Remember that $450 comes right off the top on your first statement. So while I do think the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a good one, it’s not one I’d recommend for beginners or other people starting out.
So why does the Chase Sapphire Preferred card get so much press? Undoubtedly at least part of it is due to affiliate relationships, where people receive a commission for people that sign up through the card. I do have some affiliate credit card links, though there are not any as far as I know in this post. And just because people like to talk about it doesn’t mean that it’s not a good card.
As always, please understand the risks of credit cards before you apply for one, and DO NOT SIGN UP FOR A CREDIT CARD JUST BECAUSE SOME GUY ON THE INTERNET SAID SO.