Chase Sapphire Preferred Card: Worth $95?!

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is a travel card that lets you redeem points through Chase Travel℠ at 1.25x. It's a basic travel card with good spend multipliers and benefits.

Intro Bonus and Eligibility 

Chase Sapphire cards have a few application rules to be aware of:

• The Chase Sapphire cards are affected by the Chase 5/24 rule.
• If you have opened more than 5 accounts from any credit card issuer in the past 24 months, you don’t qualify for the intro bonus.
• You can earn a Chase Sapphire (Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve® ) welcome offer once every 48 months = 4 years.
• You can only hold have one Sapphire card at a time (unless you’re grandfathered with an old card before the rule was implemented).
• Since the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a Visa Signature card, the minimum credit limit is $5,000; be sure your income is enough to qualify.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card calculator

Ask Sebby crunches the numbers for you to calculate the Expected Value of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. For the expected value of points, we derive the approximate dollar value based on the numbers you enter in the calculator. Scroll down to the end of the post to see our methodology.

The calculator below contains default figures and serve as an example only. Users should insert their own data for the most accurate results.

Calculation Methodology

The results from the above calculator are based on your ability to reach the minimum spend requirement to earn the welcome offer, your amount of spend on different categories, how you plan to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards®, and how much relative value you assign to the other benefits.  

The “Years” referenced in the calculator refer to the cardmember year, based on when you are approved for the card.

• Year 1 = first 12 months of card membership
• Year 2 = the following 12 months afterward

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Spending Multipliers:

• Earn 2X points on travel purchases including airfare, hotels, cruises, and rideshare
• 5X total points on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
• 3X points on dining purchases including fine dining, coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and eligible delivery services
• 3X points on select streaming services
• 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
• Earn 1X points on all other purchases

Other Benefits:

• $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased through Chase Travel℠. New cardmembers will start earning towards the credit immediately and existing cardmembers will start earning after their next account anniversary.
• 10% Anniversary Point Bonus. Each account anniversary, cardmembers will earn bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the previous year. That means, $25,000 in spend will earn an additional 2,500 bonus points.
• Primary collision damage waiver (CDW); terms apply.

Foreign transaction fees: 0%

Travel benefits:

• Redeem points for 1.25X in travel through the Chase Travel Portal
• 1:1 Point transfer to airline and hotel partners

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is ideal for those who want a higher point redemption (25%) for travel by using Chase Travel℠ and access to transfer partners.

Travel confidently with built-in travel protections when you book trips with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Below are a handful of travel benefits:

• Primary auto rental collision damage waiver (CDW)
• Trip cancellation/interruption insurance
• Baggage delay insurance
• Trip delay reimbursement

If you're looking for access to airport lounges, consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve®  instead.

How Much Are Chase Ultimate Rewards Points Worth?

Depending on how you plan on redeeming your Chase Ultimate Rewards points, they can be worth between 1-2 cents per point. 

Value of a 60,000 Points Intro Bonus: Return On Spend

To calculate the return on spend (ROS) for the typical 60,000 point offer, divide the cents per point valuation (CPP) by the $45000 minimum spend amount. Use the same formula and change the numbers if you have another offer.

60,000 Chase UR intro bonus:

a) Cash (statement credit)

• 1 CPP = $600 value / $5,000 min spend = 12% ROS

b) Travel via Chase Travel℠

• 1.25 CPP = $750 / $5,000 = 15% ROS

c) Transfer partners

• Target value = 2 CPP = $1,200 / $5,000 = 24% ROS
• Aggressive value = 3 CPP = $1,800 / $5,000 = 36% ROS

Strategies to Meet Minimum Spend Requirements

The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a minimum spend requirement of $5,000 within the first 3 months of account opening to earn the intro bonus. Since this can be a larger than usual spend amount for some people, below are some ideas to meet the spend requirement.

You can use a credit card to pay:

a) Rent
b) Tuition
c) Student loans
d) Business vendors

Optimal Strategy

If you have the Chase Freedom Flex℠ and the Chase Freedom Unlimited®, the optimal strategy would be to pool the Ultimate Rewards points you earn from those cards to the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a travel card that lets you redeem points for travel via the Chase Travel℠ for 1.25X. If you want to get even more value from the Ultimate Rewards points, you can transfer the points out to airline or hotel transfer partners and get up to 2 cents per point in value.