Chase Sapphire Preferred® Credit Card

Overview

The Sapphire Preferred is the anchor of the “Chase trifecta” concept: pair it with no-fee cards like Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Chase Freedom Flex℠ to earn points in more categories, then consolidate into Ultimate Rewards and transfer to airline/hotel partners.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a low-fee gateway to high-value redemptions via transfers, while offering legitimately useful travel protections for a mid-tier card.

Rewards & Benefits

The Points Engine

• Dining (3X): Dining worldwide, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
• Travel (2X / 5X):
  • 5X on travel booked through Chase Travel
  • 2X on other travel worldwide (Chase explicitly calls out examples like airfare/hotels as well as taxis/trains).
• Online Grocery (3X): Online grocery excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs.
• Select Streaming (3X): “Select streaming services” per Chase’s list/definition.
• 10% Anniversary Points Bonus: A nice kicker if you spend meaningfully throughout the year.

Redemption Value

1. Transfer (High Ceiling)
   Transfer 1:1 to partners (Hyatt/United/etc), and you can often outpace 1.0¢/point materially.”
2. Chase Travel (High Convenience, but Not a Guaranteed 1.25¢ anymore)
   For most new cardholders, Chase Travel redemption value is generally 1.0¢ per point, with occasional higher values only when an eligible “Points Boost” offer is available.
   If your content targets people who opened the card years ago, explicitly call out the transition window (older points may retain 1.25¢ value through Oct 26, 2027).

Travel Protections

Chase’s own benefits summary for CSP includes:

• Primary auto rental coverage: reimbursement up to $60,000 for theft/collision damage for most rentals with an MSRP of $125,000 or less.
• Trip cancellation/interruption: up to $10,000 per covered traveler and $20,000 per trip for eligible prepaid, nonrefundable expenses.
• Trip delay reimbursement: up to $500 per covered traveler for unreimbursed expenses if delayed more than 12 hours or overnight.
• Baggage delay insurance: baggage delayed for more than 6 hours, up to $100/day for up to 5 days for essentials.

Fees & Requirements

• Annual Fee: $95.
• Foreign Transaction Fee: None.
• Authorized Users: Chase doesn’t highlight an AU fee on the public CSP offer page; most major reviewers report no additional fee for authorized users. (If you want this to be “issuer-only sourced,” omit it.)
• Approval notes: In practice, expect typical Chase sensitivity to recent accounts (e.g., “5/24” dynamics), but Chase doesn’t publish a hard credit score requirement. (If you want, I can rewrite this section to be strictly “issuer-stated only.”)

Borrower Experience

The Portal

Chase Travel is straightforward for booking flights/hotels/cars and is the easiest way to earn the 5X travel multiplier.

Pay Yourself Back

Chase continues to offer Pay Yourself Back-style redemptions (statement credits against eligible purchases), but categories and uplift rates are not permanent and change over time, so it’s a “nice when available,” not a core thesis for the card.

Who It’s Best For

Travel Beginners

You get transfers, robust protections, and broadly useful multipliers without paying an annual premium fee.

Hyatt + United Fans

CSP maintains relationships with both a strong hotel program (Hyatt) and a major U.S. airline partner (United), as well as multiple other partners.

Car Renters

Primary CDW coverage can save real money compared with buying the rental company’s collision coverage.

Who Should Skip It

Portal-Maximizers

If your entire plan was “book in the portal at 1.25¢,” that is no longer the default for new applicants; the value is usually 1.0¢ unless a Points Boost offer applies.

Single-Airline Loyalists

If you fly only Delta Air Lines or American Airlines and don’t want to learn transfer workarounds, you may get more direct utility from issuer ecosystems aligned with those airlines.

Lounge-First Travelers

CSP has no lounge access baked in. If lounges are non-negotiable, you’re looking at premium cards (including the higher-fee Sapphire tier).

Compare

Bottom Line

The Chase Sapphire Preferred remains one of the best-value mid-tier travel cards because it combines:

• strong everyday earnings (dining/online grocery/streaming),
• a real annual kicker ($50 hotel credit + 10% anniversary points),
• and unusually strong protections for the fee.