Thanks to a 60,000-point bonus, now's the perfect time to get this card and earn your first free trip
- The popular Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is one of the best credit cards for newcomers to points and miles, and it's a offering a 60,000-point bonus after you spend $4,000 on the card in the first three months.
- 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points are worth at least $750 in travel, compared to just $95 for the card's annual fee. You can cover the cost of more than seven years of annual fees with the bonus alone.
- You can redeem Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase portal or with partner airline and hotel programs.
Credit card sign-up bonuses are one of the easiest ways to quickly earn points or miles, but they're far from the only reason you should consider a rewards-earning credit card. Bonus rewards on a variety of spending categories, annual statement credits to cover travel expenses, and annual free night certificates provide value years after you earn a welcome bonus.
But the appeal of earning a large sum of points or miles is considerable: I signed up for British Airways Visa Signature Card because I was tempted by the sign-up bonus. I earned enough miles for a dream trip to London, Paris, and Amsterdam - with Avios to spare.
If taking a free trip to Europe or your personal dream destination sounds like fun, the current sign-up bonus from the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card is worth a look.
Chase Sapphire Preferred's 60,000-point sign-up bonus
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has long been a flagship card for Chase, and it's beloved by award travel enthusiasts. It balances great rewards with a reasonable $95 annual fee. And several months ago, it got an increased sign-up bonus: 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 in the first three months after opening a new account. That's 10,000 extra points compared to the previous welcome offer, but note that the annual fee is no longer waived for the first year.
Points are worth 1.25 cents each when you redeem them for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards website, which means that bonus is worth at least $750 in flights, hotels, or other covered travel purchases.
If you already spend $1,333 or more per month, you'll want to be sure to put all of your purchases on this card to spend enough to earn the bonus. If you're worried about coming up short, consider buying a gift card for a favorite grocery store, restaurant, gas station, home improvement store, or anywhere else you already spend a lot already. This is like pre-paying for a purchase you would have made anyway.
Other options for meeting the minimum spending requirement without spending more than you usually would include covering dinner with friends on your card and having them pay you back, and paying for your rent or mortgage on your credit card.
Earning and redeeming Chase Ultimate Rewards
With the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you'll earn 2 points per dollar for restaurant and travel purchases and 1x point per dollar everywhere else. Depending on your spending habits, those points will add up very quickly. If you spend heavily on restaurants or travel, this card's bonus categories are excellent.
If you're serious about travel and want a bit more luxury, consider the more premium Chase Sapphire Reserve. While it has a larger $450 annual fee, it includes extra perks like a $300 annual travel fee credit, airport travel lounge access, and a higher 3x earning rate on travel and restaurant purchases. Points are worth 1.5 cents each for travel booked through Chase when you have the Reserve card, compared to 1.25 cents with the Preferred version.
See this post comparing the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve for more information on the differences between the two cards.
You can redeem Ultimate Rewards points for travel using the Chase portal and have access to just about anything you can find with most major travel search websites. To get even more value, you can transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to partner programs from brands like United, Southwest, British Airways, Marriott, and others.
If you redeem for premium flights at the lowest (saver) rate, you'll get the best possible value per point. Here are some options for using 60,000 Chase points for an upcoming trip.
How you could use 60,000 Chase points for a dream trip
Fly to London
If you transfer your Chase points to United Airlines, you can fly from North America to London for 30,000 miles each way with a saver economy award.
Take someone special to the Caribbean
Southwest flies to the Caribbean, and award flights are based on the cash cost of the ticket. As of this writing, there were options to go from the Northeast down to Puerto Rico for about 26,000 points per person round-trip.
Stay anywhere
Points can be used for award nights at Marriott, Hyatt, and IHG Hotels. But you can also book with any hotel available on Expedia. That would have worked well for a recent trip I took to England with Millennium Hotels & Resorts, where I could have booked at least three nights with 60,000 Chase points.
Never let rewards points go to waste
Ultimate Rewards are among the most valuable travel rewards points you can find. If you earn points, make sure to use them. If you save them too long for a rainy day, they may lose some value due to point "devaluations" at partner travel programs. If you use them now, you know exactly what you'll get in return.
If you're new to travel rewards credit cards, this card is a great place to start. With the current 60,000-point sign-up bonus, the deal is even sweeter than it was previously. So get started planning that dream vacation. With these points in the bank, it may be closer than you think.