We’ve been hearing rumors about new and improved offers for the Chase Sapphire Preferred for a few months now and they are now finally here. The new offer is a 60,000 point bonus offer after meeting the minimum spend requirements, which is an all-time high for the public offer. And there are even targeted 70K pre-approval offers going out, too.
New 60K sign-up bonus (link)
- 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
The sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred has remained at a steady 50,000 points for quite some time. Unlike other cards that have bonuses that often fluctuate this is one of those bonuses that stays the same for the most part so it’s a pretty big deal whenever it moves up or down.
60,000 points is worth $750 dollars toward travel if you go through the Chase Travel Portal, which is a valuable sign-up bonus. I’ve always been big on the Chase Sapphire Preferred because it offers the such great upfront value for a minimal annual fee and now that up-front value is even better.
I personally prefer to transfer my points out to travel partners though. If you choose to go that route you can get much more than $750 worth of travel out of your points.
Below are all of the different Chase travel partners:
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Chase Ultimate Rewards Airlines
- Aer Lingus
- British Airways Executive Club
- Flying Blue (Air France/KLM)
- Iberia Airways
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
- United MileagePlus
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Chase Ultimate Rewards Hotels
- World of Hyatt
- IHG Rewards Club
- Marriott Bonvoy
You can do a lot with these travel partners. If you’re interested in aspirational redemptions like those extravagant first-class trips, you could transfer your points to Singapore and fly on their first class suites. Or if you just wanted to get around domestically you have great options with United, Southwest, and JetBlue (you could also fly American with Avios, Delta with Flying Blue, etc.).
And when it comes to hotel partners, Hyatt is definitely among the best. With many of these partners you could get two cents per point or more in value for your points which means that your sign-up bonus could be worth over $1,200.
Bonus earning
The Chase Sapphire Preferred will still earn 2X on dining and travel. This is not as impressive as some other cards but is still a decent earning rate for a card with a lower annual fee, especially since the travel category is so broad.
The good thing about this card is that if you realize that you would like to earn more points later on you can always upgrade after the first year to the Chase Sapphire Reserve which earns 3X on dining and travel. This is one reason why the Sapphire Preferred is such a great beginner’s card.
Regardless of what you do, I would still at least look into supplementing this card with a card like the American Express Gold Card which earns 4X on US dining and supermarkets.
Annual fee
The change with this offer is that the $95 annual fee is no longer waived the first year. The additional 10,000 points are worth (at the very least) $100 (when valued one cent per point) so you’re still coming out on top, it’s just that you’ll have to pay the $95 annual fee.
Pre-approval offers (70K?)
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. This means that if you have opened up five or more credit card accounts in the past 24 months you will not be approved. However, some people have been able to get around this rule by getting special targeted pre-approval offers.
Some very lucky people have even been able to find pre-approval offers for 70,000 points. Those 70K targeted offers (“Selected For You” offers) are probably not very common, so I wouldn’t get too excited but obviously that is a better deal if you can find it. If you want to find out more about Chase pre-approval offers click here.
Also don’t forget about the 48 month rule. If you have received a Sapphire bonus within the past 48 months you will not be eligible for this.
Final word
Overall, it is exciting to see this sign-up bonus increased to 60,000 points. It is a slight bummer that the annual fee is no longer waived but because the 10,000 points easily outweigh the $95 annual fee, it is still very well worth it in my opinion.
Daniel Gillaspia is the Founder of UponArriving.com and the credit card app, WalletFlo. He is a former attorney turned travel expert covering destinations along with TSA, airline, and hotel policies. Since 2014, his content has been featured in publications such as National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and CNBC. Read my bio.