Most Wonderful Time of the (Points) Year: 2025 - 100K PT Offer

Sapphire Elevated Offer Time!

5/13/2025 Update: the 100K referral offer has ended (don't use my link to get the best bonus!). However, you can still find 100K sign up bonus through affiliate links and directly from Chase.com until 5/15. The 100K offer is said to be available in a local branch until 5/17/25.

Historically, every spring around March/April/May, Chase announces an elevated bonus for their Sapphire Preferred card; and this year, the elevated bonus matches the highest offer ever (from four years ago), at 100,000 points for $5,000 spent in the first three months of having the card.

Given that the standard offer is just 60,000 points for $4,000 spend; if you're able to hit a $5K spend in 3 months, you're getting 40% more points than the traditional offer. If you've been overwhelmed by all of this points talk, but you're curious and on the fence about getting a new card and this trying out this points game stuff, THIS is the sign and the time to give it a try!! (or if you already have this card, continue to read on, I've got info for you too!)

I've broken down in this previous post why Sapphire Preferred is my top favorite travel card and why it's a great beginner card, but I wanted to revisit and dedicate this post to just the Chase Sapphire Preferred (aka CSP).

But first: Before I go into why I love this card, if you already have a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve and  you're thinking "I already have this card" or "my partner already has this card and I'm an authorized user on it"... 

(If you don't already have this card, nor does your partner, jump down to Why I Recommend This Card)

**Existing Sapphire Cardholders ** - you need to read this section!

You can only hold one of the two types of Sapphire card at either; so either you get the Preferred or the Reserve. BUT! Did you know that you're eligible for a new sign up bonus for the Sapphire card every 48 months?

If you're a current Sapphire card holder: check when you opened this card and when/if you go the sign up bonus. To do this, simply:

• Look at your credit report to see when the card was added
• Look at your Sapphire card statements from the same time frame (year/month) and click through each to see when the bonus was awarded.
• If it's been more than 48mo since that statement date that shows the sign up bonus being awarded, you're eligible to downgrade your card and apply again now to get the elevated bonus!

If you're an authorized user on your partner's Sapphire card: you can still get your own card, you don't even have to be removed as an authorized user from your partner's card first. And bonus - your partner can actually use their card to refer you to your own Sapphire card. This way, not only do you get the sign up bonus, but they will get 10,000 points for your referral AND you can combine your points together! To generate a referral link, search "Chase refer a friend" and follow the log in and prompts. It's important to NEVER refer yourself to a card.

(If you don't want to pay two $95 annual fees, one for each of you; you could close or downgrade your partner's card after they refer you and AFTER the referral points hit, which can sometimes take 1-2 statements/months).

How and Why to Downgrade Your Sapphire Card

There are many cards that have an annual fee and have a lower tier/benefit option to downgrade to. The two major benefits to downgrading a card instead of closing a card completely are:

1. Credit History Length: the amount of time you've had credit cards open actually impacts your credit score. If you close a card, then you cut off that credit line, which may lower your average credit history length and thus impact your credit score. By downgrading a card, you keep the original credit line open, so you keep your original credit history length.

 Remember the fundamental Chase 5/24 Rule? Downgrading a card does NOT impact your 5/24 because downgrading a card doesn't require a credit pull.

2. Keep Your Points: while you will lose the benefits associated with the fee card (in this case, the Sapphire card), you get to keep all of your points you earned with that card. Hallelujah!!

But also remember, that with Chase, you do need a premium card like the Sapphire or Ink Preferred in order to be able to transfer points outside of Chase to Travel Partners. However, since you can combine points, if you're downgrading your card and intend to open a new Sapphire,  once that new card is opened, you'll be able to combine your points back into the new Sapphire in order to transfer. I hope that makes sense!

In order to downgrade, all you have to do is call your credit card company and ask what the options are to downgrade to a no annual fee card. For the Sapphire Preferred (or Reserve), the no annual fee card option is the Freedom Card. Note when you downgrade, you typically keep the same card number.

Why I Recommend the Chase Sapphire Preferred

I truly recommend starting with this card and starting with the Chase ecosystem because I find it the most straightforward and easiest to use. I know, some of you are rolling your eyes because I've thrown a lot of information at you that feels overwhelming and it IS a lot of info; but I promise - Chase Points Travel is user friendly!

 
Without a doubt, this is definitely the best place to start. Chase credit cards allow you to earn Chase Ultimate Rewards (CURs), which are their universal flexible points. While you can use CURs to book travel in the Chase Travel Portal, this is much like booking a trip through a third party service like Expedia. You don't earn any loyalty or benefits.

However, there are only a few Chase credit cards that allow you to transfer your Chase points directly to travel partners, and the Sapphire cards are the only non-business cards that allow this. Chase points are considered highly flexible because they transfer to 3 hotel chains (Hyatt, Marriott, and IHG), and 11 airlines (but keep in mind, airlines work in alliances or partnerships. So while there are 11 airlines with a direct transfer, alliances give you the opportunity to book flights with over a dozen airlines).

I know a lot of people are hesitant to open credit cards with annual fees. The Sapphire Preferred DOES have an annual fee of $95/year, but there are benefits to offset that cost. (and honestly, the $95/year to have the ability to transfer to travel partners like Hyatt, Southwest, and United to take free trips we've taken is worth it alone to me).

Sapphire Preferred, major benefits:

• Ability to transfer to travel partners
• $50 annual hotel credit (for hotels booked in the Chase Portal and charged to this card)
• Doordash: Annual free DashPass (which saves you on delivery fees) AND monthly $10 credit for non-restaurant door dash purchases)
• Earn 3X points on dining (including food delivery services)
• Earn 3X points for online groceries (excludes Target, Walmart, and Wholesale Clubs)
• Earn 2X points on travel
• Travel insurance protection (for travel charged to this card)

There you have it, my number one pick for a beginner travel and points credit card. I often refer to this as the "gateway card" because it's so easy to rack up points without much thought. Which do I have? Ben and I both each have our own Sapphire Preferred. 

If you're interested in applying, here is my referral link. This link will allow you to apply for either card with the standard sign up offer being to spend $4K in 3 months and earn 60,000 points and the Spring 2025 offer being to spend $5K in 3 months to earn an elevated 100,000 points!

What to Do With 100K Points

I shared in my rule of thumb post what's considered a "good point cost" to spend points hotels and/or flights, but here are some other ideas of what I'd do with 100K points from this card. Keep in mind, the examples shown are utilizing Transfer Partners and NOT booking through Chase Travel Portal, but by transferring points outside of Chase and booking direct with hotels/airlines.

Note, in addition to getting 100K points for hitting the minimum spend, every dollar you spend on that card earns points. So for spending the sign up $5,000, you'll earn a minimum of 105,000 pts (100,000 pts from the sign up and another 5,000*+ points for the money you spent. *This will be higher if your initial $5,000 spend includes dining where you earn 3X points and/or travel, which earns 2X points for every dollar spent)

Keep in mind with Hyatt (and Hilton), you don't pay daily resort fees with you book with points!

• 5 nights at Hyatt Regency Maui; 105,000 point ($3,627 cash value) 

 vs 

• Chicago Trip (or Staycation for my IL/IA friends): there are so many great hotel options in Chicago that are Hyatt-owned and on public transit
• Hotel Lincoln (right across from free Lincoln Park Zoo), starts at 15,000 points per night

• Hyatt Place Wicker Park (awesome rooftop views, walkable to Piece Pizza, and free breakfast for all (regardless of status)

• Or if you prefer to be down in the heart of tourism you have plenty of options where you could still get 3+ nights out of 105,000 points

Maybe hotels aren't your thing (honestly, they weren't our thing until we really got going on points. Now that our kids are a little older and we realized we can all relatively go to bed at the same time)

105,000 points could also get:

A family of 4 (with 2 adults and 2 kids under age 12),  one-way economy flights to Europe from the US
        

By transferring and booking directly with Flying Blue (KLM/Air France); which offers a 25% discount to kids 11 and under; 87,500 points (+ taxes and fees, but you'd still have almost 20K  points leftover!), compared to a cash price of over $3,900!!

(and Flying Blue often has Transfer Bonuses, where you get extra bonus when transferring from              the bank to Flying Blue; so this easily could be gotten for even less than 87K pts!)

Domestic Flights: potentially 4 roundtrip tickets, or like this one-way United flight from Denver to Chicago, at under 10K points one-way per person, you could flight a family of 5 roundtrip with 105,000 points (which would cost over $1,600 out of pocket):

vs

As you can see, 100k points can go a long way across a variety of uses. I am available to consult for a fee on points bookings if you have points but aren't sure how to use them! (If you need a refresher or quick tutorial on HOW to transfer points out of Chase to Travel Partners, read here)

June 2024, we used 107,000 points for a 4-night trip to Chicago, including 3 nights in a hotel suite,
 which gave us two separate sleeping areas and a little more space!

Overall, if you are spending the money anyways on your day-to-day obligations like groceries, child care, insurance, utilities, kids' activities, gas, etc; this is a good time to consider how much those costs add up and if it's worth making your dollars go farther by putting those expenses on a credit card and paying it off with the cash you would have spent directly on your needs. By spending smarter, not more, you can earn a sign up bonus and utilize those costs to earn points for travel!

If you're interested in starting with the elevated Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000 point offer, I'd appreciate if you utilize my referral link  (be sure to open in an external web browser, outside of Instagram or Facebook so that your personal information is kept safe:) This offer is available until May 12th, 2025!

5/13/2025 Update: the 100K referral offer has ended (don't use my link to get the best bonus!). However, you can still find 100K sign up bonus through affiliate links and directly from Chase.com until 5/15. The 100K offer is said to be available in a local branch until 5/17/25.

Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here

Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!