Chase Sapphire Preferred 40,000 Point Sign-up Bonus

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The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is offer 40,000 points after you make $3,000 in purchases in the first 3 months. There is a $95 annual fee, but it is waived for the first year. Thanks to the readers who sent this in. (There is also a regular Chase Sapphire card with no annual fee, that is offering 10,000 points after you only spend $500 in the first 3 months. Don’t get that one.)

What can you do with 40,000 points? You can get a credit towards a travel purchase of $500 (online booking free, but $20 fee via phone), or 40,000 frequent flier miles with a 1.25 miles per dollar point transfer. The exact participating airlines are unknown. Info taken from their benefits guide.

Rewards program quality? At 1 point per $1 spent with no special bonus categories, and only a 20% bonus for $50,000 in annual spending, this card is not worth a $95 annual fee. I’d sign-up, redeem the points for a quick and easy $400, and then cancel the card within the first year.

Instead, get a 1:1 frequent flier point transfer and 1.25 miles per $1 spent with the cheaper Starwood American Express card (which also has their own 25,000 Starpoint sign-up bonus).

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Comments

  1. Just wanted to verify for sure that you can signup for the card, get the reward, and cancel before the 1st year is up to avoid getting hit with the $95 annual fee?

    Seems too easy…how do they make any money off these kind of deals??

  2. Regarding the bonus 25,000 points: “This one-time bonus offer is valid only for first-time cardmembers with new accounts. Existing cardmembers/accounts are not eligible for this bonus offer.”

    Does this exclude existing Chase cardholders of different a credit card, such as the Chase Freedom credit card?

  3. Kuzbad – Well, I should say that they are probably targeting folks with excellent credit, as are most cards of this type, no very little credit risk for them. Same people also spend a lot on their cards. So they get 2-3% transaction fee on all your purchases. Plus the interest on people who carry balances. Plus late fees and other miscellaneous fees. Plus that $95 every year for people who don’t pay attention. I’m sure they have it all worked out. 🙂

    I’m well into the thousands of dollars by carefully treading in these “loss-leader” deals.

    Noj – Historically, this has always meant existing cardmembers of that specific type, i.e. Sapphire Card. So you can’t, for example, sign-up for five Sapphire cards and get $250 each. (This has happened before!)

  4. Isn’t it harmful to open credit cards and then close them? The record will still be one one’s credit report for 7 years… (see http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/credit/dont-cancel-that-credit-card.aspx)

  5. Tom – Good question.

    A credit inquiry will hurt your score slightly and temporarily. This makes them valuable. My going price is $100 and above. $250 is nice. $500 for a couple!

    The Fool article has correct points, but read carefully. Only the bad stuff really matters on for those 7 years. When you open a card, you make the average account age lower, but increase credit limit and improve utilization ratio. When you close a *new* card, the average age of open accounts goes back up, but utilization ratio goes down. When you close an *old” card, the average age goes down, AND the ratio goes down. As it states, if you have to close a card, close one of the “bad” cards. One that charges $95 a year is a bad card in my book. 🙂

  6. Jonathan (or anyone) – I reviewed the Offer Details, and can’t find any verification of getting a check for $250 sent to you. Can you clarify/confirm?

  7. Apologies. I just called the customer service rep, and she confirmed that a $250 check can be sent with the 25,000 bonus points (in addition to the other options like flight, etc).

  8. Wife and I in for 2…not bad!

    I really want to say a big thanks to Jonathan for all his work on this site. The first “deal card” I got based on recommendations here was the Citi driver card, and between finding limited time 5% cashbacks cards that we charged most our wedding and honeymoon on, we’ve gotten some really great deals over the past several years.

    Thanks!

  9. Thanks for the tip. How long does it take to open the account? I just applied and was bummed it wasn’t instant. I got a message saying I’d get a letter in 30 days. Maybe I didn’t qualify, but that would be a first.

  10. Tyrone Biggums says

    Thanks for the info. This is the first time I’ve ever signed up for a CC just for the intro reward. I have 2 other Chase cards and qualified instantly. I also used my login info to fill fields, so the whole process took me 90 seconds.

  11. well, I applied and was approved. That’s nice. However I don’t see where this is a visa, mastercard, or amex. Does anyone know what kind of card this is? I am thinking it’s bound to be one of these; did I miss something? Otherwise where would it be accepted?

  12. I got the notification in 30 day response. I have a Chase freedom card. BTW I used their prefill form option by letting them know of my existing user id. Not sure if it has anything to do with that.

  13. Vicfrom ATL says

    Jonathan,

    When does the company charge Annual Fee? Want to make sure the annual fee is not charged b4 I cancel.

    Thanks,

    Vic

  14. Signing up asks for annual income, but then says it must be at last $14,400. As a college student I do make anything near that, will they check to make sure I do if I put $15,000 or something like that?

  15. Methuslah says

    BE CAREFUL! I kept the webpage (http://www.chasesapphire.com/chase-sapphire-preferred/) open in my browser for a few days. A few minutes ago, I finally decided to go ahead and fill the application. I first RELOADED the page. It was immediately apparent that the part that says “annual fee waived first year” is gone!
    I haven’t read the details yet, but thought a warning to all of you was due.
    🙂

  16. DollarBill says

    In addition to annual fee, it now looks like the bonus has been reduced to 15,000 points. I applied when it was 25,000 with annual fee waived so it will be interesting to see how this works out.

  17. it still says annual fee is waived in the terms so you can probably hold them to it: http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?card=CHR8&page_type=appterms
    but it is only 15,000 points now

  18. I applied for this card last week and today I got a letter from them in the mail asking me for a copy of my most recent 1040 or W2 to prove my income. Are they crazy????????? I’m not sending my tax return to a credit card company! They just don’t need to know that much about me. I’ve never been asked for this before. And I am self-employed so the W2, which is less egregious, is not an option.

    Has anyone else had this experience?

  19. I applied for this card this past week. Just recently I have also recieved a letter from CHase asking me to provide a photocopy of my social security card and proof of current physical address.

    This sounds a bit fishy since I have never been asked for this info before by any bank. Also I already have 2 other credit card from chase (freedom and amazon.com).

    Any input?

  20. JP @ millionairemoneyblog.com says

    hey i called chase last night and they said the annual fee is STILL waived and there are 25000 bonus points available, but the application must be done through phone – the web promo was altered..

    hope you get your 250.00

  21. Hi Guys. I went thru the web before the 10th. I was approved, and just received my packet and card today. I called to activate card and the rep confirmed that my annual fee is waived and that i’ll receive 25,000 after first purchase. He seemed quite surprised and said thats one of the better offers he’s seen. When I told him I have one other chase credit card and I already see the sapphire card online, he said maybe that’s how I was able to qualify. That was presumptous of him as I have stellar credit 🙂 but i’m just psyched about free 250 dollars. hellllz yeah! I’ve gotten quite a few bonuses from Jonathans tips too and appreciate it !

  22. Anyone got their check yet? I was one of those “letter in 30 days” guys so I thought I didn’t make the cut, but got mine in the mail today. Now I need to use it, get my $250 and get out of it, stat.

  23. how high of a credit limit did this card give initially? more than your usual? or less?

  24. I got the card in mail a week back. Made first purchase last Thursday. Its been a week now, points still haven’t credited to my account.

  25. points will post when you recieve first statement with the charge.

  26. update: score! Today, my 25,000 bonus points finally showed up. I tried to redeem them on the web site for 2 125.00 checks, but it kept erroring out. So, I called the customer service line and 30 seconds later i was assured I would receive my 250.00 check by 8/21. Too good to be true!!! 😀 I can’t WAIT to cancel the card after I cash the check and make huge profit off of this! Thanks AGAIN Jonathan. Keep up the good work.

  27. sapphireLost says

    I would not recommend this card. I recently accepted their offer to upgrade from my Chase rewards card to their Chase sapphire card. Their so-called ‘upgrade’ seems actually a downgrade. Unlike the previous card, this one:
    1. Does not offer gas rewards at all, leave alone the 5% I was getting.
    2. Only a 1% reward for online regular purchases.
    3. A 2% reward if you purchase travel stuff ONLY if you go via their chase.com site.

    I cannot go back now.
    Basically, I think their old previous chase rewards card was getting too expensive for them and they pushed this worthless sapphire card – polished well by their marketing team.

  28. Same as Nate.

    I see my 25,000 points but I cannot checkout. I keep getting an error message. I will keep trying online for a couple more days before calling though.

  29. Chase can take their cards and SHOVE IT where the sun don’t shine. They are nothing but LIARS. They tack on all sorts of fees to the card and paying the minimum or even half of the card balance isn’t good enough for them. They will just close your account after a couple of times of you only paying half the card balance, report you to the credit bureaus as “delinquent” and send 10 different debt collectors after you. I’m not kidding about this.

    There is NO negotiating with them. It’s either you pay the card in full or you will be paying through the nose with their miscellaneous fees. I wouldn’t recommend Chase to a dog for Christ sakes.

    Don’t get a card with Chase and certainly DO NOT open a bank account with Chase. You will be SORRY beyond belief if you have an account with Chase. Chase will close your bank account without warning if you don’t keep more than $12 in it at any given time. $12 that goes towards their “monthly service fee”. And after they close your bank account, your name gets listed in Chex System and you have NO choice but to get a second chance checking account. There is NO way of getting your name out of the Chex System.

    If you have an account with Chase, CLOSE IT NOW. DO NOT WAIT. DO NOT PATRONIZE THEM. Don’t patronize businesses that practice deceptive tactics. I will HATE Chase forever and a day. I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through with Chase. It’s mind blowing the way they operate.

  30. my 25000 just appeard on the statement and I have already used it for $100 and $150 checks. I will wait until next spring/summer to contact chase about a card downgrade… (one without a yearly fee) a downgrade is preferable to cancelation of the card.

    @Ace the Credit card industry would prefer that you only make minimal payments. Your comments defy logic. Read the terms and conditions and never miss a payment. As for bank accounts, same deal… know the terms and conditions, if it takes direct deposits or a minimum balance requirement make sure you are meeting those terms. It’s not rocket science but it does take some ability to understand the conditions and time to set up/monitor the accounts.

  31. ACE Is Wrong says

    I had a student credit card with chase for 7 years and just recently upgraded to a Chase Sapphire card. I don’t know what sort of fees you’re talking about! Also, why would you run up a credit card that you cannot pay off in full at the end of each month?!?!? You do know that you get charged interest on any unpaid balance at the end of each statement, correct? Anyways, you sound very financially irresponsible and should probably not even have a credit card!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  32. Just a heads up that it looks like they no longer offer 25,000 points on preferred. It is now showing 15,000.

  33. i make $35,000 but my credit is 740ish i signed up for two credit cards last month – amazon.com visa and american express blue and got approved for both (this was about 24 days ago, both signed up one after another)

    1. do you think i will get approved for the chase preferred sapphire?
    2. if i get denied, will it hurt my credit score?

    i notice the offer is 15000 bonus points after spenidng $1000. did everyone else get this deal?

    I read earlier that they offered 25,000 bonus points and first year fee waived, so you could get $250 check in the mail for openieng the account. Was there a minimum amount required to be charged when they offered the 25000 points?

    (i just want to know so i dont feel bad about missing out on this deal..lol)

    also, if i get the preferred, can i drop down to the regular sapphire without having to apply for the card (dont want them runinng my credit again)

  34. We just hit the 1 year mark on this offer and Chase charged a $95 annual fee. Yikes! I called their customer service line and you can get rid of the annual fee by canceling the card. It was very easy and only took 3 minutes. It was still very worth it to make an easy $250. Thanks Jonathan!

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