Whether you’re looking for cash back or travel rewards, this credit card has enough perks to satisfy almost any customer.

With a consistently strong welcome offer and multiple ways to earn and redeem points, if you are looking for a one-card wallet, you should highly consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you earn Chase Ultimate Rewards points, one of the most valuable and flexible rewards points systems out there. You can redeem them for cash back, transfer them to travel partners (such as Southwest or United Airlines), or book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

By booking through the Ultimate Rewards portal, your points are worth an extra 25%. So, for example, a $500 plane ticket would cost you 40,000 points.

80,000 Point Welcome Offer

When you spend $4,000 in the first three months after opening your Chase Sapphire Preferred, you earn 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points.

80,000 Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed for $800 in cash back, or $1,000 in travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards booking portal.

In addition, you can earn up to $50 in statement credits for grocery purchases in the first year.

Chase Sapphire Preferred Overview

Here’s a quick overview of the features of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card:

• Earn 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending a minimum of $4,000 in the first three months
• Earn 2X points on travel and dining out (including delivery services and takeout)
• Earn 1 point per dollar on all other purchases
• $95 annual fee
• $0 foreign transaction fees
• Additional benefits including –
  • Trip Cancellation Insurance
  • Lost Luggage Insurance
  • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver

The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is one of the strongest offers available today, whether you prefer cash back or traveling rewards.

If you plan to do any traveling, it can be a especially great card to have with the 2X bonus on travel/dining spending, and the additional 25% reward bonus for booking travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

How to Redeem Ultimate Rewards Points

While there are many great rewards credit cards out there, Chase has built one of the most flexible rewards system with their Ultimate Rewards points.

In general, 100 Ultimate Rewards points = $1.00 in value, but there are ways to get even more value out of them.

Here are just a few ways to redeem your points and get the most out of your rewards.

1. Redeem Points for Cash Back (Up to 25% Bonus)

Most cards give you either good cash back rewards or good travel rewards. But not Chase. With Ultimate Rewards points you get both.

If you’d like to get cash back through a statement credit or direct deposit, you can redeem for 1 cent per point. That makes the 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points welcome offer worth $800 in cash back.

However, you can also use the Pay Yourself Back feature to get an additional 25% of value from your points when you redeem for a statement credit toward purchases in select, rotating categories. This increases the value of your 80,000 points to $1,000.

2. Book Travel Through the Chase Ultimate Rewards Portal (25% Bonus)

Chase Ultimate Rewards offers their own travel booking portal, where you can spend your points similarly to cash, but with a bonus.

With Chase’s booking portal, each Ultimate Rewards point is worth 1.25 cents as long as you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. So that makes your 80,000 points worth $1,000 in travel.

You can book airfare, hotels, and more, all using your points and receiving a 25% boost in value.

3. Transfer Points to a Chase Airline or Hotel Partner (Variable Bonus)

It’s always worth comparing what it would cost to book an airline ticket or hotel room in the Ultimate Rewards portal vs. transferring the points to one of Chase’s travel partners.

For example, if you’re looking for a luxury hotel stay, it can often be cheaper to transfer points to Hyatt and book using Hyatt points rather than Ultimate Rewards points. In some cases, you could almost double the value of your points depending on your exact redemption.

Chase’s transfer partners include:

• British Airways
• Southwest Airlines
• JetBlue
• United
• Aer Lingus
• Singapore Airlines
• Virgin Atlantic
• Iberia
• Hyatt
• IHG
• Marriott

Other Ways to Earn Ultimate Rewards Points

One of the benefits of Chase Ultimate Rewards is that you can earn points through many of their credit cards, both business and personal.

Here are some of the other Chase credit cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points:

• Chase Ink Business Preferred (business or side hustle owners)
• Chase Ink Business Unlimited (business cash back)
• Chase Freedom Unlimited (no fee personal credit card)

The Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Ink Business Preferred have some special perks that earn you extra value when redeeming through the Chase travel portal, and also allow you to transfer your points to Chase’s travel partners.

The Chase Freedom Unlimited and Ink Business Unlimited do not have those abilities by themselves, but as long as you have one of the “premium” cards above, you can combine your points in that account to take advantage of the extra rewards.

RELATED: How To Earn $2,000 Per Year With Credit Card Rewards

How To Maximize Your Card Benefits

The Chase Sapphire Preferred can be a one-stop-shop credit card. The majority of your daily spending can be done using this card because of the excellent point earning potential.

With the sign up bonus alone, you can get $800 cash back or $1,000 in travel, enough to book a nice trip.

Here are some tips on how to maximize the value from the Chase Sapphire Preferred:

• When dining out, use the Chase Sapphire Preferred for the 2X point bonus.
• Both you and a spouse can apply for the card. This allows you to double your earning potential and also combine points into one account.
• Before booking travel, check the cost of booking through the Chase portal vs. transferring points. In some cases, it can be a lot cheaper to transfer to a partner and book from there.
• If you do transfer points, just remember you can’t get them back into your Chase account afterwards.
• If you need a little help meeting the minimum spend requirement, consider pre-paying recurring bills like phone, cable, utilities, insurance, etc. They never seem to mind getting paid early.

Use This Credit Card In Your One-Card Wallet

While there are many good rewards credit cards available, if you are looking to simplify and only carry a single card, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is worth a look. With Chase’s flexible Ultimate Rewards Points, you can earn points with every purchase that can be redeemed for cash, travel, or transferred to one of many travel partners for potentially even greater rewards.

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This article was produced by Wealthy Nickel and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

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