Chase Sapphire Preferred

[Cappy]

We have a $17,500 patio project coming up and the installer allows us to pay with credit (no fee). I just paid the 5k deposit with my Chase Freedom card and was stoked to get that cash back then paid it off with savings. So now I'm thinking it could be smart to open a CSP card for the remaining payment(s). The bonus appears to be 100,000 points right now (4k in spending) which seems amazing. The annual fee is $95 but there's also $60 in peloton credits and I have a Peloton Digital subscription so there's value there. Is there anything I'm missing? Our credit scores are top tier/no debt but the house/no plans to finance anything/no recent cards opened.

For those who have CSP, are you happy? Does it show in your Chase portal like Freedom? (I love seeing the card along with my checking) How long before the cards come?

Also: If I refer DH for the $200 bonus and he charges 4k on his card we'd get another $1000k which would be great but I don't really want/need to pay $95 x 2 annually for the same card. He already has a Freedom card. Can I downgrade the card after the bonus/cashback to avoid next year's fees? 

Just trying to strategize bc the thought of $2200 cashback on this patio install sounds enticing.  

[turkletsmom]

We opened one in July because of the 100k. It does show up on your Chase portal (we have checking and a Freedom card also). You do have to pay the $95 fee upfront, but for the amount of the bonus, I think it's worth it. Also right now, they have Pay Yourself Back which is a 25% bonus on restaurants and groceries but it ends 9/30. So far I haven't found any downsides.


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[Poppy]

Agreed, I got it a few months ago when the bonus was $800. No issues. I don't know how long I'll keep it due to the annual fee, but so far obviously it has more than paid for itself. You can also transfer points from the Freedom to the CSP and redeem them for the bonus via Pay Yourself Back or booking travel.

It took a few weeks to come in and then it takes a few weeks after you complete your minimum spend to get the bonus, but you can transfer Freedom points immediately.

[Poppy]

This guide walks you through the web interface process to transfer your points:
thepointsguy.com/guide/transfer-ultimate-rewards-points-between-accounts/

And this one is about redeeming points with Pay Yourself Back:
thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-pay-yourself-back/

[dancingirl21]

We have it, along with the Chase Freedom, and find the CSP well worth the $95 annual fee. They have recently introduced some new/better perks including: 3x points on dining/delivery food, 3x points for online grocery services, and most important to us is 5x points on travel booked through Chase. My husband has recently started traveling for work. He flies every 2 weeks so we are racking up the points with this new system. Prior to the 5x, we still found it worthwhile and rarely pay for flights by using our points.

Also newly introduced is 10% points on your annual spend. That's a good amount of points for us, and will ensure we keep this card. 

It does show in your portal like Freedom and you are able to combine your Freedom and Sapphire points so that you can use them together.

I'm not sure about downgrading the card. We like it enough and get enough perks that we won't get rid of it. Are your finance separate? When DH and I applied for the card we both got one because our finances are together.

[Cappy]

dancingirl21, we both have our own Chase Freedom cards now and also a Chase combined checking that is combined. I just applied for the CSP using the link from turkletsmom, (thanks!). I guess my only question now is if DH should get his own or not. The bonus is fab, but not sure we'd find enough ongoing value to justify 2 annual fees. I know we could justify the one but we don't travel any more (covid/work changes) so he's just using his card for parking, lunch, and gasoline-- maybe $300-500/month. I do 90% of the spending/bills.

[turkletsmom]

Sept 8, 2021 8:23:34 GMT -5 Cappy said:

dancingirl21 , we both have our own Chase Freedom cards now and also a Chase combined checking that is combined. I just applied for the CSP using the link from turkletsmom , (thanks!). I guess my only question now is if DH should get his own or not. The bonus is fab, but not sure we'd find enough ongoing value to justify 2 annual fees. I know we could justify the one but we don't travel any more (covid/work changes) so he's just using his card for parking, lunch, and gasoline-- maybe $300-500/month. I do 90% of the spending/bills.

Thank you!!  Yeah I feel the same way about getting the second card.  I thought about getting it and then only keeping it for the time required (I think 2 years? not sure).  Which would cost $200 in annual fees for the second card but the bonus would more than make up for it.  For those that are good at points churning I'm sure it's a no-brainer, but I'm just too tired to keep up with it lol.  I'd have to make some sort of spreadsheet lol.

[Poppy]

Sept 8, 2021 8:23:34 GMT -5 Cappy said:

dancingirl21, we both have our own Chase Freedom cards now and also a Chase combined checking that is combined. I just applied for the CSP using the link from turkletsmom, (thanks!). I guess my only question now is if DH should get his own or not. The bonus is fab, but not sure we'd find enough ongoing value to justify 2 annual fees. I know we could justify the one but we don't travel any more (covid/work changes) so he's just using his card for parking, lunch, and gasoline-- maybe $300-500/month. I do 90% of the spending/bills.

Yeah, I don't know either. My H has no interest in juggling different cards so I have not tried to convince him to get his own. He is an authorized user on mine, though.

I made a spreadsheet to choose between the CSP and CSR and it shows that if I hold the card I will probably not be making up for the annual fee on an ongoing basis. So I will reevaluate and probably close the card in a year or two.

[sent]

I'm planning to apply for this card. My husband still has the CSR so he would need to downgrade that first and then apply. When I downgraded my CSR a few years ago, I was given a Chase Freedom card with no annual fee. I use that card for the 5x categories each month. I'm pretty sure you can downgrade the CSR after a year. Check the blogs out there to make sure of the particulars when downgrading. I seem to recall reading that if you don't downgrade within a certain time of the annual fee hitting or even before it hits, they won't credit any of that back to you whereas in the past they used to give you a prorated amount of the credit back.