Tag: Chase Sapphire Preferred

Point Check! January 2023

Posted on by David Cox

Because I had been denied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, Jenn decided to apply for it. I told her that I had been denied twice and that she shouldn’t get her hopes up. She filled out the application, hit enter, waited about 30 seconds and then began to taunt me because not only was she approved instantly, but they gave her a pretty big credit limit. Chase Sapphire Preferred, why do you hate me?! She still needles me about it, waving that card in front of me. I should probably divorce her.

Anyway, the Chase Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee. It offers 5x points on travel purchased through the Ultimate Rewards program, as well as a $50 hotel credit when booked through the Ultimate Rewards program. The card also earns 3x points on dining, streaming services and online groceries, 1x on everything else. She also will receive a 60,000 point bonus when she spends $4,000 within 3 months. What makes this card valuable, though, is the fact that it can be used to transfer points to 3 hotel programs and 11 airline miles programs. Also, it makes some other Chase cards in your wallet more useful, because, for example, if you had a Chase Freedom Flex, you can take advantage of the 5x points on certain categories and then transfer those points through the Sapphire and into those other programs.

I moved on to cash back cards, I know, boring. I applied for the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards card. It earns 3x on a category of your choice, 2x on grocery stores and warehouse stores and 1x on everything else. It offers a $200 bonus after spending $1,000 in 3 months. I don’t think I will use this card too much after earning the bonus, but it doesn’t have an annual fee, so there’s no reason to get rid of it.

Anyway, on to the point check!

I spent a little over $1,000 on my Citi Premier card and earned almost 2,900 Citi points. I also spent almost $600 on my United Explorer card and earned around 1,200 points. We spent almost $200 on Jenn’s Marriott Bonvoy on a hotel/park & ride near O’hare Airport with what I assume was a concrete mattress. That stay earned us almost 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points and a massive backache. Jenn spent $2,600 on her Chase Sapphire card and earned almost 4,600 Ultimate Reward points. She also finished off the necessary spending on her Ink Unlimited card with $1,300 and earned 2,000 points plus the 90,000 point bonus.

That left us with 23,300 Citi points, 40,400 United miles, 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, 1,400 Chase points, and 107,100 Ultimate Reward points.

According to valuations assigned to those points by The Points Guy, found at https://thepointsguy.com/guide/monthly-valuations/, these points and miles are worth around $3,400. At this point, we’ve developed a solid strategy and have stacked up quite a bonuses that should be hitting in the next few months. I expect this valuation to balloon over the next few months.

Point Check! December 2022

Posted on by David Cox

Shortly after Jenn signed up for the Chase Ink Unlimited card, they changed their sign up bonus. It had been $750 back after spending $7,500 within 3 months. The new offer was $900 after spending $6,000 in the first 3 months. The first reaction I had was “You gotta be kidding me! We missed it by a couple weeks!” Then I heard from a number of bloggers and podcasts that Chase was basically letting everyone level up their bonus if they just asked. So we just sent them an email asking for them to give us the new deal. The response was that if we met the original requirement, $7,500 spending in 3 months, then they would up the bonus to $900. It wasn’t as good as the $6,000 spend requirement, but I’ll take it. Chase, in my opinion, was very generous in giving their customers something that they had no obligation to do. It was a very classy move, in my opinion.

Why does Chase Sapphire Preferred hate me?

We had been talking about trying to bulk up our cash so that we could lessen cost of our spending in Europe. Our strategy was that since I was already at 4/24 and I would only be allowed one more Chase card anyway, that I would get one more Chase card and then start getting cash back cards. So I applied for the Chase card that I wanted more than any Chase card – The Chase Sapphire Preferred. I was denied. It was actually the second time I was denied for that card. The first time, they sent me an invitation with an elevated signup bonus and then proceeded to deny me. Chase Sapphire Preferred, you are a tease. It’s the only card I’ve been denied for, and I’ve been denied twice. My suspicion about why I’ve been denied twice is that I hadn’t waited long enough between new credit cards, but, it’s hard to know.

Anyway, on to the point check!

I spent $200 on my Citi Premier card and received around 300 Citi points. I was still getting 10x on gas on my United Explorer card so I was using that more. I spent $700 on that card and received 3,400 miles. Jenn was using just her Ink Unlimited card and spent $4,200 and received around 6,300 points.

We finished the month with 20,500 Citi points, 36,000 United miles, 49,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, 1,400 Hyatt points and 10,600 Ultimate Reward points.