TravelStrategies:*Comparing Chase's Premium Cards

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Chase has three credit cards which unlock your ability to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to one of their airline or hotel partners and that provide a bonus when you use your points to pay yourself back or pay for travel on Chase’s website. Most people are going to want to have at least one of these cards to maximize the value of their Ultimate Rewards points.

The increased value and flexibility, you get from these three cards, extends to the Ultimate Rewards you earn from all your Chase cards and accounts, not just to those earned from the card itself.

Two of the cards are personal cards and one of the cards is a business card. If you have any sort of side business, you are entitled to sign up for business cards, even if you have another full-time job, the business isn’t incorporated, and you haven’t made any money yet. Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards.

• Whether you should get the Sapphire Reserve or the Sapphire Preferred depends on your travel and restaurant spending. Once you account for the annual travel credit, the Sapphire Reserve winds up costing an extra $55 per year, compared to the Sapphire Preferred card. But, it earns an extra Ultimate Rewards point for each dollar of travel and restaurant spending. At a value of 1.7 cents per point, you'll get about an extra $20 in rewards, for every $1,000 you spend on travel and restaurants. If you are spending more than about $3,000 on travel and restaurants each year, the extra rewards outweighs the extra fees. As a side benefit, you'll also receive slightly better travel insurance protections.
  
• If you are going to be collecting signup bonuses, you are better off starting with the Sapphire Preferred. You'll be using most of your spending to meet the initial spending requirements of your new cards, so you won't be able to justify the lower signup bonus and higher annual fee of the Sapphire Reserve. Once you start slowing down, you can covert your Sapphire Preferred to the Sapphire Reserve.
• Many blogs pitch the free airport lounge access of the Sapphire Reserve as a major advantage. However, there is a good chance that you'll already have access from other premium cards. This is especially true, if you are signing up for many of these cards, to collect their lucrative signup bonuses.
• In addition, the Sapphire Reserve allows you to purchase travel with your Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents each, rather than at 1.25 cents. However, you can reliably receive more value per point by transferring them to Southwest or Hyatt for airline tickets or hotel rooms; and you can often get even more value by transferring them to other frequent flyer partners to use for award tickets. So, you are unlikely to take advantage of this increased redemption rate.
• If you don't expect to have airport lounge access from another card, the Sapphire Reserve card is almost always a good option. The automatic travel credit and extra rewards for travel and restaurant spending should more than pay for the card each year, allowing you to take advantage of lounge access with no out-of-pocket fee.



• If you get the Ink Preferred card for your business, you might not want to get one of the personal card as well. The Ink Preferred card already earns 3x Ultimate Rewards points on travel. You might already be using a card like the Citi Prestige or the Amex Gold for your restaurant spending. Unless you need the airport lounge access, you don't need to pay an extra annual fee for the Sapphire Reserve card.



However, if you are uncomfortable with using the Ink Preferred for personal spending, it can easily be worthwhile to get the Sapphire Reserve for its bonus rewards on travel and restaurant purchases.

	Chase Sapphire Reserve	Chase Sapphire Preferred	Ink Preferred
Bonus categories	3x Travel 3x Restaurants	2x Travel 2x Restaurants	3x Travel 3x Shipping, Telecom, Advertising
Value of points used as cash	1.5 cents	1.25 cents	1.25 cents
lounge access access	Yes	No	No
Travel credit	$300	None	None
Signup bonus	50,000	60,000	80,000
Car rental insurance	Primary	Primary	Primary (business rentals only)
Travel insurance benefits	Better	Good	Good
Annual fee	$450	$95, waived 1st year	$95
Effective annual fee	$150	$95	$95 Get Free Airport Lounge Access from a Credit Card Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards Ultimate Rewards Guide TravelStrategies:*Comparing Chase's Premium Cards/Page