Determining what the “best” credit card is a fruitless exercise. There are so many factors involved in picking out a card that answering what the “best” credit card is will be different for different people in different situations.
Still, I get asked all the time by friends, family and readers to recommend them a card to get and usually my answer is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card.
Why the Sapphire Preferred is my most recommended card
KEY LINK: Chase Sapphire Preferred card – 60,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months.
There are a variety of reasons why the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the card I most often recommend to people, especially people who are just learning about the world of miles and points credit card. In fact, I wrote a whole article about it!
(SEE ALSO: Why I keep recommending the Chase Sapphire Preferred for people starting out)
But to summarize, here are a few of the reasons why the Sapphire Preferred makes a lot of sense.
- The card usually gives a very good welcome offer – in this case, 60,000 Ultimate Rewards which are worth a minimum of $750 in travel
- Many folks I talk to already have a Chase Freedom as their “go to” card. So signing up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card lets you use those Ultimate Rewards you might ALREADY have with your Chase Freedom by transferring them to travel partners (instead of only using them for statement credits at 1 cent per point)
- It allows you to get a valuable signup bonus without locking you in to a particular hotel or airline. You can use your Chase Ultimate Rewards to transfer to British Airways (for my friend who is always flying to New York) or United or Southwest or Hyatt (or some combination of the above!)
- While in many cases, advanced users will get more value from transferring Ultimate Rewards to travel partners (as above), you CAN also use your Ultimate Rewards for travel at a rate of 1.25 cents per point. For most people I talk to, this is much easier to understand.
- Plus if you ARE later going to get into multiple credit cards, the Chase 5/24 rule might make it more difficult to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card later on
Chase Sapphire Preferred increased welcome offer
The standard offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred is 50,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4000 in the first 3 months of having the card. But now there is an increased welcome offer: 60,000 Ultimate Rewards after spending $4000 in the first 3 months.
One big (negative) difference is that the annual fee of $95 is NOT waived with this increased offer, so in effect you’re trading $95 in cash for 10,000 Ultimate Rewards. Since Ultimate Rewards are worth at a minimum 1 cent, you could always use the 10,000 Ultimate Rewards as a $100 statement credit, leaving you $5 ahead of the old offer.
Note that the fine print says that you’re not eligible for this offer if:
- You currently have any version of the Sapphire card
- You have gotten a welcome offer on any Sapphire card within the past 48 months
Where to sign up for this new offer
If you’d like to sign up for this new Chase Sapphire Preferred offer and support the site, you can find it here. I’d imagine most other bloggers and sites have their own affiliate links, so if you would rather support one of them, that’s your choice as well. And of course, if you’d rather give that money to Chase directly, I’m sure you can signup right on Chase’s website!
Thanks in advance if you choose to support this site by signing up for this or any other card and as always, if you have any questions, you can ask them on our free miles and points Facebook group or email me directly at dan at pointswithacrew dot com.
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Really ….it’s better then Chase Sapphire Reserve ? Please
Is the Preferred your choice because of annual fee of $95 compared to the reserve which is $450?
That’s one of the reasons. But when I say “best”, I’m thinking mostly in terms of explaining this to beginners. When random friend or family member comes up to me and says “what’s the best credit card I should get”, it’s always CSP. I know I’m not going to talk them into a $450 annual fee, even though, if you know what you’re doing, you absolutely can get more value out of it.
My son just asked me the same question last night and I have the same answer! I love the transfer points link from the Freedom card, the transfer airline partners, and the rental car insurance secondary coverage is the best out there. He has good credit and was instantly approved.