A Shout Out to the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

[ekatiel]

Loving this credit card. We applied for it after reading some good reviews. We are headed on a trans Atlantic cruise next fall and we will need a chip and pin card, so we went with this one. The rewards are so flexible-- I just transferred points 1 to 1 to Southwest instantly and bought us plane tickets for our Spring Break trip to Disney. I couldn't believe how quickly they showed up in DH's rapid rewards account. It took seconds. We are now putting all our everyday expenses on this card and paying it off each month. This will be our go-to card from now on. It works really well for us because it has one to one transfer for Southwest and United, the two major airlines we fly out of Houston. Just thought others might be interested in a good CC review .

 

[GOOFY D]

Can you get cash back rewards (and at what rate, i.e. how do points convert to $$$)?

 

[Eastern]

I had this card but cancelled after a year when the annual fee kicked in ($95)

 

[Pooh2]

Can you get cash back rewards (and at what rate, i.e. how do points convert to $$$)?

They used to have an option to "Pay Yourself Back", a credit on your statement but just did away with that. There is no cash back option.

 

[GatorMomInNC]

They used to have an option to "Pay Yourself Back", a credit on your statement but just did away with that. There is no cash back option.

I was told that I can use the points I have accumulated the first year and convert to cash (equivalent of about $1300). Apparently they will deposit it in a checking account.

Also, if you book travel through them you will get a %20 points bonus.

 

[Pooh2]

I was told that I can use the points I have accumulated the first year and convert to cash (equivalent of about $1300). Apparently they will deposit it in a checking account.

Also, if you book travel through them you will get a %20 points bonus.

Mmm.. have not seen that cash option. They sent me an email over the summer with alot of changes, being phased out by 2015. The 7% back dividend is being phased out as well as the Pay Yourself back option.
They did add Primary Car Rental insurance.

 

[Eastern]

I have tried looking up the cash back option but I'm still not sure what applies. Looks like you can get account credit to your card or bank if it is a Chase account, but no more paper checks. And debit products need to pay 1 cent per point to do this? Confusing.

Supposedly they are changing the name from "pay yourself back" to something else because 'people were getting confused'.

 

[btk2333]

You can redeem for cash- I have the card as well- 100 UR points converts to $1. For travel and dining expenses this equates to 2% cash back and for all other expenses it's 1%. This isn't great value; however, as you can usually get much better value by transferring the points into one of the rewards partners (such as United Mileage Plus) and using the miles to book your flights.

 

[MomToOne]

We are headed on a trans Atlantic cruise next fall and we will need a chip and pin card, so we went with this one.

Are you sure the card is a chip and pin card, and not a chip and signature card? Last I checked, the CSP card was chip and signature. You might want to call the bank and double check. Chip and signature will work overseas in most hotels, restaurants and stores but probably won't work in kiosks such as train/metro station ticket machines. Not a big deal, you just have to go to a manned ticket window in that case, but you might want to be clear on just what you have before you go.

If it turns out that CSP is chip and signature and you really want a chip and pin, check out the Barclay Arrival+ Mastercard. It is chip and signature by default but if a machine doesn't recognize that, it will flip to chip and pin mode. As of this summer, it was one of the few major US bank credit cards to offer anything that could be considered chip and pin. I had good success with it in France this past summer - it worked in various kiosks with no problem. You should be able to get it with no annual fee for the first year, and it has no foreign transaction fees. (But I'm not saying give up your CSP card - sounds like you are very happy with it. Maybe just get the Arrival+ card too strictly for travel, then cancel the account after your trip so you aren't hit with any annual fees.)

 

[LauraLea]

Are you sure the card is a chip and pin card, and not a chip and signature card? Last I checked, the CSP card was chip and signature. You might want to call the bank and double check. Chip and signature will work overseas in most hotels, restaurants and stores but probably won't work in kiosks such as train/metro station ticket machines. Not a big deal, you just have to go to a manned ticket window in that case, but you might want to be clear on just what you have before you go.

If it turns out that CSP is chip and signature and you really want a chip and pin, check out the Barclay Arrival+ Mastercard. It is chip and signature by default but if a machine doesn't recognize that, it will flip to chip and pin mode. As of this summer, it was one of the few major US bank credit cards to offer anything that could be considered chip and pin. I had good success with it in France this past summer - it worked in various kiosks with no problem. You should be able to get it with no annual fee for the first year, and it has no foreign transaction fees. (But I'm not saying give up your CSP card - sounds like you are very happy with it. Maybe just get the Arrival+ card too strictly for travel, then cancel the account after your trip so you aren't hit with any annual fees.)

This...

You will also find MasterCard more accepted than Visa in Europe.

Laura

 

[ekatiel]

Thanks for the heads up about chip and pin vs. chip and signature. I will check into it.