Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card any good?

[international001]

I spend a lot internationally.
I only got the card for the bonus, so I'm planning to ditch it within one year because of the fee. But I was thinking if I should use it before the year ends.

Still, I'm only getting 1% back (1.25% if I redeem travels via their website)
I can get much better with others like BankofAmetrica Travel Rewards, that has no fee

Am I missing something? What it's the point of a high fee credit card like this?

[aprilcpa]

The biggest reason I keep the Sapphire preferred is the primary rental car insurance. We typically rent for more than 2 weeks so that alone saves us more than the annual fee.

[Jags4186]

On its own it is simply OK. As the above poster noted you get primary car rental insurance which is nice. One of the few $95 annual fee cards that offers that.

The use is that it’s points transfer to frequent flyer miles and those points can we worth much more than $0.0125/to. It’s best when paired with other chase products. For example Chase Freedom gets 5pts per dollar on rotating categories and Chase Ink Cash gets 5x on office supply stores and cellphone charges.

[Olemiss540]

Aren't you getting 2x on travel and dining? That's 2.5% back when booking through the portal if you do a lot of traveling.

I wouldn't use it for grocery store runs or paying utility bills.

[02nz]

You get 2 points per dollar spent on dining and travel. If you're not spending much in those categories, a no-annual-fee card might be better (but make sure it doesn't charge foreign transaction fees - there aren't many cards like that, the BoA card you mentioned is one). If you spend a lot in those categories, the Sapphire Reserve is a better choice, as it earns 3 points per dollar for dining and travel and has other perks like a Priority Pass membership. It has a heft annual fee but the net cost is just $150 after the travel credits.

[Chan_va]

I have the Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee is $450 vs. $95 for the Preferred, but you get $300 back as travel credit. So, the effective cost is $150/yr, and you get Priority pass lounge access. I travel often enough to make that worthwhile for me. Plus, there are a number of other benefits too.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-sa ... e-reserve/

[ohai]

I believe this is the card that had a very generous miles bonus when it launched. As a result, a lot of people signed up and JPM even had to slow down a lot of the applications. Since then, they have reduced the benefits and now it's just ok. Apparently, people still like the card because it is made of metal and it is like a status accessory...

Seems like a pain to dispose of these metal cards, to be honest. How do you shred it?

[02nz]

I believe this is the card that had a very generous miles bonus when it launched. As a result, a lot of people signed up and JPM even had to slow down a lot of the applications. Since then, they have reduced the benefits and now it's just ok. Apparently, people still like the card because it is made of metal and it is like a status accessory...

Seems like a pain to dispose of these metal cards, to be honest. How do you shred it?

I think you're referring to the Sapphire Reserve, which came after the Preferred (both remain available). The Reserve launched with a lot of fanfare because of the 100K bonus. It no longer has that big bonus but changes to benefits have been very minor (e.g., you no longer earn 3x points on the $300 in travel that get credited back annually, a loss of 900 points a year, value of maybe $15).

You don't shred the metal cards. Citi sent me a small postage-paid envelope to send back the metal Prestige when I canceled that card. I believe Chase does the same, or at least you can ask for it when canceling the card.

[MotoTrojan]

Great bonus but I prefer combo of Wells Propel and Signature. 4.5% on food travel and gas when used on airfare with no annual fee. Chase makes more sense if you transfer points for increased value but that’s a lot of work.

[miamivice]

I am not sure why everyone reacts with the adversion regarding foreign transaction fees. It adds a few percent to the cost of a trip. So if a person was going to spend $5000 on a trip, they now spend $5150.

While any fee is irritating, I know few people that go on international trips on a frequent basis. Maybe at most 1 trip every couple years. I am not sure I would open a different credit card just to avoid a fee paid occasionally while on travel.

[MichCPA]

You should be able to beat the 1.25x value of point by using transfer partners. Hyatt hotel or the airlines can get you value closer to 2x. I agree with the poster who mentioned the Propel and WF Visa Signature. If you are starting from scratch that is a great system for no fees. If you want to stick the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited provide good incremental value for holders of the CSP if you can get the 1.5 to 2 cents per point through the transfer partners.

[TravelGeek]

I am not sure why everyone reacts with the adversion regarding foreign transaction fees. It adds a few percent to the cost of a trip. So if a person was going to spend $5000 on a trip, they now spend $5150.

While any fee is irritating, I know few people that go on international trips on a frequent basis. Maybe at most 1 trip every couple years. I am not sure I would open a different credit card just to avoid a fee paid occasionally while on travel.

Welcome to Bogleheads. Have you seen the various “Ally increased the CD rates by 0.05% points” threads yet?

There are plenty of cards that offer 0% Forex - I certainly see no reason to use one that doesn’t. Finding/having a 0% Forex card was not a burden for me. And for what it’s worth, I travel internationally more than once a year, I don’t necessarily spend $5k abroad each time, but it still adds up. That doesn’t mean it’s the right thing for you to do, but I wouldn’t criticize those of us who have done the math and found it beneficial

[02nz]

I am not sure why everyone reacts with the adversion regarding foreign transaction fees. It adds a few percent to the cost of a trip. So if a person was going to spend $5000 on a trip, they now spend $5150.

While any fee is irritating, I know few people that go on international trips on a frequent basis. Maybe at most 1 trip every couple years. I am not sure I would open a different credit card just to avoid a fee paid occasionally while on travel.

I'm so glad there are people like you, happily paying hundreds, even thousands of dollars in fees. Thank you for paying for my credit card rewards. So please don't change a thing! Can you please also start paying some interest while you're at it?

[deltaneutral83]

Wrong forum, use Flyertalk, mounds of misinformation here on credit cards.

[TravelGeek]

Wrong forum, use Flyertalk, mounds of misinformation here on credit cards.

Maybe you could help make this a better place then by correcting misinformation.

[cinghiale]

Check and see if Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same travel arrangement as Chase Sapphire Reserved: 3 points are given for each dollar spent on travel and dining and a 50% value increase comes with using points for travel. That, with the very generous initial bonus (I got in on the first 100K offer), translates into some remarkably good travel awards for hotels and rental cars.

Poster deltaneutral83 needs to back up the rather snarky claim that this forum serves up “mounds of misinformation” on credit cards. People here do not exist in a vacuum. Read carefully, and you will find lots of cross-pollination with The Points Guy and other travel-related sites.

[jayk238]

I am not sure why everyone reacts with the adversion regarding foreign transaction fees. It adds a few percent to the cost of a trip. So if a person was going to spend $5000 on a trip, they now spend $5150.

While any fee is irritating, I know few people that go on international trips on a frequent basis. Maybe at most 1 trip every couple years. I am not sure I would open a different credit card just to avoid a fee paid occasionally while on travel.

I'm so glad there are people like you, happily paying hundreds, even thousands of dollars in fees. Thank you for paying for my credit card rewards. So please don't change a thing! Can you please also start paying some interest while you're at it?

Yah agreed. I dont quite understand a defense of transaction fees.

[deltaneutral83]

Poster deltaneutral83 needs to back up the rather snarky claim that this forum serves up “mounds of misinformation” on credit cards. People here do not exist in a vacuum. Read carefully, and you will find lots of cross-pollination with The Points Guy and other travel-related sites.

There are pros that have expert level knowledge on credit cards and have posted as such over there on FT, wikis upon wikis (just like here!) which are much more organized for the masses. My concern was that the OP would make a decision based off seeing some (glaringly) incorrect information here (for one, the CSP and CSR are two totally different products and several posts have made no such distinction, if someone were to make no distinction between VTSAX and VTIAX on FT I'd identify that and encourage them to come to BH rather than get a drive by explanation from a mere mortal like myself).

[cinghiale]

deltaneutral83 wrote.
There are pros that have expert level knowledge on credit cards and have posted as such over there on FT, wikis upon wikis (just like here!) which are much more organized for the masses. My concern was that the OP would make a decision based off seeing some (glaringly) incorrect information here (for one, the CSP and CSR are two totally different products and several posts have made no such distinction, if someone were to make no distinction between VTSAX and VTIAX on FT I'd identify that and encourage them to come to BH rather than get a drive by explanation from a mere mortal like myself).

I appreciate the cordial and informative clarification of your position. Thank you.

[fujiters]

I am not sure why everyone reacts with the adversion regarding foreign transaction fees. It adds a few percent to the cost of a trip. So if a person was going to spend $5000 on a trip, they now spend $5150.

While any fee is irritating, I know few people that go on international trips on a frequent basis. Maybe at most 1 trip every couple years. I am not sure I would open a different credit card just to avoid a fee paid occasionally while on travel.

I don't think having another card is much hassle. Definitely less work than I'd otherwise have to do to earn $150.

If OP isn't getting enough value from the perks of the card (points transfer to United, Hyatt, etc and basic travel insurance to include primary collision damage for rental cars), no sense in paying the fee. The Capital One Quicksilver is a good, no fee alternative. No foreign transaction fees, 1.5% cash back.

[02nz]

Check and see if Chase Sapphire Preferred has the same travel arrangement as Chase Sapphire Reserved: 3 points are given for each dollar spent on travel and dining and a 50% value increase comes with using points for travel.

The third and fourth replies to the OP already addressed this.

[cinghiale]

I see that now. Thanks.

But what about the 50% value increase for points used for travel? That, in effect, turns the 2x point awards into 3x point awards.

[02nz]

As Jags4186 noted (way up) you get 1.25 cent/point with the Sapphire Preferred vs 1.5/point with the Reserve, when booking through the UR portal. As always with Chase UR points, you can freely transfer between your own accounts (and to household members' accounts) to get more value, e.g. the points earned with the no-fee Freedom or Ink Cash are worth more once transferred to a Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account.

[edudumb]

I spend a lot internationally.
I only got the card for the bonus, so I'm planning to ditch it within one year because of the fee. But I was thinking if I should use it before the year ends.

Still, I'm only getting 1% back (1.25% if I redeem travels via their website)
I can get much better with others like BankofAmetrica Travel Rewards, that has no fee

Am I missing something? What it's the point of a high fee credit card like this?

I'm downgrading my Preferred to the non-fee version. The only thing I like about Preferred is the 1.25x travel credits redeemed on their website (I had very minimal travel expenses, yet with the signup bonus I still managed to book 1 return trip to Asia + 2.5 domestic one-way trips for free).

Now I use SunTrust travel elite (same $95 annual fee, waived first year, 3x travel points, 2 free lounge uses; Global entry/ TSA reimbursed, travel insurance etc). I don't recommend SunTrust travel elite card either, but it's still better than Preferred.

[rich126]

This is another topic you can debate endlessly. How do you value points?

No cash back value CC can provide the extreme value of miles, if you can use them. For example, I've used miles to get $20K+ (each ticket) R/T first class tickets for 2 people (US to Europe) for about 120,000 miles per ticket. Does that mean the points should be valued at over 16 cents per point?

And whether you can get the best "value" for your points also depends on whether you are flexible with your dates, destinations and get lucky with finding availability.

Personally I think it is a lot tougher to use the points and miles than before. I certainly think 2 cents (or 2%) would be on the low end of many awards. Using points on the portals (such as Chase or AmEx) in lieu of cash aren't great values.

As someone else pointed out, initially there was the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, then they came out with the Chase Sapphire Reserve card which had a significant annual fee ($450) which actually was $150 top since they auto credited you $300 on travel expenses w/o you jumping through hoops (for example if you bought a $400 airline ticket, you'd get $300 credit for that, or other travel expenses). There were other benefits as well which is why so many people got it. Along with 100,000 (maybe more) points once you spent a few thousand on it in the first 3 months you had the card. At a minimum if you used the portal and only got 1.5 cents from it, that was $1,500.

Plus if you combined one of the cards (Preferred or Reserve) with the Chase Freedom card, then you can exchange the Freedom points for miles instead of just cash and potentially get much more return on your card.

The Reserve card gives you 3 points per $1 spent on travel and dining. So even if you use their portal that is 3% return. The Freedom card has 3 categories that vary quarterly that give you 5 pts per $1 spent in those categories.

While there is a potential to do well with the cards, as I mentioned above, things are getting more difficult and what you get out of it may vary greatly. Some people are willing to go the extra mile and can do well with various CCs, others prefer the lazy method (kind of like investing) and are satisfied with 1-2% cash back.

[THY4373]

OP you really need to figure out what features of the card are important to you and what value you will get out of the points. I personally find Chase UR overvalued at least for my purposes. I think between the bloggers and the fact that Chase UR has three of the known domestic airlines makes folks attracted to UR and Hyatt as a hotel partner isn't bad either. I am heavy into using CCs for points and I do not hold the CSP though I do hold a couple of other UR cards.

For me I care about international travel in business and first class and for that UR doesn't bring a lot to the table. United is ok but there are better Star Alliance carriers (via which I can book United flights if I care to) that are transfer partners with other bank currencies. BA and VS have insane taxes and fees and aren't unique to UR. Singapore is nice but again not unique to Chase. Southwest and Jet Blue have no use for me for international travel. Air Fance/KLM has its uses but the program has gone a long way towards Delta with no awards chart and seemingly random awards pricing and again not unique to Chase (also SkyTeam is the weakest airline alliance in my opinion). Iberia and Aer Lingus are part of IAG which owns BA, their taxes and fees can be better and there are some opportunities here depending on where you travel from and to but only the former has much use for me.

But to somebody else who travels a lot domestically then their math might be different. The one value I do get out of UR is they are fairly easy to earn compared to some other currencies. I suggest one really crunch their own numbers on the value you they are likely to get and make their own decisions don't always go with the flow if it doesn't work for you.

[shelanman]

If you value frequent flyer points on United, BA, Singapore, or KLM, then Sapphire cards can be great.

Almost everybody for whom the Preferred card is valuable will find that the Reserve is better for them (the extra 1pt/dollar on dining and travel overcoming the $65 of effective annual fee increase). They will also find that the Freedom Preferred is a good companion to it.

The airline miles game is gradually getting less lucrative, as enough people have started playing it effectively that airlines are making it more annoying and less valuable.

[SandysDad]

Here is my chase strategy. I use 2 cards:
Chase Sapphire RESERVE ($450)
Chase freedom unlimited ($0/ yr)

All the points I earn on Freedom unlimited I transfer on Chases site to my sapphire reserve account. Freedom pays 1.5 its on all spend. I use it for all my shopping etc. Then when I redeem points on Chase portal I transfer them to sapphire where they redeem at 1.5 cents per point for a cash value to original spend of 2.25 cents per dollar of original spend (or 2.25%). For dinning / travel, I get 3 points per dollar of spend on Reserve , so redemption is 4.5 percent. This is when booking thru chase's own portal, not transferring to the airlines themselves.

These are very high percentages, and if I hoard points, I can make them go even further with international business class airfare.

If you redeem for the right business class tickets, you can easily get the rewards to equal over 10% of your original spend. An incredible value. IT does not always or even 1/2 the time work this way, but when it does it is really sweet.

The business class tickets are the fluff, the 2.25 / 4.5% of original spend in travel credit is what you can bank on.

The sapphire gives an Automatic $300 credit. So it costs $150/yr as others pointed out. To me it is worth it to keep for priority pass and a few other things they do. There are other chase cards you can get to juice this even more with 5x on office or whatever, but to me the 2 card strategy is simplist

(The preferred the OP uses is decent by the extra $55 is worth it to me for the 3x on travel dining, and the 1.5 redemption rather than 1.25 redemption).

[international001]

Thx for the answers

I'm a person with simpler needs than most. I guess for some particular spending habits it could be worth it, but not in general.

(newest) quicksilver and chase freedom unlimited are good (1.5% back), but still they don't beat the TravelRewards (1.65%). For travel, AAA rewards gives me 3%. So I guess I still could use CSP for dining and get 2%. But I don't dine out that much.

I didn't know about the trick of transforming chase freedom unlimited. In combination with CSP, it could be 1.5% * 1.25%. 1.875%, but still hard to justify the annual fee vs TravelRewards (I would have to spend > 40k/year; with CSR, I would have to spend more than 75k/ year)

If you use the travel, it could be worth it if you use miles of particular companys and travel on low season. But I can get better flight deals on some local agencies. As a true BH, I travel tourist.

What is the big thing about primary car insurance? I have my own personal car insurance in US and the rest of the cards offer Collision Damage Waiver. Is just to avoid raising premiums if you rent a car in US and you cause the accident? I guess it's a good deal if you plan to do lots of US rentals and you don't have a personal car insurance. The likelihood of having an accident and raising premiums is the same whether you drive a rental or you drive your own car

[oldcomputerguy]

I believe this is the card that had a very generous miles bonus when it launched. As a result, a lot of people signed up and JPM even had to slow down a lot of the applications. Since then, they have reduced the benefits and now it's just ok. Apparently, people still like the card because it is made of metal and it is like a status accessory...

Seems like a pain to dispose of these metal cards, to be honest. How do you shred it?

With an acetylene torch?

[oldcomputerguy]

The airline miles game is gradually getting less lucrative, as enough people have started playing it effectively that airlines are making it more annoying and less valuable.

In fact I never found much value in chasing airline points personally. DW and I generally fly once or twice a year, so we keep the Delta AmEx simply for the free checked bags and "priority" (yeah, right) boarding. But free bags are a nice perk. I could care less about the points, we'll never fly frequently enough to make significant use of airline points. I'd much rather shovel all my spending to our 2% cashback cards.

[shelanman]

The airline miles game is gradually getting less lucrative, as enough people have started playing it effectively that airlines are making it more annoying and less valuable.

In fact I never found much value in chasing airline points personally. DW and I generally fly once or twice a year, so we keep the Delta AmEx simply for the free checked bags and "priority" (yeah, right) boarding. But free bags are a nice perk. I could care less about the points, we'll never fly frequently enough to make significant use of airline points. I'd much rather shovel all my spending to our 2% cashback cards.

I get an absolute ton of value out of my airline miles game. I've had a wide variety of flights that I would never have been able to buy any other way. The downside is that I have to travel when the airline wants instead of when I want, and it takes me weeks-to-months to book trips.

For example I spent 140,000 + $250 last year booking flights from Los Angeles - London - Frankfurt - Seattle, business class the whole way. Given that most of the points came from Chase, that's $2100 worth of points at the $0.015/pp available on the Reserve card. That makes the flight sequence about $2350 of cost -- but tickets for that would have cost me somewhere around $6500 if I'd paid cash. $2350 for tickets is a stretch for me. $6500 is out of the realm of possibility. (For comparison, economy tickets for this routing would have been around $1300ish, but I could have gone more-or-less-exactly when I wanted, instead of on the one set of dates they offered.)

This year, I'm travelling to Australia. Again, it cost me about $2400 worth of points-and-cash. That's not bad for a round trip in Qantas' first class, which regularly sells for $13,000 per ticket. (While I was shopping, Qantas sent me an advert for their "Valentine's Day Sale" offering me this flight for the special price of $9,999 each if I bought two).

Basically, playing the game (which is a super un-fun game) lets me occasionally fly in Business or First class for the price of Premium Economy. But it really only works if you're super flexible, willing to search for flights every day for weeks on end to look for a flight, and book whatever comes up immediately even if it isn't the ideal dates.

Five years ago, when I started this game, it was much better. Instead of 140,000-160,000 points, I only needed 100,000-120,000 points, the points were easier to earn, and redemption availability was about 2-3x as good. At the present rate of decay, in 5 more years, I'll probably stop playing the game.

If you don't care about business class tickets, then the miles game is much easier, but less lucrative. I could travel to Europe almost any day I'd like for 60,000 points + $200 round trip. Or to Australia for 80,000 points + $100 round trip. It's easy to book, there's lots of availability. But, that doesn't get great value per point. At $0.015/pp, that is $1100 round-trip to Europe or $1300 round-trip to Australia -- and you can usually find cash tickets for that price or lower.

[NotYourAverageJones]

I have the Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee is $450 vs. $95 for the Preferred, but you get $300 back as travel credit. So, the effective cost is $150/yr, and you get Priority pass lounge access. I travel often enough to make that worthwhile for me. Plus, there are a number of other benefits too.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-sa ... e-reserve/

Same, we love our Chase Reserve card. But we also live overseas and do travel a lot and they don't charge any foreign transaction fees. We basically put everything we spend on it, so it more than pays for itself. We also have used it when buying a new SUV. We did have the Preferred card for years and kept it for awhile as a back up, in case we had any issues or didn't find value in the Reserve card, but we liked it so much we closed the Preferred down and transferred its credit limit to the Reserve. That said, I don't think the Preferred or Reserve card is for everyone. Obviously you have to take your own situation into consideration and a basic, low fee cash back card may be best for most people.

[Leesbro63]

On its own it is simply OK. As the above poster noted you get primary car rental insurance which is nice. One of the few $95 annual fee cards that offers that.

The use is that it’s points transfer to frequent flyer miles and those points can we worth much more than $0.0125/to. It’s best when paired with other chase products. For example Chase Freedom gets 5pts per dollar on rotating categories and Chase Ink Cash gets 5x on office supply stores and cellphone charges.

What are the other cards that offer primary collision damage wavier (it’s not really insurance)?

[DoTheMath]

What are the other cards that offer primary collision damage wavier (it’s not really insurance)?

Recently the United Explorer card started offering a primary collision on rentals along with a Global Entry/Precheck credit.

[MikeG62]

I have the Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee is $450 vs. $95 for the Preferred, but you get $300 back as travel credit. So, the effective cost is $150/yr, and you get Priority pass lounge access. I travel often enough to make that worthwhile for me. Plus, there are a number of other benefits too.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-sa ... e-reserve/

Same, we love our Chase Reserve card.

Me too. Use it for all travel expenses (other than airfare) and all restaurants. Net annual fee of $150 pales into insignificance when compared to the value of the UR reward points earned. Toss on top PP lounge access (which we use extensively) and other perks of the card and it's a no-brainer for us. We don't use for all spending, just the categories which earn 3 points per dollar spent.

[TheOscarGuy]

The biggest reason I keep the Sapphire preferred is the primary rental car insurance. We typically rent for more than 2 weeks so that alone saves us more than the annual fee.

I thought almost every card provides collision insurance for rental cars? For instance, cap one venture card (which is what I have) has collision insurance. Is 'primary rental insurance' different than that?

[bob60014]

The biggest reason I keep the Sapphire preferred is the primary rental car insurance. We typically rent for more than 2 weeks so that alone saves us more than the annual fee.

I thought almost every card provides collision insurance for rental cars? For instance, cap one venture card (which is what I have) has collision insurance. Is 'primary rental insurance' different than that?

TPG explains it fairly well.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cards-pr ... -coverage/

[dziuniek]

I spend a lot internationally.
I only got the card for the bonus, so I'm planning to ditch it within one year because of the fee. But I was thinking if I should use it before the year ends.

Still, I'm only getting 1% back (1.25% if I redeem travels via their website)
I can get much better with others like BankofAmetrica Travel Rewards, that has no fee

Am I missing something? What it's the point of a high fee credit card like this?

The sign up bonus.....

[student]

I have the Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee is $450 vs. $95 for the Preferred, but you get $300 back as travel credit. So, the effective cost is $150/yr, and you get Priority pass lounge access. I travel often enough to make that worthwhile for me. Plus, there are a number of other benefits too.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-sa ... e-reserve/

+1.

[DrivingFun]

The biggest reason I keep the Sapphire preferred is the primary rental car insurance. We typically rent for more than 2 weeks so that alone saves us more than the annual fee.

Doesn't this only cover the collision aspect of "insurance". In other words you still need something for liability.

[international001]

If you don't care about business class tickets, then the miles game is much easier, but less lucrative. I could travel to Europe almost any day I'd like for 60,000 points + $200 round trip. Or to Australia for 80,000 points + $100 round trip. It's easy to book, there's lots of availability. But, that doesn't get great value per point. At $0.015/pp, that is $1100 round-trip to Europe or $1300 round-trip to Australia -- and you can usually find cash tickets for that price or lower.

That's my point. I don't care about bussiness class, so I'd rather have %1.65 of my total spending back on cash. Makes for sense
Higher points rewards for a higher fee makes sense only if you spend more than X. But this is not even the case with my CSP. It's a looser if you only look at $ value

[international001]

TPG explains it fairly well.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cards-pr ... -coverage/

So in essence is some more paperwork, plus some potential deductible. But my travel rewards card did not have a deductible when I had to use the inusrance. So it's just paperwork, then? Can somebody explain with a real example?

[scophreak]

TPG explains it fairly well.

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/cards-pr ... -coverage/

So in essence is some more paperwork, plus some potential deductible. But my travel rewards card did not have a deductible when I had to use the inusrance. So it's just paperwork, then? Can somebody explain with a real example?

It's not simply the paperwork and deductible. I think the real advantage is not having a claim on your own insurance at all. From TPG "it typically comes with some type of deductible and may not cover the entire loss of a vehicle nor any administrative fees associated with the damage. Most importantly, it kicks in after your own personal car insurance. As a result, you still need to file a claim with your own insurance company if you’re in an accident in a rental car for which you’ve paid with a card that offers secondary coverage."

[Leesbro63]

The biggest reason I keep the Sapphire preferred is the primary rental car insurance. We typically rent for more than 2 weeks so that alone saves us more than the annual fee.

Doesn't this only cover the collision aspect of "insurance". In other words you still need something for liability.

Yes. But most rental car claims are for damage to the rental car. You're right that a CSP card still requires you to have underlying car insurance.

[cannister]

Great bonus but I prefer combo of Wells Propel and Signature. 4.5% on food travel and gas when used on airfare with no annual fee. Chase makes more sense if you transfer points for increased value but that’s a lot of work.

Can you tell us a little bit more about this? This sounds pretty good overall (I've been debating whether to keep CSR beyond first year, though I recognize this thread is about CSP)

Propel is 3x points
Signature is 5% for 6 months then 1% thereafter?

Are you averaging the rewards to get 4.5%? Or is there some sort of special combo deal similar to CSR + Freedom?

[MotoTrojan]

Great bonus but I prefer combo of Wells Propel and Signature. 4.5% on food travel and gas when used on airfare with no annual fee. Chase makes more sense if you transfer points for increased value but that’s a lot of work.

Can you tell us a little bit more about this? This sounds pretty good overall (I've been debating whether to keep CSR beyond first year, though I recognize this thread is about CSP)

Propel is 3x points
Signature is 5% for 6 months then 1% thereafter?

Are you averaging the rewards to get 4.5%? Or is there some sort of special combo deal similar to CSR + Freedom?

Propel points transfered to Signature get 1.5x boost when used for airfare. Full disclosure I only have the Propel now as you need to wait 15-16 months before getting another Wells card’s bonus. Next year I’ll be adding one, getting its 5% 6 month bonus, and enjoying a lot of free airfare .

[international001]

It's not simply the paperwork and deductible. I think the real advantage is not having a claim on your own insurance at all. From TPG "it typically comes with some type of deductible and may not cover the entire loss of a vehicle nor any administrative fees associated with the damage. Most importantly, it kicks in after your own personal car insurance. As a result, you still need to file a claim with your own insurance company if you’re in an accident in a rental car for which you’ve paid with a card that offers secondary coverage."

This is only if the accident is your fault. If you just crash against a tree, CDW will pay
But what it's the big deal of filing with insurance company? I don't care who to file with as long as they pay me back

[international001]

Yes. But most rental car claims are for damage to the rental car. You're right that a CSP card still requires you to have underlying car insurance.

Per TDP link: 'Secondly, if you don’t own a car (and thus don’t carry car insurance), most secondary coverage offered by credit cards becomes primary as well. '

[mervinj7]

Like others have mentioned above, I highly recommend the combo of a Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) along with a Chase Freedom Unlimited Card (FUL).

• CSR has $450 annual fee but $300 is credited with travel spend ($150/year effective annual rate). FUL has no annual fee.
• CSR has no Foreign Transactions Fees, Primary Rental Car Insurance, Priority Pass Travel Lounge access
• Freedom Unlimited has 1.5% on everything. CSR has 3% back on travel and dining.
• Easy to transfer all Chase Ultimate Rewards earned on FUL to CSR from any household account
• Redeem the points through the travel portal at 1.5c/point. So effective cash back is 3%*1.5=4.5% for travel and dining. Everything else is 1.5%*1.5= 2.25% for everything charge to the FUL card.
• Some folks redeem using the travel partners to get more than 1.5c/point. We've stopped doing that in order to preserve our sanity.