I’ve Joined the Chase Sapphire Preferred Club

My Chase Sapphire Preferred Card showed up today.

Gary’s been barking at me for months to get the card, but I wanted to put the refinance of our house to bed before doing so.

I applied for both this card and the Ink Bold (which is essentially the business version of the same card).  I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of approvals, but I was pretty sure all would work out in the end.  Chase is pretty reliable at being willing to negotiate in terms of the products they represent and various lines of credit.

And, I really did want both cards.  I’ve been an AMEX guy for a long time.  They really focus on the business customer.  One of the biggest “little” features I enjoy about AMEX is different card numbers for additional card holders.  Sounds simple, but my Hyatt Visa doesn’t offer that.  Try sorting out some random charge for Target when there’s $50K in charges on your card, both personal and business.  It’s a nightmare.

So, having two separate accounts that both produce the same currency in the same pool (both cards give you Ultimate Rewards Points) is appealing.

I ended up having to make two calls to Chase, one to the personal side and one business.  The personal side one was pretty humorous.  When they gave me a rather large line of credit for my new Sapphire card, they informed me they were closing another card I had, “so they could give me the most credit possible.”  But, I kinda wanted that card they cancelled, and I surely wanted to make sure they hadn’t closed the card as “closed by issuer” instead of “closed by customer” (this can affect your credit rating).

The girl on the phone was a bit puzzled they had cancelled it, but assured me it was to make sure I got a big line of credit on the other account.  I asked her to look up the line of credit on the account they cancelled.  When she saw it was $500 she was a bit flustered, as they had given me a significantly larger line on the new Sapphire card.  No problem, quick recovery and she got the other account reopened.

On the business side, they wanted to find out more about the finances of the business.  The application doesn’t yield much info for them, and I didn’t find any of the questions too onerous.  After a bit of time, they were able to approve me for the Ink Bold card, which I should have in a few days.

Two sign-up bonuses to achieve, then a pile of Ultimate Rewards points to amass!

No question.  It really is the best card on the market.  Read more about it on Gary’s blog, but here are some of the reasons I got it:

1.  Double points on travel and dining.  I get double points on my hotel stays with SPG now, and 3 points for my Hyatt stays.  I get 2 points for AA and 3 points for UA.  But, I get no double points for car rental, and for the off times I stay at other properties or fly a random airline.

Without going into the argument of which currency is the most valuable, the freedom of being able to move these points from Chase to a whole slew of great places has value in the overall equation.

The ability to double up on dining is huge for me.  Couple that with double points on rental cars, and this really maxes the points.

2.  They give you a 7% “dividend” at the end of every year for your total points earned.

3.  No foreign currency fees.

Those that don’t travel internationally may not see much value in #3, but 1 and 2 apply to pretty much everyone, right?  You gotta eat, might as well earn double miles?

And, not that this matters as much as the miles, but it really is an awesome looking card.  It’s heavier than any card I’ve ever owned, and there’s no number on the front.

Check out the rest of the details on View From The Wing.