Jackie Rogers, who works in business operations at NerdWallet, carries one of the Nerds’ favorite credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, and uses it to rack up rewards points that she plans to use for a trip to Japan, where she has family. Japan’s getting closer with every purchase she puts on the card.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card gives you 2 points per $1 spent on travel and restaurants, and 1 point per $1 spent everywhere else. Points can be transferred on a 1:1 basis to a number of airline and hotel loyalty programs, including United, Southwest, British Airways, Hyatt and Marriott. And if you use your points to book travel through Chase, you get a 20% discount. Something else that makes this card popular is the outstanding sign-up bonus: Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®
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Why did you choose Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card?
“A number of friends who had the card recommended it,” Rogers says. She previously worked in management consulting, which required frequent travel. Most of her colleagues had either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express. “I prefer Sapphire because hotel points for Starwood are less valuable to me because I use Airbnb when I travel,” she says. “So Chase travel points are more valuable to me.”
Is Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card your “top of wallet” card?
“Yes. I use it for everything. I try to consolidate most of my spending on Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. I like to maximize the rewards, and I’d rather have rewards in one place than on several cards.”
What’s your favorite feature of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card?
“It looks nice!” she jokes, laughing. The card is made of metal, rather than plastic. Thinking more pragmatically: “I like the double points on restaurants and travel. As much as I’m a points hoarder, I haven’t used the points yet. I’ve had it for 18 months. I’m saving points for a big trip, and that hasn’t happened yet.
Jackie Rogers
“Also, I have a high credit limit, so it provides security. If I want to buy a big purchase, I can. If there’s an emergency expense, I don’t have to take out a loan. The annual fee I pay for that security of having access to money is worth it.” The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an Introductory annual fee of $0 the first year, then $95.
Managing her account online is simple, she says. “I can’t compare it to other cards’ websites, because this is the first card I’ve used aggressively, but the Chase website interface is easy to use and seems like it’s easy to book travel. You don’t have to transfer points to other places to redeem them.”
Is there anything you dislike about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card?
“Not really. It does have an annual fee, but as I explained, it’s worth it for me.”
What do you plan to do with your rewards?
“Right now, with the points I have, I’m able to afford two round-trip tickets to Japan. I have family there and plan to use the points for a trip to visit them.” Considering the extra value she’ll get for purchasing travel through Chase — which boosts the value of each point from 1 cent to 1.25 cents — “I’ll definitely book through the Chase website.”
Have you bought anything especially interesting with your Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card?
“I did buy a Turkish rug for $1,000 in a market in Turkey,” Rogers says. “It was expensive, but I really loved the rug.”
Interview by Ellen Cannon.
Ellen Cannon is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: ecannon@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @ellencannon.
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