7 Things to Know Before Applying for the CSP - NerdWallet (2024)

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has long been a popular choice for both newbie and advanced travel credit card aficionados alike.

The card has a slew of category bonuses, including 5x total points on all travel booked through Chase, 3x points on dining (including qualified delivery services, takeout and dining out — up from 2x points) and 3x points on some streaming services.

That makes this card not only one of the best to keep in your wallet during a vacation, but also a good choice for spending while at home (particularly when ordering takeout and streaming movies to inspire your wanderlust).

Throw in the card’s relatively low annual fee of $95, the 25% boost in value for points redeemed for travel through Chase and other benefits like travel insurance, and it’s easy to see why people love this card.

Points enthusiasts are itching to get the most out of the card's current welcome offer: Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $750 when you redeem through Chase Travel℠.

Sure, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card sits in the shadow of its boisterous sibling card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, but that card commands a hefty annual fee of $550. If you like the idea of a travel card that can give a wide array of travel choices rather than tie you to one hotel or airline brand — but a $550 annual fee makes you turn green — then you may want to consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Here are seven things to consider before submitting your application.

1. Your credit score

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card isn’t a credit card for everyone — you’ll need to have good to excellent credit to have a chance at getting approved.

We recommend having a FICO score of at least 690 before applying for this card. If you need to wait a bit and work on your credit, it’s a good idea to do that. Here are the best starter cards NerdWallet recommends.

2. The annual fee

Though not as high as the $500+ annual fees you can expect from premium travel credit cards, you’ll still owe something for the privilege of holding this card. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has an annual fee of $95.

Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card annual fee worth it? There are several reasons that go into making that call, but we’ll go with the most clear one: The value earned from spending rewards.

As a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card customer, you can redeem your points in the Chase's travel portal for 1.25 cents per point and you earn 5 points per dollar spent on travel bought directly through Chase.

Assuming you used the card for travel and nothing else, you’d still need to spend $1,520 on travel through Chase to earn enough points to break even on the annual fee.

Of course, that amount disregards the card’s other perks, including a $50 annual credit (which kicks in right away for new cardmembers or after their next account anniversary for existing cardmembers) on hotel stays bought through Chase.

But still, if you don’t use the card often — particularly when it comes to the bonus categories — you might be better off with a no-annual-fee travel credit card.

3. Your eligibility for the welcome bonus

Chase has put rules in place to limit eligibility for their bigger welcome bonuses. You can only collect bonus points on Sapphire-branded Chase credit cards every 48 months. That means if you’ve received bonus points from the Chase Sapphire Reserve® within the last 48 months, you’ll need to wait.

Also, if you now have the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and you were to downgrade your card to a Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you wouldn’t qualify for the bonus points.

4. Your current Sapphire situation

Cardmembers are only able to have one Sapphire branded card at once. That means if you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve® already, you’ll need to wait until you cancel or downgrade it to a no-fee card to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

However, considering No. 3 above, there’s really no sense in applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card if you can’t get a nice welcome bonus — which means you would want to wait 48 months before applying.

5. Your spending plans

Before applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, you want to think about your spending plans for the next few months. Make sure you can meet the minimum spend to actually receive your bonus points.

For instance, if you’re planning to do a lot of travel or maybe just have some home improvement projects to do, it would be significantly more realistic to achieve within the set time frame than if you’re trying to conquer a no-spend month.

Ideally, a good chunk of your spending falls within the card’s bonus categories. Those are:

Though it’s not a bad deal if you use your card for non-bonus category spending, too. You earn 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases — but it gets better. You also earn a 10% anniversary point bonus where — each account anniversary — you bonus points equal to 10% of total purchases made the prior year.

That means, $1,000 in spend will earn an extra 100 bonus points. That’s not huge, but it’s at least a nice cherry on top, especially if you’re putting a lot of general spending on the card to meet the welcome offer.

6. The amount you will travel

Before applying for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, consider your travel preferences and habits.

Among the card’s greatest qualities is its high earning rate on travel spending, so this card is better suited if you plan to travel often this year. Then again, it’s a balancing act. If you travel, like, really often, it may make more sense to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

While it commands a higher annual fee, it also comes loaded with a significantly higher earning rate: 10x total points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Chase and 5x total points on air travel booked through Chase.

That’s on top of other travel benefits, including:

Do the math on your own travel spending to see which card’s point value makes the most sense.

While the upfront annual fee is brutal, you might find that you actually get more value from the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

7. Your Chase 5/24 count

You won’t be able to get this card if you’re not under Chase’s unpublished (but widely known) 5/24 rule. That means if you’ve opened five or more credit cards in the last 24 months (from any bank), your chances for approval are slim to none.

If you're considering the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card can be a useful travel credit card to have if you’re ready to get one with an annual fee and you love to travel. Just be sure your ducks are all in a row when it comes to your credit score, 5/24 count and bonus eligibility.

And as always, make sure you have a logical plan in terms of how to hit your spending bonus and how to make the most of the card's ongoing perks.