50,000 Points on the Sapphire Preferred Card

May 13, 2011 - Rick

Chase sent me the email about the offer I have been waiting for. This offer was not supposed to go live until Monday May 16th, but you guys and gals need to know about it now as it may affect your application scheduling. You now have two great choices: This is now double the usual signup bonus on the Sapphire Preferred card.

Premier Rewards Card offering Membership Rewards Points ( I gave you the link earlier today)

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card offering 50,000 bonus points no annual fee first year.

In a nutshell here are the differences:

Membership Rewards points transfer to Aeromexico, Delta, Air Canada, Airtran, Alitalia, British Airways, Flying Blue, Frontier, Hawaiin, Iberia, Jet Blue, Singapore, Virgin Atlantic and Continental. For hotels they transfer to: Best Western, Hilton, SPG, Priority Club and Jumerirah. All the transfers are not 1:1 so check the Membership Rewards website.

Chase Points transfer to: Amtrak, Continental, British Airways, Priority Club, Hyatt and Marriott.

Both programs offer gift cards and other merchandise that is not travel related. Membership Rewards sometimes offers transfer bonuses. The Chase card gives an automatic 25% bonus on travel purchases all the time when using points to buy a ticket

So your choice is now apply for both, one or the other or none of the above. That will depend on your past recent applications, current credit scores and number of inquiries.

If you have recently applied for the BA card Chase likes to see some time (I think one month minimum) between applications. Amex is sometimes more liberal on that account.

Remember that the Chase Sapphire Preferred link was not supposed to go live until Monday the 16th. Readers are reporting it is live now. I can’t tell you what will happen if you apply now. Chase is closed for the evening. I’d wait but it is your life and YMMV.

Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $3,000 in the first 3 months- that’s worth $625 toward airfare or hotel accommodations!
Points go 25% farther when you travel – For example, 50,000 points can be redeemed for two flights worth up to $312.50 each, which would usually cost 62,500 points. Just book your flight, cruise, or other travel through Ultimate Rewards^SM
Pay no foreign transaction fees when you use your card on purchases made outside of the United States.
Earn a 7% annual points dividend – even on points already redeemed
Redeem your points at leading airlines and hotels at a 1:1 value
2X points earned on airfare & hotel accommodations booked through Ultimate Rewards and 1 point for every dollar spent on all other purchases
When you call us, our phones are answered by people, not prompts
No Annual Fee for your first year – A $95 value

This Ad Was Supposed to be Live on Monday May 16th. Readers are Reporting it Live Now I Would Wait until Then But it is Your Call YMMV

Chase (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)

Anonymous

Is this the big offer you talked about a few days ago or will we see a big offer coming up. I know I sound greedy but 50,000 seems like the norm.
Thanks!
leslie

I just canceled an Amex gold card in March, does anyone know if I'd be eligible for the 50,000 sign up bonus? I called customer service and was told to "read the terms and conditions online carefully" and that will tell me if I would get the 50,000 points. From those terms and conditions it looks like I would since I am not a CURRENT cardmember, right? Confused!
Anonymous

hi rick (or other) — i read in the t and c for the amex charge card and see it is for people who are not existing charge card members. do you think this implies that i could get this even though i just recently canceled the card a few months ago?
Julian Ribinik Photography Blog

Just tried, it says that the offer is no longer available and give you the link to the current offer, which is just 10,000 points
Ed Chandler

A question, if you don't mind: The offer says "Offer not available to existing consumer American Express Charge Cardmembers." I wonder why they say "Charge Cardmembers" instead of just "Cardmembers." Are some of their cards not disqualifying for this offer?

The AMEX site doesn't help other than to arrange their card offerings into four types of cards: "Premium Rewards", "Flexible Payment", "Air Travel Partner", and "Hotel Partner". Are the disqualifying cards maybe just the others that earn MR points?

Short version, will having my Hiltion HHonors AMEX hose me out of the bonus or am I good to go?
Anonymous

Please note you can't get this card if you currently have any other AMEX charge card..like the AMEX Platinum that many of us got. Sucks for me as I have never had a primere rewards card and would love the 50k MR points.
Dan Peake

Hey Rick – What's the "Bump the Bonus" 75K targeted offer you are referring to? Do you have a link? Thanks.
Anonymous

Rick, do you know when the Premier Am Ex card offer will expire?

Thanks,
Chris
AEfor3

I'm new to MR points. Can you easily transfer these to SPG then to AA? Is there a useful site that explains great uses for MR points? Thanks.
Anonymous

So what are the "offers [you've] been Chaseing"? I'm trying to figure out whether or not to jump on this deal, but I don't know if you're implying that better offers are coming out next week.
MYRflyer

Thanks FTG, instant approval

http://thepointsguy.com/2011/04/maximizing-amex-post-2-understanding-membership-rewards/

great list of uses for membership rewards
FrugalTravelGuy

OK Here we go. If you have a green, blue, gold, platinum, plum, tangerine or any other Amex charge card at present you are NOT eligible. SPG, Delta, Hilton card holders are eligible as those are considered credit cards and do not exclude you from this offer..

I have no idea when this offer will expire. Remember it is not even my link or ad.

As far as value per point, at least 1 cent each and more like 1.5 to 2 cents each in my mind. I HOLD mine until I know where I want to transfer them. Sometimes there are bonuses on transfers. Others have not Thepointsguys great article on using Amex points in his blog. I have Brian speaking with me in Chicago on just this topic.
Anonymous

ROOKIE TIP:

OK, I'm a rookie too, but 1 tip I've benefited from is to sign up for "all" the major programs out there. So many offers come up for a few miles here, a few there, and if I can jump on those right away…points for me! They add up with minimal effort!

(Please realize "all" does not mean "100% possible." I'm only concerned with flights and hotels, and I ignore car rentals and others. I've got FF accounts and hotel accounts with the programs that offer bonuses.)

A password security program makes this easy: I've got Lastpass, and it will automatically generate log-in and password as I register.

Chris D.
Alex K

Hi FTG –

Trying to decide whether to jump on this deal or not, and since you like clues, here's my shot at it:

If I had to pick one, should I invest in gold this week, or should I wait out the chase in case of bigger return on investment?
SS

Is Blue really considered a charge card? Mine has a credit limit, which would lead me to believe it's a "credit" card rather than a charge card.
FrugalTravelGuy

alex K: Why not wait until next week to so what other offers show up, then decide
ZippyPam

For Julian: try again in another browser. If you used IE, try Chrome or Mozilla. After you apply for one, the same browser will bring up the statement that the offer is no longer available. Just go to another browser for your spouse's card.

I had instant approval and then a follow up email from AMEX confirming it.
ZippyPam

Thanks a ton, again, Rick! You are the best! We always think of you when flying for free.
noel

Oh god. I don't know if I can chase down another deal. CO and BA have been amazing, but I don't think I can handle a third so soon. I guess I'll have to wait and see how lucrative this will be..
CeCe

I'm backtracking a little, but I applied for the British Airways card April 28th, had to leave town for a family medical situation and just activated it today. I only have until July 28th to spend $2500 for the second 50K miles, which isn't easy for me to do.

2 questions:

1) Will Chase allow purchases from the Mint?

2) Do the "minimum spend" purchases just need to be made by July 28th or do they need to post by July 28th?
Michael

I used your link for the Amex Gold 50k offer and was instantly approved. I got a confirmation email an hour later from Amex.
I just called to confirm what offer I was getting and they said it only showed a 10k bonus offer. I gave them the bonus offer # and they said it was targeted to Columbia University grad students in an email…
I copied the application and saved it in word but the app saves as blank but it does list all terms of the offer… The rep made a note in my account about the situation but I have to call back again to see what happens.
If they tell me I will only get 10,000 miles then I am not activating the card. What a pain!
Anonymous

Same as Micahel.
Anonymous

I am only an extra cardmember on my husband's SPG Amex so I read what Rick wrote and took the plunge using his link. I was instantly approved and got a confirming email. But, like another reader above, I would also like to know what's the "Bump the Bonus" 75K targeted offer you are referring to? I don't want to call Amex and ask for 25 K more and somehow sound like an idiot. Thanks!
BostonFlyer

Are people who are authorized users on someone else charge card eligible for this offer?
David

Rick,
It sounds like this was a very targeted offer to Columbia University grad school students for the 50k and if you weren't in the targeted audience, they're only giving you 10,000 miles.

AMEX has also told a few people that this offer expired for those students in April…

Maybe this link was too good to be true and should be taken down?
I say we all focus on that Chase Saphire Preferred card and wait for your referral link.
- David
FrugalTravelGuy

David:: Every dall has its risks. I can't believe that Amex would deny people based on the fact that nowhere does it show on the appliation page or in T and C. But as always YMMV
Chris

I am afraid to call and to learn I would be given only 10K points. If they don't honor this offer, then probably the best way to go here is not to activate the card. But then half of the damage is already done. Would one still be considered a first time customer by AMEX for a bonus offer for this card in the future? Beside the hard pull, would this card appear in your CProfile if you dont activate it?
Kevin

Hi Rick,
Would you recommend a person to close a card such as the recent platinum card after a while (and use of points, etc), to improve future eligibility for "first time" offers such as this?
Anonymous

The AMEX Premier Reward 50,000 mile offer is definitely a targeted one. Stay away, unless you are prepared for some substantial phone/messaging time trying to convince them to cough up the miles. Even then, seriously doubt it.
AMEX needs to either add some clarification to the app or take it down and save both us and them a lot of unnecessary hassle.
Anonymous

In case anyone is interested, I was instantly approved for the 50,000 Amex 2 days ago. The link worked just fine and for what it is worth, worked the day after I signed up too. Today I called Amex to verify how many points I would be receiving once I met the $500 minimum spend. The agent immediately asked me if I had graduated from Columbia Business School. When I said no, he said I wouldn't be eligible for any enrollment bonus! I told him that nowhere in the T+C's for this card did it mention Columbia. I also said I had taken a screen shoot of my enrollment page and the T+C's for proof of what the requirements were (ie. over 18 and not having an Amex "chargecard"). I also said that if I wasn't going to be awarded the 50,000 enrollment bonus, I would not activate the card.

The agent was very polite and said that he would make a note on my account and which would be reviewed in 7-10 business days by their Complaints Dept. He said that they should contact me to let me know what their decision regarding my enrollment bonus was but that if I had not heard back, to call the Amex no. on the back of my new card when I got it. I will report back…

50,000 Points on the Sapphire Preferred Card

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