My FAVORITE Credit Card for Dining + Travel!!

If you've been curious about what major credit card I use, and you're like, Hmm, how can she be debt free and still take advantage of credit cards? Stick around. I'm going to be doing a deep dive inside of my favorite credit card, the benefits, the pros and cons, what you need to do in order to apply. We're going to be talking about the chase Sapphire preferred. Hey guys, welcome back to the debt free millennials channel. I'm your host Justine. And here we talk about all ways to help millennials achieve financial confidence, crushed debt that leads to more fun and fewer payments. If you are into that lifestyle, then go ahead and hit that red subscribe button. And we are going to be doing a deep dive into the chase Sapphire preferred credit card. This is my everyday credit card. This is the one that I'm using on all platforms, all the things to pay all of my bills, do my shopping. And the reason why I really love it is because it has a very robust rewards system. So let's get into it. So first let's discuss who this credit card is for. If you love restaurants and dining out, and if you love traveling, then this credit card is the best for you. If you're not big into eating out, you don't travel often, you're a homebody, you cook at home a lot, then chances are you're not going to get the benefits of this card. However, of my coaching clients, of the millennials I've talked to on this channel, Instagram, by and large, everybody's really interested in those two major things and spending money on those two things. And so what I really like about this is that the chase Sapphire preferred credit card actually taps into a points system. The card is in a point system in which any time that you spend money on this card, you will earn points. Now, various spending categories such as dining and travel often have more points assigned to it when you spend money in those categories. In fact, let's go ahead and take a look at how the point system operates with the chase Sapphire preferred. The way that the chase Sapphire preferred works on the point system is that you are going to earn the most points on booking travel through chase travel. So you earn five times the total points on flights, cruises, hotels, cars. So if you want to book travel through chase, you're going to get the most number of points. After that, you'll get three times the number of points on dining. So it's for every dollar spent, you earn one point. So $1 to one point. In this case on dining, you do $1, three points. So it's really great, especially if you're a foodie and you like to eat out a lot. So you get the most points there. And then there is a revolving category that I feel like things kind of change up every quarter for the chase Sapphire preferred points. So currently we've, we're getting three times the points on online grocery purchases. So excluding target and Walmart, which is really a big bummer and wholesale clubs. But if you're shopping a Kroger, Ralph's Dillon's, Yvonne's Hy-Vee, whatever it might be, Hy-Vee shout out to my Midwest peeps who know what the Hy-Vee is all about. You get three times the number of points on online grocery purchases. And then you also get two times the points on travel booked outside of chase $50 annual hotel credit, um, towards the chase travel stuff. Also the Instacart statement credit. This is another benefit. So you can actually get a six month pre membership to Instacart. Plus I truthfully did not take advantage of this because I find Instacart plus in Instacart in general to be really expensive. So I did not take advantage of it. I think I did it one time when I had COVID. So there you go. And then you also get 10% anniversary points. So you get 10% of your total purchases since that anniversary date. And then they give you that as points, three times the number of points on streaming services, music, movies, videos, actually got three times the number of points by purchasing an app, a $4 app for my daughter on my iPhone. And then 25% more, um, on travel, your, your points are worth 25% more redeem them for travel. What I love also, this is a big benefit is the complimentary dash pass membership. So if you like using door dash and you want to use the dash pass where you get the free delivery, this thing, I love, I love taking advantage of this. So not only are you getting all of that, one of the biggest benefits is all of the baked in travel insurance and protection that you get from utilizing this card. So I'll show you what I mean, trip cancellation and interruption. No longer do you have to purchase the extra travelers insurance when you're booking flights and you're like, Oh, I could, something could come up. This ticket is non-refundable chase Sapphire preferred takes care of you in that regard. So you're, you're going to see that benefit here inside of your benefits platform. And what's also really cool is it's not just the card holder who's covered. It's the immediate family members, even if the card holder is not traveling with them. So as Quinn gets older and we're still utilizing this card, if she gets stuck on a flight, trying to go to my parents' house or whatever, she's covered, which I absolutely love. There is not only that, but you also get the car rental collision damage waiver. So you don't have to sign up for additional insurance for your rental car. It's already baked in when you purchase that car rental, using the chase Sapphire preferred also baggage delay, lost luggage. That's also included any purchase protection that you do against damage or theft. Think about like TVs or furniture you could put on this card, which is amazing. The trip delay reimbursement, I think we discussed. So it's just got a lot of really cool things. Five X, the number of points on lift rides, travel accident, and then roadside dispatch. If you don't have AAA, this is like your backup. This is really cool because you can literally just put this 800 number in your phone. And then they've already pre-negotiated a flat fee for basic roadside assistance services. So think about things like, um, towing, changing a tire. If you don't know how to do that, jump starting a battery. If you've locked yourself out of your car, if you ran out of gas, all of those things are covered. Again, you do have to pay a rate, but chase has already negotiated that on your behalf. And they've got a specific number available 24 hours a day, three 65 days a year. You can't beat that. Okay. So what do you need to do in order to get approved and start using the chase Sapphire preferred? The biggest caveat to this card is you're going to need to have good to excellent credit. So if you have a credit score of at least six 70, six 90, then chances are you're going to get approved for this card. If you have bad credit or zero credit, or you're just starting out, there's a high probability that you won't be approved for this card. Also chase is very strict about the number of cards that you apply for within their umbrella. So if you've previously applied for another card within the past 12 to 24 months, you're going to have to take a pause and then go back and reapply for the chase Sapphire preferred. If this is the card that you truly want. So if you are in the camp of, I don't have very good credit or I'm working on building that up, or you're starting off brand new. What I always tell to folks is start with your bank's credit card. It's typically going to be either one that has a very small cash back system. Maybe it's like a 1% cash back on all of your purchases, but that is really going to help you build up your credit history and just get you in that cycle. Even if you could stay on that for like six months and really build up your credit score. And you can use a credit score, a tracking program, like a credit Karma or a credit Sesame, and just see how that's building over time. And then go back and reapply for the chase Sapphire preferred. So if that's not you, that's okay. You just need a little bit more time, but if you're already at that six 70, six 90, and you have the travel dining kind of agenda or your lifestyle, then definitely check out this card. Let's talk about some of the pros of the chase Sapphire preferred. I've already listed a lot of the benefits and I feel like those are pros in of themselves. Some other cool features about it is that the point system, as you earn those points, you can actually transfer those to travel partners that chase is in partnership with. So let's say you have a Southwest rapid rewards program. You're a frequent Southwest flyer. You can actually transfer your chase points over to your Southwest account and boom, it's done. And not just Southwest, there's also United Virgin Atlantic, Marriott, Hyatt, all of these big travel companies. You can also transfer those points over to their point system and continue with your points adventure. You can also combine your chase Sapphire points with your chase freedom or any other chase credit card that you might have. And so a lot of times we still have our chase freedom card, which is really great cash back card. And we want to combine those points to go ahead and redeem them for travel or gift cards or whatever it may be. And so that's a really easy way to just continue with your point system. The biggest con to this credit card is that there is an annual fee of $95. The way that I see this $95 is it unlocks all of the benefits and additional features for you. I mean, the $95 alone pays for that dash pass membership and the Instacart plus six month membership and all of the protection and insurances that are provided as a part of being a card holder. So if you're not into the $95 fee or any fee-based credit cards, then this one you might want to overlook. Also, it really does favor travel and dining above all other categories. Now, again, there was some revolving categories that you could take advantage of such as the online grocery purchases. Really, this is going to be best for, for people who are in that lifestyle of dining and travel. You might also be asking yourself, what's the big difference between chase Sapphire preferred and chase Sapphire reserve. There are two differences, two major differences that you'll want to take a look at before you apply for this card. The chase Sapphire reserve has a much higher annual fee, $550 annual fee to use the reserve. Also, it's going to cost you $75 additional for each additional authorized user you put on this account. So if it's you and your spouse or you, your spouse, and maybe you have some dependents you want to put on there, it's going to cost you $75 each time. Now, the reason why these fees are so much higher is because you actually get more perks with the reserve. So you're going to get a travel credit of over $300 as part of your fee. You're also going to unlock different VIP airport lounges, and then you're just going to get more point values assigned to your purchases. So basically just the value of points goes up. You get those larger travel perks. I find that the reserve card is best for those that are frequent travelers, like they're traveling multiple times a month and they often need those high-end touch points when it comes to travel or they want to experience more like luxury high-end experiences when it comes to their traveling, such as, you know, the airport lounges or unlocking more benefits with their travel partners. If they're a Marriott member or Hyatt member, you're just going to get more of that high-end feel when it comes to the reserve. The Preferred is best for moderate but consistent travelers that want to take advantage of those point systems but may not really need to have that high-end touch point, but they want to still take advantage of some cool features and get some stuff for free. Now, currently Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering a 60,000 point bonus for signing up. In order to take advantage of that bonus, you must not have unlocked any other bonuses with Chase within the past 48 months. That's the biggest caveat here, so make sure that you understand the rules and eligibility. If you've been a Chase card holder in the past, maybe it's just a Chase Freedom, you've been with them for a while but you haven't unlocked any of those bonuses, then you would be eligible for that. If you are interested in the 60,000 point welcome bonus, you can definitely click my affiliate link below. You get points, I get points, it's a win-win situation. Kyle and I have used Chase Sapphire Preferred to build up points and we actually freed up $900 when we booked a trip to Europe and we were able to use those $900 in points to book flights directly through the Ultimate Rewards program with Chase. More recently, we cashed in about 40,000 points to stay at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. We even upgraded our room and we got a cabana at the pool and all of that was taken care of with our points system because we use this card so frequently and so often and we do it responsibly. If you have credit card debt, just let's work on our relationship with money first because that really is the foundation to building up a healthy relationship not just with money but being able to use credit cards responsibly. I always pay off my credit card back to a zero dollar balance every single month. I know some people who pay off their credit card balances every week or every time that they make a transaction just so that they can see that money is pulled from their bank account and it's done. That transaction is over and the money is withdrawn. Whatever system works best for you, make sure you're using it responsibly so that you can take advantage of these really amazing reward systems like Chase Sapphire Preferred. Again, I will leave my affiliate link for you to check out that amazing bonus and just more benefits and features of the card. If you like this review, be sure to give it a big thumbs up. If you're not part of the DFM fam, why not come on and join us because we are committed to achieving financial confidence and crushing debt that leads to more fun and fewer payments and I'll catch you in the next one.