Without a doubt the Sapphire Preferred is one of the most heavily promoted credit cards on the market, and it has the most insanely lucrative signup offer.

My only complaint about the commercials is that I wish they did a better job highlighting the benefits. Yes, I know that’s hard to do in a 30 or 60 second clip, which is why I’ll guide you thru the 10 most important benefits (in my opinion, anyway).

1. Immediate customer service (no number pushing needed)

You know what I really hate about calling credit card companies? Before you talk to a rep, they often FORCE you to listen to info that you’re not calling about, such as your statement balance, date of last payment received, etc.

Screw that! I’m not calling for that info! Just connect me to a friggin’ person!

Oh yeah, and every time I hear “please listen carefully as our menu options have changed” and “due to unusually high call volume, you may experience a delay” it makes me want to go postal.

Guess what? With Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you don’t have this predicament. When you call, a live person answers the phone. You don’t even have to press any buttons and you actually get someone who speaks English.

2. Convert points to REAL frequent flyer miles

There are plenty of cards which offer “miles” but they’re not frequent flyer miles. Instead, each “mile” is typically worth a credit of exactly 1 penny that can be spent on airfare. Don’t get me wrong- there are benefits to going with those types of cards.

But the big advantage of frequent flyer miles is that often times, they can be worth a lot more than 1 cent each. For example, if you redeemed 25,000 miles for a flight which has a cash price of $500, then you’re basically getting 2 cents of value per mile (obviously the conversion will vary depending on the airline and flight).

With the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s airline partners, you can convert your points to actual frequent flyer miles. The participating airlines and hotel frequent traveler programs are:

3. Or get 25% more value for points thru UR travel

If you don’t want to convert points to FF miles, you have another option for travel: redeem thru Chase’s Ultimate Rewards travel website and get 25% more value per point.

1 point = 1.25 cents value towards airfare, hotels, car rentals, and cruises

The prices you see on Chase’s Ultimate Rewards booking tool are the same that you would see on other major travel websites (in fact, I suspect one of them manages the website for Chase). So rest assured this is not a gimmick where they give you inflated prices.

4. It will make your Chase Freedom card more valuable

I have the Chase Freedom, which as you probably know is a credit card that gives 5% cash back on categories. Even though it gives you Chase Ultimate Rewards points, they aren’t as versatile as what the Sapphire Preferred gives.

Normally with the Freedom card…
…You can’t transfer points to frequent flyer miles
…You don’t get 25% more value for travel thru UR

That means the most value you get out of each Freedom UR point is 1 cent.

But guess what? If you have the Sapphire Preferred card, then you can transfer your Freedom UR points to Sapphire UR points:

That makes the Freedom + Sapphire Preferred a powerful duo. Because the Freedom will earn you 5x points on categories, and then by transferring them to your Preferred card, you will be able to get more value since you will be able to use them for UR travel or convert them to FF miles.

5. There are no foreign transaction fees

OK, this one they sometimes do mention on the commercials so you might already be aware of it.

But what you might not be aware of is that many competing travel cards still charge this fee. For example, the AmEx Premier Rewards Gold Card still charges foreign transaction fees, which is surprising given its significantly higher annual fee of $175.

6. Tons of insurance benefits and other protections are included

On eligible purchases, the Sapphire Preferred offers a number of protections:

7. Put it on plastic metal

Want to pay with plastic? That might not be possible, because the Chase Sapphire Preferred card is actually made out of metal!

Here’s how CreditCardForum member “hematino” described the material:

“I got my CSP in May. It has only “Chase Sapphire Preferred” and my name on the front and is not really raised like most cards. The mag strip, Mastercard logo, account number, and my name again are all on the back. The card is made of metal (looks like steel) and it feels pretty heavy. Not everyone thinks so, but I think it’s a darn nice looking card”

Trust me, this card leaves quite the impression when you plop it on the counter. Not that you would get it for that reason, I’m just saying…

8. The rewards aren’t just for travel

Yes, it’s heavily marketed as a card for travel rewards, but you can actually use the rewards for almost anything:

• Cash Back: 100 points = $1.00. The minimum for redemption is very low; redeem as little as 2,000 points for $20.00 cash back.
• Merchandise: Thousands of options but rather than going this route, I recommend just opting for cash back and buying stuff with that.
• Spend on Amazon: Every 100 points = $1.00 to spend on Amazon.
• Bid on Auctions: Normally I’m not a fan of using points for “experiences” but Chase offers some pretty cool stuff for a good point value:

 9. How you earn points

There’s no limit to how many points you can earn:

• 2x points on travel
• 2x points on dining
• 1x points on everything else

For icing on the cake, you get a 7% “points dividend” at the end of every year. This is based off of how many points you earned during the prior 12 months. For example if you earned 30,000 points then you would get an extra “dividend” of 2,100 points (which is 7% of 30,000).

Between the 2x categories, 7% dividend, and 25% higher value for travel, you can really make a killing with this rewards program.

10. The signup bonus is the best on the market

I don’t know how long they’re keep this going, but right now the signup promotion for the Sapphire Preferred is by far the most lucrative in the credit card world:

Your annual fee is waived the first year (that’s a $95 value)
You earn 40,000 bonus points (that’s $500 towards travel). To get this you will need to spend $3,000 within the first 3 months. Considering that’s an average of only $1,000 per month, it shouldn’t be too hard to accomplish.

Go here to get the 40,000 bonus points promotion