Chase Sapphire Cards Now Offer Up to 80,000 Bonus Points for New Cardholders

Two of Chase’s most popular travel rewards cards have increased their sign-up bonuses.

As of today, Chase has launched limited-time bonus offers on both of its Sapphire credit cards. If you’re a new cardholder, you can qualify for a much bigger sign-up bonus than before with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or the Chase Sapphire Reserve®.

You can only get one, though, so it’s important to choose wisely. Let’s take a look at the new sign-up bonuses for the Chase Sapphire cards and how you can figure out which card to pick.

New Chase Sapphire sign-up bonuses

Here are the details on the bonuses available with the Chase Sapphire cards, how these compare to previous bonuses, and more details on each of these travel rewards cards.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, which has a $95 annual fee, now offers 80,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 on purchases in the first three months. It also offers a $50 credit on grocery purchases, which is available any time during your first year using the card.

This is the card’s best offer in recent memory. The previous offer was 60,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 in three months and a $50 grocery credit. So you can now get 20,000 more points. Although Chase had offered an 80,000-point bonus last year, that didn’t include a $50 grocery credit.

Here are the other bonus opportunities with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card:

• Earn 2 points per $1 on travel and dining
• Earn 2 points per $1 on grocery store purchases, up to a limit of $1,000 per month, through April 30, 2021
• Points are worth 25{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} more ($0.0125 per point) when redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
• Points are also worth 25{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} more when redeemed for statement credits towards previous purchases in rotating categories through Chase Pay Yourself Back

Chase Sapphire Reserve®

The Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which has a $550 annual fee, now offers 60,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 in the first three months.

This card’s previous offer was 50,000 points for spending $4,000 in three months. A 60,000-point bonus isn’t the highest offer it has ever had, though. When the card first came out, it offered 100,000 bonus points. But its bonus has consistently been 50,000 points for years, and it’s nice to see Chase bump it up.

Here are the card’s other bonus opportunities:

• Earn 3 points per $1 on travel and dining
• Earn 3 points per $1 on grocery store purchases, up to a limit of $1,000 per month, through April 30, 2021
• Points are worth 50{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} more ($0.015 per point) when redeemed for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
• Points are also worth 50{d54a1665abf9e9c0a672e4d38f9dfbddcef0b06673b320158dd31c640423e2e5} more when redeemed for statement credits towards previous purchases in rotating categories through Chase Pay Yourself Back

Qualifying for a Chase Sapphire card

If you’re planning to apply for either of these Chase credit cards, there are a few rules and requirements you’ll need to know about:

• You’re only eligible to open a Chase Sapphire card if you don’t currently have one and you haven’t received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the last 48 months.
• Chase will only approve you for a credit card if you’ve opened fewer than five credit cards in the last 24 months. Due to Chase’s 5/24 rule, you’ll likely get an automatic denial if you’ve opened more cards than that.
• You need a FICO® Score of 670 or higher for a strong chance of approval. Both Sapphire cards are aimed at consumers who have good or excellent credit.

Which Chase Sapphire card should you get?

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the better choice for most consumers because of its bigger bonus amount.

Even though the Chase Sapphire Reserve® can get you more value for your points, the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card still has the more valuable bonus. If you redeem 80,000 points for travel at $0.0125 apiece, they’re worth $1,000. Add in the $50 grocery credit and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s bonus is worth $1,050. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, you can redeem 60,000 points for travel at $0.015 each, for a value of $900.

You can also transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points to any of Chase’s airline or hotel partners. If you use your points that way, then their value doesn’t depend on which card you have. In that case, you’re much better off with 20,000 extra points.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has quite a few perks that can make it the better long-term choice as a travel card. But it doesn’t offer as much upfront value, so it’s a good idea to start with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. If you want more features, you’ll be eligible to upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve® after you’ve had your card for 13 months.