You Still Have Time to Earn 100K Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus

Despite the odds and expert predictions, the best credit card deal is still going strong.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card’s 100,000-point welcome bonus, available to new applicants after spending $4,000 in the first three months, has now lasted four months. The offer went live in June.

It’s 40,000 points higher than the card’s standard bonus, with the same minimum spending requirement. According to Chase, 100,000 bonus points are worth $1,250 when you redeem for travel through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. It sweetens the deal on what we already consider the best credit card with an annual fee under $100.

Since the offer began, all signs indicated that this 100,000-point bonus wouldn’t be sticking around for long. We’ve seen similarly great deals in the past that lasted only a couple months, and experts we spoke with over the summer also predicted the bonus would have expired by now.

What’s more, back in August, Chase introduced a slate of new perks to the $95 Sapphire Preferred, along with its more premium sister card, the $550 Chase Sapphire Reserve®. Sapphire Preferred cardholders can now earn: 

• 5x points on all travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal
• 3x points on dining (including eligible delivery services and takeout), select streaming services, and online grocery purchases
• 2x points on travel not purchased through Chase
• 1 point per dollar on everything else

Cardholders also get a $50 annual credit on hotel stays purchased through the Ultimate Rewards portal and an annual points bonus equal to 10% of your overall yearly spending. In other words: Between a sky-high bonus offer and new perks, all for the same $95 annual fee, this is a pretty outstanding move by Chase.

How Long Will the 100,000-Point Sapphire Preferred Bonus Last?

Now that the Sapphire Preferred bonus has lasted beyond expectations, it’s a bit more difficult to estimate how much longer you might have to sign up if you’re still considering the card. DansDeals.com and The Points Guy (which like NextAdvisor is owned by Red Ventures) reported Monday that Chase had confirmed the offer would expire Wednesday, Oct. 6. We reached out to a Chase spokesperson to try and confirm when the offer will end, but did not immediately hear back.

“I would have thought something would have had to give,” says Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com (which is also owned by NextAdvisor’s parent company, Red Ventures). Rossman thought Chase might have introduced a lower sign-up bonus, a higher annual fee, or eliminated Pay Yourself Back. “I’m pleasantly surprised on all fronts,” he says.

Pay Yourself Back is a feature Chase introduced early in the pandemic, which lets Sapphire Preferred cardholders redeem their Ultimate Rewards points for things other than travel at the same 25% boosted value. But instead of letting the benefit expire, Chase extended the program through Dec. 31.

One of the Sapphire Preferred’s main rivals, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, recently reduced its welcome offer from 100,000 miles to 60,000 miles —  the Sapphire Preferred’s standard bonus, Rossman points out. This could signal that the days of the 100,000-point Sapphire Preferred bonus are numbered.

Still, Rossman believes Chase is happy with how the Sapphire Preferred’s bonus offer has been performing. He predicts the potential long-term value of new cardholders the offer is attracting may be worth any potential short-term losses caused by the outsized bonus’ value.

The way he sees it, the Chase Sapphire Preferred 100,000-point bonus could stick around a while longer. “There have been a lot of reasons why it could have already stopped, and since it hasn’t, that suggests greater longevity,” he notes.

If you’re debating whether or not to take the plunge, Rossman says, “Go for it, because it’s a great offer and we don’t know how long it will last.”