15

Jan

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Since writing the post on my credit card strategy for 2013, I’ve gotten several questions about the Chase Sapphire Preferred versus Chase Ink cards, which s better and which should someone focus on?

They’re very similar cards, the Sapphire Preferred is a personal card and the Chase Ink Bold and Ink Plus are small business cards. Ink Bold is a charge card (must be paid in full each month) and Ink Plus is a credit card (can carry a balance, but you shouldn’t).

But the question is about benefits and points-earning, is Sapphire Preferred or the Ink cards better?

To answer this question, I think it’s important to understand something that I talk about frequently, the different kinds of value that a credit card can provide. And then to understand the benefits that are similar and those that are different between these cards.

There are three different reasons for getting a credit card. There are:

  1. Those you get just for the signup bonus, but you don’t want to keep spending on them after you’ve earned the bonus
  2. Those you get for the benefit of having the card, it’s not great for putting spend on
  3. Those that are rewarding for your spend

Sapphire Preferred offers a signup bonus of 40,000 points after $3000 spend within 3 months. Chase Ink Bold and Ink Plus each offer signup bonuses of 50,000 points after $5000 spend within 3 months. These are some of the best signup bonuses in the market. So certainly they satisfy criteria one.

The classic cards with the best benefits — cards you might as well get but don’t necessarily want to actually use — are the American Express Platinum and Mercedes Benz American Express Platinum which are the best way in my view to get airline lounge access with most airlines other than United, and the Citi® Hilton HHonors™ Reserve Card which offers Hilton HHonors Gold status just for having the card.

The Ink cards do come with a lounge access benefit, and a couple of free lounge visits per year. This does have value, but isn’t the primary focus of these cards. Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, and Ink Plus have good signup bonuses, aren’t benefits-focused (although Sapphire Preferred’s purchase protection paid to fix the cracked screen on my cell phone), rather they are all about strong value for spending.

Fast Earning Through Strong Category Bonuses

Chase Sapphire Preferred earns 2 points per dollar on all travel (airfare, hotel, rental car, even tolls and taxis) and for restaurant spending.

It provides a 7% annual bonus on points earned, meaning bonus categories really earn 2.14 points per dollar.

The Ink Bold and Ink Plus cards earn 2 points per dollar on hotel spending but not on the rest of travel (air, rental cars, etc) or dining. There’s also no 7% annual bonus.

They do offer a whopping 5 points per dollar, though, on telecommunications (such as cell phone, and cable TV charges) and office supplies. I buy gift cards at office supply stores so that I can earn 5 points per dollar on all of my spend, and if I need to cash out a card’s balance I use Amazon Payments or add the funds to Kiva (make a loan, do some good in the world, and then withdraw the funds when the loan is paid back — I do have to cover the float while I wait for that payback)

Each of Ink Bold and Ink Plus will earn up to 250,000 points with this bonus category spend.

So which is better for earning? It depends on how much you spend on airfare and dining (bonused by Chase Sapphire Preferred) versus on telecommunications and office supplies (bonused by Ink Bold and Ink Plus).

If you spend $235 a month on telecommunications (eg $100 a month on cell phone, $135 a month on cable television) then to ‘break even’ on bonus earning from the Ink Bold or Ink Plus, you would need to spend $810 a month on Sapphire’s unique bonus categories — such as on restaurant spend and airfare (if you use Sapphire Preferred rather than American Express Premier Rewards Gold which earns triple points for air).

So the question is, do you spend 3.5 times as much or more on telecommunications and office supplies as you do on restaurants and non-hotel travel? If so, Ink Bold and Ink Plus earns better than Sapphire Preferred.

Redemption: Chase Ultimate Rewards are One of the Most Valuable Points Currencies

The value of the points with Sapphire Preferred and the Ink cards are the same, since they all earn Ultimate Rewards points that are transferrable to miles and points in a variety of programs.

That’s especially valuable, you want to choose the program to earn in that best matches your reward goals.

With flexible points that transfer to a variety of programs, you can choose later based on the award you want at the time, and maximize your chances to get that award (since one program may not have availability, but another one you can transfer to might). You double or even triple your likelihood of success.

Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer to several airlines including ones in all three alliances (United, British Airways, Korean Air, plus Southwest), to several hotel programs (Hyatt, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Priority Club) and to Amtrak.

In several cases the points even transfer instantly, that’s been my experience with United, British Airways, Korean (though others report a small delay), and Hyatt. That’s great for booking an award, my big frustration with a great program like Starwood Preferred Guest is the time it takes for points to show up in a mileage program. An award might be available when you initiate the transfer but gone by the time miles are available for spending. Chase’s speed is a real benefit as well.

Since the Sapphire Preferred and Ink cards earn these same points, though, that doesn’t help us choose between them.

My Solution is to Get Both

Chase limits how many cards you can get in a short period of time. Many people sign up for a new card every 90 days. But you can get approved for a personal and a small business card at the same time, you don’t have to wait.

I use Sapphire Preferred for all of my dining spend. I use an Ink card for telecommunications and office supplies. Either card is great for hotels, including outside the United States because there are no foreign currency transaction fees.

And I make the most of the category bonuses for both cards. There are also slight differences in the bonus points earned through the Ultimate Rewards online shopping portal, so having both sets of cards let you take advantage of better bonuses.

If you haven’t had either Ink Bold or Ink Plus yet, I’d probably start with Ink Bold — because if you want to sign up later for Ink Plus, I think there’s a reasonable explanation of why (the option to pay over time) whereas it’s harder for me to come up with a compelling reason to get Ink Bold as a replacement for the Ink Plus card. The cards are otherwise indistinguishable from each other.

Of course if you’ve already had Ink Bold, you can get Ink Plus and the concomitant 50,000 point signup bonus after $5000 spend within 3 months.

Note that many of the cards on the list above do offer me referral credit if you use the links provided. As always I only offer the best offers I’m aware of. And I do very much appreciate it when you use these links, so thank you in advance.

46 Comments

  1. jeanne said,

    I have both cards and use them in the ways you describe, because of how you have explained their best usage. I am with the program! Thank you!!!

  2. Kathy said,

    I love the Chase cards. I earn a good bit for cell phones, cable, and office supply purchases on the Ink and Plus cards. I have other cards that I use also. My biggest challenge is keeping the right cards in my husband’s wallet. We spend alot of money on business expenses during the month (but always pay our bills in full). He is way too busy making the money to keep up with which card to use. I try to handle this as best I can. We have racked up Chase points in the last year–loving it.

  3. Levy Flight said,

    The big difference related to if you use these cards for work. I fly a lot (buying the tickets myself), eat in restaurants and stay in some hotels. sapphire hands down.

  4. RQ said,

    I’d be curious how many affiliate hits you get on these posts

    Is it really that lucrative to take the same post and recycle it every week or 2 and just changing around the title and a few words within it?

  5. ohey said,

    @RQ
    Very lucrative

    No disclaimer on top of it. Bravo. Someone needs more money in order to enjoy those Park Hyatt Vendome stays more often

  6. Bill H said,

    RQ – why do you care? The various bloggers CC reports have only helped me create an overall strategy. When you see a post entitled “Which is better CC X or CC Z”? Why don’t you simply ignore it? For first time readers it’s helpful and for those of us who often make a mental note about a card’s benefits but neglect to follow up, its a nice reminder.

  7. Jimmy said,

    I think a INK card and the non-prefferred Sapphire is the best combo…you get the 2 points for dining with the sapphire without the $95 fee!!! I also think Chase is the best currency out there right now…

  8. Gene said,

    @RQ Hugely lucrative.

  9. RQ said,

    @Bill H

    Nothing against Gary – many if not most of the other bloggers are far worse at it than he is. Both in what they shill and with the frequency of it

    Gary is a stellar blogger who makes tons of useful posts, and I wonder whether it’s really worthwhile to have these ~weekly packaged to order recycled money grabs when I feel most (myself included) would be much more inclined to use the links if it came in a post that was relevant and provided added value*

    *added value being a post that hasn’t been recycled again and again under the guise of “.003% of his readers don’t know his 3 reasons for getting a CC verbatim”

  10. Zz said,

    So you didn’t get dropped by Chase in 2013? Sadly Chase dropped the other Gary (Free Frequent Flyer Miles). The gravy train is over for him. It’s been almost 10 days since you last pushed Chase products. Unusually long. Are they offering less compensation in 2013?

  11. NB said,

    Could you explain how you got $810 for Chase Sapphire spending? $235 on Ink Plus gives 1175 points (5X). 1175 divided by 2.14 is $550.

  12. Al said,

    Get serious. THIS AGAIN?! This is turning into one of the greenest blogs for its recycling of credit card links ad nauseum.

  13. HikerT said,

    @Bill, it can be unfair to bloggers on BA who don’t shill. For example, FM doesn’t post this drivel and his posts frequently get bumped off the main BA page by end of day by the low signal to noise. Why not update the original post that (apparently) generated so much confusion? The inclusion of affiliate links including 3 other links with zero relevance to the supposed question leave not doubt this is nothing more than a gratuitous advertisement.

  14. gene said,

    @Zz — Why was other Gary dropped by Chase?

  15. RQ said,

    @gene

    Presumably because he wasn’t lucrative enough (aka he didn’t shill) for Chase

    And I only criticize these posts because aside from these blatant and recycled credit card posts (the ones where “since ____, several people have asked me about ____. So here’s a copy/paste of an earlier post with a few words switched around) Gary is as good as they come in this field. Gary had more useful posts in the past week than FTG had in the last year

    So I don’t waste my time criticizing sites that have far worse practices than Gary, because I don’t visit those sites anyways. And because guys like FTG and Delta Points censor critical comments, or comments that point out better CC offers

  16. Lively said,

    I wish you would lay off Gary. I appreciate all the effort he puts into his blog.

  17. Jeff W said,

    Thanks for the info. We have the Sapphire and ink bold (credit card) and coming up on the annual fee. If we cancel the cards, will we lose all of our Ultimate Rewards points? Is there a better strategy, or a card to “downgrade” to without an annual fee? Or if I open in my name (current cards are in my wife’s name) can we transfer to my acct? What do you advise?

  18. Gary said,

    Open a card for your wife, transfer your points to her, then cancel.

    But there are several variants on this, the idea is that you must have an Ultimate Rewards account that’s active to have points. If you don’t you lose points.

    You should be able to transfer points to your wife.

    Or downgrade to a free card but if you want to transfer to miles then you have to be able to move those points to one of the premium cards,so you could get Ink Plus in the future and transfer to it…

  19. dave said,

    its good that these info are recycled. you dont have to go back & search for them. I bet every rendition of it helped someone who did not know about it. keep them coming.

  20. Nguyen said,

    Hi Gary, may I ask on how do you “cash out a card’s balance I use Amazon Payments?” Thanks.

  21. Marc W said,

    Hi Gary,

    This was a great and informative post. Don’t let the naysayers detract from the good you provide to the common traveler.

    With that being said, when does Chase post the 7% year end bonus? I have yet to receive mine. Thanks again for all your help.

  22. MT said,

    Not this again! At the verge of unsubscribing.

  23. RG said,

    I love your blog Gary but this is starting to get frustrating..

  24. Gary said,

    @RG, @MT, others — there are some people (even who commented on this post) that value it. I went back and looked and there are affiliate credit card links in two of the past 60 posts. If the analyss in them isn’t interesting to you, skip over them, don’t get frustrated :) And if you find them truly frustrating then consider blogs or other endeavors that you find less so. Best, Gary

  25. Gary said,

    @Marc W the 7% dividend posts in January or February

  26. Gary said,

    @Nguyen I posted about amazon payments yesterday…. they will let you send $1000 per month free with a credit card. so send the funds to someone you trust to return the money to you

  27. Gene said,

    @RQ — Why would they drop him for not being lucrative enough? A referral is a referral. There are certainly other blogs with pretty low traffic that have Chase affiliate links.

  28. Ann said,

    Typical. No mention of the annual fee, nor of Chase’s devaluation of the UR points: you used to be able to redeem them for 1.25 of travel, now that’s down to 1:1 (in cash, which isn’t the best use of UR, but it’s still a devaluation.)

  29. alan said,

    Ann: With both the Sapphire Preferred or an Ink Bold, you still get the 1.25:1 rate on travel. Not with the Ink Classic or non-preferred Sapphire.

    My plan is to downgrade my Ink Bold to Ink Classic when the annual fee comes due, and keep the Sapphire Preferred. I don’t spend anywhere near the $25k bonus category limits on the Ink, and don’t go too far out of my way to maximize spend. Seems like the best of both to me that way. 2x dining and travel, 2x gas, 5x office supply/internet/phone.

  30. RQ said,

    @Gene

    Because it provides… ahem… “a reminder” to the rest of the bloggers to make sure their cards are getting sufficiently pushed

    I don’t find it coincidental that the bloggers who got removed from the program (it wasn’t just Gary 2.0) were bloggers who didn’t shove CC’s down their readers throats

    I wouldn’t say VFTW Gary generally shoves cards down the readers throats…. but lets just say this post wasn’t created because he’s “gotten several questions about the Chase Sapphire Preferred versus Chase Ink cards”

  31. MarkJ said,

    I am glad these bloggers get paid by the credit card companies. When I apply for cards I spread out my applications from the links of bloggers who add a lot of value and to whom I pay ZERO…ZIP…NADA…NOTHING yet I get invaluable advice. What a Great Deal! What a Great World that I get to see for peanuts while sitting in First Class.

    You are a class act Gary and I wish you great prosperity!

  32. Gary said,

    @Ann as we have discussed before, the annual fee on these cards is $0 the first year. They’re also hugely worth the fee. I have written about the fee in the past. Sorry my selection of content is not to your liking! Similarly for the pay with points option. I don’t write about it at all because it is a poor use of points. And there has been no devaluation, you can still do it at the old rate if you wish, what makes you think otherwise?

  33. Levy Flight said,

    i do recall that when he 100k BA offer came out it was several days before a number of blogger mentioned it. Normally they clammer to be first with news, sometimes they wait until a paid link is made before passing on useful news.

  34. Miles said,

    Get them both? Of course did you read The Affiliate Game Can Be a Dirty Proposition http://wp.me/p30R4M-ox

  35. Kris Ziel said,

    I would presume most of the people applying for the cards on most of the BoardingArea and similar blogs are doing it for the points and the points alone. They will cancel before they have to pay the fee and they won’t spend enough for the issuing bank to make back the affiliate payout and cost of the points.
    When I apply for a card, if an affiliate link has the best offer, I will go to a BoardingArea blogger that hardly (if ever) shills, and apply with their link. And no, that isn’t MommyPoints or One Mile at a Time.

  36. Gary said,

    @Miles – he reports on on conversation with a staffer, and it hasn’t been my experience — as anyone who reads this blog knows, I definitely write about offers that are better than those which offer credit to me. I write both positives and negatives about the issuers (eg I wrote about benefit reductions in the united club card). And there are no ‘quotas’ fro me to meet, eg only two of the previous 60 posts contained any credit card referral links at all.

    So while I’m not saying what he describes doesn’t exist — though it’s from someone that hasn’t actually worked with credit card affiliate links! — it certainly is not my experience here.

    And the advice to get both? It’s what *I* do. The advice I give i generally follows what I do myself.

  37. Gary said,

    @Levy Flight – I think you will find that i mention deals as soon as they exist

  38. RQ said,

    Let me preface Gary by saying I don’t think you give any advice that you wouldn’t give yourself. Nor are you even close to the worst offender of CC pushing among the mainstream bloggers

    That being said, posts such as above are 110% driven by the fact that you get big commissions to do such. If there was no FlexOffers, the post above would not be there. There wouldn’t be a recycled CSP/CIB/CIP post every week or 2 if there was no FlexOffers.

    Another thing I would strongly suggest… just like you only want to alert you’re readers to the best offers, you would also do a service to your readers by alerting them when mainstream bloggers are “alerting” people about an inferior offer, or giving intentionally bad advice to line their pockets

    It would take cojones no doubt. But it would be of a lot more use to your readers than letting them know for the 1000th time the 3 reasons to get a credit card

  39. Gary said,

    @RQ I have increased my coverage of credit cards. As I said I would. I really was undercovering them. And here I give the advice that matches exactly what I do. But I do not xover other blogs per se. That is not my beat or what I am interested in. And for this blog to work it is about what interests me at the moment as it always has been.

    Plus I doubt you really want me brining attention to less trafficked blogs that don’t do rigjt by their readers.. thereby bringing them more readers!

  40. RQ said,

    @Gary

    Unfortunately, often times it’s not the “less trafficked blogs” we’re talking about

    This is some of the most popular blogs in the medium I’m referring to, and I think you know which ones I’m talking about.

  41. Gary said,

    @RQ I think you’d be surprised by which blogs get the most traffic and which have less than you think. See http://www.compete.com and assume that everyone has 15% more unique visitors than shown,and if someone is a boardingarea visitor they are likely visiting this blog and to a somewhat lesser extent, lucky’s

  42. Ann said,

    It’s misleading-and slimy- to promote the “all pleasure, no pain” of the annual fees. I’ll drop a note to the FTC to change the blog disclosure guidelines; Chase has an army of bloggers trying to get the referral bonus, pretending there is no downside (or charge!) to getting these cards. Chase has to reveal prominently its annual fee; drug ads have to reveal negative symptoms. Bloggers chasing referral bonuses shouldn’t be able to mislead people into thinking there are no downsides.

  43. jim006 said,

    @Ann – give it a rest. The annual fee is paltry if you “use” the cards correctly, even w/o the bonus as part of the equation. But there is no comparison needed. Ink cards win hands down – no other card compares if you are using the Ink properly. But from your comments, it’s clear you aren’t…

  44. goals^n^dreams said,

    I think INK Bold is much better. I use ink bold to buy gift cards for 5x at OD, then I use the gift card for my every day expense. So I think it is not worth to keep Sapphire Prefer.

  45. SOG said,

    I wonder which combo is better
    Sapphire Preferred + Ink Classic
    Sapphire Regular + Ink Bold/Plus

    Really cannot justify paying both annual fees (even close for just one, but I think I can justify it in my head)

  46. MaryE said,

    @ Gary, I appreciate the advice. It’s very clearly stated. Thanks for helping me decide. My CSP arrived. More travel more hotels.
    @complainers – Everyone has to make a living. Gary is a travel educator. Please, people, let’s allow educators everywhere to earn for their knowledge and advice. After all, an educator taught you how to read and write.

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