Already Have the Chase Sapphire Preferred? Here’s How You Can Still Get the 100,000 Point Bonus

 

By now, you have probably heard about the incredible 100,000 bonus point offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. This is already one of my favorite travel credit cards and with this high bonus offer, wow! 

But what happens if you already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card? Are you shut out of this amazing offer?

Not necessarily. 

You are qualified to earn a bonus on the Sapphire Preferred credit card every 48 months. So you need to check to see when you earned the bonus the last time on the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card you are holding. If you are holding the Sapphire Reserve credit card, you can only hold one Sapphire card at a time so you will need to either cancel or downgrade this card as well before you can apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. Although there are some reasons why you may NOT want to do this. 

 

You can two that two ways:

1. Check your AlmostFREEFamilyTravel personal tracker which you get included for FREE as part of our coaching program. 

2. Check your credit report. Several credit cards and banks offer a free credit report or you can check once a year on annualcreditreport.com 

If it's been more than 48 months since you earned the bonus, then you are qualified to earn it again.

But you can't just apply since you can only hold one Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card at a time, you must do the following first:

1. Call the Chase phone number on the back of your Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card

2. Ask to downgrade the card - DO NOT CANCEL. Why? If you downgrade, you can apply as soon as you get your new credit card, you will also keep your card number in case you have any automatic charges and you will keep any Chase Ultimate Reward points you have on this account. If you cancel, you will need to wait at least 30 days to apply for your new card, you will lose your number and your points. 

3. You should downgrade to either the Chase FREEDOM FLEX or the CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED credit cards. Both are no annual fee credit cards. The big difference is that the FLEX has quarterly 5x bonus categories and the UNLIMITED earns 1.5x points on all purchases. 

4. Wait two weeks and then apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. 

Woohoo! Now what can you do with 100,000 CUR points, check it out here. 

As always, if you need more guidance, please join our Travel Coaching Program, you can find out more about our personal coaching here. Use FREETRAVEL for $50 off the cost. 

How You Can Stay At An Airbnb For FREE

 

After flights, accommodations are the biggest expense when you travel. 

But you have a few more days to cash in your Chase Ultimate Reward points to erase Airbnb purchases. 

It's part of the Pay Yourself Back program on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve credit cards. The program was launched during the pandemic so you could use your points even though you were not travelling and fortunately, it stuck. 

Back then, we could use the points to erase groceries and dining which was pretty awesome. 

Now you can use the points to erase the following:

• Airbnb 
• charitable contributions
• dining (with the Sapphire card only)
• membership fee (with the Sapphire card only)

And the best part is you get a bonus, the same bonus you get if you book travel through the Chase Travel Portal. On the Preferred card, you get a bonus 25% and with the Reserve you get a 50% bonus. 

But the offer ends June 30th, 2022. So don't wait. 

I erased several Airbnb purchases just today at a value of $700. 

I am going to walk you through exactly how to do this. The first thing you need to do before you erase anything, transfer any Chase Ultimate Reward points you have on a Chase FREEDOM or Ink card to your Preferred or Reserve. 

It's easy to "combine points":

• Log into your Chase.com account
• click on the card you want to transfer points FROM
• click redeem points
• then click on the three little lines at the top left
• scroll to the bottom
• click combine points. 

Once you have moved your points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve, then you are ready to erase your purchases. From the Chase Ultimate Rewards home page, scroll down until you see the Pay Yourself Back promotion. 

Click on the promotion and you will see a list of your eligible purchases. Only purchases made in the past 90 days are eligible to be erased. There is even a handy countdown above each purchase. 

Since I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can see my points are worth 50% more when I use them to erase Airbnb purchases. Just check the box for the ones that you want to erase. I usually start with the oldest ones, but since this promotion ends on June 30th 2022, it doesn't matter. 

You will be able to erase all of the purchase or just some of it so check as many boxes as you want. 

 

The purchases will be applied as a statement credit and it will take about 5-7 days to see that happen. 

Keep checking your Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve accounts too as the June 30th date gets closer or wait until the last day to cash in. After I cashed in 41,000 points, another 9,000 points showed up so I cashed those in too. 

And if you haven't booked your Airbnb yet for a trip coming up, book it and erase it before June 30th. 

This is just one of the reasons why the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve are my favorite credit cards. You can read all about how these cards play an important part in my fly FREE strategy. 

If you do not have these cards yet, please consider using my referral link. It costs you nothing, but will award me for referring you so I can bring you more great information about how to FLY free. Right now, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is offering 60,000 points for a $4,000 minimum spend. Those points are worth $750 in the travel portal or if you erase an Airbnb purchase. But hurry, the Pay Yourself Back promotion ends June 30th. 

The Trick To Getting More Value Out Of Chase Ultimate Reward Points

 

When I wake up and see this in my Chase.com account, that makes for a great day! I applied for the new Chase FREEDOM Flex card in October and bam, this month, I was awarded the 20,000 point bonus. 

The Flex card requires just a $500 minimum spend in the first three months to earn the bonus. It has no annual fee and right now, it also earns 5% at grocery stores for the first year or up to $12,000. It also comes with the Chase rotating categories which for Q4 are Paypal and Walmart. 

I already had the Chase FREEDOM card, it's been my go-to card forever. But this is a new product so I was eligible to apply and get the bonus. I may close my old FREEDOM card or I may hold onto it in order to max out the rotating categories. 

Chase Ultimate Reward Points are amazing because they are so flexible and during the pandemic, Chase added a pay yourself back benefit to the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards where you can cash in the points for grocery and home improvement purchases. The Sapphire Preferred card has a $95 annual fee, but I think it's totally worth it. This is one of my favorite cards. The Sapphire Reserve has a $550 annual fee, but before you gasp, it also comes with a $300 travel credit which right now is a grocery credit plus FREE Doordash, Lyft and Peloton membership and a $120 credit at Doordash. It also comes with a $100 Global Entry credit and FREE airport lounge access. 

So here's the trick to get more value out of the points. 

The Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more for your points in the pay yourself back and Chase Travel Portal and the Sapphire Reserve gives you 50% more. Chase also allows you to combine your points from one credit card to another. So you can easily move your points from your new FREEDOM FLEX card to your Sapphire Preferred or Reserve to get more value. 

It's easy. 

• Just log into your Chase.com account
• Click on the earn/use points and you'll see this dashboard. It's expanded a lot since the pandemic started. One of the things I love about Chase is how user friendly the site is. You can see exactly how many points you have, how to use them, and how to earn them. 
• Click on combine points and you will see the option to move points from one card to another. You can also move points from one family member to another if your family member only has a no fee card or even a Preferred card. 

Chase will ask you how many points you want to move, review your order and bam, instant transfer. Now you can use those points for travel or to pay yourself back for any qualified purchases you made in the past 90 days. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase FREEDOM Flex or Sapphire Preferred, please consider using my referral link. You get the same bonus and I also get a small bonus for referring you. That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com 

How To Pay Yourself Back With Chase

An exciting new perk offered by Chase Sapphire Reserve and Preferred credit cards is the option to pay yourself back with your points. 

So what does this mean and why is it so exciting? Here is your step to step guide. The Chase Sapphire Reserve, Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, and Ink credit cards all earn Chase Ultimate Reward Points. Personally, these are my favorite points right now just for their flexibility and for the travel portal. They are flexible because you can transfer the points to dozens of airlines, hotels and you can use them to book travel through the Chase travel portal. 

And if you are a Preferred or Reserve credit card holder, you get a bonus. Chase will actually offer you extra value on the points so instead of 1:1, you get 1:25:1 for Preferred credit card holders and 1:50:1 for Reserve credit cardholders. Check out my post about why I'm hanging onto the Reserve card. 

How To Pay Yourself Back With Chase

And now through September 30, 2020, you also get the extra value when you pay yourself back with points and essentially erase any grocery, home improvement, or dining purchase. 

The beauty here is that you still earn the Ultimate Reward points on your grocery, home improvement, or dining purchase and then you erase it with the extra value. When you book travel through the Chase portal, you also get the extra value, but you don't earn Chase points and you don't earn airline miles or hotel points. That's because Chase uses Expedia as its portal so you are making your reservation through a third party. 

You have 90 days after your purchase to essentially erase it with points and you can pick and choose from the list. 

1. Log in to your Chase account
2. Click on redeem points 
3. Click on earn/use points at the top left of the screen 
4. Click on pay yourself back 

You will see the list above of all your activity that you can erase, just check off whichever ones you want to erase and click on continue. Chase will ask you if you want to erase the entire purchase or just partial and tell you the bonus. Hit confirm and submit. Your statement credit will post within 3 business days. This is very similar to the process used by the Capital One credit card. 

As a comparison, you can see on this grocery purchase, I earned 6.68 points because at that point, you just earned 1x points. But when I redeemed points to erase it, it didn't cost me 668 points due to the bonus. 

At this point, since you might not be traveling, it might make more sense to erase grocery, home improvement, and dining purchases and then buy your travel. You get the bonus when you erase those purchases and then you double dip by getting points again when you pay for your travel. If you decide to apply for the Chase Preferred credit card, please consider using my referral link and supporting my blog. Right now, you can get 50,000 points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months. That's about $625 in travel, groceries, home improvement or dining. Awesome! 

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points

 

My favorite flexible travel points are the Chase Ultimate Reward points. I used them to fly our family of five to Europe a few years ago. 

You can transfer them to dozens of airlines and a few hotel chains plus use them in the travel portal or just pay yourself back. 

Right now, the Chase Ink Business Preferred is offering 100,000 bonus points with a $8,000 minimum spend. Wow! That's $1,250 worth of travel. 

The secret here is to have the right mix of Chase cards to max the value out of the points. 

The Chase Ink Business Preferred and the Sapphire Preferred gives you 25% more for your points in the pay yourself back and Chase Travel Portal, but the Chase Sapphire Reserve gives you 50% more. 

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points 

So here's the secret. Chase allows you to combine your points from one credit card to another. So you can easily move your points from your FREEDOM FLEX or Unlimited card to your Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve to get more value. 

 

• Just log into your Chase.com account

• Click on the earn/use points and you'll see this dashboard. It's expanded a lot since the pandemic started. One of the things I love about Chase is how user friendly the site is. You can see exactly how many points you have, how to use them, and how to earn them. 

• Click on combine points and you will see the option to move points from one card to another. You can also move points from one family member to another if your family member only has a no fee card or even a Preferred card. 

Chase will ask you how many points you want to move, review your order and bam, instant transfer. 

How To Squeeze More Value Out Of Your CUR Points 

Now you can use those points for travel or to pay yourself back for any qualified purchases you made in the past 90 days. 

If you decide to apply for the Chase FREEDOM Flex, Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve or Business Ink please consider using my referral link. You get the same bonus and I also get a small bonus for referring you. That's how we do it at almostFREEfamilytravel.com 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

 

I love when I see my rewards summary in my inbox. Now you may look at this Chase Ultimate Rewards summary and say, wait, you only earned 23,363 points in 2023. But let me explain. 

This summary is for my Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card. It's a no annual fee card with 5x points rotating bonus categories. 

What does that mean? FREE money! Woohoo! 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

I earned those 23,363 points on purchases that I was going to make anyway like gas, groceries, Amazon, Paypal etc. 

But I intentionally used this credit card when Chase offered 5x points on those types of purchases. 

Chase rotates the categories every quarter. This quarter the categories are groceries and gyms. You can activate the offer in your Chase.com account.

The secret here is to earn the points on the Chase FREEDOM FLEX credit card and then transfer those points to your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account to squeeze more value out of them for incredible trips like this one in Chile. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

The reason is that when you spend the points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve account, you get 1.25% or 1.5% more when you book travel through the Chase Travel Portal and you can transfer the points to a dozen different airlines and three hotel chains. You can click here to find out how we use Chase points to book insanely cheap nights at Hyatt. 

 

The Chase FREEDOM FLEX is offering a $200 or 20,000 CUR points on $500 minimum spend. This no annual fee card earns 5x points on rotating bonus categories and 5x points on gas and groceries for the first year up to $12,000. Please use my referral link if you decide to apply for this card. 

Unveiling the Chase Ultimate Rewards: Why 23,363 Points in 2023 are Worth Celebrating

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve credit card, you can read about these cards here. They are the key to our success, we love the flexibility of the Chase Ultimate Rewards points for almost FREE travel. 

Again, if you decide to add any of these card to your strategy, please use our referral links and if you would like support with your travel goals, join our Travel Coaching Program. 

Real Client Case Study: Building a Points Strategy from Scratch

Real Client Case Study: Building a Points Strategy from Scratch

Recently I sat down with a new client to audit her credit card setup and figure out how she could earn and redeem points more effectively. Here's exactly what we went through — and what we decided.

Her Starting Point 📋

• Cards she holds: Chase Sapphire Preferred, Delta Amex Gold, Wells Fargo no-annual-fee card
• Airlines she flies: Primarily Delta, but price-sensitive — so JetBlue, Frontier, and Spirit (RIP ✈️) make regular appearances
• Big recurring expenses: Rent and tuition (paid twice a year, but may incur a 3% credit card fee)
• Home airport: Salt Lake City (SLC)

She was using the Sapphire Preferred for almost everything and the Delta Amex only for Delta purchases. No specific trips on the horizon yet.

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The Strategy: Go Deep on Chase Ultimate Rewards 💳

Since she has no destination locked in, flexible points are her best friend right now. She already has a small stash of Chase Ultimate Rewards from her Sapphire Preferred, so we decided to build on that foundation rather than start somewhere new.

One big win here: Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer 1:1 to JetBlue — one of her go-to airlines. That's a genuinely useful transfer partner given her flying habits.

💡 Quick tip: The Chase Sapphire Preferred includes a $50 annual hotel credit when you book through the Chase Travel Portal. With a $95 annual fee, that brings your real cost down to $45.

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The New Card Conversation: Freedom Unlimited vs. Freedom Flex

Both are no-annual-fee Chase cards that funnel points into the same Ultimate Rewards bucket — meaning they work with her Sapphire Preferred, not separately from it. You can read about how to combine CUR points here. 

Chase Freedom Unlimited

• 1.5x points on all purchases (better baseline than the Sapphire Preferred)
• 3x on dining and drugstores
• Current offer: 20,000 points after $500 spend 🎉

Chase Freedom Flex

• Rotating 5x quarterly bonus categories (this quarter includes Amazon — easy way to stack up to 7,500 bonus points fast)
• 3x on dining and drugstores
• 1x on everything else
• Current offer: 20,000 points after $500 spend 🎉

Both are worth considering — the right pick depends on whether she prefers a consistent flat rate or wants to actively track and maximize rotating categories.

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Two Free Accounts Worth Opening 🛍️

We also talked about signing up for Rakuten and Bilt:

• Rakuten — shop through their portal and earn cash back or points on purchases you'd make anyway. Use a referral link to get $50 or 2,500 Bilt points after your first $50 purchase.
• Bilt — lets you transfer points to dozens of different airlines and hotels. You can also open a Bilt credit card to earn points on rent payments with no transaction fees, but it's a bit complicated so we decided to table this one for right now. 

---

What About the Delta Amex? 🤔

We discussed cancelling it. Here's the logic:

• $150 annual fee
• She rarely uses it
• It's not her oldest card, so the credit score impact would be minimal

Bottom line: keeping a card "just in case" when it costs $150/year and sits in a drawer isn't worth it.

---

Where Things Stand

She's in a solid position. By consolidating around Chase Ultimate Rewards, adding a no-annual-fee earning card, and plugging into Rakuten and Bilt, she'll be sitting on a healthy stash of flexible points whenever she's ready to book something. No trip needed yet — just a smart setup so the options are there when she wants them. 🗺️

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? Join my Travel Coaching Program and we will design your personal strategy to travel for almost FREE and guide you through the process. Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the program. 

Or you can book a consulting call with us for just $100. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

***In honor of every new paid client, we will make a donation of 10% to one of our favorite charities.

Have You Used Your Chase Sapphire Preferred $50 Travel Credit Yet?

Have you used your $50 Chase Sapphire Preferred promotion in the Chase Travel Portal yet? ⏳ It expires in June 2026, so it’s worth using sooner rather than later.

Last year, Chase started giving new (and “new-ish”) Sapphire Preferred cardholders a free $50 credit to use on any purchase in the Chase Travel Portal — and now that promo is approaching its expiration date. Don’t let it quietly disappear!

Where to find the Chase Travel Portal 🧳

The Chase Travel Portal lives inside your Chase.com account and includes:

• ✈️ Flights

• 🏨 Hotels

• 🎟️ Activities

• 🚢 Cruises & tours

• 🚗 Rental cars

You can pay with cash or Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and in many cases you’ll still earn bonus points when booking. It’s run through a third-party booking platform, but you still have Chase Travel support if something goes sideways.

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How to use the $50 promotion 💳

1. Log in to your Chase.com account

2. Click Redeem points to enter the travel portal

3. Search for your flight or hotel stay

4. Click the option you want and add it to your cart

5. If you have the promo, you’ll see “Promotion available” under the trip total

6. Click to apply it

7. The total will drop by $50, and you can still use points to cover the rest

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A real example (because numbers make this fun) 😄

A client recently booked a flight for $234 in the portal, applied the $50 promotion, and used 18,672 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (still worth 1.25¢ each in the portal). Older points are worth 1.25 through the end of 2027. New earned points are only worth 1x in the portal. 

So she paid just $0 for the flight. Woohoo. 🎉

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One important note 👀

You usually won’t see the promotion until something is in your cart. But once it shows up, you can toggle it on and off while you’re deciding — it doesn’t lock in until you actually purchase.

So if you’ve got that $50 sitting there, go grab yourself a discounted flight, hotel night, or even an activity. Future-you will be glad you did. 😊

If you don't have a Chase Sapphire credit card yet, the Reserve is offering 125,000 bonus right now and the Preferred is offering 75,000 bonus. Talk to me first though to confirm these cards make sense for you. 

Want more personal help using points and miles for almost FREE travel? I can plan your entire trip using your points and miles or offer a 30 minute consult to answer questions or you can  download my ebook, custom tracker or Join my Travel Coaching Program.

Right now, you can use the promo code "FREETRAVEL" to get $50 off the coaching program. I would love to help you make priceless family memories affordable. 

*For every new client, we will donate 10% of the proceeds to one of our favorite charities. 

Last Chance To Earn That 80,000 Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Offer

 

Is this vacation on your bucket list? We were in the islands off Panama a few years back. What a fantastic trip! And we got there by using Chase Ultimate Rewards Points. Yep, our flights and hotels were all FREE. 

If you want to travel for FREE, you should apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred asap before the 80,000 bonus offer is gone. 

The offer expires on June 1st. 

Last Chance To Earn That 80,000 Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Offer

Chase Ultimate Reward points are my favorite because they are so flexible. You can transfer them to dozens of different airlines including Southwest, several hotel chains (Hyatt, IHG and Marriott), pay yourself back in cash and use the points in the travel portal. You can read all about my tricks to getting the most value out of Chase Ultimate Reward points here. 

In fact, I just booked a round trip flight from Washington, DC to Dublin, Ireland for just 33,000 points and no fuel charges. Amazing! So this offer is worth approximately $1,000 in FREE travel. 

The benefit of booking through the travel portal is that you can book any flight for points. You don't have to accumulate enough miles or points on one single airline. 

Last Chance To Earn That 80,000 Chase Sapphire Preferred Bonus Offer 

Here's the offer: 

• spend $4,000 in three months 
• $95 annual fee
• $50 annual hotel credit when you book through the portal 
• 5x Chase points on travel booked through the portal
• 2x Chase points any travel purchases
• 3x Chase points on online grocery purchases
• Chase points are worth 25% in the travel portal and when redeemed through the pay yourself back tool in rotating categories
• 3x Chase points on dining
• 3x Chase points on streaming services
• 10% anniversary points boost 

You are eligible for this offer IF you do not currently hold this card AND have not received the bonus in the past four years.

If you decide to apply for this card and you should, consider using my referral link so I can continue to keep you updated on the best ways to fly FREE. 

By the way, AlmostFREEFamilyTravel has teamed up with Families Fly FREE to bring more value to you. If you would like to check them out, click here and let Lyn know I sent you. :) 

Plus I am launching another program and you are the first to hear about it! I know so many women who want to travel, but are worried about the cost, traveling alone and safety. So I am launching a Beta program and looking for 5 women to join me! 

The program involves Lyn's simple Families Fly FREE process plus a graduation trip using points and miles to get you started on your new travel habit. 

If you are interested, fill out this form to get the conversation started. 

I am offering $200 off Lyn's Families Fly FREE simple system program for this Beta test cohort only (you must sign up for Lyn's program using my referral link to get the discount) in exchange for your feedback on the program PLUS you will have access to graduation trips with future cohorts as my special guest.

Hope you will consider joining me for this exciting new Beta test cohort program!