Big Bonuses from Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business

Two big benefits from Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business:

1. A sign-up bonus that can easily reach four figures in value. We don't get a lot of those, but this promo from Chase is a good one. It's particularly valuable if you fly Southwest or JetBlue.

2. Primary rental car insurance if you book with the card. That's huge. Not only does it save you from having to pay for the ridiculous insurance at the counter but should also keep accidents out of the hands of your insurance company.

Spending bonuses are very strong, although if you do a lot of dining and entertainment, you could still consider the Capital One Savor card that we talked about last month. You can find it under the "Credit Cards" tab. If you want them both, apply for the Chase first, since they tend to be a bit more persnickety than Cap One about how many recent applications you have.

One other thing: If you're not sure if you are eligible for a business card, we cover that, also. I was a bit surprised to see what counts and what doesn't.

Mike

Sorry folks, the correct link to the credit card article above can be found here:

https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/travel/credit-card-bonus-chase-sapphire-preferred/

This may be a bit off-topic, but I just got the Preferred Sapphire card to start playing the "points game". Should I cancel my other credit cards, or will that negatively affect my credit score? 

Sorry Matt, I just saw this.

If the cards don't have an annual fee, leave them open. One of the biggest pieces of your credit score is total utlization, or what percentage of the total credit that you have available do you actually use. If you have less available credit, your utiiization will go up. Likewise, average length of open cards is a factor. The older the cards and longer your history, the better.

Mike

The car rental coverage is huge if it can somehow be used outside of the US. There are places where this is difficult, if not impossible, to pull off though. These are usually the places where you see some fantastic rate like $31 a week.

In Mexico, for example, they pretty much insist on you buying their insurance to cover liability. If you get in an accident and you don't have an immediately verifible policy you can easily end up going to jail until they get confirmation that you're covered. In Mexico the insurance is often up to 80% or more of the cost of the rental. You'd be taking a chance by using your card for coverage but I'd love to have one that somehow circumvented the rip-off insurance plans they nail you for when renting.

 There is no way I would ever set foot in Mexico. The reasons are numerous. I value my life too much to ever consider going there for any reason.

Stop trying to derail threads and stay on topic or don't respond.

Todd - I will take your comments under advisement.