Each year, when an annual fee is due, I evaluate whether a credit card is still worth the cost. The $95 annual fee for my wife’s Chase Sapphire Preferred card is approaching, and I’m considering whether we should keep it, downgrade it, or cancel it altogether.
The $95 Sapphire Preferred card is a solid option, but we rarely use it because I have the Sapphire Reserve. There is quite a bit of overlap between the two cards. After considering this, I’ve decided to keep the Sapphire Preferred, but not for the reasons you might expect.
Transferring Ultimate Rewards
Chase allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points between family members living in the same household, so if I cancel the card, I could send the points to my account. We could also downgrade it to Chase Freedom or Chase Freedom Unlimited.
The Chase Freedom cards earn cash back, not transferable Ultimate Rewards points, but as long as one of us has a premium Chase card, it would be possible to transfer the points earned with a Chase cashback card to airlines or hotel programs.
I was almost thinking about closing the Sapphire Preferred, but I’m not going to because I remembered one small point that might make a big difference down the road.
I’m an authorized user of this account.
And yeah, I know I’ve written that I don’t like adding authorized users to cards. However, we’ve had this card since before I came to that conclusion.
Why is it important that I am an authorized user?
Chase has some rules about transfers. There are two major rules to remember.
- You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you or one household member. (Chase business cards allow you to transfer points to a joint business holder if they are an authorized user on the account)
- You can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to other loyalty program accounts that are your own and to one additional household member listed as an authorized user on your card account. For Business Card accounts, you may only transfer points to yourself or an owner of the company who is listed as an authorized user on your card account.
So, I NEED to be an authorized user if I want to transfer points from Sharon’s Ultimate Rewards account to my loyalty accounts. Here’s a list of the programs where you can transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards.
- AerLingus AerClub (Avios)
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- British Airways Executive Club (Avios)
- Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM
- Emirates Skywards
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- Iberia Plus (Avios)
- Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
- Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®
- United MileagePlus®
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- IHG One Rewards
- Marriott Bonvoy
- World of Hyatt
Here’s what would happen if I canceled or downgraded Sharon’s Sapphire Preferred card:
- She would no longer have a premium Chase card, so to transfer her points to other loyalty programs, she’d have to move the points to my account (which is allowed).
- I could transfer the points to any of Chase’s partners, but only to external accounts in my name since Sharon is not an authorized user on my Sapphire Reserve account.
I could add Sharon as an authorized user to the Sapphire Reserve, but that would cost $75 a year and might count against the Chase 5/24 rule for new applications. Since there’s no charge for an authorized user on the Sapphire Preferred, it’s the least expensive way for us to keep the flexibility of transferring points from Chase to either of our loyalty accounts.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I debated the card’s benefits and whether we should keep it. That helped me remember that the flexibility of points transfers, not the card’s benefits, make it a decent value to keep for another year.
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