If you want one credit card to start with in the points and miles hobby, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is the one I'd pick every single time. It's over 10 years old. It has a $95 annual fee. And in 2026, it's still the card I tell every beginner to get before anything else.
I've been doing this for more than a decade. I've had the Amex Platinum, the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Capital One Venture X, and plenty of others. None of them beat the Sapphire Preferred as a starter card. This post breaks down exactly why, so you can decide if it's the right first card for you.
The Quick Answer
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is still the best beginner credit card for points because it gives you three things no other starter card gives you at the same time:
1. A $95 annual fee with an escape hatch (you can product change to a no-fee card later)
2. 1:1 transfer partners to airlines and hotels you actually recognize
3. Enough built-in perks to offset the annual fee if you use them
Let's get into each one.
Reason 1: A Low Annual Fee With an Exit Plan
The Chase Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee. For a card that earns transferable points, that's one of the lowest barriers to entry in the entire industry.
$95 is low enough that you can commit to a year, try the hobby out, and see if transferring points and booking travel actually clicks for you. You're not betting $700+ on something you've never done before.
The part most people miss: if you try it and decide the hobby isn't for you, Chase lets you product change the card to a no-annual-fee option. You can product change your Sapphire Preferred into a Chase Freedom Unlimited or Chase Freedom Flex. You keep the account, you keep your credit history, you keep your points, and you stop paying the fee.
Amex doesn't offer this. There's no way to product change an Amex Green, Gold, or Platinum to a no-annual-fee Amex card. If you don't want the fee, you cancel the card. That's it.
That safety net is the reason I consider the Sapphire Preferred a true training-wheels card. If you love the hobby, you graduate to the Sapphire Reserve later. If you don't, you coast on a no-fee Freedom card indefinitely.
Reason 2: Transfer Partners Are Where the Real Value Lives
This is the reason the Sapphire Preferred is a beginner card, not just a cheap card.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points have three redemption options:
1. Cash back: 1 cent per point. 75,000 points becomes $750.
2. Chase Travel Portal: Between 1 cent and 1.5 cents per point, depending on whether the booking has Points Boost (look for the rocket ship icon). Those same 75,000 points can be worth up to $1,125 in travel.
3. Transfer partners: Convert your Chase points into airline miles or hotel points at a 1:1 ratio.
The Transfer Partners Beginners Already Recognize
Chase transfers to major airlines and hotels at a 1:1 ratio, which means 75,000 Chase points become 75,000 miles or points at the partner program. No weird 2:1 conversions. No math.
Airline transfer partners include: United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Air Canada Aeroplan
Hotel transfer partners include: World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards, Wyndham Rewards
Notice something? These are airlines and hotels most people have already flown or stayed at. You're not learning a brand-new loyalty program from scratch to get value. If you've booked a United flight before, you already understand how to redeem United miles. That's a huge deal for your first redemption.
My Take: Start With Hyatt
If I had to tell a beginner one place to redeem their first 75,000 Chase points, it's World of Hyatt. Hyatt consistently has the best point-per-dollar value of any hotel transfer partner in this space. You can book nice properties for 10,000 to 25,000 points per night that would cost $300 to $500 in cash.
Your first transfer doesn't have to be complicated. Transfer 60,000 points to Hyatt, book three nights at a Hyatt Centric or Andaz, and you'll understand more about how this hobby works than anything else I could explain in a blog post.
Why This Matters for Your Confidence
A lot of people earn points. Not a lot of people redeem them.
Getting your first redemption under your belt is everything. It builds the confidence that turns this from a hypothetical hobby into something you actually do. Chase makes that first redemption easier than any other issuer because the partners are familiar and the transfer math is simple.
Reason 3: The Perks Actually Pay for the Annual Fee
The Sapphire Preferred earns real points on the stuff you already spend on:
5x on Lyft rides and Peloton purchases (somewhat niche, take it or leave it)
3x on dining
3x on select streaming services
3x on online grocery purchases (Instacart, pickup, delivery)
2x on all travel
That 2x travel category is one of the broadest in the industry. Airlines, hotels, cruises, trains, buses, parking, tolls, rideshares. If it's travel, it's 2x. A lot of cards narrow "travel" to airfare purchased directly from the airline. Chase's definition covers almost everything.
Built-In Perks That Offset the $95 Fee
The $50 hotel credit is the simplest one. Book any hotel through the Chase Travel Portal and Chase gives you a $50 statement credit, no hoops. That alone drops the effective annual fee from $95 to $45.
The DoorDash piece is where a lot of people leave value on the table. You get complimentary DashPass through the end of 2027 (a $120/year membership) and a $10 monthly promo on non-restaurant orders. My move: I use the $10 monthly promo for pickup orders at 7-Eleven to buy protein bars. No delivery fees, no tipping a driver, and I'm banking $120 a year on stuff I was going to buy anyway.
Travel Protections Most $95 Cards Don't Offer
This is the section most people skip, and it's a mistake. The Sapphire Preferred has one of the strongest travel protection packages of any sub-$100 card.
Primary car rental insurance. If you decline the rental agency's coverage, Chase covers theft and collision damage before your personal auto insurance ever gets involved. Most credit cards are secondary, meaning they only kick in after your personal policy. Primary coverage is a real differentiator.
Trip cancellation and interruption insurance. Up to $10,000 per covered traveler and $20,000 per trip on prepaid, nonrefundable travel expenses if your trip is canceled or cut short for a covered reason.
Trip delay reimbursement. Up to $500 per covered traveler if your common carrier is delayed more than 12 hours or requires an overnight stay. Covers meals and lodging.
Baggage delay insurance. Up to $100 per day for 5 days when your bag is delayed more than 6 hours.
One detail that matters: Chase only requires you to use the card for the purchase to trigger these protections. Some issuers require you to book the entire round-trip on their card. Chase is more flexible.
There are also no foreign transaction fees, so you can use the card internationally without the 3% surcharge most cards hit you with.
The Rule Change That Makes CSP Even Better
Chase updated its Sapphire welcome offer rules recently. You used to only be able to earn one Sapphire bonus, period. Under the updated rules, you can now earn the Sapphire Preferred welcome offer, hold the card, and later earn the Sapphire Reserve welcome offer as well.
Translation: starting with the Preferred does not lock you out of the Reserve bonus down the road. You can use the Preferred as training wheels, and if the hobby clicks for you, you can upgrade to the Reserve later and still grab that bonus.
Bottom Line
For $95 a year, the Chase Sapphire Preferred gives beginners a low-risk entry point, 1:1 transfer partners at airlines and hotels they already know, and enough built-in perks to cover the annual fee. If you're starting the points and miles hobby in 2026, start here.
If you want to check the current welcome offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred (it's typically 75,000 points after $5,000 in spending in the first three months, though I've seen it as high as 100,000 points in rare promotions), you can view the live offer in the card embed above.
If you apply for cards through my affiliate links, JPMC provides compensation that helps support this site. I only recommend cards I genuinely believe in.
