Chase Sapphire(SM) Credit Card Review

If you're alive and have access to a television set, then you've probably heard of the Chase Sapphire(SM) card. I'm pretty sure a law recently passed in the United States that requires every cable TV channel to air 500 daily commercials for the Sapphire card but the details in those commercials are a little fuzzy.  Because the card starts you out with 10,000 bonus points and carries no annual fee, we thought it was worth reviewing.

Unlike other banks during the recession, JP Morgan Chase remained somewhat stable.  While Bank of America and Citibank continue to report losses and layoffs, Chase has stayed out of the spotlight, performing business as usual.  This of course is not to say that Chase has sailed along during the recession unscathed, but they were well positioned enough to maintain a level of strength throughout.  Strong enough is Chase, that they've introduced a new group of credit cards that includes Chase FreedomSM (a cash back card), SlateSM from Chase (a 0% APR card), and now Chase SapphireSM (a points credit card).

Looking at the reward structure for the Chase Sapphire card, it's fairly straightforward as 100 points is generally equal to $1 in rewards, making the card a 1% rewards card. Chase recently decided to configure a one stop shop for rewards called Chase Ultimate Rewards where all Chase cards generate the same rewards points that can be combined and redeemed for merchandise, cash back, travel and more. The Chase Sapphire card has the following opportunities available for rewards points:

• Double Rewards on all airfare booked through their Ultimate Rewards program
• 10x Rewards on all purchases made through their Ultimate Rewards Mall (Essentially a 10% rebate)
• One point for all other purchases

In addition to the standard rewards program, Chase Sapphire offers 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase. Essentially, Chase is giving you a $100 bonus reward after your first purchase, which is certainly a nice chunk of change! The points are credited six to eight weeks after your first purchase, so if you don't see them right away, not to worry, they will be there.

The Chase Sapphire card is designed for those with above average to excellent credit and with a non tiered APR of 12.24%, (meaning everyone approved will receive this APR) the Sapphire Card has one of the lowest APR's available today.  The Cash Advance APR is 19.24% and in addition to the APR you can expect a 3% cash advance fee, which is pretty standard.

In regard to balance transfers, the Chase Sapphire card offers no introductory offer, however they do allow for standard balance transfers.  The cost of the balance transfer is 3% of the total amount (no cap) and the interest rate on the transfer is 12.24%, which you can expect to start the first day you have transferred over the balance of another credit card.

Since October of 2008, credit card issuers have continued to scale back rewards and introductory offers while increasing APR's and fees.  Recent legislation has limited the ways in which a credit card issuer can cost you more money, however this also means that issuers like Chase, Citibank, Discover and others need to find other ways of becoming profitable.  It's going to be rare in the near future to find a credit card that offers free cash for signing up and backs it with a pretty low APR so you should take advantage of the Chase Sapphire card now, while the offer is still around.

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