Chase brought back the best welcome bonus the Sapphire Preferred has ever offered. New cardholders can earn 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $5,000 in the first three months. This is only the third time in the card’s history that offer has hit six figures — it happened in 2021, again briefly in 2025, and now in 2026.
For a military family working with a tight budget, that’s not a rounding error. It’s the difference between a trip you can actually take and one you keep putting off.
What the offer actually is
Spend $5,000 on the card in three months, get 100,000 points. The standard offer on this card has been 75,000 points, so this is a real 33% jump — not a marketing spin on the same number.
The annual fee stays at $95. That’s the number that matters most for junior and mid-enlisted families: this isn’t the $795 Sapphire Reserve. It’s a card built to be affordable to hold every year, not just profitable to open once.
Chase paired the bonus with a refresh that changes what the card earns and covers going forward:
- 5x points on travel booked through Chase Travel
- 3x on dining, gas and EV charging, and vacation rentals (Airbnb, Vrbo, and similar platforms)
- 3x on top streaming services and online groceries (Walmart, Target, and wholesale clubs excluded)
- 2x on all other travel, 1x on everything else
- $100 annual statement credit for hotel stays booked through Chase Travel — up from $50
- Up to $120 every four years toward Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS
- A year of complimentary Apple TV, worth about $156, if you activate by December 31, 2026
- Complimentary DashPass for at least a year
The part most roundups bury
Chase is also dropping the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3 for new cardholders. That means 1,000 Chase points now convert to 750 Hyatt points instead of 1,000. If Hyatt was your play for stretching this bonus into a hotel stay, do that math before you assume the points are worth what last year’s guides said they were.
Existing cardholders keep the better 1:1 rate through September 30, 2026. New applicants don’t get that grace period — the 4:3 rate applies from day one.
The card is also dropping its 10% anniversary points bonus for anyone who opens it after June 15, 2026. If you already hold the card, you keep earning that bonus on purchases through October 1, 2026, with the points landing by January 2027. New cardholders don’t get it at all.
None of this kills the offer. It just means the honest math on 100,000 points is a little lower than the headline suggests once you factor in what changed alongside it.
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What 100,000 points is actually worth
Redeemed straight through the Chase Travel portal, the floor value is $1,000 — 1 cent per point, guaranteed, no strategy required. That alone covers the $5,000 minimum spend requirement with room left over.
Transferred to airline or hotel partners and used well, the same points can cover a lie-flat international business class seat or several nights in a hotel category that would otherwise run over $1,000 a night. That’s not a hypothetical — it’s the same mechanism behind the $4,200 anniversary trip we’ve walked through elsewhere on this site, just with a different card in the mix.
The honest range: $1,000 if you never leave the Chase portal, $1,500–$2,000+ if you transfer points and book with any intention.
Who actually qualifies
Chase’s eligibility rules changed earlier in 2026, and it matters for anyone who already carries Chase products:
- You’re not eligible if you currently hold the Sapphire Preferred, or if you’ve held it before and already received its welcome bonus.
- Holding the Sapphire Reserve no longer disqualifies you. That used to be a hard no. It isn’t anymore.
- Chase’s 5/24 rule still applies — five or more new cards from any issuer in the past 24 months, and you’re likely getting denied regardless of this offer.
If you’ve been disciplined about not chasing every card offer that crosses your feed, you’re probably in better shape here than someone with a folder full of approvals.
Is this the right card for a military family
For E-1 through E-4 households, the $95 fee is the real question, not the bonus size. This card pays for itself through the hotel credit alone if you’ll use Chase Travel even once a year. If you won’t, the fee is a real cost against a genuinely tight budget — go in with that math done, not with the bonus dazzling you into ignoring it.
For separating service members and veterans managing income in flux, the lower annual fee versus the Reserve makes this the more defensible first card, and the new eligibility rules mean Reserve holders aren’t locked out anymore.
There’s no MLA fee waiver angle here worth chasing — the $95 fee is modest enough that a waiver isn’t the deciding factor the way it is on a $595 or $895 card. This one earns its place on the strength of the offer itself, not a benefits loophole.
Chase hasn’t said when this offer ends. The 2025 version lasted about six weeks before disappearing. If the math above works for your family’s spending and you’re eligible, that’s the operating assumption to apply — this isn’t a “check back next quarter” situation.
JT Newman
JT Newman is the Traveling Veteran founder. He served 8 years on active duty in the US Air Force and currently considered a disabled veteran collecting VA benefits. JT started Traveling Veteran in 2024 after learning how to take advantage of credit card points to pay for trips with my wife to visit our adult children and grandchildren.
Your first redemption walkthrough, three actions to take this week, and how to stop wasting the points you've already earned. Download free.