wow nothing yet and I honestly thought I would have some real input on this subject 
Gave up after all of 35 minutes at this time of day??
Anyway, CSP is better. UR points are more valuable than TY points. You get the most value by transferring the UR points to airline miles or hotel points.
Starting Score: ~500 (12/01/2008)
@RonDawg wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:Gave up after all of 35 minutes at this time of day??
Anyway, CSP is better. UR points are more valuable than TY points. You get the most value by transferring the UR points to airline miles or hotel points.
hmm sounds good and I hear you can combine your Freedom card with it and transfer the UR points from your Freedom card to an airline miles program if you have the Saphire preferred.
Correct. Same with Ink Bold/Ink Plus.
CSP
You can also transfer in points from your freedom card to make them worth 20% more on travel.
@Dustink wrote:CSP
You can also transfer in points from your freedom card to make them worth 20% more on travel.
^ damn beat me to it
do you have checking with Chase? if not get one, drop $1500 in there and forget it. Since there's $200 free money coupons running around to open a chase checking. If you wanna be lazy they sell on ebay for like $10.
Every freedom purchase will get 10 cents extra with checking.
Best deal about packaging everything together is no matter what you buy if it's under $19 freedom gets more points than sapphire cause you get 9 points for $9 purchase + 10 point bonus with checking. So for all small purchases always use Freedom card. If it's restaurants or travel (sapphire categories) I say anything under $8 use Freedom as well.
For 5% freedom categories transfer them to Sapphire and they're worth 20% more for travel. Making it worth 6 points.
Now also remember even though Sapphire states 1 point for everything, and 2 points for restaurants or travel they're actually worth much more.
Sapphire points are actually worth 1.28 and 2.56 points respectively for travel. Sapphire has a 7% annual bonus reward on sapphire aquirred points (even if you spent them already!) and extra 20% for travel. So that's 1 + 7% + 20% = more than 1.28 and 2.56 points.
Also remember most cards that state restaurants does not count fast food as well, although with the trifecta chase combo freedom would get more points with checking. $6 meal = 16 points. But if your buying a meal for the whole family just use Sapphire 
oh and the rewards mall is probably the best, everything is nice and easy and Amex member rewards points lost a LOT of value recently in their mall so =\ I'm not sure about Discover mall since I don't have a Discover.
Chase mall you can get things like 12 points for dollar on restaurants.com purchase where you can get $100 gift certificates for $35 so your getting additional discounts on a already incredible deal.
Also the points are worth exactly 1 penny a point when redeeming at the mall. So if you want to buy an Ipad you can buy one for right about 50,000 points give or take a little. Amex member rewards mall last time I checked required like 89,000 .... definately not worth it.
@distantarray wrote:
Sapphire points are actually worth 1.28 and 2.56 points respectively for travel. Sapphire has a 7% annual bonus reward on sapphire aquirred points (even if you spent them already!) and extra 20% for travel. So that's 1 + 7% + 20% = more than 1.28 and 2.56 points.
Chase's marketing is a bit odd on this, but you would receive the redemption bonus on the 7% dividend as well, so the values would be 1.3375 cents/dollar on base spending and 2.675 cents/dollar on bonus spending. Also, "worth an extra 20%" is the same thing as saying "worth 125% their normal value" (which is how I would sell it, but hey, I'm not in the card peddling business, so what do I know).
On the other hand, Southwest points have a fixed value of 1.6 points/dollar (for their nonrefundable fare class). If you plan on transferring to Southwest, the effective cashback becomes 1*1.07*1.6 = 1.712 cents/point(effective) and 3.424 cents/point(effective) on bonus categories. Transfers to other airlines/hotels can be worth more/less than 1.6 cents/point, but the Southwest example illustrates that "extra 20%" isn't always the best redemption option.
I think the 1:1 partner points transfers (with the ability to consolidate other UR-generating accounts) is really what justifies the annual fee on the card.
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@kekrre wrote:
@distantarray wrote:
Sapphire points are actually worth 1.28 and 2.56 points respectively for travel. Sapphire has a 7% annual bonus reward on sapphire aquirred points (even if you spent them already!) and extra 20% for travel. So that's 1 + 7% + 20% = more than 1.28 and 2.56 points.
Chase's marketing is a bit odd on this, but you would receive the redemption bonus on the 7% dividend as well, so the values would be 1.3375 cents/dollar on base spending and 2.675 cents/dollar on bonus spending. Also, "worth an extra 20%" is the same thing as saying "worth 125% their normal value" (which is how I would sell it, but hey, I'm not in the card peddling business, so what do I know).
On the other hand, Southwest points have a fixed value of 1.6 points/dollar (for their nonrefundable fare class). If you plan on transferring to Southwest, the effective cashback becomes 1*1.07*1.6 = 1.712 cents/point(effective) and 3.424 cents/point(effective) on bonus categories. Transfers to other airlines/hotels can be worth more/less than 1.6 cents/point, but the Southwest example illustrates that "extra 20%" isn't always the best redemption option.
I think the 1:1 partner points transfers (with the ability to consolidate other UR-generating accounts) is really what justifies the annual fee on the card.
Not to mention not many cards have a 0% foreign transaction fee, and getting to talk to a live CSR without going through the hassle, and the added protection that Sapphire. I'm not sure if it's a Visa signiture benefit or the Sapphire, but the only time I read it was on the Sapphire page so correct me if I"m wrong.
If your item goes on sale within 90 days for an advertised price. Like if you bought a TV for $2000 and it goes on sale within 90 days for $1500 Sapphire card will refund you the $500 difference. That's pretty significant. Always explore the options of your card and benefits, main reason why cards can offer such good deals is it's great for marketing and 99% of people will never use any of it. For instance that's why companies will always give you a free trial and get your credit card number, cause they know most people forget to cancel =)