Head to Head: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Citi ThankYou Preferred

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I’ve been getting some questions lately about the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Citi ThankYou Preferred Card. These cards look kind of similar, they both have “preferred” in their titles, the same $95 annual fee, and some similar features when it comes to category bonuses and the ability to redeem points. When I started writing this, I assumed they had a lot more in common than they actually do — I was surprised to find these two cards aren’t so similar after all and deciding which one was best turned out to be easier than I thought …

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Add to Favorites	$0 intro first year $95 annual fee	Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® Read Review »
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Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.	Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Apply Now Add to Favorites
Sign Up Bonus $0 intro first year $95 annual fee Earn 50,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 in travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards® Annual Fee Already have this card? Maximize your rewards.
Read the FTG Review »

Sign-up Bonus

The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers the higher sign-up bonus at 50,000 points when you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. As a cardholder, you can also earn 5,000 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening. At the moment, the Citi ThankYou Preferred has no public sign-up bonus, but there is a link on FlyerTalk for a 10,000 point offer after $1,000 spent within 3 months. Hands, down the Chase Sapphire Preferred wins when it comes to current sign-up bonuses.

Bonus Categories

Both credit cards offer 2 points per $1 at restaurants. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card also offers 2 points on travel spending, while the Citi ThankYou Preferred pays out 2 points per $1 on entertainment. Personally, I’d go with the Chase Sapphire Preferred here because 2 points on travel are more useful than entertainment and I prefer the Ultimate Rewards transfer partners over Citi’s ThankYou Preferred program.

Transfer Partners

Here’s where personal preference really comes into play. Both Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou Preferred have a good lineup of 1:1 airline and hotel transfer partners. However, I think Chase wins here because there are more hotel programs to choose from and the airline partnerships are better in many respects. United and Hyatt are great rewards programs and you can get great redemption value out of Southwest, British Airways, and Flying Blue awards — especially with those discounted Flying Blue Promo Awards. Additionally, Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed at a rate of $1.25 cents each towards travel booked through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal, where you can find some truly spectacular travel deals. I’m going with the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card in this category.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

• Air France/KLM Flying Blue
• British Airways Executive Club
• Korean Skypass
• Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
• Southwest Rapid Rewards
• United MileagePlus
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
• Hyatt Gold Passport
• IHG Rewards
• Marriott Rewards
• Ritz-Carlton Rewards

Citi ThankYou Preferred

• Cathay Pacific
• EVA Air
• Etihad Guest
• Flying Blue (Air France, KLM)
• Garuda Indonesia
• Hilton HHonors (1:1.5)
• Malaysia Airlines Enrich
• Qantas
• Qatar
• Singapore Airlines
• Thai
• Virgin America (2:1)
• Virgin Atlantic

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.	Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view. Add to Favorites	$0 first year $0 after first year	- - Read Review »
Already have this card? Track it and maximize your rewards.

Image may be NSFW. Clik here to view.	Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card
Apply Now Add to Favorites
Sign Up Bonus $0 first year $0 after first year - - Annual Fee Already have this card? Maximize your rewards.
Read the FTG Review »

Travel Benefits

Chase has been stepping up their travel benefits lately, mainly when it comes to offering insurance and different types of travel protection. Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders are eligible for trip cancellation/interruption insurance up to $10,000 per trip, auto rental collision damage waiver, travel accident insurance, lost luggage reimbursement up to $3,000, trip delay reimbursement up to $500 per ticket, and baggage delay insurance up to $100 per day for five days.

The Citi ThankYou Preferred Card offers trip cancellation/interruption insurance, worldwide travel accident insurance, and worldwide car rental insurance — meaning your rental car is insured everywhere. No exclusions. The travel benefits offered by the Chase Sapphire Preferred card are much more extensive, so I’m giving this round to the good old CSP.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred beats the Citi ThankYou Preferred Card in every category, which I was surprised by. I think the main thing the ThankYou Preferred has going against it is a lack of a decent sign-up bonus. If anyone at Citi is reading this, throwing a 100k sign-up bonus our way might change our mind about the Citi ThankYou Preferred card.

Does anyone disagree with my assessment? Please share your feedback in the comment section.