Is CSP right for me?
 

My every day spending card is the CapOne QS. I have Discover IT and Chase Freedom cards for when I'm buying something with the 5% categories.

My average monthly spending is about $1000 on the QS card. Monthly spending on the other cards is usually between 0 and $300 depending on the category.
I tend to travel to Europe at least once per year and haven't focused too much on airline reward programs.

Do you think the Chase Sapphire Preferred card would be a good fit for my everyday spending habits? Based on my current spending, would the Chase points be more valuable than straight 1.5% cash back on my QS card?

The value of the points will be determined by your redemptions, not by your spending. When you go to Europe do you travel in economy or in a premium cablin? Which airline(s) do you fly, both for domestic and the European trip?

I always fly coach. I usually just fly with the cheapest airline, but sometimes I'll catch a flight with Iceland Air, Aer Lingus, or another regional airline.

Please let me jump on this thread if I'm not derailing it.

I have not flown in years but expect to travel to Europe in a year or so (and have no plans to fly domestically). I would expect to fly in something above economy. I would expect to fly from Minneapolis-Saint Paul (and have no idea which airlines use that airport), but could fly from some other airport with an easy Amtrak connection. I have a Chase Sapphire Reserve and expect to have about 140,000 points after getting the signup bonus this month.

For what it's worth, I started with Chase because of its relationship with Amtrak, then stayed with Chase because of its relationship with Hyatt. Amtrak went away and Hyatt has become much less interesting, but there is that Europe trip on the horizon.

Should I stick with Chase? Should I have an airline card, from Chase or from anyone else?

Thanks for any insight. As I said, I haven't flown in years, and I didn't pay attention to rewards when I did.

You'll always be best off spreading your spend over several cards to get sign up bonuses. Spending $3000 to get 50k points is much better than spending that for 2x points and getting 6k.

CSP is not a good card for everyday spending. Not saying it's a bad card but to take full advantage of it you need other Chase cards that earn more than 1/$ on everyday spend.

Other than travel and restaurants, I would put everything on the Freedom Unlimited and get 1.5 points, or just the bonus catagories on the Freedom and get 5 points. You can always transfer those points over to the CSP to take full advantage of what that card has to offer. Essentially by doing this those points are worth 50% more. 5 = 7.5, 1.5 = 2.25.

Personally I'd recommend getting the CSR over the CSP. You get much better redemption values.