If you're only looking to compare the Premier Rewards Gold to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you need to look beyond
the annual fee difference.
Therefore, we get that to make up
the annual fee difference, one needs to spend at least $ 36 / (2.4 % - 2 %) = $ 9,000 annually.
The math generally works as follows: divide the annual fee (or
annual fee difference) by the difference in rewards rate.
The math generally works as follows: divide the annual fee (or
annual fee difference) by the difference in rewards rate.
Therefore, we get that to make up
the annual fee difference, one needs to spend at least $ 36 / (2.4 % - 2 %) = $ 9,000 annually.
If that's the case,
the annual fee difference between the two cards becomes negligible for the first two years.
If you view this benefit in isolation, you would need to spend over $ 3,333 each year on purchases outside of the United States in order to come out ahead of
the annual fee difference between the cards.
At that point, the Capital One ® Spark ® Cash for Business overcomes
the annual fee difference, even when the bonus points are considered.
That's an $ 875 difference compared with
an annual fee difference of $ 450 in the first year (which can easily be reduced to $ 150 by using the travel credit on the Sapphire Reserve card).
Due to
the annual fee difference, choosing between the cards comes down to how much you spend at restaurants versus grocery stores.
If you're only looking to compare the Premier Rewards Gold to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you need to look beyond
the annual fee difference.
Since the Reserve makes your Ultimate Rewards an extra 0.25 % more valuable, we can simply take $ 55 divided by 0.25 % and come up 22,000 UR as the break - even amount of points that need to be redeemed through the portal to make up
the annual fee difference.
That's an $ 875 difference compared with
an annual fee difference of $ 450 in the first year (which can easily be reduced to $ 150 by using the travel credit on the Sapphire Reserve card).
The annual fees difference is almost a wash considering other factors.
If that's the case,
the annual fee difference between the two cards becomes negligible for the first two years.