Here's What Happened When I Referred My Parents for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

You know that good feeling you get when you find a $20 bill in a jacket pocket? With no extra effort on your part, you're suddenly up some cash that you can spend on something fun. I had that feeling recently, but it was more like $150 that fell into my lap. It all stemmed from a short conversation with my parents, and all I had to do was send them a link to apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Here's how it went.

Shopping for a new credit card

Recently, my parents reached out to my brother and me to ask if we had a travel credit card we could recommend. They were in the market for a new card that wasn't tied to a particular airline or hotel chain; they wanted to earn rewards that could be applied more widely to all their travel spending.

• Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

I don't have a big collection of credit cards in my wallet, though I try to keep a good variety so I can use different cards for different types of spending. Several years ago, I signed up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card to earn the welcome bonus while spending for my wedding, and I've been using it for travel expenses ever since. I immediately recommended the card to them.

Funnily enough, my brother also recommended a card in the Chase Sapphire line, though he uses the Chase Sapphire Reserve®. That card has a higher annual fee than the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card does, but it also earns more rewards on spending. My parents compared the benefits, terms, and annual fees for each of the cards, and they decided to go with the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Sorry, big bro, but that was good news for me!

• Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Sending the referral link

Once I knew my parents were interested in signing up for the card, I logged into my Chase app and found the referral link page. All I had to do was select the referral link for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and text it to my dad. From there, he was able to follow the link to apply for the card, and within minutes, he'd received the approval notification.

My parents were on their way to earning travel rewards, and I was on my way to earning a sweet referral bonus of 15,000 bonus points. I kept an eye on my Chase Ultimate Rewards account, and within a week, I saw the bonus points had been applied to my rewards total. Once redeemed, those points are worth about $150 -- not bad for a few taps on my phone screen. And if I redeem the points through the Chase Travel Portal, my points are worth 25% more, pushing the value of the referral bonus up to $187.50.

• Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

Earning bonus points through referrals

Chase allows cardholders to earn up to 75,000 bonus points a year through referrals (that's five referrals at 15,000 bonus points each). It's a great way to earn generous rewards points worth quite a bit of money if you happen to know anyone looking to apply for a new credit card.

Or if you're the one in the market for a new credit card, ask around with your family and friends. They might have a great recommendation for a card and be able to share their real-life experience using it, and would probably love to earn a referral bonus for their trouble.