A good global entry credit card hands you a statement credit that covers the full application fee, so the perk effectively pays for itself the first time you use it. Here is the mechanic, because it trips people up. The card does not enroll you in anything. You apply for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck directly with the government, pay the application fee with your card, and the issuer posts a statement credit back to your account within a billing cycle or two.
Here’s the best part about this credit: You can use it for someone other than yourself. Typically, credit card benefits only benefit the main account holder – but the these credits, as long as the fee is charged to the card, the membership can be under anyone’s name, meaning you can sign up a child, cousin, neighbor, stranger… whoever!
Both cards on this list reimburse up to $120 once every four years. That number matters, because the Global Entry application fee is exactly $120 for a five-year membership, so the credit wipes out the entire cost. TSA PreCheck runs less, as low as roughly $77 to $85 depending on which enrollment provider you use, so the credit more than covers it there too.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: A $95 Global Entry Credit Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred carries a $95 annual fee and reimburses up to $120 for Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, or NEXUS every four years. That NEXUS coverage is an edge, since the other card here does not touch it.
Where this card pulls ahead is the rest of the package. It earns Chase Ultimate Rewards points, which transfer to a roster of airline and hotel partners, and it comes with a $100 annual Chase Travel hotel credit. Sit with that second number: a $100 hotel credit against a $95 annual fee means the card can pay for itself every single year, the every-four-years Global Entry perk aside. That is the structural reason the Sapphire Preferred is easy to keep long term.
Click here to learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s current welcome bonus offer.
Capital One Venture Rewards: The Other $95 Option
The Capital One Venture Rewards card matches the formula that matters most here: a $95 annual fee and up to $120 back for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck once every four years, confirmed on Capital One’s own site. The one gap versus the Chase card is NEXUS, which Capital One does not reimburse, so frequent Canada land-border travelers should note that.
What you are buying with the Venture is simplicity. It earns 2 miles per dollar on everything, with no categories to track, plus 5 miles per dollar on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. Those miles transfer to 15-plus travel partners. There is no built-in annual statement credit equivalent to Chase’s hotel credit, which means the Venture justifies its fee through earning rather than a perk that auto-offsets it. If you spend enough on the card, the flat 2x covers the $95 comfortably. If you do not, the math is thinner in non-credit years.
Click here to learn more about the Capital One Venture’s current welcome bonus offer.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck: Which Credit Should You Use
Here is the honest answer, and it is the same with either card. Global Entry costs $120 and includes TSA PreCheck automatically. TSA PreCheck on its own costs less, but the statement credit covers up to $120 either way, so your out-of-pocket cost is zero in both cases. When the credit makes the price identical, the program that does more wins, and that is Global Entry.
The only real reasons to choose TSA PreCheck instead are practical, not financial. Global Entry requires an in-person interview, or an interview-on-arrival the next time you fly back into the US, and the application is more involved. If you never travel internationally and do not want to deal with the interview logistics, plain TSA PreCheck is the lower-friction path. For everyone else, Global Entry is the better use of the same credit.
The Real Math: What Each Card Costs After the Credit
Let us run it cleanly, because the headline “free Global Entry” hides some nuance. Pay the $120 Global Entry fee with either card and you get up to $120 back, so the application itself nets out to zero. In year one, that $120 credit alone more than cancels the $95 annual fee, before you even count the welcome bonus or any other perk. So year one is comfortably positive on both cards.
Years two through four are where they split. With the Sapphire Preferred, the $100 annual Chase Travel hotel credit offsets nearly all of the $95 fee every year, assuming you book at least one hotel through Chase Travel. With the Venture, there is no equivalent auto-offset, so you are relying on the 2x earning to outrun the fee. At 2 miles per dollar, valuing a Capital One mile conservatively, you would need to put a few thousand dollars a year through the card to clear $95 in value, which is realistic for a primary card and a stretch for one that lives in a drawer.
The table below lays the two side by side so you can see the trade at a glance.
| Chase Sapphire Preferred | Capital One Venture Rewards | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual Fee | $95 | $95 |
| Global Entry / PreCheck Credit | Up to $120 | Up to $120 |
| NEXUS Covered | Yes | No |
| Credit Frequency | Every 4 years | Every 4 years |
| Rewards Currency | Chase Ultimate Rewards | Capital One miles |
| Fee-Offsetting Perk | $100 annual hotel credit | Flat 2x miles on all spend |
| Welcome Offer | Varies. Click to learn more | Varies. Click to learn more |
| Best For | Keeping long term, transfer partners | Simple flat-rate earning |
Who Should Skip These Cards
Skip the Sapphire Preferred for now if you are over the Chase 5/24 threshold, which is Chase’s unofficial practice of declining applicants who have opened five or more cards across all issuers in the past 24 months. It is widely reported rather than published by Chase, so treat it as a strong pattern rather than a guarantee, but it blocks plenty of applications.
Skip the Venture if you specifically want NEXUS covered, since it reimburses only Global Entry and TSA PreCheck. And skip either card if you know you will not use it enough to justify $95 in the years when the Global Entry credit is not in play, because a travel card you do not spend on is just a recurring fee.
Global Entry Credit Card FAQ
How much is the Global Entry fee right now?
$120 for a five-year membership, paid when you submit your application. It is nonrefundable even if you are denied.
Does the credit cover the entire fee?
Yes. Both cards reimburse up to $120, and Global Entry costs exactly $120, so the credit covers all of it. TSA PreCheck costs less, so it is fully covered too.
Can I use the credit if I already have Global Entry?
Yes. Pay for someone else’s application with your card and the statement credit posts to your account.
How often can I use the credit?
Once every four years per account. Memberships last five years, so the four-year window lines up with renewal.
Global Entry or TSA PreCheck?
Global Entry, in almost every case. It includes TSA PreCheck, and since the credit covers the full cost either way, you lose nothing by choosing the program that does more.
Which credit cards have the Global Entry credit?
Plenty do, across every fee tier. The two cheapest worth knowing are the pair in this guide, the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Capital One Venture Rewards, both at $95.
Leave a Reply