Chase Is About To Launch The Sapphire Reserve Card, Do The Card’s Benefits Outweigh The Fee?

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Chase will soon be launching the Sapphire Reserve card and it’s shaping up to be a very solid card.

1. It will offer a whopping 100,000 bonus points for spending $4,000 within 3 months.

2. It will have a $450 fee, however it offers a $300 automatic travel credit to offset that. The first $300 of of any travel charged to your card each calendar year will be refunded. That includes charges for airfare, car rentals, hotels, or transportation which includes trains, buses, taxis, limos, ferries, bridges, tolls, and parking.

As the credit is per calendar year that means you’ll get $600 of travel refunds in your first cardmembership year. That’s far more generous than other travel refunds that only officially refund things like airline change and baggage fees.

If you travel at all, it effectively lowers the annual fee to $150 per year.

3. It offers 3 points per dollar on:
-Airfare, including tickets bought from travel agents and online agencies.
-Timeshares (just in case you’re a real sucker)
-Car rentals.
-Hotels.
-Restaurants, fast food, coffee shops, bars, lounges, and cafes.
-Catering
-Transportation including trains, buses, taxis, limos, ferries, bridges, tolls, and parking.

That’s 50% more points than the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card offers in these categories, though the value of this will depend on how much much you spend in these categories per year, whether you have a card like the AMEX Premier Rewards Gold card that also offers generous travel and dining spend bonuses, and how you value each currency.

4. It allows you to use all your Chase points for 1.5 cents each per dollar towards travel.
Previously it’s always been worth transferring Chase points into real airline miles and hotel points.
But at about 1.5 cents per dollar it can start making sense to consider redeeming points directly for paid travel without transferring them into miles. That’s especially true as those fares, as opposed to traditional mileage tickets, also earn additional miles. You can still do much better when hunting for last minute tickets or for premium class tickets, but for regular coach tickets this will be hard to beat.

This also means the travel and dining categories earn at least 4.5% per dollar.

The Freedom Unlimited card earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere. Having the Sapphire Reserve makes everyday spending on that card worth at least 2.25%.

Freedom and Ink cards also have 5 point category bonuses and those will be worth at least 7.5% if you have the Sapphire Reserve.

5. Priority Pass Select Membership.

You’ll be able to access over 900 clubs worldwide, though it’s not yet known if you’ll be able to bring guests into lounges as well and it’s unknown if the $75 annual fee for additional users will include their own membership.

Unfortunately the lounge selection in the USA isn’t comparable to what the AMEX Platinum offers and it’s too bad that Chase couldn’t leverage some sort of United Club access for Sapphire Reserve cardholders. Of course United would not want this card to sabotage the Chase United Club card, but surely there could have been ways to mitigate that risk by only allowing Sapphire Reserve cardholders access when flying United or by not allowing guest access.

6. Global Entry credit.
Every 4 years you can get a $100 credit for a 5 year Global Entry membership which also includes TSA pre-check. That means you can skip the lines and forms when flying back from abroad and you can leave your shoes on, laptops in their bags, and go through metal detectors when flying from the US.

And of course it comes with the other benefits of the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card like no foreign transaction fees, primary rental car insurance, and other travel and purchase protections.

As a Visa Infinite card, it also comes with some benefits like discounts on car rentals (including Silvercar), though apparently the card won’t have the Visa Infinite benefit of $100 off companion airfare.

For an effective $55 annual premium over the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card I plan on applying for and keeping the Sapphire Reserve in my wallet. Do you plan on adding it to yours?

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140 Comments On "Chase Is About To Launch The Sapphire Reserve Card, Do The Card’s Benefits Outweigh The Fee?"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Anonymous

I think they do
But will it have the 5/24 rule ?

Albert

I read that the 5/24 rule won’t apply for this card. That true?

Dan

Early reports from a leaked application link that no longer works indicate that 5/24 might not apply, but as always this stuff is YMMV.

RafiFromISrael

How much will it be for second card?

Chani

I just applied last week for the chase sapphire. Didn’t get approval yet. Do you think that I can get upgraded?

ben

Dan at less than 5/24? no way.

JF

Absolutley no brainer.

Barry

5/24 rule apply to this one? When is launch date?

EM1

Number two says $600 in refunds the first year, how was that calculated?

Mike

@dan Will this card fall into the “chase 5/24 rule”

Ted

Approved for this card on Monday, I am WAY over 5/24.

Shaul Yaakov

Dan:
1. Will having this card allow you to use all of your UR from other cards at 1.5c (even UR earned before having the card/UR from Ink)?

2. If I get this card in August/September, would I get $300 to use for travel from September-December and another $300 in January? If so, does that effectively mean a -$150 fee for the first year?

Mendy

I’ve heard $300/ calendar yr so for the 2nd ur you’re already paid for as well

wiz23

@Dan:

dan please if you have time can you post a workaround for the chase 5/24 rule -this card really seems like the ultimate spending card!!!

wiz23

@EM1:

calander year not annual year of card
so if you get card now you will get $300 now and another in january

Wingit

https://www.prioritypass.com/en/Select#

Maybe there’s some info here on bringing guests into the lounges.

YY

Wow sounds like a great card, better than Amex Platinum
cant wait for it to be available

sb

@wiz23: Product change. wont get the signup bonus but you’ll still get the rest of the features

mosha

Is car rental included in the $300 travel?

Dan

@RafiFromISrael:
See tbe post.

@Chani:
Try and let us know.

@Shaul Yaakov:
1. Yes.
2. Yes.

@wiz23:
Convince a banker to make you Chase Private client.

@Wingit:
Nope.

Gary

The Ritz is shipping PPs with guest access (like the prestige and crystal infinite), which makes it seem likely that this card will too.

Will this card be subject to 5/24?

Will this card be subject to 5/24?

Will this card be subject to 5/24?

Will this card be subject to 5/24?

Will this card be subject to 5/24?

There; I asked it for the next five people. Now they can save their breath.

In case anybody is curious: NOBODY KNOWS. You’ll just have to wait and see.

Dan

@Gary:
Ritz and Crystal also have Visa Infinite benefits that this card won’t have. Let’s wait and see and hopefully be pleasantly surprised.

Mmgfarb

Wouldn’t it be nice if people would actually read the post and the earlier comments before asking questions?
@Barry officially it’s August 21st
@wiz23 want everything spoon fed to you huh? There is no official “workaround” for the 5/24 rule but if you happen to have $250,000 lying around, you can become a chase private client and the rule seemingly doesn’t apply to them.

tolch

I have a sapphire preferred any way I can upgrade it

wizzy

is there any reason to keep the regular chase sapphire preferred once I get the new reserve?

yoni

Its a no brainer. However I still cant figure out for the life of me why chase would be so generous. They are effectively taking a massive risk on $1350 at least. $1500 + 300 and deduct the annual fee.

Anonymous

@Dan: work on removing cards from your report…How?

wiz23

that might be hard if i don’t bank at chase..

Anonymous

@tolch: you can upgrade but no bonus!

TheMetzuyan

Finally some good news in this game!!

Sasha

Can somebody please explain what the chase 5/24 rule is?

wiz23

@Mmgfarb:

obviously i know there is no official workaround. dan mentioned a few weeks ago that there are workarounds for the 5/24 rule and he said maybe one day hw will right a post. now that this new card is coming out and the question was sure to come up i was just asking if he can find the time to post a lttle something on the topic.

Anonymous

@Sasha:
cant have more then 5 cards from any bank open in a 2 year period.

AJK

My suspicion is that having CPC doesn’t auto-exempt someone from 5/24. Instead, the SP offered to CPC members is a different product with a unique pre-approval code. In other words, if that same CPC member were to apply for an Ink, that member would he subject to 5/24 just like anyone else. I can only hope that the Reserve takes the place of the Palladium card available in the list of cards to CPC members, making it a different product with a unique approval code.

Eliezer

@EM1: $300 credit per calendar year, so if you apply August 2016, use the card for travel in 2016 and 2017 (before your anniversary date), you will receive 2 $300 credits.

dan

WHAT DOES 5/24 MEAN??????

danNY

HOW DO I GET THIS CARD? LINK?

Sara

What is a CPC?

Davidm

@Chani: Call reconsideration line.

Anonymous

@yoni:

Lots of people miss the bonus or spend money they don’t have to get it.

Ac

As Dan mentioned, developer application that was leaked earlier wasn’t under 5/24 and many reddit members who are way over were able to get approved. That doesn’t mean it’ll not be under the rule when it’s officially coming out. That being said, my personal guess it won’t be under the rule right away, they want to have as many people as possible to sign for their new product, and they also get 450 from each card immediately.

Mahyar

what other cards would you recommend signing up for on the same day if we already are doing the credit pull? already have the CSP, freedom, and united explorer card

Jeffrey

I know it’s not the optimal use of points, but will Rewards from this card be usable on Amazon?

5/24

5 opened during 24?
Or 5 active that are open during 24 but initiated
8 years ago?

Mike B

Do i have to actually purchase airfare or hotel to receive the $300 credit or is it automatically posted to your account ? Reason for asking is because its annual membership at $450 might not make sense to me if i dont really travel at all throughout the year.

scott

@dan: no more than 5 new cards open in the past 24 months

Chossid

Does the 5/24 rule apply for this card as it would be perfect for me now that I have a lot of travel.

Chossid

@EM1:
$300/year so within your first year applying now would be 2016/2017 each at $300

Sara

Can I get this card event though I already have Chase Sapphire for 4 years?

AC

@Chossid:

take a moment to read the comments before you.

george

when is card available? to get

tony

can points be transferred to flights to israel?

Anonymous

@Ac:
wasnt the brand new freedom card under the new rule.

Anonymous

@Jeffrey:
you can use chase rewards on amazon but they just devalued them. think its like .80

Anonymous

@Mike B: once you purchase travel it will post as a statment credit up to $300 per clander year
apply when it comes out get $300 in 2016 and another $300 in 2017

Anonymous

@Chossid: wait and see
no one knows yet…

thingywingy

Is it certain these points will combine with all prevously accumulated UR points to be redeemable @1.5?

Moshe G

@yoni: 1500 + 600 and deduct the fee…. =$1650.

Moshe G

@Mahyar: Freedom Unlimited, Ink.

Moshe G

@5/24: 5 opened during 24

roee

Does it make sense to keep the current Sapphire (and pay the annual $95 fee) or cancel it after receiving the new one?

AC

@Anonymous:

Sure was. But $450 a year from each member on a card that supposed to compete with the Plat and Prestige is a bit different I think.

Chase would want as many people as possible to get the new card, at least that is my opinion. But we will wait and see.

Moshe G

@Sara: Why not.

Achshell

@tony:
Seems like you are a sub rookie in this field, but simply to answer your question: YES.

Steven

Do you think the card will give a credit for the Nexus card as well as Global Entry? AMEX doesn’t cover the Nexus.

Sami

Concierge?

Cubs Fan

@Dan -I’m not sure if this already exists but just a suggestion. To make this blog more efficient, someone should create a list with all the ראשי תיבות and an explanation of each term so people have something to reference and don’t have to ask so many questions. I think half the people on this thread have no idea what the other half are talking about.

YONI

@DAN OR ANYONE ELSE SHOULD YOU GET THE CHASE PREFFERED BEFORE GETTING THIS ONE>

Izzy

Say you don’t travel, can I buy airline gift cards with this card as part of the $300 refund?

A.g.

Please explain what’s the 5/24 rule.

Cov

@Cubs Fan: Those resources already exist in DDF, these people just don’t use them. It’s baffling to me that people don’t bother reading the post, don’t bother reading other comments, then proceed straight to the comments to post. I guess I should expect it, but it’s baffling nonetheless.

tony

how can i transfer for israel flights?

Abe

Does car rentals qualify for the $300 travel credit?

Achshell

@tony: Do a little bit of research. But the simplest way would be to redeem the points on the Chase travel portal. Book your dream flight to Israel on anny airline through Chase and use points to pay.

tony

@achshell how many points does it usually take?

Mahyar

@Moshe G: do business cards count as the same credit pull as personal cards? that wasn’t my understanding previously

Joeseph

5/24 for those who would like to know is Chases relatively new policy of not approving those who have had 5 Chase (not all) cards within 24 month period 😉

Achshell

@tony:
Post chapter 4. It’s all there.

rxgeek

@Mike B: If you purchase gift cards DIRECTLY FROM THE AIRLINE OR HOTEL for future use, those count. Often they have no expiration. I purchased UA gc’s on my Prestige card and got the credit.

MK

I hope that Chase’s move gets Citi to sweeten the Prestige and some of their other cards.

Benjy Blumenthal

Effectively you get 900 points with the 300 travel credit (assuming they count those pts at x3 pts. So thats 9 more dollars off the annual fee.

Benjy

tony

@ACHSHELL HUH PLEASE EXPLAIN

drew

@Gary: Dumb q….what is the 5/24 rule?

MRS k

Hi just want everyone to know that I was trying to enter last week dans club lounge in ben guryon airport (tlv) and was advised that they don’t allow the priority pass member any longer
I called a supervisor and he said to me they don’t pay us … So starting August 1 2016 they discontinuing the relationship with priority pass

Tovi

Any ideas if the $300 travel credit applies toward the fees on a miles flight ticket purchase?

Dan

@tolch:
Try and let us know. But you don’t get the signup bonus for upgrading.

@wizzy:
I’m not aware of any advantages over the Sapphire Reserve.

@yoni:
They want people to keep the card and use it and they’ve made quite the case for that.

@Sasha:
I’ve written about it several times.
Many Chase cards are hard to get if you’ve opened 5 cards in the past 24 months.

@danNY:
It launches next week.

@Sara:
Chase Private client.
The guidelines are to give that if you have $250K with Chase banking, but bankers can give it to anyone at their discretion.

Children and family members of a private client also get CPC status.

@Mahyar:
Unlikely you can get more than 3.
Freedom Unlimited is also a great card to use together with Sapphire Reserve.

@5/24:
Newly opened within the past 24 months.

@Mike B:
It’s good for more than just airfare and hotels, it’s good for any travel related purchase.
You do need to spend $300 to get the $300 back.

@Sara:
Yes.

@george:
Next week.

@tony:
Sure.

@thingywingy:
All Chase points have always been combinable.

@roee:
I would downgrade it to Freedom or Freedom Unlimited.

@Cubs Fan:
There’s one on the forums 🙂

@Izzy:
Yes, any travel spend counts.

@tony:
You can transfer to United or book directly at a value of 1.5 cents per point.

@Abe:
Yes, all travel counts.

@MK:
Citi just toasted that card, I wouldn’t count on it improving.

@Benjy Blumenthal:
900 points is worth $14.50 at the bare minimum with this card.

@MRS k:
It’s still on the Priority Pass site.
Have you tried contacting them?

AC

@Joeseph:

100% wrong. 5 cards from any bank not only chase.

yosef

@ Joeseph
The 5/24 rule is only if you opened 5 ‘chase’ cards? I understood that’s if you opened any 5 cards.

matovu

Dan, what does the last paragraph mean ?

For an effective $55 annual premium over the Sapphire Preferred I plan on applying for and keeping the Sapphire Reserve in my wallet. Do you plan on adding it to yours?

AC

@drew:

if you opened 5 or more cards from any bank (including store branded cards like best buy or furniture stores), Chase will deny your application automatically. However, we do not know if this rule will apply to the reserve card.

Dan

@yosef:
Any bank, though business cards from banks like AMEX don’t count.

@matovu:
Sapphire Preferred is $95/year and I find it valuable enough to be in my wallet.
This will effectively cost just $55 more than that and provide a whole lot more.

Rob

@Dan are you dumping your preferred card?

Avrohom

If i have the Freedom, Freedom unlimited and the Sapphire preferred. Whats my best option? Downgrade the preferred to Sapphire?

Dan

@Rob:
I’ll probably downgrade it to Freedom or Freedom Unlimited.

@Avrohom:
You can downgrade it to another Freedom.

Roee

@Dan: Thank you,
And in case I already have chase freedom, do you think I should downgrade to have the freedom unlimited in addition?

THanks

wiz23

thanks for the help!

Chaim

Just got a preferred card a week ago do you think I can still change to this one?

MRS k

@ Dan
I showed the supervisor that they are on the list
And he said again we are discounting the relationship with them and yes I did contact priority pass and they said they apologized for the inconvenience and will get back to me within 72 hours
So far no respond yet

Belz

Does one need to downgrade from a Sapphire Pref to be able to apply or in theory (depending on the 5/24) would be able to have both?

drew

@AC: TY

Brian

Thinking about getting this, that’s a lot of perks and I plan to do a lot of travelling in the next year. But I’m not sure it’ll be worth $450 after that. Can anyone describe the real, tangible negative effect of canceling a card? Is it bad because the act of canceling a card is bad, or is it bad because it reduces the amount of available credit I have (which I could theoretically balance by opening a separate card)?

Thanks!

Hamster of Hashem

Hi Everyone– somewhat off topic, but I’m closing in on three months with my Chase Sapphire preferred. I’m like $700 short of getting the bonus. Dan or anyone else, do you have any ideas for me? I’m worried about missing the bonus!! Thank you in advance.

Chatzkal S

Will this be part 5/24???

Anonymous

@Hamster of Hashem: pay your electricity bill, buy visa gift cards

Phil

@Hamster of Hashem:

buy a gift card from Amex.

sam

can I get this card with the bonus if I had the bonus already on the regular sapphire?

JoeyS

I there any way to get UR points over to TrueBlue?? I been searching online for hours, but no one seems to have a decent method..

Jay

@Dan
If I already got 60K sign up bonus from chase business ink plus, can I get another 100K signup for this card?

Peretz770

Do you think using the card to buy Amazon GCs on the United Mileage Plus app will go towards the $300 credit?

Mesh1046

Will I still get the 100,000 bonus points even I have already a chase freedom and the current sapphire ?

Ctownbin

@Peretz770:
No, that only works with AMEX cards, with Visa/MC it won’t code as travel.

Clare N

Do cruiseships count as travel purchase for the $300 reimbursement? Also will they count as 3X for travel?

Am Ha'aretz Gomur

HELP!!!
What is 5/24???

AC

@Am Ha’aretz Gomur:

seriously? why not spend 5 min reading other comments? not everything should be served on a silver plate for you

Mendy

Well at least it’s confirmed by a rep to be coming out the beginning (think Monday) of this coming week.

Eli

Can someone explain what it means that combined with Ink it will be worth 7.5% with there 5 point category.

nadball

@Dan: you suggested to @Avrohom to downgrade the CSP to another freedom. if you have 2 freedoms will you be able to max each for a 5x calendar category, or would the max be cumulative for both?

Hasheesh

@AC: comments like these should require mods. Meh, or just stop commenting

shmo

Can I keep my points after cancelling if I have CSP?

Mark

Will this sapphire be able to transfer points to partners like ink and the regular sapphire?

dhammer53

@shmo,

You have to use your points before you cancel. This isn’t like an airline/hotel card, where once you have the miles, they’re yours to keep. When I got rid of my AMEX card, I moved points to various airlines AND, got some hotel gift cards.
If you cancel the card and don’t use your points, they all go poof.

Dan

@Roee:
Sure.

@Belz:
You can have both.

@Brian:
It’s $150, not $450, if you do any kind of traveling at all.
Closing a card:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/53213

@sam:
Yes.

@JoeyS:
No.

@Jay:
Yes.

@Mesh1046:
Yes.

@Clare N:
Yes and yes.

@Eli:
5 points per dollar x 1.5 cents per points=7.5%.

@nadball:
$1,500 each per quarter.

@shmo:
Points can be transferred between all Chase cards, as long as you have one open you won’t lose points.

@Mark:
Yes.

Harry

@Hamster of Hashem: Open a Nationwide Buzz account and put money on that using your Chase card which money you can then use to pay off the Chase balance as the Nationwide Buzz card is a debit card. It will cost you about $11 for $800 but is obviously worth it if you have nothing else to charge to the card.

Eli

Can you get the 60k signup bonus with ink as a business card and also get the 100k bonus of the sapphire in the same few months?

jonny

I’ve seen that an authorized user will be $75/year. However, will each additional user get its own $300 travel credit per calendar year, as well? Or is it a flat $300 per entire account that all auth. users need to share?

Dan

@Eli:
Yes.

@jonny:
Ha, only in your dreams!
The $300 is shared.

mommafrica

Like the CSP, does it have primary car rental insurance coverage?

Dan

@mommafrica:
Read the post 🙂

jonny

@Dan: Thanks for responding! I’m not so big into CC’s, I have a couple cash back cards incl. Chase Freedom and Discover IT (mainly for its good Discover Deals). I think I may go for this one, though.

Dado

By looking at the comments here, it seems that Dan’s readers are much less likely to read the full post (let alone any other blogs or forums) and then immediately ask questions withouth looking at anything asked before them? Even TPG readers don’t always seem as quick to hit the Submit Comment button. Just read a bit before asking…. UGH

ayid

@dan the “other credit card link on top takes you to Canadian credit cards (after you hit the name of bank products your looking for)
Is there any other way you can benefit from us signing up for other cards?

Eli

What are some ways of receiving the $300 travel credit if I don’t do much traveling?

Jack out of the box

@Eli: Get someone you trust to use your credit card when booking their travel. (You should probably check with Chase, though, if that person will be covered by insurance or other travel benefits when using your card.)

tony

@dan @ANYONE
CAN YOU SPEND MONEY ON GIFT CARDS TO GET TO THE 4000
??

Boagala

Can I sign up you for this card?

Jen

Is it alreafy launched?

yosel

Does it cover CDW in Israel??

Yoni

Do authorized users get the credit for global entry as well? Or just the main user?

Wizzy

I signed up for the card today. Just go into any chase bank.
@eli – taxis, train, uber, ezpass all are considered travel

adam

I just got off the phone with chase. It is not a $300 travel credit. It’s a credit for incidental fees like baggage. The person even asked her manager after I told her what the website states. “$300 Annual Travel Credit A statement credit will automatically be applied to your account when your card is used for purchases in the travel category.” I asked her what about upgrades or purchases like food? And how would they know if I purchased my bags or other incidental fees if I included that in my total purchase let’s say from orbitz.com? She couldn’t give me a real answer. Btw is a maximum statement credit of $300.

Also, you will not get the 100,000 bonus points if upgrading from preferred. But if you apply and get approved you can transfer the preferred points to reserve and use the 50% off with points.

Was really excited about this card but not so sure anymore. Then again it just came out and they seem to have no clue on whats going on.

wpDiscuz