Revamped Chase Sapphire Reserve

 Yesterday I shared about Chase Sapphire Reserve's new big brother, or maybe we should say cousin since one is a personal card and one is a business card; the new Chase Sapphire Reserve Business. I can understand why that card isn't for a lot of people with such a high minimum spend AND high annual fee; but I do think the CSR is worth considering for a personal card if you don't currently have a Sapphire.

Today I'm going to break down the newly revamped CSR and it's benefits.

Chase Sapphire Reserve

Annual Fee: $795 (I know, this is super high, I'll speak to this below!)

Current Offer (elevated, meaning it's not the standard offer): Spend $5k in 3 months and earn 100,000 points plus $500 Chase Travel credit

Why I'd Consider This Card

Chase is the easiest bank to figure out credit card points and how you transfer them to partners to book free travel. Chase is the only bank that you can direct transfer points to Southwest AND United (no other banks directly transfer to either! Although there are creative ways to book United flights with other banks, through partner airlines (like Air Canada who is in the same air alliance)

You also need to hold a Chase "premium" card, in order to have the ability to transfer your points to travel partners. A "premium" card for Chase is basically a Chase card that has an annual fee. So having some type of Sapphire card is a must!

Off-Setting the Annual Fee

The signup offer and the benefits of this card can make it easy to offset the $795 annual, depending which of these you use. 

Note, the annual fee is typically charged within a month of you opening the card. It does not count towards the minimum spend for the sign up bonus.

• $500 Chase Travel Credit: this is part of the sign up bonus and gives you $500 to spend in Chase Travel portal. You can use this to book hotels, rental car, flights, etc.
• $300 ANNUAL travel credit: this doesn't have to be utilized in Chase travel portal; just charge anything travel related to your card and you'll get a credit on your next statement. (This benefit renews annually)

These two benefits above automatically have you break even with the annual fee cost. But here are additional benefits that help you get more value out of Sapphire Reserve card:

• Global Entry/TSA Precheck: $120 credit every 4 years; charge this card for your application and receive a statement credit
• Airport Lounge access for Sapphire Lounges and Priority Pass (good for you and 2 guests to get in free; you can pay for additional guests)
• Free Apple TV and Apple Music ($250 value if you use these)
• Doordash benefits: honestly these are kind of annoying to use; but you can get DashPass, which gives you $0 deliveries
• $300 in Stubhub credits annually; $150 every 6mo
• Earn 3x points on restaurants
• Earn 4x points on direct book hotels and flights

Summary

Honestly - I would take advantage of getting this card with it's elevated sign up offer now now and use the above benefits to offset the annual fee; then next year, once you've hit your year mark with the Sapphire Reserve, you can call the bank and request to downgrade from the Sapphire Reserve to the Preferred (read here about downgrading and closing cards). 

The Preferred only has a $95 Annual Fee and still allows you to keep your points and credit history, as well as allows you to transfer your points to travel partners. If you're charged the annual fee with Chase (like next summer), you have 30-40 days to call and downgrade and they'll refund you the fee!

If you can't accommodate a $795 fee right now, then I would go ahead and apply for the little sister card, which is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I have several posts about why CSP is a great beginner card. Read here! 

You can use the same link to apply for either card! As always, I appreciate your support and utilizing my referral links! Be sure if you're viewing this in a Meta app, to open a new external web browser to complete your application, which protects your data and gives me credit!

If you're unsure, fill out my next card recommendation form, and I'll give you my two cents!

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> Looking for more information on points/miles? You can find all of my points talk posts linked here.

> Curious what cards I (and/or my husband) have, and why? Read here!