The “ultra-premium” Chase Sapphire Reserve® is offering an opening incentive of 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points which can be redeemed for at least $900 of travel when you redeem through Chase TravelSM, but can also be used in many other ways which can bring even more value. Here is the long list of card perks:
- 60,000 Bonus Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months. Get 50% more value when you redeem your points for travel through Chase TravelSM. For example, 60,000 points are worth $900 of airfare, hotels, and other travel through Chase TravelSM.
- $300 Annual Travel Credit . Every year, the card will automatically rebate you back up to $300 in travel purchases such as airfare and hotel nights charged on your card.
- 5X total points on flights and 10x total points on hotels and car rentals when you purchase travel through Chase TravelSM immediately after the first $300 is spent on travel purchases annually.
- 3X points per $1 spent on travel & dining worldwide. The 3X points on travel kick in immediately after earning your $300 travel credit. 1 point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
- Up to $100 statement credit towards Global Entry, NEXUS, or TSA PreCheck® every four years.
- Airport lounge access via Priority Pass Select membership. Access to 1,300+ airport lounges worldwide after an easy, one-time enrollment in Priority Pass™ Select.
- New: Access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, which are new airport lounges starting at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), and Hong Kong International Airport (HKG).
- 1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs.
- Complimentary DashPass + $5 monthly DoorDash Credits from DoorDash through 12/31/2024. 12 months of complimentary DashPass + Get $5 in DoorDash credits each calendar month while enrolled in DashPass through 12/31/2024. Activate by 12/31/2024.
- Complimentary Instacart+ Membership.: 12 months of complimentary Instacart+ membership, when the membership is activated between 6/15/2022 and 7/31/2024.
- NEW: 2 free years of Lyft Pink All Access and a 3rd year at 50% off when you activate by Dec 31, 2024 (a value of $199/year). Membership auto-renews. Details here. Benefits here.
- Annual fee is $550; $75 for each additional authorized user.
Note the following offer language:
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would like this product, please call the number on the back of your card to see if you are eligible for a product change. You will not receive the new cardmember bonus if you change products.
Ultimate Rewards points. The Chase Sapphire Reserve card offers a special 50% bonus on travel redemptions made through the Chase TravelSM website. Compare that with the 25% bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred. 60,000 Ultimate Rewards = $900 in travel. Similar to Expedia or Travelocity, you can book flights on most major airlines and hotel chains. This makes it much more flexible to spend your points. You can even buy something more expensive than what you can afford with solely points and pay the difference in cash.
If you have other Chase cards that earn Ultimate Rewards points like the Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Business Cash or Ink Business Unlimited, you can transfer points into this card account and take advantage of the this higher premium. In other words, your existing Ultimate Rewards points balance could be increased in value by getting this card.
Possibly even better value via airline and/or hotel points. This card also allows you to transfer Ultimate Rewards points into hotel and/or airline miles. Transfer to United Airlines, British Airways, Air Canada (new), Singapore Airlines, Korean Air, Southwest, Hyatt Hotels, IHG Hotels, and Marriott Hotels at a ratio of 1 Ultimate Rewards point = 1 mile/hotel point. Miles redemption continue to offer great value for savvy travelers, especially for last-minute travel and business class seats.
Personally, my preferred redemption method is Hyatt points, where I can consistently get over 2 cents per points of value for my hotel bookings. Recently, I have also been using my Ultimate Rewards points on the new Air Canada option.
Cash redemptions are a simple and easy option, but the conversion is a straight 100 points = $1.
Sharing points. Ultimate Rewards points are instantly transferable to other accounts like family members, as long as they have their own Chase card with Ultimate Rewards as an authorized user (free with Chase Freedom). This way, you can pool points together for transfers and redemptions if you like.
Additional card benefits:
- Dedicated customer service line with a live person that answers the phone 24/7. No waiting or complicated phone trees.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Primary car rental collision damage waiver insurance. Decline the rental company’s collision insurance and charge the entire rental cost to your card. Coverage is primary and provides reimbursement up to $75,000 for theft and collision damage for most rental cars in the U.S. and abroad. Most other cards only offer secondary coverage that kicks in only after the deductible of your individual insurance policy is used.
- Trip Cancellation/Trip Interruption Insurance. If your trip is canceled or cut short by sickness, severe weather and other covered situations, you can be reimbursed up to $10,000 per person and $20,000 per trip for your pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses, including passenger fares, tours, and hotels.
- Trip Delay Reimbursement. If your common carrier travel is delayed more than 6 hours or requires an overnight stay, you and your family are covered for unreimbursed expenses, such as meals and lodging, up to $500 per ticket
- Enjoy special car rental privileges from National Car Rental, Avis, and Silvercar when you book with your card.
Note that Chase has an unofficial rule that they will automatically deny approval on new credit cards if you have 5 or more new credit cards from any issuer on your credit report within the past 2 years (aka the 5/24 rule). This rule is designed to discourage folks that apply for high numbers of sign-up bonuses. This rule applies on a per-person basis, so in our household one applies to Chase while the other applies at other card issuers.
As for the $300 annual travel credit, “annually” means the year beginning with your account open date through the first December statement date of that same year, and each 12 billing cycles starting after your December statement date through the following December statement date. So it’s not exactly by calendar year, but roughly close and you can likely get this twice under the first year’s annual fee. When you log into the Chase website, there is a handy tracker that tells you how much of your $300 annual credit has been reimbursed, and how much is remaining.
Bottom line. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card has a 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points sign-up bonus, 50% boost to all your travel credit redemptions of Ultimate Rewards points, $300 annual travel credit, 3X points on Dining/Travel (more if you use Chase TravelSM to book), Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, up to $100 Global Entry application credit, DoorDash perks, Lyft perks, and more… in exchange for a $550 annual fee. You should compare against that of the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which has less perks but also a lower annual fee.
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Only downside I see is the Priority Pass Select. Fine if you are in some major cities but sucks if you are in some smaller cities with Delta Sky lounges.
It would have been nice if they included United lounges or something. Delta is still tied up with American Express though.
So basically, if you travel enough to use $300 more on travel vs your points, this is effectively $150/year vs the preffered card’s $100 per year, you get all the same benefits plus club access and 3 points per dollar on travel (which based on my experience includes airbnb) and food vs 2, 1.5:1 reimbursement rate vs 1.25:1…. seems like a pretty damn good deal for travelers. I was even considering signing up for global access this year…
5/24 is a very real thing with Chase. The old days are over.
And keep in mind “5” means total new cards for you, which includes Authorized User cards. If you got 3 cards and were added as AU for two cards, in Chase’s eyes you are at 5.
Good point. It just doesn’t make any sense to be an authorized user. You get zero bonuses and still get a hard hit on your credit history. In my view, and what Jonathan has been saying for years, hard credit hit = $500. So, unless you are getting $500, don’t do it. That’s why you should never be an authorized user.
Inquiries don’t seem to matter as much as they used to It’s all about new accounts now.
Do you know if business credit cards in my name (my name as the business and as the primary account holder) count towards the 5/24?
I think it depends on if those business cards are listed on your personal credit report. Some biz cards are, some are not. There are many free credit services now that tell you what lines are being reported for each of the three major credit bureaus.
Yes, any card in your name counts.
“Purchase cards” backed by a corporate entity directly where the company has agreed to claim full liability (they just take it out of your paycheck and/or fire you instead ;)) don’t show on your credit report, even if they have your name on it. I have had one from my work for about 10 years, and it has never showed up with any of the bureaus. There was never a consumer credit check or account information on my personal credit.
By my understanding even if the company informs you you will have some personal liability for a purchase/corporate card, if the base account is corporate it may show a credit check when you get authorized, but not a new credit line on your history, just a delinquency if there were a late payment or other issue. This is very fuzzy and dependent on particular banks and account types.
In any case, you always can use your free annual credit check to see if the account shows on your consumer credit info. If it doesn’t, it shouldn’t count towards the 5/24 (if you can’t see it, neither can the bank).
For the 5/24 rule, is it to the day or is it the whole year? For instance, if I applied for a Chase Freedom in Juuly 2014, does that mean it no longer counts? Or is Chase counting the year, so I would have to wait for 2017?
It is 24 months.
which credit reporting agency does chase use?
It can vary over time, and it depends on the state that you live in.
If you just wanted to check your number of credit lines and don’t already have an account open somewhere, I would recommend Credit Karma as it shows lines from both TransUnion and Equifax.
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/five-hassle-free-ways-to-get-your-credit-score-for-free.html
For just seeing open accounts you can use your normal free annual report (https://www.annualcreditreport.com/) and see all three.
Good point, if you haven’t used it up yet, that is a good option.
So if I charge a $300 flight on the card the first week of opening it, i’ll be able to go into my account and offset the charge with points?
Also, if I hit the $4,000 minimum spend by October, I’ll have $1800 worth of travel to spend ($300 before 2017)? Does that sound right?
According to the term on the Chase website, the credit is automatic. It’s not point based, it’s just a straight $300 credit per year. The bonus is point based. The “Offer Details” links on the card website linked in the article covers everything.
If i have Chase sapphire, can i still apply for this card and be eligible for the bonus?
Yes, if you apply for it as a new card rather than upgrading your existing one.
Do you get to keep the UR points after you close the card. I have access to Chase Rewards portal through another card. Would those points remain in my account?
Sure, you can just transfer them over to that other card. You’d lose the 1.5 cents per point travel option though.
I have 6 hard credit inquiries, one for a refi and another for a credit card in which I was denied (Chase applying their 5/24 rule). Does this mean that I technically only have 4 new credit card accounts and I should meet the 5/24 rule? Thanks for the help!
If you’ve had that many hard inquiries, a refinance (new credit line and account closure), one denial, and 4 new credit cards (4 new credit lines) in your recent history, odds are good you will be denied for this credit card even disregarding the 5/24 rule. It requires excellent credit score and approval for a minimum of an additional $10,000 credit line. I would recommend letting your credit settle to bring up your score, or at least check your score directly so you are certain what it is, before risking another denial.
I have CSP and got my CSR a couple of weeks ago. Obviously, it doesn’t make sense to keep both, so I decided to downgrade CSP to Chase Freedom Unlimited card. I called customer service and they told me that the only downgrade option would be to a regular no AF Chase Sapphire card. I went to a local branch and got the same result (actually, the guy just called a number on a back of my card). Customer service rep told me that I can downgrade to Freedom Unlimited only if I have CSP for over a year (technically, making me to pay AF). Does anyone have any experience downgrading CSP to Freedom Unlimited? That would be an optimal solution rather that closing CSP or downgrading to Chase sapphire and opening new Freedom Unlimited.
Thanks.
Perhaps downgrade to basic Sapphire with no annual fee until you’ve had the card for a year, and then switch to Freedom Unlimited?
I was thinking about downgrading to basic Sapphire and opening Freedom Unlimited with a sign-up bonus (I have a large expense coming up soon). Though $150 bonus may not be worth a hard credit pull. I really like your idea. Thank you, John.
John, I followed your advise and downgraded to basic Sapphire. I’ve put it in a drawer for a month and now I’ve just got off the phone with Chase rep that agreed to change Sapphire card to Freedom Unlimited. I had both Sapphire cards for less that a year. So, it works!
Thank you!
Thanks for sharing, glad it worked out for you!
This card seems to be very good. The benefits are awesome since I love traveling.
Thanks for the post 😉
This card is tempting and I’m considering it to replace my Chase Southwest card. Though since I value Southwest points at 1.67 cents each, that seems to be the better value than even the 50% bonus (although they’re close, and the 50% bonus is certainly more flexible). The real advantage here is allowing me to transfer my existing Chase Freedom Ultimate Rewards (40k points) over to Southwest, which gets me a one-time value boost of over $250 if I eventually use them on SW flights.. or boost the Chase Freedom quarterly rewards from 5% into 7.5% on travel or 8.3% on Southwest. Do I have that part right?
Yes, you would have the Southwest transfer option and Chase Freedom merging option with both the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards.
Did I miss something in the post? What is new in the offer for August 2021 that was not offered in July 2021?
New: 10X total points on Chase Dining purchases through Chase Ultimate Rewards when you make prepaid restaurant reservations or order takeout.
New: 10x total points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through Ultimate Rewards. Similar to Expedia/Travelocity/Kayak, it is a travel comparison booking site.
New: 5x total points on air travel purchased through Ultimate Rewards.
Thanks, somehow missed the “New”s or didn’t realize it was August New.
If you love to travel, you’ll want to get this card to earn 10x points on dining and takeout.
Not bad, but is it really the highest bonus ever? I thought I got 100k when Sapphire was new.
You are right, I thought the 100k offer was only for the Sapphire Preferred a little while ago but it does look like the Reserve launched with a 100k bonus way back in January 2017.