🚨🚨 NEW OFFER- 125,000 bonus after spending $6,000 in 3 months after account opening.

***Thank you so very much for using my links if you DO decide to apply for a new card!!

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What’s the offer?

“Refreshed” Card – The facelifted Chase Sapphire Reserve® is now LIVE!

TLDR: a new reallllyyyyy steep annual fee ($795) with a long slew of “coupon book” style credits that are suppose to give you over $2,700 in annual value (details on that below).

However, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is definitely worth a sign up (for the first year at least)- earn 125,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

💳 Learn how to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® HERE!

Who is eligible?

• Anyone who is not a current Sapphire Preferred holder
  • If it’s been a year or more since you opened your Sapphire, I recommend downgrading your Sapphire now to a $0 annual fee Chase Freedom card, wait a few days, and THEN apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®!

• Anyone with a strong credit score!

• Anyone who has NOT previously earned the welcome offer for the Reserve specifically

The New Chase Sapphire Reserve®

Honestly, a VERY high annual fee ($795) and a laundry list of credits that could bring you $2,700 in value. Let’s dive into the nitty gritty. Again, worth it for year 1 at the very least.

***Again, with the new eligibility rules, you will only be eligible for the personal Reserve welcome offer if you never earned a Reserve bonus in the past AND are not a current Sapphire Preferred card holder.

STRATEGY EXAMPLE

IF Luke and I both held the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card currently…

• Today, I could have him downgrade his Sapphire Preferred
• Wait a few days
• Apply for personal Chase Sapphire Reserve® and earn the welcome offer (ONLY IF he’s never earned the Reserve welcome offer before! He hasn’t!)
• After one year, he downgrades his Chase Sapphire Reserve® to the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or $0 annual fee option

….Phew, the things we do for cheap family vacations let me tell you 🙂

**Data points are showing approvals on this card are totally hit or miss even if you are “eligible.” HOWEVER, with the new pop-up window, Chase will tell you whether you are eligible for the welcome offer before a credit check and accepting the card. So definitely worth a zero risk try IMO!

Credits I think that are ACTUALLY valuable (and realistically useable)

• 8x points on all Chase Travel℠ portal purchases 
• 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly 
• $300 annual travel credit (no travel portal necessary- love this!)
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® credit (Up to $120 every 4 years)
• Access to Chase Sapphire Lounges, Priority Pass Select, and some Air Canada lounges (+ 2 guests!)
• Same built in very robust travel and rental car insurance
• $300 annual dining credit ($150 bi-annually) at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables, available for booking on OpenTable (if you live in a city that has these, could be really valuable)

Credits that might not be as valuable as they look

• $500 annual hotel credit at The Edit by Chase Travel (a new collection of hotels and resorts)
  • $250 bi-annually (I HATE when they break it up like this!): These properties are PRICEY, I can’t foresee even with $250 off how it would actually save you money in the end)
• Points Boost: Redeem points for up to 2x value on premium travel in the Chase Travel portal. Note: This replaces the current 1.5x value on all Chase Travel purchases for Sapphire Reserve cardholders.
  • Urgh I think this one hurts. These “Points Boost” travel options will be completely subjective to Chase (and probably not the option you are looking for ever right lol?!) Only 1x value on using your points in the portal for such a premium card is a real loss.
• IHG One Rewards Platinum Elite status
  • If you stay at IHG’s often enough, you probably have an IHG card that already gives you status (AND a 4th night free!) right?!?
• $300 in DoorDash promos + DashPass membership
  • We DO save a lot of money with our DashPass Membership, however they way they break up the “$10 off two orders per month on DoorDash non-restaurant orders + $5 restaurant credit” reallyyyyy feels like they are nickle and diming you.
• $120 in annual Lyft credits ($10 monthly)
  • Useful if you use Lyft monthly?!
• $300 annual StubHub and Viagogo credit ($150 bi-annually)on concert and event tickets
  • Only valuable for a small sect of families that are purchasing tickets REGULARLY
• $120 in annual statement credits toward Peloton memberships
  • If you are an avid Peloton user, this could really take that annual fee down a chunk!
• $250 annual value through complimentary subscriptions to Apple TV+ and Apple Music
  • This feels vague and I am not certain on if it is broken up monthly etc- we do love Apple TV+ though!

What are Chase points worth?

I can NEVER earn enough Chase points, and am always chasing opportunities to keep our stash of these golden points FLUSH.

In THIS POST, I go over tonssss of dreamy, family friendly (but actually realistic) ways to get the most travel out of 100k Chase points.

Spoiler alert: if you learn how to maximize these points you could easily get $3,000+ worth of value out of 125k Chase points, at a minimum!

My Strategy for Premium Cards

Again, almost ALWAYS a credit card is worth the annual fee (no matter how high) that first year, because of that hefty welcome bonus of points you can earn.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve® EXAMPLE: With the $300 annual travel credit, you’ve already significantly knocked that fee down
• If you leverage some of the easier to use credits year 1 (Reserve Table dining, DoorDash, Lyft, etc), now you are potentially even MAKING money
• And if you can redeem that 125,000 welcome bonus for easily $3,000 worth of travel. I’d say that WELL worth a sign up right?!

I do have certain cards I keep in my wallet long term with larger annual fees: like the Hilton Aspire Card or the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card. Based on our families spending, travel, and priorities the credits on these cards EASILY provide more value than the annual fee – or at worst it’s a break even.

After a year, thennnn I do a hard reassessment to see if these fancy cards are just shiny or really put more value and travel in my family’s pocket long term then they cost us.

So year 1 is always an easy choice- especially if it will earn me a HUGE stash of our favorite points!!

💳 Learn how to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® HERE!

***Again, thank you for using my links whenever you decide to open a new card!