With the travel industry as a whole in the toilet the last 4-months and recovery will likely be much, much longer, credit card companies are rolling out all sorts of incentives to keep users, using their cards. For those who utilize the points, and actively watch and strategize their spending, there's some very appealing perks.

Chase Sapphire Reserve last month announced they were issuing a $100 credit towards their annual fee, which was increased before the pandemic.

Now, CSR has rolled out some pretty favorable incentives between July 1 and Sept 30:
https://www.chase.com/personal...e-preferred-benefits

- Earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points with Instacart, on up to $3,000 of spending
- Earn 3x Ultimate Rewards points at gas stations, on up to $1,500 of spending
- Earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points with select streaming services, on up to $1,500

Last month CSR issued 5x credit towards grocery purchases, will be interesting to see how things further develop into the year.

These banks/cc companies are geniuses at tempting folks to spend more. Fee this and credit that. Spend more. Fine if folks have discipline and pay off the balance in full each month. But, they know damn well they can bank on the millions of suckers out there that are irresponsible and out of control spenders.

Thanks for posting. Just checked; the card gives a minor upgrade in Avis rentals from Preferred to Preferred Plus, with free rental upgrades.

For $550 a year and 16.99%, they can eat a bag of dicks.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
For $550 a year and 16.99%, they can eat a bag of dicks.

What a ridiculous unhelpful comment. It's a product. You don't think people do their own math and decide for themselves whether it's worth it to pay that fee for the benefits they receive?

Lighten up, Francis.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
For $550 a year and 16.99%, they can eat a bag of dicks.

What a ridiculous unhelpful comment. It's a product. You don't think people do their own math and decide for themselves whether it's worth it to pay that fee for the benefits they receive?

See my post above, which is really no different in substance from what 280nosler said.

I found 280's post incredibly helpful as it saved me time looking any further into this particular card and I didn't even have to do any math.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
See my post above, which is really no different in substance from what 280nosler said.

Yeah, but you're a college boy. "Tell it to Sweeney! (The Stuyvesants will understand.)”

Bottom line, "For those who utilize the points, and actively watch and strategize their spending, there's some very appealing perks." Some people have a lot of expenditures and make out using the card. Me, not so much.

They can charge 100% interest and I wouldn't care because I don't carry a balance on a card with anything higher than 0%. If you know how to and really use the points, the annual fee pays for itself pretty quickly. My Amex Bus. Platinum card ain't cheap, but then again it's actually free because of the rewards and other benefits. I've definitely gotten my money's worth in airline credits, airport lounges, free Global Entry and a free flight to Europe once a year.

I used to have a Chase Sapphire, but it kept getting locked down and replaced for suspected fraud, at least three times one year. So I switched.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
For $550 a year and 16.99%, they can eat a bag of dicks.

What a ridiculous unhelpful comment. It's a product. You don't think people do their own math and decide for themselves whether it's worth it to pay that fee for the benefits they receive?

See my post above, which is really no different in substance from what 280nosler said.

No, I think yours was helpful in its cautionary nature.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
For $550 a year and 16.99%, they can eat a bag of dicks.

What a ridiculous unhelpful comment. It's a product. You don't think people do their own math and decide for themselves whether it's worth it to pay that fee for the benefits they receive?

Fine, let me provide some facts to go along with your feelings.

You can get cards that have zero annual fee, and 14.99% apr that offer 1.5% of all expenditures, or one that earns you 2 miles per dollar spent with a 16.99% apr, with out blackout dates.

You can also get a regular Chase Sapphire Preferred card that is only $95/ year and offers 2% rewards, and as high as 5% on limited items such as Lyft.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve probably works for people who do a lot of travel, do not have a company credit card (if they travel for work), and like to be limited to booking travel through Chase (because redeeming travel through Chase is the only way to get a 50% bonus) at limited hotels and are fraught with blackout dates. I know more than a few people who have cancelled this card in the last 30 days because they booked travel (that ended up cancelled as a result of bat stew flu), and have been fighting with Chase to have funds returned to them, and not getting their $300 credit back.

As a matter of fact, a close friend of mine felt forced to cancel his card (and close out his brokerage account) in order to get $9,200 back on a vacation he had paid for with his Chase Sapphire Reserve (and had already paid off), and Chase was "holding" his $9,200 as a credit on his account. Talk about a stupid policy.

It appears that the $100 rebate expired on 7/1/20. Perhaps they will extend this. My renewal date is in November and I am considering dropping the card as the $550 fee is too high for the benefits to me. I've paid the $450 for a few years and feel the benefits outweigh the fees considering I get a $300 travel credit annually and 1.5x point credit when I book on Chase's website. Time will tell.
Mike

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve probably works for people who do a lot of travel, do not have a company credit card (if they travel for work), and like to be limited to booking travel through Chase (because redeeming travel through Chase is the only way to get a 50% bonus) at limited hotels and are fraught with blackout dates. I know more than a few people who have cancelled this card in the last 30 days because they booked travel (that ended up cancelled as a result of bat stew flu), and have been fighting with Chase to have funds returned to them, and not getting their $300 credit back.

CSR is a premium travel card with a lot of perks, if you travel ENOUGH and take advantage of those incentives, then this card can be beneficial; same as Amex Platinum, Delta Reserve, Hilton Aspire, Citi Prestige, etc. If you're an infrequent traveler then naturally you're going to see the annual rate as outrageous and/or, the perks as being limiting.

Can't speak to those people whom you've known to have issues, what I do know is the travel industry has been turned upside down lately, whether its airlines, hotels, booking agents, restaurants or, these banking institutions who promote that industry.

quote:

Originally posted by corsair:

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve probably works for people who do a lot of travel, do not have a company credit card (if they travel for work), and like to be limited to booking travel through Chase (because redeeming travel through Chase is the only way to get a 50% bonus) at limited hotels and are fraught with blackout dates. I know more than a few people who have cancelled this card in the last 30 days because they booked travel (that ended up cancelled as a result of bat stew flu), and have been fighting with Chase to have funds returned to them, and not getting their $300 credit back.

CSR is a premium travel card with a lot of perks, if you travel ENOUGH and take advantage of those incentives, then this card can be beneficial; same as Amex Platinum, Delta Reserve, Hilton Aspire, Citi Prestige, etc. If you're an infrequent traveler then naturally you're going to see the annual rate as outrageous and/or, the perks as being limiting.

Can't speak to those people whom you've known to have issues, what I do know is the travel industry has been turned upside down lately, whether its airlines, hotels, booking agents, restaurants or, these banking institutions who promote that industry.

Both people who have shared this with me have said that getting the funds back from Delta, Hotels, tour companies, etc was easy. Their credit cards are showing a full refund, but Chase will not send them a check for what they had already paid off. It is their money, and Chase has told them both that the credit will be used toward future credit card use.

I have the CSR. Have had it for several years now. I have had many thousands of dollars in rewards, while not paying a penny in interest. The annual fee is offset by a travel credit ($300? I forget) as well as reimbursed global entry/TSA Precheck fees ($150?). There's also a generous sign up bonus reward in most cases.

Between the CSR, my Target, REI, and Amazon cards, and revolving categories on a few other cards, I get 3-5% back on basically every dollar I spend except for my mortgage and utilities--including restaurant, groceries, and fuel.

There's also additional perks like extended warranties and returns, free car rental insurance, travel insurance, etc.

Those of you who are not using your credit cards to get rewards on your everyday purchases are subsidizing those who do through the higher retail prices paid to support merchant transaction fees.

If you don't carry a balance, and spend an bunch of money anyway, there's no downside.

quote:

Originally posted by 280nosler:
Both people who have shared this with me have said that getting the funds back from Delta, Hotels, tour companies, etc was easy. Their credit cards are showing a full refund, but Chase will not send them a check for what they had already paid off. It is their money, and Chase has told them both that the credit will be used toward future credit card use.

Virtually all my expenses are across my Chase cards, thus if Chase unable/unwilling to provide a refund but instead a credit, I can handle that as my monthly expenses will eat away at that credit. Folks who only use their card for travel purchases are in a corner. These cards are full of fine print given all the incentive offers, hope they can get some resolution.

If they feel Chase is being a PIA, and other companies are being more receptive to their concerns, then time to take their business elsewhere. Amex is known the world over for their customer service, its availability world-wide is limited however, if you're staying in hotels and not hostels, eating in restaurants and not sidewalk stands, Amex can be very beneficial.

I have a regular Chase Saphire. Had it for years. A friend that travels a lot upgraded to the Reserve when I came out a few years ago.

Look at everything and use what works for you. If I'm going to buy things I rather get some benefit. A free flight here and there works for me just for using a card to pay for things.

As someone else said. I don't care what the interest rate is. I don't use the card to finance purchases. I pay it off every month.

quote:

Originally posted by 12131:
These banks/cc companies are geniuses at tempting folks to spend more. Fee this and credit that. Spend more. Fine if folks have discipline and pay off the balance in full each month. But, they know damn well they can bank on the millions of suckers out there that are irresponsible and out of control spenders.

That's not what this is about. It's about frequent fliers and travel nuts dumping these cards and their annual fees because they aren't getting much out of them nowadays. For instance, I'm sitting in Philadelphia airport right now, and one of the reasons that I carry the amex Platinum card is for their Centurion lounge. Except the damn Centurion lounge has been closed since March! That makes a lot of people think twice about this card when its perks aren't so perky anymore.

A lot of these cards now are trying to offer more incentives. Amex Platinum for instance is now crediting me $20 each month for my Verizon bill and another $20 month for streaming services until December.

No one, unless you're an idiot, gets these cards with the intention of leaving a balance on them.

Minor thread drift: Chase does not staff their 800 number on weekends!

We have a United Airlines Mileage Plus card thru Chase, there's no fancy name. About three weeks ago we were in KC visiting our daughter when I got a official looking email from Chase about a charge I did not make. The email provided a Chase-looking www site so I could log in. DANGER WILL ROBINSON!

I called the 800 number on the back of my card and got a recorded message they do not have operators on duty! This was a Saturday afternoon about 4PM. We later logged on to the real Chase site and confirmed there was no charge. It was a phishing email and I'm still POed Chase has no one to speak with on weekends.

/rant mode off/