Credit Card Annual Fee Refunds?

Lsbcal said:
I think the travel emergency benefits on the Chase Sapphire Reserve apply to a spouse traveling with you. Can anyone confirm this?
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Yup. From the Chase site
Benefit Overview
Trip Cancellation provides reimbursement if a covered loss prevents you from traveling on or before the departure date and results in cancellation of the travel arrangements.
Trip Interruption provides reimbursement if a covered loss on the way to the point of departure or after departure causes interruption of your covered trip. It can also provide reimbursement if a trip is postponed due to a covered loss and certain fees are incurred if a new departure date is set.
The information below applies to both benefits. Reimbursement can be provided for pre-paid, non-refundable travel expenses including passenger fares, tours and hotels.
Covers trips when travel arrangements for a pre-paid tour, trip or vacation have been purchased with an eligible Chase card or with rewards earned on an eligible Chase card
Reimbursement is in excess of any travel insurance purchased, or reimbursement from the occupancy provider or common carrier such as airline, bus, cruise ship, or train
Who’s Covered
  • Cardholder
  • Immediate family members (even if the Cardholder is not traveling with them)
Coverage Amount/Period
Up to $10,000 per covered trip and a maximum limit of $20,000 per occurrence and a maximum benefit amount per 12-month period of $40,000
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Lsbcal said:
Sorry I was not clear on my question. I added the word "medical " above. I am wondering about the medical emergency evacuation benefit for a spouse.
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Do the Chase (high end) cards cover medical evacuation? I thought you had to have a different kind of insurance to cover that?
 
Perhaps just a little off subject, but when I was on USAA verifying that a Visa card I have through them has no foreign transaction fees, I saw that they are now offering a "pilot" no-limit cash back card of 2.5%...which is pretty darn good. Here is a link (not sure if you have to log on to see it)

https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/banking_credit_cards_main?wa_ref=pri_global_products_bank_cc

Edit: Big caveat: You must have at least a minimum direct deposit to a USAA checking account each month of $1,000 to get the 2.5% cash back.
 
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OK - looks like it covers spouse/domestic partner and dependent children
If you or a member of your immediate family are injured or become sick during a trip far from home that results in an emergency evacuation, you can be covered for medical services and transportation up to $100,000.
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https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel

The Chase United Club card does not provide this, although it covers the other travel benefits such as trip delay and cancellations, lost luggage, etc.
 
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Well, I just got off the phone w/ Chase and cancelled the card. They offered to "downgrade" to a no annual fee card, but I declined (I already have plenty and the new USAA cashback card will be the CSR's replacement). The rep didn't make any comments on the credit applied from from last year's annual fee, so I guess I got to use the card for free. Still not sure why, but I am not going to question it.

In the end, the card paid a total of $2,575.79 for our travels (point redemption and travel credits). I have always fancied myself a pretty good card churner, but this really made my day! :)
 
audreyh1 said:
OK - looks like it covers spouse/domestic partner and dependent children https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/sapphirereserve/travel

The Chase United Club card does not provide this, although it covers the other travel benefits such as trip delay and cancellations, lost luggage, etc.
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Like all benefits, the devil is in the details. The Chase benefit provides for evac to the nearest qualified medical facility suitable to deal with your injuries. As I read this, this is not a flight to your home from Europe if you fall down stairs and break a leg. Other evacs policies are more inclusive but cost more. We are using Air Ambulance as our provider--they will bring you home if you are more than a 100 miles from home and are ADMITTED TO A HOSPITAL (around $300/yr family). They have to make all arrangements with physicians at the "admitted-to" hospital. We did not fully understand this proviso when DW broke her kneecap in Vienna. Hospital ER put her in a cast and provided drugs but did not admit (sent us back to hotel) and told us it would be several days before surgery to allow inflammation to go down. Our evac in this case was day of travel Business Class tickets. Ouch again!
Next time we will insist on admission.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
In the end, the card paid a total of $2,575.79 for our travels (point redemption and travel credits). I have always fancied myself a pretty good card churner, but this really made my day! :)
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That is a great number!

I don't mean to derail this thread, but what are some unique ways to maximize point accrual (aka churn cards)? We charge whatever we can to our card but some of the numbers people are accruing exceeds anything we could accumulate.
 
I've never had the patience for serious card-churning (too much like work) but we did use travel-rewards incentives (Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Thank You Premier) to make airline and hotel reservations. I checked prices online, to be sure we really were getting 50% more by using points. It was pretty close. Also, the travel agents for the card companies are really nice. When I found a better deal on a different hotel, I called back and they were able to switch my reservation right over - and I got cash and points back.

mistershankly said:
That is a great number!

I don't mean to derail this thread, but what are some unique ways to maximize point accrual (aka churn cards)? We charge whatever we can to our card but some of the numbers people are accruing exceeds anything we could accumulate.
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chase said the renewal rate on the reserve is better than they expected .

even though jamie said they lost 250-300 million first year on the card from the perks a lot of additional business is coming in elsewhere from it .

usage on all the other chase cards are up from people using cards like the freedom for the 5% categories and the unlimited for the 1-1/2% back then transferring it to the sapphire for use through the chase portal where travel gets a 50% boost in points .

i know we stopped using our daily card , the fidelity 2% back and now use the chase unlimited for daily living since 1.50% with the 50% boost is more than 2% .

they are also making lots of money through the chase travel portal which is actually done through priceline
 
The Chase travel site is too restrictive for me. I prefer Costco for car rentals and I fly Southwest almost exclusively. I use the Chase Freedom for the five percent categories, the Bank of America card with extra cashback rewards for the bank accounts I keep there for groceries and the gas I buy at Safeway, and the Costco card for restaurants and gas at Costco and regular gas stations.

I'm not renewing cards with fees this year. Barclay's Arrival and Chase Sapphire Preferred are leaving the wallet. The Barclay card is too restrictive and there are better rewards for me than the Sapphire offers.
 
Another Reader said:
The Chase travel site is too restrictive for me. I prefer Costco for car rentals and I fly Southwest almost exclusively. I use the Chase Freedom for the five percent categories, the Bank of America card with extra cashback rewards for the bank accounts I keep there for groceries and the gas I buy at Safeway, and the Costco card for restaurants and gas at Costco and regular gas stations.

I'm not renewing cards with fees this year. Barclay's Arrival and Chase Sapphire Preferred are leaving the wallet. The Barclay card is too restrictive and there are better rewards for me than the Sapphire offers.
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We had a couple of issues with the travel agency that is used by Chase, and would not use them again. I cancelled the CSR card about a month ago and now have a USAA card that has 2.5% cash back on everything so that is now the primary card. We still use the AMEX Cash Preferred (6% on groceries, 3% on gas) and the Chase Freedom for the rotating 5% categories.

I used to spend more time churning cards, but it does get to be a pain, so now I will just bite if a *real* good deal comes around, like the CSR card.

We have done well this year, on top of the hefty credits/cash back on the CSR, we have gotten $625 this year from Amex. I haven't figured out Chase Freedom yet, but it's probably in the $25 range as it's not used too much.

mistershankly said:
That is a great number!

I don't mean to derail this thread, but what are some unique ways to maximize point accrual (aka churn cards)? We charge whatever we can to our card but some of the numbers people are accruing exceeds anything we could accumulate.
Click to expand...


I am not much in the churning game anymore, but there is a Reddit group that could probably help you out. They are very good at figuring out ways to "create spending" when it doesn't actually happen. I have never used those tactics, we simply put EVERYTHING possible onto the cards (unless there is a fee to do so). Thankfully, our society loves the "minimum payment" mentality, so you can use cards to pay for almost ANYTHING and with the high interest folks are paying, the decent rewards keep rolling in! ;)
 
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We don't churn. We have taken on a few more cards the last few years to take advantage of some very nice offers, but pretty much only cards I think we'll use long term. I've downgraded a couple of older cards to no annual fee versions, but kept them. Never did any "manufactured spending".

No more though - enough!
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
In the end, the card paid a total of $2,575.79 for our travels (point redemption and travel credits). I have always fancied myself a pretty good card churner, but this really made my day! :)
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Pretty sweet!

I never went back and tallied it all up, but I think the 100,000 points were supposed to be worth $1500 in travel, and I used all of my points. I got more points by using the card, especially in the first 3 months to qualify for the bonus, but I consider that a wash from other cash back rewards I could've gotten with another card. I always checked that I was getting the same price as I would've on my own and I did, so it was nice I wasn't having to deal with limited availability for point usage. So there's $1000+ netted after the free.

Got my $300 travel credit bonus. It's a pretty tight window to get another one in early January, but we'll see.

$100 for global entry but I wouldn't have bothered with that otherwise. We'll see how much use I got out of it. TSA pre check will certainly be nice but at smaller airports that can be negligible. Plus it was a 4 hour round trip drive just to get it so it certainly wasn't free in gas or time.

The premiere lounges were pretty disappointing at the airports I used them at, which was only 3 or 4 times. None were very impressive and many weren't very convenient. Better than sitting at the gate, but at the trade-off of going well out of my way at all but one airport where I used it. I was never very fulfilled by the food selection but I suppose it did save me from paying for a couple of airport meals. $50 value to me at most.

The better insurance coverage with the card was surely worth something, though I fortunately never took advantage of it.

So I netted around $1400-1500 or so on the deal after the $450 fee. Plus $300 if I do squeeze in another travel credit. A very nice deal.
 
We opened a Reserve card for Mr. A. on 1-04-17 and one for me on 1-07-17. We've worked those cards for all they're worth. Here is the plan, let me know if you see any catches or glitches:

1) We plan to close each card on or about its anniversary to avoid paying the $450 fee a second time. Before closing, we'll use all remaining points to reserve hotels. After closing the Sapphire Reserve cards, we have another travel card (Citi Thank You Premier) that can step up to the plate.

2) That said, Chase web site says the next $300 travel credit will be available after the statement closes on 12-17-17. I'm thinking of charging some travel to each card on Dec. 18th to get the $600.

3) Wondering if Chase will take back the $600 in travel credits, if we don't keep the account open for the full statement period that begins 12-18-17. I guess I could call Chase and ask...a little awkward....
 
^ I plan to:

A. Wait until after my December statement close.
B. Charge and get reimbursed for $300 in travel credits.
C. Request Priority Pass for 2018.
D. Downgrade to Chase Sapphire to preserve my points.
E. Get a rebate of most, if not all of the $450 annual fee.
 
Osprey said:
The above benefits along with no foreign transaction fees are the reasons why I decided to keep this card another year.
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Me too. I planned to cancel it, but...I just kept it. With the immediate $300 travel credit and bonus points for travel/restaurants, it's more than worth it.

Although, right now I'm using it a little less because I just got the Chase Marriott rewards card with 80K bonus points!

:D
 
Another Reader said:
The Chase travel site is too restrictive for me. I prefer Costco for car rentals and I fly Southwest almost exclusively. I use the Chase Freedom for the five percent categories, the Bank of America card with extra cashback rewards for the bank accounts I keep there for groceries and the gas I buy at Safeway, and the Costco card for restaurants and gas at Costco and regular gas stations.

I'm not renewing cards with fees this year. Barclay's Arrival and Chase Sapphire Preferred are leaving the wallet. The Barclay card is too restrictive and there are better rewards for me than the Sapphire offers.
Click to expand...

Just as an FYI - when I first used their site to find tickets for a trip to Belize, the site didn't list the flights that I wanted that I had found on the airlines' website. So I called them. They booked the exact flights I wanted, I got the 50% bonus, and they were great. So, don't feel restricted by the website!
 
For those that are downgrading, what card are you downgrading to?

If you downgrade to the Sapphire Preferred card, I’m assuming that you have to pay the $95 annual fee?
 
In that case, you would save $55 off the remaining $150 after using the $300 travel credit with Sapphire Reserve.

tulak said:
For those that are downgrading, what card are you downgrading to?

If you downgrade to the Sapphire Preferred card, I’m assuming that you have to pay the $95 annual fee?
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kaudrey said:
Me too. I planned to cancel it, but...I just kept it. With the immediate $300 travel credit and bonus points for travel/restaurants, it's more than worth it.

Although, right now I'm using it a little less because I just got the Chase Marriott rewards card with 80K bonus points!

:D
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We are keeping one as well; 3X on those items, and the annual fee is "only" 150 after rebate/credit (Still an annual fee, but it is our only card that carries one). It helps that the priority pass airport lounges were a pleasant surprise (at least in Peru). Every airport had one, so we were comfortable, fed, WIFI'd, and batteries all charged up before each domestic flight (and the flight home).
 
Amethyst said:
In that case, you would save $55 off the remaining $150 after using the $300 travel credit with Sapphire Reserve.
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Yep. The reserve card also accrues points at 3x instead of 2x for travel/dining. So if you spend $5,500/year then you break even between the two cards.

That’s why I’m wondering what card others are downgrading to?

For us, we easily spend $5,500/year in those categories, so the reserve card is a better deal. Not to mention the other benefits that are offered.
 
Amethyst said:
3) Wondering if Chase will take back the $600 in travel credits, if we don't keep the account open for the full statement period that begins 12-18-17. I guess I could call Chase and ask...a little awkward....
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I don't think so. I was able to get $600 in credits in less than a year (was opened in October, got the first $300 then, and again in January) and they didn't take it back...the account was open less than a year.
 
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