Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Hype on new credit card may be warranted
Old 09-04-2016, 02:09 PM   #1
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Hype on new credit card may be warranted

I first learned about the new Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card from this Bloomberg article: Chase Sapphire Reserve: Deal-Seeking Obsessives Have a New Favorite Credit Card - Bloomberg

Then I went to the Chase site and found the info on it: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...04&IS2F=Y71UH0

Basically if you can charge $4k in 3 months you get $1000 back. This becomes $1500 if used in the Chase Ultimate Rewards program. I've used the Ultimate Rewards for reserving a car (Dollar rental in Hawaii) and the only catch was you have to pay for it up front but get very good rates. There is a $450 yearly fee for the card but you can offset that by the 3x points and the $300 back annually. Not for everyone but for us it's worth trying for a year or two.

I applied for this and should be getting it very soon. The only way you can apply is apparently through their web site. Even though we are Chase customers I still had to go through some hoops to get a rep to lift the security freeze we have with Experian so the card could be expedited.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 09-04-2016, 02:56 PM   #2
Confused about dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Spring
Posts: 6
I have applied for and received Reserve cards for both me and my wife. Not only are the rewards great, the trip cancellation/interruption and the medical evacuation benefits are good enough that I don't feel that I need extra travel insurance.
Oleanmike is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 05:05 PM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
One can count on the $1000 bonus but expanding it to $1500 through use of Chase Ultimate Rewards is not completely clear to me. For instance, I was looking at lodging in Carmel, Ca. and got a rate that was quite a bit lower then I could have obtained on Ultimate Rewards.

I guess to make this work the rate should be near or maybe 25% above the do-it-yourself rate. Also I don't know about the cancellation policy using Ultimate Rewards site. Could be variable depending on what you are selecting.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 05:11 PM   #4
Recycles dryer sheets
foxcreek9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 311
You can transfer the points to other airlines. For example 100k transferred to Southwest would be worth 1,500 to 1,700 dollars.



Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
foxcreek9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 05:11 PM   #5
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 381
I got the Chase Reserve card last week, had a Preferred card before. While the points on purchases aren't any better than the new Costco Anywhere Visa, the signup bonus and the better rate on Ultimate Rewards purchases helps, as does the Priority Pass Select airport lounge access, $300 travel credit annually and payment of the Global Entry or PreCheck fee every four years.

One can boost points by shopping online through Ultimate Rewards - it has quite a few stores I use a lot including LL Bean, Lowe's, Home Depot and Newegg. My experience with hotel pricing through UR is limited, but it beat the best rate I could find elsewhere and the airfare rates are comparable.
__________________
Steve
jonat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 05:25 PM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Quote:
Originally Posted by foxcreek9 View Post
You can transfer the points to other airlines. For example 100k transferred to Southwest would be worth 1,500 to 1,700 dollars.
How does one transfer points? Do you have to have a card for the airline you want to transfer points to?
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 05:31 PM   #7
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Quote:
Originally Posted by jonat View Post
...My experience with hotel pricing through UR is limited, but it beat the best rate I could find elsewhere and the airfare rates are comparable.
We are planning on a trip to Canada. I looked up a flight on Air Canada (non-stop) and got $270 versus $332 on UR. But since this is about 23% higher it still might work out to be a reduction of around 27%. However, not sure about possible other gotcha's and I'd have to do more to check the full rates and experiences on each choice.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 06:43 PM   #8
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 381
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lsbcal View Post
How does one transfer points? Do you have to have a card for the airline you want to transfer points to?
No - you just have to be a member of that airline's frequent flier program.
__________________
Steve
jonat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 06:53 PM   #9
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 381
When comparing air prices, be aware that some airline sites don't include taxes and fees, whereas the UR site does when they quote you.

I just did a test with Air Canada from Boston to Vancouver. For the same itinerary, the UR price was $276.91 and the aircanada.com price was $276.83. Of course, when you book on UR you don't get to choose the class of fare you want. I usually prefer to book at airline sites directly, but I'll do it through UR if I can get exactly what I was looking for.
__________________
Steve
jonat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2016, 08:10 PM   #10
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Jonat, thanks I was wondering about things like taxes and fees.

At any rate, it looks like the Ultimate Rewards could work out nicely.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 07:08 AM   #11
Recycles dryer sheets
fosterscik's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Chattanooga
Posts: 497
It's disappointing that it only has 1% cash back on regular purchases. I may get it for the enrollment rewards, but it may not be used much after that (cancelled after 11 months...). I like the 2% back the Barclaycard offers.
fosterscik is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 08:17 AM   #12
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
ExFlyBoy5's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: ATL --> Flyover Country
Posts: 6,649
Quote:
Originally Posted by fosterscik View Post
It's disappointing that it only has 1% cash back on regular purchases. I may get it for the enrollment rewards, but it may not be used much after that (cancelled after 11 months...). I like the 2% back the Barclaycard offers.
This. I would max out the 4K then back to my Amex Cash Preferred.

Need to figure out best time to get it as it could prove difficult to put that much on a card in 3 months.

Also, anyone know which credit bureau they pull from? I think I would need to thaw it (or maybe not since I am already a Chase card holder?)

Sent via mobile device. Please excuse any grammatical errors.
__________________
FIRE'd in 2014 @ 40 Years Old
Professional Retiree
ExFlyBoy5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 09:03 AM   #13
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Quote:
Originally Posted by fosterscik View Post
It's disappointing that it only has 1% cash back on regular purchases. I may get it for the enrollment rewards, but it may not be used much after that (cancelled after 11 months...). I like the 2% back the Barclaycard offers.
Right, that 1% sucks. So I would use my 2% BOA card for other purchases. DW uses another BOA card for 2% on groceries. It would be great if I could use just one card but a little redundancy never hurts.

I try to keep this stuff simple, but I cannot resist some bargains.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 09:20 AM   #14
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Florida's First Coast
Posts: 7,654
From what I gather you do not actually get $1000 back in cash, only in points. This makes the cards good for spenders and frequent travelers, but for the frugal crowd, I am not so sure.
__________________
"Never Argue With a Fool, Onlookers May Not Be Able To Tell the Difference." - Mark Twain
ShokWaveRider is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 09:33 AM   #15
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Lsbcal's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: west coast, hi there!
Posts: 8,797
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider View Post
From what I gather you do not actually get $1000 back in cash, only in points. This makes the cards good for spenders and frequent travelers, but for the frugal crowd, I am not so sure.
I've had Chase Sapphire in the past. One could just take those points as credits against on going monthly charges. Those would be charges for anything, not just travel and dining. I've never looked into taking them as cash to a savings account but maybe that is possible.

EDIT: The way I did things in the past was to just take the points as cash into our checking account at Chase. I assume the Sapphire Reserve works the same.
Lsbcal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 12:07 PM   #16
Recycles dryer sheets
foxcreek9's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 311
Get a Freedom unlimited card that pays 1.5% when combined with Sappires ultimate rewards comes to 2.25% for every day spending (you transfer your points from the freedom card to your Sappires card). If you have a regular Freedom card the rotating categories pay 5% or 7.5% when transfered 😎


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
foxcreek9 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 12:52 PM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Gotadimple's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 2,599
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider View Post
From what I gather you do not actually get $1000 back in cash, only in points. This makes the cards good for spenders and frequent travelers, but for the frugal crowd, I am not so sure.
And you can't apply the points as a statement credit? On a Chase card? I often use points as a statement credit on my Chase Freedom card.
__________________
Only got A dimple, would have preferred 2!
Gotadimple is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-05-2016, 06:19 PM   #18
Recycles dryer sheets
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 381
You can redeem points for cash. But they're worth more through UR.

I will be downgrading my Preferred card to Freedom Ultimate that pays 1.5% on regular purchases. I use my Costco Visa for gas (4%).
__________________
Steve
jonat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-06-2016, 05:41 AM   #19
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
ExFlyBoy5's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2013
Location: ATL --> Flyover Country
Posts: 6,649
Something else I learned about this card. You get a $300 credit for travel (all the normal stuff but also things like Uber and Lyft) and since it goes by the calendar year you could get $600 worth of credits before the annual fee renews next year. Example...you get the card now and you have until the December statement to get the $300 credit. Then, in January, it "resets" and you get another $300 credit. So in essence, if you use this card right then you would get $600 in travel credits, $1500 worth of reward points (that are actually easy to use) for travel for $450. I can see why the hype is warranted.
__________________
FIRE'd in 2014 @ 40 Years Old
Professional Retiree
ExFlyBoy5 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-06-2016, 01:15 PM   #20
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Chuckanut's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West of the Mississippi
Posts: 17,134
This seems to good to be true.

What are the 'Gotchas"??
__________________
Comparison is the thief of joy

The worst decisions are usually made in times of anger and impatience.
Chuckanut is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Skype or Hype? Onward Other topics 15 02-11-2010 04:06 PM
Pre Paid Credit Card/ Gas Card or Credit Card nphx Other topics 4 04-29-2008 01:04 PM
Skype and Hype TargaDave Other topics 0 09-13-2005 06:10 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:54 AM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.