$550 annual membership fee for Chase Chase Sapphire Reserve® Credit Card - worth it?

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Safire

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Title sums up my question.

We have a current Chase United Mileage card and we've been getting lots of promotions from Chase for this Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card. I see it has a $550 membership fee plus an additional $75 fee for each authorized user which would be a total of $700 for our family -- currently 3 users, husband, daughter and myself.

Is this card worth this steep fee? What is so great that they're charging so much for it? Are there any similar cards you would recommend that have less (or preferably NO) annual fees?

Thanks for your feedback
 
So what are you after that this card offers? For us, there’s not a credit card out there worth any membership fee. We take the cash back that our free card provides and are happy with it.
 
You might compare it to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which has a much lower fee of $95. I have this card because I got 100,000 points with it last year. I use them for hotel reservations via the Chase reservation portal so they end up being worth about $1,250 to me. It also offers primary damage coverage on rental cars and a bit of travel insurance.

I don't know if I will renew it for a third year. The benefits sound great but I rarely use them. I think I will drain the points to zero and then close it. It comes down to this. I don't like points. I like cash-back that I can spend anywhere I want.
 
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The only way to determine if the $550 fee is "worth it" is to look specifically at the benefits it offers and evaluate how much value you will derive from those specific benefits. Make a spreadsheet that lists all the benefits of the card you're likely to use, how much those benefits are worth, and how often you'll use them. If the annual fee is more than that total dollar value, then I would say it's not the right card for you.
 
I have the Chase card and I am the only one that uses it so no additional $75 per user. My break even is if I use 100K additional points vs the $95 card. This card combined with a chase business card which earns 5 points at office stores buying Visa cards for your spend it how you get there. This year I have been able to redeem enough points through pay myself back and travel to the tune of about $8500 in value. Our spending is dwindling down with the last semester of college so I will keep it at lease one more year and see if its still worth it.
 
Chuckanut said:
You might compare it to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card which has a much lower fee of $95. I have this card because I got 100,000 points with it last year. I use them for hotel reservations via the chase portal so they end up being worth about $1,250 to me. It also offers primary damage coverage on rental cars and a bit of travel insurance.

I don't know if I will renew it for a third year. The benefits sound great but I rarely use them. I think I will drain the points to zero and then close it. It comes down to this. I don't like points. I like cash-back that I can spend anywhere I want.
Click to expand...

I redeemed many of my points on this card on groceries, as they were offering 1.25% for pay yourself back, a credit against purchases on the CC. Which is cash.
I just used it for a $278 credit against an AirBnB expense I had from a trip, didn't even realize it would be a pay yourself back at 1.25% as well.

I hope to use this card on an actually big trip sometime :LOL:
 
Most high end cards come with specific benefits that appeal to specific folks. Just have to read up on the list of bene's and if you find yourself going "yup I would use that every year!" and the savings can add up.

Some offer great hotel rewards or perks, airline credits, airport lounge access - a frequent traveler will value those. A homebody, or someone who prefers a frugal approach to travel, will not.
 
Did you check out or read the benefits that come with this particular card? Would you use those benefits? Do you have a high enough CC spend to make this worthwhile?

Only you know the answer to this.


I'm with Lindy on paying for an actual fee card..it's a no for us.
 
It really depends on how much travel you do each year.

I believe I acquired Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred in 2018. DW acquired those 2 as well. We have then accumulated total 300,000 sign on points for those 4 cards. We used those points for a couple of international trips, and few cruises. Then we cancelled 3 of them and keep just one Chase Sapphire Reserve. The annual fee used to be $450. They increased that to $550 in 2021 IIRC.

We use that card for flights, cruise, hotels, meals, museum, car rental, parking, uber and other travel related activities. I was able to get travel credit and reimbursed $300 each year.

Thru this card, I have a Priority Pass card which I used few times a year to visit airport VIP lounge. The entry fee is sometimes $50 if you simply pay to get in. So, I believe we are getting more than the annual fee we pay.

As we are still healthy enough to travel, we will keep the card for the moment and evaluate each year.
 
Safire said:
Title sums up my question.

We have a current Chase United Mileage card and we've been getting lots of promotions from Chase for this Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card. I see it has a $550 membership fee plus an additional $75 fee for each authorized user which would be a total of $700 for our family -- currently 3 users, husband, daughter and myself.

Is this card worth this steep fee? What is so great that they're charging so much for it? Are there any similar cards you would recommend that have less (or preferably NO) annual fees?

Thanks for your feedback
Click to expand...
The Chase Sapphire Reserve gives a $300 travel credit and has pretty good travel insurance benefits. If you travel frequently and use travel insurance it could easily pay for itself. It also has other travel perks, such as airport club access and such.
 
You can be sure of this: Chase has calculated that, on average, the benefits that card holders receive will cost Chase less than $550. So to win, you have to beat the odds.

I see these cards as a little like rebates, where the companies are betting that the customers will not take the actions necessary to receive the benefits offered. Again, if you do take the actions you can win.
 
Tough to say these days. They might be worth the travel points (they were for me several years ago) but I would say the travel lounge benefit is near worthless. So many cards have offered this, the lines for many of them are simply ridiculous...and sometimes they just won't let you in. The Points Guy has several articles talking about this.

Also, I don't know that Pre Check is much of a perk these days, either. Clear was supposed to be the greatest thing for travel but it has become a nightmare (another worthless card benefit these days, IMHO). The ATL airport has had several days this last week or so where the pre check lane was taking longer than the general lanes...so I am guessing that isn't too much of a perk, either.

Of course, YMMV with what I have seen personally or have read about. I do not travel a whole lot these days, but I would at least be cautious as to what the actual value is these days of the "perks".
 
I do not know the benes but for me there is no card that is worth that much...


But if you want to get it then just get it for one person and use it for those benes.


BTW, I will say yes as I own a lot of JPM stock and I need it to make more money :dance: :LOL:
 
Won't help new card holder but don't forget you can use your points to "pay" for the annual fee and effective cut the cost 25%
 
We're about to drop her Reserve card - Have $300 travel bonus we tried to spend some of at a room on our way down south last Thursday, but it didn't work out. Room flooded from the bathroom above us so after waiting an hour for anyone to show up we just got a (way tooo) early start. Hotel comped us the room and wouldn't just give us a voucher for a future stay, so our $300 bonus for the year may get wasted.
 
Part of the problem I have with the Chase card is evaluating its benefits while adjusting for the opportunity cost of not using another card. For example:

I could use my points with their 25% bonus to book a flight to visit one of my children. I get 25% more value for each point by booking through the Chase site. Wonderful! Except, that then I have to pay the airline an extra $30 each way to check my rather large suitcase I use to carry stuff to the family. If I use the airline card to make the reservation the baggage check is free. OOPS! There goes an extra $60 which is much more valuable then the 25% bonus on the use of my Chase points.

I also don't like inserting a 3rd party (in this case the Chase reservation portal) between me and the airline in the event something goes very wrong.
 
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I agree with Chuckanuts point (strangely that seems to happen often)....almost all cards including free ones offer something so it's the difference between what the free ones offer and what the high fee card offers.....
 
Will note the 1.5 cents/point redemption rate for ANY Chase card's points that get moved into the Reserve is pretty sweet. So a 50,000 point bonus can be worth $750 vs $500 just by moving the points into the Reserve account. And if you do use the $300/ calendar year travel reimbursement the card gets real attractive. We just aren't changing into that many new cards these days.
 
Never seen a CC that I'd pay anything for. All of mine pay me 1.5% or more.
 
I have the Reserve card for the travel benefits. It costs $250/year, since you get $300 in travel credits. I’d never pay for an extra card. Get another card for spouse/kids, such as the Fidelity 2% cash back.

I travel a lot and the card is a good value for me. You earn points at 3% (for travel, restaurants), discounts on redemptions for hotels/flights, no foreign transaction fee, primary car rental insurance (which is easy to use), lounge access, and some other small perks.

As others mentioned, you need to figure out if it’s worth the cost. I do this every year and so far I easily break even.

An easy check is if you spend 25k on travel/restaurants each year, then that extra 1% compared to 2% cash back (Fidelity) is the break-even point. And that excludes the other benefits.

I’ve had no issues using the points. Sometimes I transfer them, but usually I use them for hotels in pricier cities. I’ve also used it for domestic (easy) plane tickets. Never had any issues.

As for the Preferred card, the benefits aren’t as a good. I thought about downgrading, but it wasn’t worth it. I’m better off with the Reserve card.
 
Sojourner said:
The only way to determine if the $550 fee is "worth it" is to look specifically at the benefits it offers and evaluate how much value you will derive from those specific benefits. Make a spreadsheet that lists all the benefits of the card you're likely to use, how much those benefits are worth, and how often you'll use them. If the annual fee is more than that total dollar value, then I would say it's not the right card for you.
Click to expand...


This is what I do for all the premium cards I have which is 2 or 3 depending on how you count. I don't have the card mentioned in the OP but I have the lower end Chase Sapphire card with the $95 annual fee. My other 2 premium cards are the AMEX Platinum and the Chase United Club card.

Every year I make a spreadsheet of what the benefits of each card are and assign a dollar value for what they are worth to me. I assign a low value to travel insurance and lost luggage insurance because they are not something I would otherwise buy. Something like United lounge access I would pay for but not the price they ask. I assign a value of about $250 a year for that. The Chase cards are much better for travel so I pay for travel on those so AMEX gets $0 for most of it's travel benefits. But it gets $100 because it gives me priority pass which gets me into a lounge in Honolulu that I would pay $100 a year for (vs the $300 membership fee). United card gives free checked bags for example so it gets credit for that.

All three cards end up being slightly positive, usually by $10-$25. I have almost canceled each card at least once or twice in teh last ~5 years but always found some net value in them even if marginal. The recent price increases are concerning and could cause me to cancel though.
 
I have the Reserve card. The $300 travel credit isn't just for hotels or flights or rental cars--it's also for tolls and taxi/rideshare and parking. I put $150 into my EZPass account with it, knowing that that will last me a bit.

My Chase Freedom Unlimited is my "every day" card (except for categories where I can get more points/cash back on other cards), and I always transfer points from that to my Reserve, so they are worth more. (Ditto the Freedom card I have with the 5x points categories.)

I don't fly all that much lately, but I do book through Chase to use the points with the discount. And I kind of like having that big balance of points ready in case I need to take a sudden flight.

The lounge stuff is not that great a perk anymore, as someone up thread said. I have gotten the preChek reimbursement through it when I was renewing.

It's also the card with the best insurance.

Do I need the full Reserve card? Probably not. But it's not an immediate "no way" for me.
 
I would get the lower-end sapphire @ $95/year if I rented vehicles often because both it and the $550/year card offer primary auto coverage.

So no 'hits' against your personal auto policy for any damage to rental cars.

I'd have to travel (& fly) a whole lot more to consider the $550/year card.

Right now I'm jealous of my kids who get the AMEX Platinum for free.
 
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