Chase Ultimate Rewards Points

[Chuckanut]

I have just qualified for my 100,000 point bonus from the Chase Preferred card. I also have another no-fee Chase card that earns me Ultimate Reward Points. (Do they have a card that earns Penultimate Reward points? )

I don't care for cards with a fee, so I am not certain I will keep the Preferred card, but my mind is not made up.

The short term reason to pay the fee is to get the bonus points. But, a year from now that reason will be long gone.

The best long term reason to keep the card and pay the fee seems to be the ability to transfer points between Chase cards as well as transfer points to other hotel and airline programs that one may use.

The next best long term reason to keep the Preferred card seems to be the travel insurance benefits.

Your thoughts?

[Sunset]

Right now I'm using my points at 1.25% pay yourself back , which is cash/credit to the credit card account for things like groceries/Homedepot/and 2 others.

I also don't like points as they get devalued now and then.

I also have another Chase card and use it on the 5% categories, and have already transferred over 12,000 points and then redeemed them at 1.25 multiplier for grocery shopping.

My plan is to keep the card for the travel benefits, In the past I paid the same $95 for a BOA travel card for the benefits. This way when traveling I don't buy trip delay/cancellation insurance.

I haven't ever transferred points to a hotel/airline, and would only do this a few days before booking a trip as I wouldn't want the points to be stuck and get devalued.

[tulak]

I pay for the Sapphire Reserve card and debate if I should continue every year. But I get good value out of the card.

Some of my benefits are primary car rental insurance, priority pass for airport lounges, savings on travel booked through chase (used mostly for hotels and domestic flights for DD), and the ability to transfer points to partners.

I get a 3% accrual rate, instead of 2%, so I use this card for all travel/dining expenses.

I also use DoorDash occasionally, so this has saved me some money.

This year is the first year I’ve ever used the rental car coverage and it’s saved me $300 so far. I have another claim that I’ll need to file and that’ll be for a lot more, probably closer to 1k. Filing a claim has been easy and this benefit alone has been worth the annual fee this year.

I’m not sure how I’d feel about the preferred card. The benefits there aren’t as clear cut, but odds are the $95/year would mostly be made up through using points. I think it’s a lot easier - for me - to break even on the reserve card.

[ponyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Right now I'm using my points at 1.25% pay yourself back , which is cash/credit to the credit card account for things like groceries/Homedepot/and 2 others.

This is what I used all of mine for. I think it came to over $1350 as a statement credit...I should add it up. I already have enough AA rewards for travel.

As with all of the cards I churn, it will be cancelled before the next annual fee.

[Luvtoride]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tulak I pay for the Sapphire Reserve card and debate if I should continue every year. But I get good value out of the card. Some of my benefits are primary car rental insurance, priority pass for airport lounges, savings on travel booked through chase (used mostly for hotels and domestic flights for DD), and the ability to transfer points to partners. I get a 3% accrual rate, instead of 2%, so I use this card for all travel/dining expenses. I also use DoorDash occasionally, so this has saved me some money. This year is the first year I’ve ever used the rental car coverage and it’s saved me $300 so far. I have another claim that I’ll need to file and that’ll be for a lot more, probably closer to 1k. Filing a claim has been easy and this benefit alone has been worth the annual fee this year. I’m not sure how I’d feel about the preferred card. The benefits there aren’t as clear cut, but odds are the $95/year would mostly be made up through using points. I think it’s a lot easier - for me - to break even on the reserve card.

Tulak, I'm not sure I would rent a car to you in the future...2 claims? Don't get rid of the card!

I still think the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a good value despite the high fee. Accruing points @ 3x $ spent isn't a bad deal. On top of that, when used for Travel through Ultimate Rewards, they add a 50% bonus to the points bringing it up to 4.5x. Last year during the pandemic, when no one was traveling, Chase, changed the use benefit for 50% bonus on "Pay Yourself Back" for dining (any food and take out included) groceries and other charges made on the card. I took advantage of this and redeemed over $1,800 of charges I had made over several months using these points. I'm not sure they are going to do that again, but just the 50% bonus on the travel booked through Ultimate Rewards gets you to that benefit level.

I also use many of the other benefits including the $300 travel credit, Peloton membership credits ($120/ year or about 3 months of membership), Door Dash Pass, car rental insurance, etc. Overall, I think this card is a better value than Amex premium cards, which I will probably give up on next renewal.
BTW, when I have called Amex in the past to cancel my card, they have offered me a one time bonus of up to $500 to offset the annual fee. It doesn't hurt to ask!

[sengsational]

I just paid my property tax* with my new Chase Sapphire getting me most of the way to the $4,000 spend requirement. So I need to get schooled on how to best use the points, thus my participation in this thread.

So I gather, since it's mentioned many times, the rental car insurance thing is better than the typical credit card; most of the ones I've used in the past allowed you to decline the rental car's insurance (CDW: Collision Damage Waiver) and if the vehicle became damaged, the credit card benefit would kick-in. But your own automobile insurance would be engaged. Does the Chase Sapphire benefit not require that your own auto insurance kick-in? To me, the biggest benefit is that I don't need to buy the rip-off insurance from the rental car company, which is (apparently) the same between 'normal' CDW benefit and the benefit offered on CSP.

Also, buying travel through their travel portal might be worthwhile. I'd probably shop "normally", then take a quick gander at their travel portal and if the price wasn't inflated, buy on the portal.

On an earlier thread, we talked about transferring points to certain airlines, allowing for buying business class seats with points, which can be very advantageous over paying regular money. Of course, you've got hoops to traverse to get the seats with points (limited availability), but if you can figure out before transferring the points if you're likely to get a seat for your destination, that can be a pretty juicy use of points.

I know I could research this for myself to know for sure, but I guess that the 'pay yourself' thing is if I buy something in a specific category, then I can use points at a favorable rate to cover that specific transaction. That's a tedious way to use points, but I've done that in the past were the specific category was travel. I'd go into the web site every month, they'd tell me which transactions were valid, and I could apply points to those transactions. The sum of the transactions would appear as a credit. Kind of a PITA. I will probably milk as much of that as I can (which keeps me using the card... what they want). As long as the original points earnings are at least 2% (which I get on everything using Fidelity Elan card), it's a pretty easy decision.

*Fee covered by the county now, so zero fee to me

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational ........... .....I guess that the 'pay yourself' thing is if I buy something in a specific category, then I can use points at a favorable rate to cover that specific transaction. ....... *Fee covered by the county now, so zero fee to me

Be aware the pay yourself thing ends for some categories like groceries, etc.. ends on Sept 30th.

[Lsbcal]

FWIW, when we were traveling internationally I found the Chase Sapphire card to be a good deal. We used Ultimate Rewards (UR) to magnify the point value and also combined the points from the Chase Freedom card which was used for a lot of everyday purchases (slightly better rate for those).

Last year I did not renew the Sapphire card because of Covid and not traveling nearly as much. We still use the Freedom card points in UR for car rentals and domestic hotels. The Freedom card added 3% dining rewards so that was nice. It is not an NTF card but the Amazon card cover NTF if we need it in the future.

[Chuckanut]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sunset Right now I'm using my points at 1.25% pay yourself back , which is cash/credit to the credit card account for things like groceries/Homedepot/and 2 others. .

Just paid a grocery charge using 1.25%. Very nice.

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sengsational I just paid my property tax* with my new Chase Sapphire getting me most of the way to the $4,000 spend requirement. So I need to get schooled on how to best use the points, thus my participation in this thread. So I gather, since it's mentioned many times, the rental car insurance thing is better than the typical credit card; most of the ones I've used in the past allowed you to decline the rental car's insurance (CDW: Collision Damage Waiver) and if the vehicle became damaged, the credit card benefit would kick-in. But your own automobile insurance would be engaged. Does the Chase Sapphire benefit not require that your own auto insurance kick-in? To me, the biggest benefit is that I don't need to buy the rip-off insurance from the rental car company, which is (apparently) the same between 'normal' CDW benefit and the benefit offered on CSP. Also, buying travel through their travel portal might be worthwhile. I'd probably shop "normally", then take a quick gander at their travel portal and if the price wasn't inflated, buy on the portal. On an earlier thread, we talked about transferring points to certain airlines, allowing for buying business class seats with points, which can be very advantageous over paying regular money. Of course, you've got hoops to traverse to get the seats with points (limited availability), but if you can figure out before transferring the points if you're likely to get a seat for your destination, that can be a pretty juicy use of points. I know I could research this for myself to know for sure, but I guess that the 'pay yourself' thing is if I buy something in a specific category, then I can use points at a favorable rate to cover that specific transaction. That's a tedious way to use points, but I've done that in the past were the specific category was travel. I'd go into the web site every month, they'd tell me which transactions were valid, and I could apply points to those transactions. The sum of the transactions would appear as a credit. Kind of a PITA. I will probably milk as much of that as I can (which keeps me using the card... what they want). As long as the original points earnings are at least 2% (which I get on everything using Fidelity Elan card), it's a pretty easy decision. *Fee covered by the county now, so zero fee to me

Gal has a Sapphire Reserve card (points redeem at $0.015/point) so all Chase card points get moved to it - including the Sapphire Preferred 100000 point bonus. We bought the heck out of restaurant and Walmart (grocery) and Home Depot goods. Great joy buying $750 worth of fence supplies with 50000 points. Or $18 worth of tacos for $12 worth of points. Beats the heck out of early on when I had CSR mail me a check for $1000 for 100,000 points.

[tulak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luvtoride Tulak, I'm not sure I would rent a car to you in the future...2 claims? Don't get rid of the card!

Yeah, I guess that makes up for a lifetime of no claims. I'm hoping this isn't a new trend.

Quote:

I still think the Chase Sapphire Reserve card is a good value despite the high fee. ... Overall, I think this card is a better value than Amex premium cards, which I will probably give up on next renewal. BTW, when I have called Amex in the past to cancel my card, they have offered me a one time bonus of up to $500 to offset the annual fee. It doesn't hurt to ask!

I also find this card is a good value, especially if you travel a lot.

I never looked at the Amex card. I always meant to, but have been happy with the Chase card. Plus, I have other Chase CCs: Amazon, IHG, Marriott and it's easier to stick with one company.

The other two cards I pay a yearly fee for are IHG ($89/year) and Marriott ($95). Each of these cards give me a one night free, which makes up for the yearly fee.

Looks like both of these cards have promotions going on right now too.

[Chuckanut]

Chase has new categories for the Pay Yourself Back promotion.

However, for Preferred cards the categories no longer include Dining. (Sapphire still includes Dining.) The other Preferred categories are AirBnB, Away (whatever that is) and charitable contributions.

I have to say limiting the categories to specific businesses like AirBnB rather than a broader range such as all travel accommodations is disappointing. OTOH, I won't squander by sign up bonus on Big Macs and Jack's Jumbo Bacon Burger, etc.

[GTFan]

I keep a Chase Ink (business) card just for the hotel/airline transfer capability. Free stays at nice Hyatts, free Southwest flights etc. Well worth the $99/yr cost.

Plus it's essentially a 5% UR points card if you use it to buy Visa gift cards when they go on sale at Staples, Office Max etc. There are ways to liquidate these via money orders, loading to Serve cards etc. or just spend them as you buy them.

[JDARNELL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan I keep a Chase Ink (business) card just for the hotel/airline transfer capability. Free stays at nice Hyatts, free Southwest flights etc. Well worth the $99/yr cost. Plus it's essentially a 5% UR points card if you use it to buy Visa gift cards when they go on sale at Staples, Office Max etc. There are ways to liquidate these via money orders, loading to Serve cards etc. or just spend them as you buy them.

Can you explain the Serve option and process? What is the value of doing it this way?

[GTFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDARNELL Can you explain the Serve option and process? What is the value of doing it this way?

Sorry it's called manufactured spending and a whole topic unto itself, you'll have to do some reading on that.

[JDARNELL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan Sorry it's called manufactured spending and a whole topic unto itself, you'll have to do some reading on that.

I am very familiar with the topic and chase points as I have traveled exclusively the last 5 years on points around the world. I haven’t paid for a hotel car or air ticket. Of course the pay yourself back option has been great this year since travel has been slow. I just have never heard of swerve. Trying to assess the benefit of that approach vs spending the gift cards. I have the money order approach down.

[ponyboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Chase has new categories for the Pay Yourself Back promotion. However, for Preferred cards the categories no longer include Dining. (Sapphire still includes Dining.) The other Preferred categories are AirBnB, Away (whatever that is) and charitable contributions. I have to say limiting the categories to specific businesses like AirBnB rather than a broader range such as all travel accommodations is disappointing. OTOH, I won't squander by sign up bonus on Big Macs and Jack's Jumbo Bacon Burger, etc.

Yep. Last quarter, the pay yourself back options were for grocery stores and lowes, restaurants. Im glad I was able to cash in on those before they switched to Airbnb. What a waste.

[HawkeyeNFO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan Sorry it's called manufactured spending and a whole topic unto itself, you'll have to do some reading on that.

Those who are FI can ignore the rest of this post.......

Be careful folks, you could end up like the guy on this thread (see post #1 and #17), who lost his job from too much manufactured spending:
https://www.early-retirement.org/for...elp-88333.html

[GTFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDARNELL I am very familiar with the topic and chase points as I have traveled exclusively the last 5 years on points around the world. I haven’t paid for a hotel car or air ticket. Of course the pay yourself back option has been great this year since travel has been slow. I just have never heard of swerve. Trying to assess the benefit of that approach vs spending the gift cards. I have the money order approach down.

Amex Serve cards can be loaded with Visa GCs at Family Dollar stores, the Serve card has a billpay feature. I'm not sure if it's still usable to pay off Chase cards though, it used to work (haven't used this route in a long time).

It's just another way to liquidate, if you have the MO route working stick with it.

[JDARNELL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan Amex Serve cards can be loaded with Visa GCs at Family Dollar stores, the Serve card has a billpay feature. I'm not sure if it's still usable to pay off Chase cards though, it used to work (haven't used this route in a long time). It's just another way to liquidate, if you have the MO route working stick with it.

Thx.I think target has a similar option with their card back in the day.