Chase Sapphire card vs 2% cash back?

[FIYes]

Okay, just went to Chase Bank and applied for the Sapphire Preferred card. They are still offering the 100,000 points and waiving the first year fee for in bank applications.

 

[BlueberryPie]

The CC company is doing this, as so few people can travel, and it's a way to use the points instead of cancelling the card that people will like.

My capital One Venture was doing this and just stopped in July

But since right now I'm furiously trying to get the bonus on 2 Sapphire cards, I'm not using the Venture at the moment.
Crazily enough, my wife has yet to receive her card (accepted early June), they supposedly sent a replacement and it still did;t make it (she didn't now to ask to have expedited under UPS). Wanna bet they don't extend the 3 months to make the bonus?
also I hope they have not charged the $95 fee and are going to say it was paid late. Without having a Chase account and without knowing the full credit card number she has no way to even check on its balance.

 

[tulak]

As a side note, for the first time I had to use the auto rental insurance coverage with Chase Sapphire. I had flats on my last rental and had to pay out of pocket. The rental car company refused to reimburse the charges, so I filed a claim. The process was simple and took about a week.

 

[braumeister]

That's good to know, tulak. Thanks for confirming.

 

[Chuckanut]

As a side note, for the first time I had to use the auto rental insurance coverage with Chase Sapphire. I had flats on my last rental and had to pay out of pocket. The rental car company refused to reimburse the charges, so I filed a claim. The process was simple and took about a week.

I am curious. What was there reason the rental company gave for not paying the charges to fix the flats? Did you drive the car off road on the Devil's Golf Course?

 

[tulak]

I am curious. What was there reason the rental company gave for not paying the charges to fix the flats? Did you drive the car off road on the Devil's Golf Course?

They told me that the rental agreement said it wasn’t covered. I didn’t go back and read the agreement and didn’t worry about it since I was pretty sure Chase would refund the charges. I suspect that window damage, etc, also wouldn’t be covered.

No off-road driving, just bad luck. And really, I consider myself lucky since I didn’t get a flat and stranded, only slow leaks and low tire pressure. This gave me time to get to a tire shop and have the tire replaced.

The first flat was a tire in the sidewall. Can’t fix that and tire was replaced. While I was there, the mechanic noticed that another tire was replaced with a used tire with barely no tread. I figure somebody before me had to replace the tire, did it on the cheap, and didn’t tell the rental agency. This tire started to leak a week later and I found a nail in the tire. Normally you can fix that, but since there was little tread the tire had to be replaced.

I learned one lesson: check all the tires before leaving the rental car lot. I always check for damage to the car, rims/hubcaps, but not the tires. Lesson learned.

 

[Sunset]

Thanks Tulak for letting me know the Sapphire CC , does cover rental things like a flat.


I had noticed this a few years back when reading my rental agreement, it basically said I was responsible for fixing a car if it stopped working as I drove it (flat, or just stops), including for the tow.
I thought it was pretty crappy, as then they don't have any incentive to give me a good working car.

 

[FIREarly]

If you're going to spend $4k in the time given than it might be a great option. DW and I love our Chase card and feel like we need to start a YouTube channel to take advantage of the referral points each year.

10xtravel.com has some good info on how to use cards and points. When 1 card and when 2 cards are helpful for traveling.

 

[sengsational]

Chase Foot Dragging

As I leave the bank I see all the wonderful ads for Chase products showing happy people enjoying life thanks to Chase Bank. And I wonder if perhaps they should spend a bit less on marketing and bit more on service.

DD was on the phone for several hours, trying to find out about her CSP application. Getting transferred around, getting disconnected, with Chase "customer no service". After all of that, they asked her about her mother's maiden name and was approved.

My experience was similar in that I wasn't instantly approved, despite an 800+ credit score. Tried to get my application moving, but gave up earlier than my DD. I just applied (and quickly received) another card from outside of Chase. When my CSP card arrived, I refused it, and so didn't owe the $95.

It is my guess that they delay the issuance of the card to screw-up your bonus spend plans.

 

[Chuckanut]

. When my CSP card arrived, I refused it, and so didn't owe the $95.

It is my guess that they delay the issuance of the card to screw-up your bonus spend plans.

I hope you are wrong. After two days of getting nowhere with making a timely appointment with a 'banker' to apply for the card and get the $95 fee waved for the first year plus $50 of free groceries, I gave up and applied for the card online a short while ago. Instant approval.

Upon discussing the CSP card issue with a friend last night I realized that I actually have an opportunity over the next 1-2 weeks to satisfy nearly 50% of the required $4000 of spend. There are items I previously ordered but are out-of-stock and waiting to ship so my other card has not been charged yet. I can simply call and give them a new CSP card to charge for the items.

Anyway, Chase says in their congratulatory email that I will get the new card in 3 to 5 business days. In the meantime, I have added it to my electronic wallet and am able to use it for small items wherever Apple Pay works.

Had I waited for a banker to call me back and arrange an appointment, I fear that the items may have shipped and the other card charged.

 

[BlueberryPie]

My wife has been waiting "3-5 days" for the last 6 weeks. She called 2 weeks ago and they said she would get a replacement in 3-5 days...

Hope your experience goes better....

And they will NOT give you the full card number, so you can't charge things online either before getting the physical card. Even if you have other Chase cards and a web/app account because you have other chase cards, they will not show you the full number.
How did you add it to your "digital wallet" without having the full number?

Capital One on the other hand will show you your card number as soon as you are accepted

 

[BlueberryPie]

After researching it, it looks like you can add a card to the digital wallet before you get it from the Chase app.
Problem is, my wife doesn't have any other chase card and she can't sign in the app without a card number ...

 

[Chuckanut]

How did you add it to your "digital wallet" without having the full number?

They sent me an email telling me I could add it to the digital wallet, and giving me some rather vague instructions. The email also said that my full limit would not be available until I actually got the card and activated it.

To add the card to your digital wallet:

•Sign in to the Chase Mobile® app.
•Choose your new credit card.
•Go to your digital wallet and then add your card.

Somehow the Chase app and the Apple wallet talk to each other. Clever devils, aren't they? I wonder what else they pass to each other when I'm not looking.

 

[BlueberryPie]

>Sign in to the Chase Mobile® app

That's the rub, you need the credit card number to create an account.

 

[Tracer]

But doesn't that require you to have a "wealth management" (managed) account? The fees on that would probably outweigh the extra 1% on CC purchases.

Sure.. that would be true if you felt those wealth management fees offered no value and were a waste of money. Investors generally don't use portfolio managers unless the fees have value for them and benefits their returns. Some feel they can't do better on their own or don't have the time or desire to do the research themselves. For them, a portfolio manager has value. The fact they can get up to 3% cashback on all their credit card purchases is a little bonus for putting their money with Fidelity rather than someone else.

 

[firewhen]

60,000 points

We applied in January when they were offering 60,000 bonus. Seemed good at the time, but wondering if anyone has ever gone back and asked for a current promotion with success? Cant hurt to try but it would be good to know if anyone has ever done this, adding points to newer enrollees after acceptance.

 

[Chuckanut]

>Sign in to the Chase Mobile® app

That's the rub, you need the credit card number to create an account.

The Chase gods do seem rather arbitrary.

One person is treated like they want his business and are grateful for it.
Another is treated like don't particularly care one way or the other if he gives them his business.
A third is treated like they don't want her business.

Why? Who knows?

 

[BlueberryPie]

My wife called again and they discovered they had transposed two numbers in the zip code and have been sending the cards to the wrong address.
Their are expediting (UPS) the replacement but said they can't extend the window to charge the $4K so we now only have 6 weeks.
It's going to take some fiddling, such as buying some gift cards for groceries and the like in future months.
As i mentioned before, last ditch is pay for son's college tuition using a credit card and eat the 2.7% fee, which still is way better than forgoing the $1250 in travel credit.

 

[Chuckanut]

My wife called again and they discovered they had transposed two numbers in the zip code and have been sending the cards to the wrong address.
Their are expediting (UPS) the replacement but said they can't extend the window to charge the $4K so we now only have 6 weeks.
It's going to take some fiddling, such as buying some gift cards for groceries and the like in future months.
As i mentioned before, last ditch is pay for son's college tuition using a credit card and eat the 2.7% fee, which still is way better than forgoing the $1250 in travel credit.

Here's a crazy idea. If you have a budget for charitable contributions, spend it all on something like food for the local food bank. Get to the Supermarket, pick up a load of non-perishable food and drop it off at the local food-bank. If you can deduct it, arrange to have some sort of proof from whoever manages the food-bank. I imagine a thank you note on letterhead listing what you dropped off would be good enough for the IRS.

Dear Mrs. Pie
Thank you for your donation of 500 cans of low sodium Spam, 300 cans of green beans, and 150 boxes of scone mix.

Jane Peachee
Food-bank manager

 

[fh2000]

We applied in January when they were offering 60,000 bonus. Seemed good at the time, but wondering if anyone has ever gone back and asked for a current promotion with success? Cant hurt to try but it would be good to know if anyone has ever done this, adding points to newer enrollees after acceptance.

DW got 80,000 and soon saw the promotion for 100,000. She called Chase for 20,000 more but they said no.

 

[Sunset]

My wife called again and they discovered they had transposed two numbers in the zip code and have been sending the cards to the wrong address.
Their are expediting (UPS) the replacement but said they can't extend the window to charge the $4K so we now only have 6 weeks.
It's going to take some fiddling, such as buying some gift cards for groceries and the like in future months.
As i mentioned before, last ditch is pay for son's college tuition using a credit card and eat the 2.7% fee, which still is way better than forgoing the $1250 in travel credit.

Six weeks is a short time, but very doable.

Basically to make my life simpler (and avoid late fees)
I prepay my water bill on my rental, I pay $1,000 at once which mostly covers the year.
You could apply this to other utilities that take a credit card if they don't charge a convenience fee.

I think buying gift cards on Amazon (for amazon gift cards) would work.

 

[audreyh1]

But doesn't that require you to have a "wealth management" (managed) account? The fees on that would probably outweigh the extra 1% on CC purchases.

Exactly!

I guess if you are using the wealth management services anyway…….

 

[sengsational]

Chuck, My experience with foot dragging is with non-instantly approved cards. In both cases, the applicant had unfrozen the big 3 credit rating agencies, had at least high 700's rating, but not instantly approved. I hope you get it in 3-5 days.

 

[Chuckanut]

Chuck, My experience with foot dragging is with non-instantly approved cards. In both cases, the applicant had unfrozen the big 3 credit rating agencies, had at least high 700's rating, but not instantly approved. I hope you get it in 3-5 days.

I got mine in 5 working days plus one weekend day.

Chase does need to step up its non automated game. Apparently, if one does not need human assistance things go well. Otherwise............. (sigh!) I am still waiting for that call from the Chase banker to make my appointment to get the card I just got.

 

[Markola]

I got my new Sapphire Preferred card in the mail in 5-7 days, as promised. I already have the Chase app to manage my Amazon Prime card, so this new one linked very easily to it.