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Sapphire Reserve 60k, $4,000 spend in 3 months, $550 fee.

Old Jan 14, 2020, 9:39 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: philemer
Use this thread to discuss the Sapphire Reserve card offer.

Application page with bonus offer (60,000 UR after spending $4,000 in 90 days):
https://creditcards.chase.com/rewards-credit-cards/sapphire/reserve?CELL=6TKX


There are separate threads to discuss:

$300 Travel Credit
Priority Pass
Concierge Service
Travel Insurance
Global Entry/TSA PreCheck reimbursement.


This card is subject to Chase's 5/24 policy. For information on (and discussion of) the policy, see Applying for Chase Credit Cards, 2017 onward. You can override 5/24 by having an in-branch pre-approval (only! online prequalification does NOT override 5/24), or by already being Chase Private Client (as in you see the "Chase Private Client" text on the login screen of the Chase mobile app.)

As of August 2018, all Chase Sapphire cards are (with limited exceptions) subject to an additional restriction:
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months.
See Sapphire (CSR & CSP) 48 months between bonuses, August 2018 for details and ongoing discussion.

50,000 UR points is worth $500 as statement credit, $750 when used for travel through the Chase portal, or potentially more if transferred to a partner.

Card features are here: https://www.chase.com/card-benefits/...reserve/travel. The card's Priority Pass includes unlimited guests. (verified in Post #2635 ; also verified by Chase)

Chase Sapphire Reserve Ultimate Rewards Program Agreement
https://chaseonline.chase.com/resources/RPA0511_Web.pdf

Chase Sapphire Reserve Guide to Benefits
https://www.chasebenefits.com/sapphirereserve

The card is made of the same material as the CSP, and is being shipped UPS Next Day Air.

How to determine your account number, expiration date, and shipping date before receiving the card
(** Note that this no longer seems to work checking on 5/18 - the account number in the secure message header is XXXXXX'd out except for last 4 digits)
(** Also I do not see any recent comments 5/18 on timely shipping or shipping method)

1. Send a secure message (SM) from the account. A common SM would be to ask about the sign-up bonus and last day to complete the spend requirement (which appears to be approximately 3.5 months from the date of approval).
2. Check the Sent Messages folder, and the full account number will be listed in the header of the message that you just sent. The number starts with 414720.
3. The expiration date is five years from the month of approval. So, if you were approved on August 31, 2016, your expiration date will be August 2021.
4. CVV2 number is not available, so if a merchant requires it for payment, you must wait for the physical card.
5. According to many reports, the card is not activated until it is shipped, which happens to be via UPS Next Day Air Saver (if shipped on Friday, you will not receive the card until Monday or the next business day). To find out when it is shipped, go to My UPS and sign up for a free account. You'll be notified when a shipment is destined for your address.
6. Contrary to what the customer service rep may tell you about the delivery of the cardsuch as the card will take 1-2 weeks or that expedited shipping is not availablethe card is actually expedited and shipped via express shipping, as mentioned in #5. There is no need to ask for expedited shipping.

Priority Pass Select
Click HERE to read the separate thread discussing this benefit.
As soon as the account shows up online:
1. Click on Go To Ultimate Rewards.
2. Scroll down to the very bottom left and click on "Card Benefits"
3. Activate Membership to request card.
4. Card will take 1-2 weeks and can't be expedited, but members have reported success in charging the lounge access to the card and requesting a refund from Customer Service.
5. PP cards will be issued for the account holder and any AU(s)
6. According to Chase, CSR's PP membership includes guest access.

Duplicate Card
1. If you receive the plastic card, wait for the metal card to arrive automatically.
2. If you receive the metal card, send SM or call to request plastic card (for use with overseas merchants that require a card imprint, because you hate metal cards, whatever).
3. DO NOT request a replacement card (especially under any pretense that the card was lost or misplaced).
4. Both cards will have the same number, expiration and CVV. Both cards will work.
5. It appears that all CSR cards are sent overnight once produced, including the plastic 'replacement' cards. No need to request expedited shipping.

Authorized User Card:
1. $75 each authorized card each year.
2. Same Priority Pass membership as the main card.
3. Same earning rate on spending. Same fringe benefits as the main card like purchase, car rental and travel insurance etc.
4. No additional Global Entry/TSA credit. Only one credit for the entire account.
5. No additional annual travel credit.

How to get bonus points on the first statement
Act very quickly; you may have less than a week. It depends on the timing of your first statement and when you receive the card. 4K in spending has to clear (not pending) about a week before the statement cuts in order to get the bonus points on that statement. Under "account details" you can see your first payment due date. Your closing date is usually three calendar days after your due date. For instance, if your very first bill is due October 20 that statement would close on September 23, and spending would have to clear by approximately September 16 in order to get the bonus points.

The prior, archived version of this thread can be found here: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase-ultimate-rewards/1814294-chase-sapphire-reserve-csr-50k-ur-benefit-reductions-august-2018-a.html

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Sapphire Reserve 60k, $4,000 spend in 3 months, $550 fee.

Old Dec 18, 2019, 7:47 pm
  #76  
 
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Originally Posted by VFR
Interesting... some googling suggests that "ultra premium" credit cards like the CSR (and other Visa Infinite products) can command 2.1% to 2.4% as an interchange fee. Which suggests that if all of your spending was in the 3X categories and you redeem points at 1.5 cpp towards flights (hotels have more elasticity in the OTA price, and we have to assume that elasticity is passed on to Chase by Expedia), you are costing Chase (at least) 2.1% to 2.4% per swipe.

Chase gives some stats, and the average annual sales volume (spending put on the card) for CSR customers is $39,000. $13,000/year in 3X spend and $26,000/year in 1X spend is the break even on swipe fees, which I bet the mean customer is actually spending less than that on travel and dining, but I don't know.

If the 1.5 cpp travel redemption option goes away (or they can get Expedia to mark up the prices enough to cover a bit), that seems to me to open a lot more options for increased earning.
Honestly I'm shocked that the annual spend on CSR users is as high as Chase reports. $39,000/yr is a lot of spend. That suggests that most people are putting all of their spend on the card and it likely does work out in Chase's favor.
notquiteaff and Visconti like this.
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Old Dec 18, 2019, 7:53 pm
  #77  
VFR
 
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My expectation is that Chase, Amex, and Citi are all paying 0.8 to 1.1 cents per point for transfers to most frequent flyer programs, so Chase would likely prefer that you transfer your points to United or Hyatt and use them there than redeem for 1.5 cpp against a travel purchase. Whether you get more than that in value from the frequent flyer program is subjective, but Chase isn't paying your valuation.

Transferring from the CFU or CIU to the CSR and redeeming at 1.5 cpp is likely unprofitable for Chase, but any other redemption is likely profitable, so I personally am not worried too much about point combination being cut. At some point, Chase might have to offer a 2% cash back card because that's what their competitors (Citi, Fidelity, Goldman/Apple kind of) market, at which point we might see the end of either combinable points or 1.5 cpp redemptions. Of the folks that get a cash-back card, I would wager that a minuscule amount are expecting to also get a high annual fee credit card and redeem for travel, at which point as a bank exec you re-align products to their core demographics.
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Old Dec 18, 2019, 7:58 pm
  #78  
 
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Originally Posted by VFR
Transferring from the CFU or CIU to the CSR and redeeming at 1.5 cpp is likely unprofitable for Chase, but any other redemption is likely profitable, so I personally am not worried too much about point combination being cut
Actually, I agree with this now. In the past, I felt the UR transfer partners offered a much better value, but recently I'm not so sure anymore. These days, it's a challenge to exceed 1.5 cpp equivalent with transfers, and the 1.5 redemption looks pretty attractive.
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Old Dec 18, 2019, 8:01 pm
  #79  
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Originally Posted by jags86
Honestly I'm shocked that the annual spend on CSR users is as high as Chase reports. $39,000/yr is a lot of spend. That suggests that most people are putting all of their spend on the card and it likely does work out in Chase's favor.
Actually Chase claims those users have an average income of 180K and they need 13K or less in bonus categories to not lose money. Do you think most people with 180K income have less than 13K dining, airfare, hotel, and misc travel combined? I make less than that and I have much more than that.
time_stamp is offline  
Old Dec 18, 2019, 8:03 pm
  #80  
VFR
 
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Originally Posted by jags86
Honestly I'm shocked that the annual spend on CSR users is as high as Chase reports. $39,000/yr is a lot of spend. That suggests that most people are putting all of their spend on the card and it likely does work out in Chase's favor.
For a $180k/year average income I'd say $40k of credit card spending is reasonable, especially when you consider the folks in that income bracket able to charge and expense travel. It's a mean, so it probably skews high (e.g. folks running $1M/year through the card).
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Old Dec 18, 2019, 10:49 pm
  #81  
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Originally Posted by econ
One thing that I could see happening lately is that after AmEx discontinued the restaurant PP benefit earlier this year, that many people that had PP accounts with both Chase & AmEx started to use their Chase PP accounts, and probably not just at restaurants, but for all PP lounge visits as well.
i deliberately use my AA PP card for lounge visits and my CSR PP card for dining, to spread the cost around.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 12:06 am
  #82  
 
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Originally Posted by notquiteaff
i deliberately use my AA PP card for lounge visits and my CSR PP card for dining, to spread the cost around.
My guess is that most people that have multiple PP accounts from different cards end up using just one of them exclusively. In my case, its really so that I dont have to carry a bunch of PP cards around.

But your practice is definitely more equitable for the card issuers.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 6:45 am
  #83  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 1,857
Originally Posted by VFR
Transferring from the CFU or CIU to the CSR and redeeming at 1.5 cpp is likely unprofitable for Chase...
Chase earns travel commissions for redemptions made via the portal which softens the blow. For cruise redemptions, those commissions can be substantial.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 7:57 am
  #84  
VFR
 
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Originally Posted by pallhedge
Chase earns travel commissions for redemptions made via the portal which softens the blow. For cruise redemptions, those commissions can be substantial.
Correct, it is quite dependent on what travel purchase you redeem for. Flights are most likely the most expensive for Chase, since commissions are usually 3% - 4% of the airfare cost and Expedia takes a cut of that as well.

My takeaway from this is that Chase likely doesn't have to make that many tweaks to make this card profitable; since it's tough to know the spending breakdown, the ways points are redeemed, and the breakage rates, it is quite possible the card is already overall profitable as-is.

However, I still think that 3X points (potentially 4.5% back) on travel and dining + priority pass + marginally useful travel insurance is not competitive for an ultra-premium card any more, and to offer any additional benefits that are actually useful Chase will likely have to cut somewhere else. If they go to an Amex-style breakage-based model, they risk angering the folks who enjoy the simple rewards structure, but maintaining broad, applicable benefits hurts profitability.

Currently, I honestly think that the best course of action for Chase here is to raise the annual fee by $100 and add United Club access (contingent on their co-brand negotiations with UA). If they can pay a similar per-visit amount to UA as to Priority Pass, this will likely end up a wash, and it will make the card feel higher quality than every other card that offers a Priority Pass membership, since the value proposition of Priority Pass (and perception as a premium product) seems to have been severely diluted due to the number of cards that now offer it.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 8:11 am
  #85  
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
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Originally Posted by VFR
Correct, it is quite dependent on what travel purchase you redeem for. Flights are most likely the most expensive for Chase, since commissions are usually 3% - 4% of the airfare cost and Expedia takes a cut of that as well.

My takeaway from this is that Chase likely doesn't have to make that many tweaks to make this card profitable; since it's tough to know the spending breakdown, the ways points are redeemed, and the breakage rates, it is quite possible the card is already overall profitable as-is.

However, I still think that 3X points (potentially 4.5% back) on travel and dining + priority pass + marginally useful travel insurance is not competitive for an ultra-premium card any more, and to offer any additional benefits that are actually useful Chase will likely have to cut somewhere else. If they go to an Amex-style breakage-based model, they risk angering the folks who enjoy the simple rewards structure, but maintaining broad, applicable benefits hurts profitability.

Currently, I honestly think that the best course of action for Chase here is to raise the annual fee by $100 and add United Club access (contingent on their co-brand negotiations with UA). If they can pay a similar per-visit amount to UA as to Priority Pass, this will likely end up a wash, and it will make the card feel higher quality than every other card that offers a Priority Pass membership, since the value proposition of Priority Pass (and perception as a premium product) seems to have been severely diluted due to the number of cards that now offer it.
As someone who holds both the CSR and a MP Club card, this is the best idea by far.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 8:19 am
  #86  
 
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Originally Posted by VFR
Currently, I honestly think that the best course of action for Chase here is to raise the annual fee by $100 and add United Club access (contingent on their co-brand negotiations with UA). If they can pay a similar per-visit amount to UA as to Priority Pass, this will likely end up a wash, and it will make the card feel higher quality than every other card that offers a Priority Pass membership, since the value proposition of Priority Pass (and perception as a premium product) seems to have been severely diluted due to the number of cards that now offer it.
This is not realistic. As was recently published in multiple news articles, United is already unhappy about Chase branded cards eating into their cobranded card revenue. Plus Chase already has the MP club card with a $450 annual fee, why would they give away United club access for $100?
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 8:25 am
  #87  
 
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Originally Posted by VFR
However, I still think that 3X points (potentially 4.5% back) on travel and dining + priority pass + marginally useful travel insurance is not competitive for an ultra-premium card any more, and to offer any additional benefits that are actually useful Chase will likely have to cut somewhere else. If they go to an Amex-style breakage-based model, they risk angering the folks who enjoy the simple rewards structure, but maintaining broad, applicable benefits hurts profitability.
I disagree that the Chase cards are uncompetitive. You forget about the 5x points the Freedom and 1.5x on the Freedom Unlimited, which can be pooled with the CSR points. I don't consider Citi a competitor, as their transfer partners are mostly useless and they don't have a travel portal that would pay 1.5c per point. US Bank Altitude Reserve isn't competitive either, unless you are willing to fiddle with Samsung Pay and the vast majority of your transactions are in person and at merchants that support contactless payments. Really, which cards do you see as competitors?

I believe that the CSR fills a particular niche: no hassle rewards transferrable to airline miles and hotel points with useful bottomline value (1.5c per point).

If Chase does decide to raise the annual fee, I'm very likely out. I have had the card ever since it came out and have never even considered cancelling it until now.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 8:53 am
  #88  
 
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Originally Posted by VFR
However, I still think that 3X points (potentially 4.5% back) on travel and dining + priority pass + marginally useful travel insurance is not competitive for an ultra-premium card any more, and to offer any additional benefits that are actually useful Chase will likely have to cut somewhere else. If they go to an Amex-style breakage-based model, they risk angering the folks who enjoy the simple rewards structure, but maintaining broad, applicable benefits hurts profitability.
A lot of people are now saying that the CSR is uncompetitive - do we know if growth of cardholders or spending has slowed? Amex says Platinum card members are up significantly since the refresh, but many Flyertalkers would say that card is uncompetitve as well (in its own way)
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 9:14 am
  #89  
mia
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Originally Posted by VFR
I.... Visa Infinite products) can command 2.1% to 2.4% as an interchange fee.
The card issuer does not receive all of the interchange revenue.

Originally Posted by zoned_post_meridiem
That's assuming most people a) maximize their UR points,
Even if most people redeem at $0.01 per point, earning 3 points per dollar represents a loss for Chase. They only make money if we use the card for unbonused spend or carry a balance, but I daresay a large number of Reserve cardholders do use it for general spending (because they do not want to "miss" a 3X opportunity) -and- a fair number of people do carry a balance on their cards even when they have lower cost borrowing options. Most people do not spend much time thinking about payment cards.
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Old Dec 19, 2019, 9:32 am
  #90  
 
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Originally Posted by time_stamp
Actually Chase claims those users have an average income of 180K and they need 13K or less in bonus categories to not lose money. Do you think most people with 180K income have less than 13K dining, airfare, hotel, and misc travel combined? I make less than that and I have much more than that.
Unless they are pumping reimbursable business expenses through the card, yes I think $13k/$39k is a lot of credit card spend for a $180k income. Of course, people who don't save any money could easily do so.

I have relatively little "travel" spend. I use points for all my fights and hotels.
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