Is the Chase Sapphire Reserve worth the annual fee? – CNN Underscored

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The Chase Sapphire Reserve has been an extraordinarily popular credit card since it was first introduced in 2016. With the ability to earn 3 points for every dollar you spend on both travel and dining purchases, along with extra travel perks like airport lounge access, it’s become a popular go-to credit card.

However, the card isn’t cheap. At the start of 2020, Chase raised the annual fee from $450 to $550 a year, a 22% increase. While the issuer has been offering a $100 credit to existing Sapphire Reserve card holders during the pandemic, new card holders still get charged the full freight.

Regardless, at either $450 or $550, it’s fair to wonder if the annual fee is worth paying. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of the card to see if the Sapphire Reserve should have a place in your purse or wallet.

The Chase Sapphire Reserve originally launched with a rich suite of benefits. The list starts with two prime bonus categories: 3 points for every dollar you spend on a very wide range of both travel and dining purchases. The card also features a $300 annual travel credit that works on those same travel purchases, a Priority Pass Select membership that gives you access to over 1,200 airport lounges around the world, and a credit of up to $100 when you apply for either the Global Entry or TSA PreCheck expedited security programs.

The Sapphire Reserve also comes with a sign-up bonus for new card holders. If you’re approved for the card, right now you’ll earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months after you open the account.

Points earned with the Sapphire Reserve can be redeemed for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards at a rate of 1.5 cents per point, or transferred to any of Chase’s 13 airline and hotel partners for potentially even more value. Even if you just redeem the bonus points at 1.5 cents per point, that makes them worth $900 in travel, which on its own more than offsets the $550 annual fee for the first year.

Related: Get 60,000 bonus points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.

Of course, as the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on airlines and hotels over the last year, many of the travel perks of the Chase Sapphire Reserve went unused by card holders. Fortunately, Chase has been proactively adding limited-time benefits that you can use at home, on top of several other new features that were added to the card in January.

When it comes to earning points, the card added a new bonus category early last year. Card holders now earn 10 points per dollar on Lyft rides through March 2022, up from the normal 3 points earned for travel purchases (which includes ride-shares).

Also on the Lyft front, the card comes with a complimentary Lyft Pink membership for one year. Lyft Pink provides a 15% discount on all Lyft rides, along with priority airport pickups, up to three cancellation fee waivers each month if you rebook within 15 minutes, three free 30-minute bike or scooter rentals in select cities each month and other perks. Lyft normally charges $19.99 per month for Lyft Pink.

The Sapphire Reserve also has two benefits linked to the DoorDash food delivery service. Card holders receive $60 in annual DoorDash credits in 2021, along with at least 12 months of complimentary DashPass membership when you activate it by December 31, 2021. DashPass offers free delivery fees and reduced service fees at select restaurants, and normally costs $9.99 per month.

More recently, Chase has added opportunities to use the card while you’re not on the road. From now through April 30, 2021, the Chase Sapphire Reserve earns 3 points for every dollar spent on grocery store purchases, up to $1,000 in total purchases per month.

Related: Earn more rewards on your groceries with these credit cards.

Also, card holders get up to $120 in statement credits toward Peloton Digital and All-Access memberships through December 31, 2021, and 10 total points for every dollar spent on Peloton bike, tread and accessory purchases over $1,800 through March 2022, with a maximum of 50,000 points,

All these perks come on top of a new Sapphire Reserve feature that Chase launched last May. The card’s “Pay Yourself Back” tool allows card holders to redeem points for purchases in categories other than travel. The current categories are grocery stores, dining establishments (including delivery and takeout) and home improvement stores.

Through September 30, 2021, Chase Sapphire Reserve card holders get 1.5 cents per point on these “Pay Yourself Back” redemptions, which is identical to the value you get when using points for travel via Chase’s travel portal. That’s a solid return for your points and an option worth considering if you aren’t using your rewards on flights or hotels right now.

Finally, because of the current restrictions on travel, Sapphire Reserve card holders have access to additional limited-time options for using the card’s $300 travel credit. From now through the end of 2021, gas and grocery store purchases also count toward the travel credit, along with the usual eligible travel charges.

Let’s be frank: $550 is a lot to pay for a credit card. The 60,000-point sign-up bonus is worth $900 in travel (and possibly more), which makes the first year a no-brainer. But what about the second year and beyond? Some people will be able to take advantage of all the card’s features, but not everyone. And while the Chase Sapphire Reserve is a popular card, it’s not worth it if you can’t use its perks.

The $300 travel credit is relatively easy to utilize, and even more so right now. It covers not just airfare, hotel rooms, car rentals and the like, but also daily travel expenses such as transit costs, tolls, taxis, rideshares and even parking. And with the credit’s limited-time expansion, you can also currently use it on gas and grocery store purchases through the end of December.

Even if you’re not traveling, it’s highly likely you’ll spend $300 on gas and groceries between now and then. So, assuming you can use the entire $300 credit, that brings the effective annual fee on the Sapphire Reserve down from $550 to $250, a significant drop.

The question then is whether the rest of the card’s features and benefits are worth $250 a year. If you’re using DoorDash a lot more now due to the pandemic, that’s another $60 in value for 2021. The free delivery fees that are part of the DashPass membership are a little harder to calculate, but if you normally use DoorDash, you’ll see a few bucks in savings there as well.

Related: Are you using the right credit card when ordering food for delivery?

The up to $120 in credits toward Peloton memberships is also potentially more useful at the moment than it might have been before. You’ll need to take advantage of it by December 31, but you can apply it to your new or existing membership and get your Peloton service for free for several months.

It’s less likely that you’re a regular Lyft rider right now, but if you are, you’ll also get some use from the Lyft Pink membership, as well as the additional 7 points for every dollar you spend on Lyft. Again, it depends on how much you use Lyft, but regular or heavy users of the ride-share service could score a couple more dollars in savings.

The $100 application fee credit for either Global Entry or TSA PreCheck isn’t terribly useful at the moment, and since membership in those programs is good for 5 years, it only comes to $20 a year once you prorate that $100 over 5 years.

Also, many other credit cards feature the same Global Entry/TSA PreCheck rebate, so it’s not as useful to you if you already have the same $100 credit with another card (though keep in mind you can use this credit for the application fee of a friend or family member if you already have your own Global Entry or TSA PreCheck membership).

It’s impossible to put a precise dollar amount on the Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, as you might use this benefit once a year or fifty times a year. If you paid for these lounge visits individually using a “pay as you go” Priority Pass membership, they’d cost you $32 a visit plus $99 for the year (or you could pay for a $299 membership that includes the first 10 visits).

But at those prices, you’re almost certainly better off just getting the Sapphire Reserve or another credit card with Priority Pass if you want lounge access instead of paying for a membership.

Add all of the above benefits together and if you use each of them at least a few times a year, you’re likely getting your $250 worth. But let’s say you only use half of them, meaning you only get $125 in value from the card’s perks. How much would you need to spend on the card in a year to make up that remaining $125 in extra points?

CNN Underscored’s benchmark credit card, the Citi® Double Cash Card, has no annual fee and earns 2% cash back on everything you buy — 1% when you make a purchase, and another 1% when you pay your statement. In comparison, each point earned with the Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth at least 1.5 cents apiece when redeemed directly for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards or using the “Pay Yourself Back” tool, meaning you’re getting 1.5% on all purchases you make, and 4.5% on travel and dining purchases since you earn 3 points per dollar in those two categories.

Related: Earn 2% cash back on everything with the no-annual-fee Citi Double Cash credit card.

So if you spend $2,000 a month overall on your credit card and one-third of that is on travel and dining, you’d earn $120 more in rewards in a year than you would with the Citi Double Cash, which is almost the entire remainder of the annual fee. Spend more than that each month on travel or dining — or in any of the other currently-available bonus categories — and you’re coming out ahead. Spend less than that, and the card is costing you more than it’s worth.

If you’re looking for a Chase travel credit card but don’t want to pay a high fee, there’s another option. The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card doesn’t come with all the fancy perks or the $300 travel credit. It only earns 2 points for every dollar you spend on travel and dining instead of 3 points, and 5 points per dollar for Lyft rides through March 2022. It offers the same limited-time grocery store bonuses and Peloton credits, but at lower rates. But it only costs $95 a year, so it could be a better fit for your budget.

Related: Read CNN Underscored’s review of the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

The Sapphire Preferred also has a sign-up bonus, and it’s even higher than the Sapphire Reserve — you’ll earn 80,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months after you open the card, plus up to $50 in statement credits for grocery store purchases in the first year you have the card.

If you only have the Sapphire Preferred, the points are worth 1.25 cents apiece when redeemed for travel instead of 1.5 cents each, meaning those 80,000 points are worth $1,000, only $100 more than the Sapphire Reserve even though there’s 20,000 more of them.

But you can transfer points earned with the Sapphire Preferred to the same 13 airline and hotel partners as the Sapphire Reserve, which makes the points just as flexible, no matter which of the two cards you decide to carry. And Chase Sapphire Preferred card holders also have access to the “Pay Yourself Back” tool, so you can also currently redeem points for grocery stores, dining establishments (including delivery and takeout) and home improvement stores at 1.25 cents apiece.

Related: 6 reasons to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card.

Not sure which card is right for you? You might consider signing up for the cheaper Chase Sapphire Preferred to start since it has a higher bonus, and then converting to the Sapphire Reserve after the first year. You won’t get all the perks of the Reserve in Year #1, but you’ll pay a lot less and can take that time to consider whether paying for the extra perks makes sense.

If you do end up converting to the Reserve in Year #2, any points you earned with the Preferred that you haven’t already used — including the sign-up bonus — will be redeemable for travel via Chase Ultimate Rewards at 1.5 cents each once you have the Reserve in hand. (Note that you can’t get a second sign-up bonus for converting from one card to the other.)

Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: Which is best for you?

It all comes down to how much you’ll utilize the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. if you don’t take a lot of Lyft rides, the Lyft features won’t be of value to you. If you don’t fly much, you won’t need airport lounge access very often. And if you live in an area without DoorDash service, you won’t see any benefit from having a DashPass membership or credits. That’s why it’s important to consider how many features of a credit card you’ll actually use when deciding if it’s right for you.

Also, if you’re already struggling with debt, now isn’t the time to go out and get an expensive travel credit card. Get your financial house in order first — then you can explore the world of credit card rewards.

But if you’re in solid financial shape and see yourself using some or all of the Sapphire Reserve’s features or spending a significant amount of money each year on travel or dining purchases, the math can work out in your favor. So if you’ve been considering whether a premium credit card is a good choice, take a look at the Chase Sapphire Reserve and see if it fits your current and future needs.

Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

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