Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling? [annual fee increasing]

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totallynotsure
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Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling? [annual fee increasing]

Post by totallynotsure »

or doing a product change due to the increased annual fee?

if so, what is your approach? what card will you be replacing it with?
eer_no_evil
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by eer_no_evil »

I’m holding out- simply because when things to get back to normal I can expense work travel thru it- it’s a big add to pay for my personal vacations. So I’m taking the wait and see approach. YMMV
Laundry_Service
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Laundry_Service »

I will likely cancel in several months once my year is up. I cashed out ~400,000 UR points, which wasn't the best value. I've invested the money and expect to come out better down the road. I'm primarily using the Bank of America Premium Rewards card which is $95 a year and you can get 2.625% back on everything and 3.5% back on travel and dining. It also has decent benefits.

Even though UR points are great I'm overall getting tired of managing and working around a bunch of points and would prefer to have the cash instead.
RocketShipTech
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by RocketShipTech »

I am canceling mine at the end of the month.

The doordash and instacart benefits were nice but not worth the incremental fees
awval999
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by awval999 »

Temporarily lowered annual fee

This is a move Chase has made in light of COVID-19 halting travel and rendering your card’s travel benefits nearly useless of late. Chase will only charge a $450 annual fee to anyone renewing their card between July 2 and December 31, 2020. In other words, if you’re planning to renew a Chase Sapphire Reserve this year, will pay $450 instead of the standard fee of $550.

We are traveling in 2020. And we will travel in 2021.

My annual fee comes up in October. With the $300 travel credit, it will net $150. The 2021 DoorDash credits will make it $90. I will renew. Will re-evaluate in 2021 for 2022.
BeneIRA
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by BeneIRA »

totallynotsure wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:25 pm or doing a product change due to the increased annual fee?

if so, what is your approach? what card will you be replacing it with?
The annual fee is $450 this year. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-an ... 0-renewal/

With the added benefits of Pay Yourself Back and the $100 fee decrease, it's a hardcore keeper for me.
mouth
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by mouth »

I see no reason to cancel; I'm still getting my annual fee's worth.

I am still able to generate enough points on the CSR (all food orders + DoorDash extra), Freedom (quarterly bonus), and Freedom Unlimited (1.5x all other purchases) to make it all worth while. Having the CSR means I can transfer points from the other two and take advantage of 1.5x conversion to cash rather than needing to wait for actual travel and using the CSR travel site. So to me it's actually a bit of a better deal than before; points have the same value as before COVID with fewer restricitons.

Once I hit my anniversary (Dec 2020) and the travel credit hits again I expect them to still be offering to use it for grocery and/or home improvement or I'll be traveling in some way by Dec 2021 [fingers crossed].

For "internal accounting" of my travel benefits I'm shifting the cash I'm getting back on points into my vacation budget. So when the time comes to finally travel I'll have a pretty penny waiting for me :moneybag
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heartwood
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by heartwood »

I cancelled back in March(?) when my annual fee was due. It was a great card for me for several years, but last year I found that I could frequently get better travel pricing by not going through the Chase portal. I especially liked the primary car insurance on rentals.

For now I'm using the Costco Citi Visa paying 3% on travel. But I'm not doing any travel since early March and projecting zero through the end of the year. Unfortunately.

Lots of comments (not all CSR related) here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=300020&start=450
RocketShipTech
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by RocketShipTech »

The card costs $90 after the $300 travel credit and $60 DoorDash credit.

The only incremental benefit the card provides me above my BoA suite of cards is 2.25% incremental cash back on the Chase Freedom categories (I’m counting this as comparable to the 5.25% BoA categories).

I would need to spend $4,000 on the Freedom before I start seeing any incremental benefit. Not worth the hassle for me.
AZAttorney11
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by AZAttorney11 »

Chase also charges $75 per year to add an authorized user on this card. It’s criminal. We’ll likely cancel or downgrade, and then go back to the card when things are normal and get a sign up bonus along the way. Before the pandemic, this card was a no brainer. I’m able to run about $50,000 to $75,000 a year in work related travel expenses through this card. At 4.5% when redeemed through the Chase portal, it was a well worth the annual fee.
Savermom
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Savermom »

I am thinking about downgrading to the chase sapphire preferred when my renews next year. I never use the travel portal. I will have to calculate how much I will spend for travel and dining first.
BlackcatCA
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by BlackcatCA »

Is it possible to use UR points to cover the annual fee? Can I use the “pay yourself” feature for it?
hightower
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by hightower »

I am thinking about getting rid of my sapphire reserve card. Definitely don't plan on traveling much for the next couple of years. For this same reason, we've also stopped using our Delta Amex and are instead using our Citi Double Cash for everything now. May end up getting rid of the Delta card too, though we still have 60k miles on it to use.
UpperNwGuy
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by UpperNwGuy »

I am an original plank owner of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, having applied and been approved on the day it opened in August 2016. My four year anniversary is this month, and the annual fee will be billed on September 1. At that time I will ask Chase to downgrade the card to a Freedom Unlimited. I had already been planning to do this before the COVID-19 crisis because of the annual fee increase and my plan not to travel much in 2020 or 2021. Now, however, with the crisis in full swing, I am doing no dining or travel whatsoever, so even the delay of the annual fee increase doesn’t make the card worthwhile to me. In preparation for the downgrade I’ve burned through all my remaining Ultimate Rewards points using the Pay Yourself Back program, so I have a zero points balance on that card. It was a nice four year run, but all good things come to an end.

I will also be downgrading my Chase United Explorer card when its annual fee comes due on September 1. Without travel, the card is useless to me.
Last edited by UpperNwGuy on Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cruise
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Cruise »

I'm giving it up as the dedicate purpose for which it served is no longer applicable (business travel and other assorted expenses). I will transfer the credit limit to another Chase card.
ZinCO
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by ZinCO »

BlackcatCA wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:31 pm Is it possible to use UR points to cover the annual fee? Can I use the “pay yourself” feature for it?
Not directly, but spend $450 on grocery (1x) or dining (3x) and pay-yourself-back on those expenses instead.
texasfight
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by texasfight »

I've been slamming the pay yourself back feature+doordash haha
student
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by student »

I haven't decided yet. Depending on whether they give a promotion for other categories.
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willthrill81
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by willthrill81 »

We took it out in January of 2018 when the reward points were double what they are now. After paying the annual fee, I believe that the net benefit was still around $1,500, which was awesome. We cancelled it after getting the reward points. IMHO, with only half that many points now and a much higher annual fee, it's definitely not worth it for us at least.
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TravelGeek
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by TravelGeek »

totallynotsure wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 12:25 pm or doing a product change due to the increased annual fee?

if so, what is your approach? what card will you be replacing it with?
Totally sure it’s a keeper for me :)
drummerboy
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by drummerboy »

Downgrading ours to a Freedom card when it comes up for renewal in November. BofA Premium Rewards is turning out to be much more lucrative.

I wish the CSR would keep the 5% on Groceries forever. That would change my mind.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Mudpuppy »

awval999 wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 1:19 pm Temporarily lowered annual fee

This is a move Chase has made in light of COVID-19 halting travel and rendering your card’s travel benefits nearly useless of late. Chase will only charge a $450 annual fee to anyone renewing their card between July 2 and December 31, 2020. In other words, if you’re planning to renew a Chase Sapphire Reserve this year, will pay $450 instead of the standard fee of $550.
Similar situation over here. I was originally planning to do a product change before my November annual fee posted, but when Chase announced they're leaving the fee at $450 for the year, I'll just reevaluate next year.
UpperNwGuy
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by UpperNwGuy »

drummerboy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:29 pm I wish the CSR would keep the 5% on Groceries forever. That would change my mind.
I agree. The CSR only had the 5% on groceries for May and June. The CSR's 5% categories for the third quarter are not useful to me. More groceries would have been better. We won't know the fourth quarter until late September, so I'm closing the CSR when my fee comes due on September 1.
djheini
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by djheini »

Planning to cancel at renewal time in October as I'm not traveling as much anymore (combination between covid and new job which reduces the frequent trips I had been taking).

I don't anticipate spending enough on travel/dining to make 3xUR better than the 3.5% cash back on BoA premium rewards. Most of my redemptions have been at 1.5cpp so I value the 3x UR at 4.5% (or less due to less flexibility).
djheini
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by djheini »

hightower wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:32 pm I am thinking about getting rid of my sapphire reserve card. Definitely don't plan on traveling much for the next couple of years. For this same reason, we've also stopped using our Delta Amex and are instead using our Citi Double Cash for everything now. May end up getting rid of the Delta card too, though we still have 60k miles on it to use.
The Delta miles should transfer from Amex to your Delta Skymiles account after the statement posts (and you see them in your balance on delta.com). Once that transfer happens you keep the points even if you cancel the Amex. Note that this is different than cards that earn in the Amex Membership Rewards currency, which do disappear if you don't use/transfer them before closing the card.
CycloRista
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by CycloRista »

Yes- cancelling the Chase Sapphire Reserve and another travel points card as it is highly unlikely my wife and I will be traveling via airplane in the next 1-2 years. I've heard that they are offering incentives to hang onto it but none are of much benefit/value to me.
CycloRista
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by CycloRista »

heartwood wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:08 pm I cancelled back in March(?) when my annual fee was due. It was a great card for me for several years, but last year I found that I could frequently get better travel pricing by not going through the Chase portal. I especially liked the primary car insurance on rentals.

For now I'm using the Costco Citi Visa paying 3% on travel. But I'm not doing any travel since early March and projecting zero through the end of the year. Unfortunately.

Lots of comments (not all CSR related) here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=300020&start=450
+1 for the Costco Citi Visa... that has been my primary card since they switched from Amex and I get around ~$1500 cash back each year.
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GeraniumLover
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by GeraniumLover »

UpperNwGuy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:43 pm
drummerboy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:29 pm I wish the CSR would keep the 5% on Groceries forever. That would change my mind.
I agree. The CSR only had the 5% on groceries for May and June. The CSR's 5% categories for the third quarter are not useful to me. More groceries would have been better. We won't know the fourth quarter until late September, so I'm closing the CSR when my fee comes due on September 1.
Where can one learn of the bonus 5% categories for CSR? I can't locate them on chase.com.
drummerboy
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by drummerboy »

GeraniumLover wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:02 am
UpperNwGuy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:43 pm
drummerboy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:29 pm I wish the CSR would keep the 5% on Groceries forever. That would change my mind.
I agree. The CSR only had the 5% on groceries for May and June. The CSR's 5% categories for the third quarter are not useful to me. More groceries would have been better. We won't know the fourth quarter until late September, so I'm closing the CSR when my fee comes due on September 1.
Where can one learn of the bonus 5% categories for CSR? I can't locate them on chase.com.
There are no bonus categories for CSR. It is not like the Freedom card. But, in May and June, Chase ran a special promotion to increase everyone's usage of the CSR card by offering 5% on Groceries. It was great. I wish it would return. IMHO, Amex Gold has the best grocery rebate currently. (4% up to 25k a year in spend, assume 1.25 to 1.5 uplift when transferring points making it a 5 to 6% earn on groceries).
Makaveli
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Makaveli »

awval999 wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 1:19 pm Temporarily lowered annual fee

This is a move Chase has made in light of COVID-19 halting travel and rendering your card’s travel benefits nearly useless of late. Chase will only charge a $450 annual fee to anyone renewing their card between July 2 and December 31, 2020. In other words, if you’re planning to renew a Chase Sapphire Reserve this year, will pay $450 instead of the standard fee of $550.

We are traveling in 2020. And we will travel in 2021.

My annual fee comes up in October. With the $300 travel credit, it will net $150. The 2021 DoorDash credits will make it $90. I will renew. Will re-evaluate in 2021 for 2022.
+1
deltaneutral83
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by deltaneutral83 »

You're doing it wrong if you can't get twice the annual fee back in value on this card. You're doing it especially wrong if you haven't gotten 5x the annual fee in value during Covid as Chase is essentially dropping hundos on your doorstep (Grocery store 5x spending in May/June, pay your self back promo backdating to March purchases, gas 5x for 3rd Q, Dash pass perks, note I am not referring to the Doordash $60 credit here). I have redeemed hundreds of thousands of UR with pay yourself back. And of course, everyone is ignoring the chase relationship and the ability to earn UR on other cards and move to CSR then PYB 1.5x redemption. If you don't make dining or travel purchases then I can't see why one would sign up for the card in the first place. Analyzing chase cards outside of the relationship with other cards with Chase is an incomplete analysis.

I hawk credit card bennies as much as the next guy and I haven't seen many better scenarios for an everyday card that has worked out as nicely as this card, especially during Covid. They could up the AF by $300 and I wouldn't blink.
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by MBB_Boy »

AZAttorney11 wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:19 pm Chase also charges $75 per year to add an authorized user on this card. It’s criminal. We’ll likely cancel or downgrade, and then go back to the card when things are normal and get a sign up bonus along the way. Before the pandemic, this card was a no brainer. I’m able to run about $50,000 to $75,000 a year in work related travel expenses through this card. At 4.5% when redeemed through the Chase portal, it was a well worth the annual fee.
I just give the physical card to the wife, and spend using my phone if I need it and we aren't together. Easy solve for the authorized user thing - and there are very few occasions where I'm getting food out and it's not for both of us anyway
Ragnoth
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Ragnoth »

I ditched a while ago for the BofA cards (and an Amex for groceries). If you have 100k sitting with Merrill/BofA the premium card works out to 2.625% on all purchases. Also, the everyday cash back with the “online” category selected works out to 5.25% back for things like Amazon, Seamless/Grubhub, etc.

We worked out the math at one point, but there was just no way we would spend enough on travel/going out to make it worth it to keep the Chase. It may have worked out differently if we had unused travel benefits and a stockpile of points.
MikeZ
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by MikeZ »

My DW and myself both have CSR's. My AF us due in October. I already zeroed out my UR's. I am really debating cancelling/downgrading mine and just going on my DW's and a AU for $75. I think at $550 AF, it starts to make the Plat additional lounge benefits look better once travel starts again.
TravelGeek
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by TravelGeek »

drummerboy wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:26 am
GeraniumLover wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 7:02 am
UpperNwGuy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 7:43 pm
drummerboy wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 6:29 pm I wish the CSR would keep the 5% on Groceries forever. That would change my mind.
I agree. The CSR only had the 5% on groceries for May and June. The CSR's 5% categories for the third quarter are not useful to me. More groceries would have been better. We won't know the fourth quarter until late September, so I'm closing the CSR when my fee comes due on September 1.
Where can one learn of the bonus 5% categories for CSR? I can't locate them on chase.com.
There are no bonus categories for CSR. It is not like the Freedom card. But, in May and June, Chase ran a special promotion to increase everyone's usage of the CSR card by offering 5% on Groceries. It was great. I wish it would return.
https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-c ... e-benefits

5X on Instacart through 9/30 + up to $50 credit for Instacart express
5X on gas through 9/30
10X on select streaming services through 9/30
cncm
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by cncm »

My husband has the CSR while I have the Amex Platinum (with Schwab). We've decided to cancel the CSR and transfer the UR balance to my Sapphire Preferred card, and keep the Amex Platinum. It just doesn't make sense in this environment to keep two premium travel cards given how little travel we anticipate doing in the next 1-2 years. The Amex Platinum ended up being the better deal after their retention bonus ($300) and Schwab bonus ($100)...the card more than pays for itself after the UberEats and Saks discounts.
jhawktx
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by jhawktx »

$450 less $300 travel credit less $60 door dash less Lyft savings less value of excess earned miles less, less...

I'll be keeping mine.
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Mudpuppy »

deltaneutral83 wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:39 am You're doing it wrong if you can't get twice the annual fee back in value on this card. You're doing it especially wrong if you haven't gotten 5x the annual fee in value during Covid as Chase is essentially dropping hundos on your doorstep (Grocery store 5x spending in May/June, pay your self back promo backdating to March purchases, gas 5x for 3rd Q, Dash pass perks, note I am not referring to the Doordash $60 credit here). I have redeemed hundreds of thousands of UR with pay yourself back. And of course, everyone is ignoring the chase relationship and the ability to earn UR on other cards and move to CSR then PYB 1.5x redemption. If you don't make dining or travel purchases then I can't see why one would sign up for the card in the first place. Analyzing chase cards outside of the relationship with other cards with Chase is an incomplete analysis.
I'm not getting much out of my CSR this quarter other than PYB redemptions, which I've been using extensively for home improvement purchases. I've already used up my $300 annual travel credit on a split of pre-pandemic travel, and then gas and groceries. I don't use Lyft and I rarely order delivery from restaurants, even before the pandemic. The Chase Freedom bonus categories this quarter are redundant with the Chase Amazon Prime card. And my AmEx Blue Cash card is currently running a 15x back on Chevron gas bonus that I've yet to cap out.
deltaneutral83
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by deltaneutral83 »

Mudpuppy wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:20 pm I'm not getting much out of my CSR this quarter other than PYB redemptions, which I've been using extensively for home improvement purchases. I've already used up my $300 annual travel credit on a split of pre-pandemic travel, and then gas and groceries. I don't use Lyft and I rarely order delivery from restaurants, even before the pandemic. The Chase Freedom bonus categories this quarter are redundant with the Chase Amazon Prime card. And my AmEx Blue Cash card is currently running a 15x back on Chevron gas bonus that I've yet to cap out.
Again, the CSR is advertised as a travel and dining card. Not using ride share (in this case, Chase has partnered with lyft) and not eating food from restaurants would certainly dilute the card, but then why would I get it in the first place? Sort of like signing up for swimming but having no use for goggles. Also, I haven't ordered delivery in years. I have a host of restaurants (if not nearly all of them) that do pickup on Door Dash. I used up my $60 the week or two after the agreement between Chase and DD was in effect. Also received many perks and discounts that are probably close to $100 the last 6 months with Dashpass that comes with the CSR. They are actually currently running some decent weekly ones now. The $550 annual fee pays for itself with just the published features easily, and its even better that it's 450 fora while. The variable PYB is a knockout, not sure why anyone would consider closing the card with this going on. Chase has also hinted there may be a perpetual PYB category one at a time beyond Sept. Once travel heats back up the Priority Pass kicks back in and that's always a huge benefit.

The PYB feature also negates inflation for me and locks in rates, and good rates at that. Many of us have points from other chase personal and biz cards and it's fish in a barrel right now with PYB.
My husband has the CSR while I have the Amex Platinum (with Schwab). We've decided to cancel the CSR and transfer the UR balance to my Sapphire Preferred card, and keep the Amex Platinum. It just doesn't make sense in this environment to keep two premium travel cards given how little travel we anticipate doing in the next 1-2 years. The Amex Platinum ended up being the better deal after their retention bonus ($300) and Schwab bonus ($100)...the card more than pays for itself after the UberEats and Saks discounts.
Why would you move UR to the CSP when you can cash out at 1.5x on Grocery/Dining through Sept(?) regardless if you keep/cancel the CSR
cncm
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by cncm »

deltaneutral83 wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:41 pm
My husband has the CSR while I have the Amex Platinum (with Schwab). We've decided to cancel the CSR and transfer the UR balance to my Sapphire Preferred card, and keep the Amex Platinum. It just doesn't make sense in this environment to keep two premium travel cards given how little travel we anticipate doing in the next 1-2 years. The Amex Platinum ended up being the better deal after their retention bonus ($300) and Schwab bonus ($100)...the card more than pays for itself after the UberEats and Saks discounts.
Why would you move UR to the CSP when you can cash out at 1.5x on Grocery/Dining through Sept(?) regardless if you keep/cancel the CSR
Because we get more value out of UR via flight/hotel redemptions rather than cash out. We usually redeem for first class or biz class international long-haul flights.
deltaneutral83
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by deltaneutral83 »

cncm wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:51 pm
Because we get more value out of UR via flight/hotel redemptions rather than cash out. We usually redeem for first class or biz class international long-haul flights.
Gotcha, I'm keeping a couple 100k for transfers but with travel out for the next few months am unloading most UR for 1.5x with PYB. Biz class international flights are also the best use of UR for the transfer partners I've seen the last few years.
Nearly A Moose
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Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Nearly A Moose »

I downgraded to the no-fee Sapphire and will just keep it sitting in my wallet because of the age of the account. I was having a hard enough time finding good point redemption values that fit our family's needs that I cashed out our points in the 1.5x "pay yourself back" promotion, loaded up on grocery store gift cards, and then did the downgrade (yes, I could find a random international business class flight to somewhere, but what about my get my wife and kids?). I had just paid my new annual fee, so I was able to get that refunded as well, which was part of the reason for pulling the plug.

I've decided to move to a cashback strategy for the next year or two and to then reevaluate. We were having a harder time than we had hoped to get good redemptions for the points that made sense for us, and I got tired of sitting on hundreds of thousands of points in the hope that I might eek out another $0.25 per point to get a redemption I felt I could justify. I also found we weren't using the ancillary benefits much. I was always underwhelmed by the lounge access options, and now with the pandemic in full swing, I can't imagine myself doing much business travel for at least the next 12 months. And if I do, I can always either re-up to the CSR or more likely switch back to an Amex platinum for the lounge access and other travel benefits.

We switched to a middle-of-the-road complexity cashback setup:
-Citi Double Cash for everyday spend (functionally $0.02/dollar, no annual fee)
-Amex Blue Cash Preferred for groceries ($0.06/dollar grocery stores and some streaming, $95 annual fee, might open one for my wife too, we spend lots on groceries)
-Amazon Visa ($0.05/dollar on Amazon, already had this)
-Chase Freedom ($0.05/dollar on rotating categories, already had this)
-Wells Propel (something like $0.03/dollar travel and dining, no annual fee, will wait until a bonus comes back or travel and dining out come back before opening this)
-If I get really inspired, I might open one or two of the ones with rotating categories that include a general "online" bonus category, but those limits are low enough that I don't know it if it's really worth the extra hassle

I had a massive spreadsheet laying out a bunch of options based on our last-year spend, and the above options performed quite well - $3,000-4,000 net value in a typical year. I'd have had to either get very good redemption values (I usually struggle to do better than 1.5 cent per point) or roll a pretty complicated and high-cost setup of something like Amex Platinum, Amex Gold, CSR, and Freedom Unlimited to do better. I thought about keeping some spare points around for a Park Hyatt or something but figured I'd just make the clean break.

A few months in and I'm so far quite happy with the change. It's not the highest-powered spending lineup, but it fits our current needs well. If we didn't have young kids to plan our every moment around, then perhaps I'd be more inclined to chase the travel awards.
Pardon typos, I'm probably using my fat thumbs on a tiny phone.
fareastwarriors
Posts: 1405
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:31 am

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by fareastwarriors »

The Pay Yourself Back is great for me. Used it for thousands of dollars of Home Depot purchases.

Will keep the card.
Topic Author
totallynotsure
Posts: 246
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:35 am

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by totallynotsure »

Can someone fill me in on the Pay Yourself Back feature?

I haven’t used that at all.
AZAttorney11
Posts: 894
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2015 11:12 am

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by AZAttorney11 »

MBB_Boy wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 8:48 am
AZAttorney11 wrote: Sun Aug 02, 2020 2:19 pm Chase also charges $75 per year to add an authorized user on this card. It’s criminal. We’ll likely cancel or downgrade, and then go back to the card when things are normal and get a sign up bonus along the way. Before the pandemic, this card was a no brainer. I’m able to run about $50,000 to $75,000 a year in work related travel expenses through this card. At 4.5% when redeemed through the Chase portal, it was a well worth the annual fee.
I just give the physical card to the wife, and spend using my phone if I need it and we aren't together. Easy solve for the authorized user thing - and there are very few occasions where I'm getting food out and it's not for both of us anyway
I don't know why we haven't done that :oops: Great idea -- thanks for sharing!
fareastwarriors
Posts: 1405
Joined: Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:31 am

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by fareastwarriors »

totallynotsure wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:23 pm Can someone fill me in on the Pay Yourself Back feature?

I haven’t used that at all.
Redeem at 1.5cents per point for select categories.

For these categories: grocery stores, home improvement stores and dining, including restaurants, takeout and eligible delivery services. +charity now


https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-an ... 0-renewal/

https://media.chase.com/news/pay-yours ... te-rewards
Mudpuppy
Posts: 7409
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:26 am
Location: Sunny California

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by Mudpuppy »

totallynotsure wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:23 pm Can someone fill me in on the Pay Yourself Back feature?

I haven’t used that at all.
You can use your UR points to "pay off" certain charges (currently groceries, dining, home improvement, and select national charities) at a rate of 1.5 cents per point. It's really spending points to get a statement credit for those charges. Say you have a $50 grocery charge, you can spend a little over 3.3k points to get a $50 statement credit for that transaction.

Edit: Also, to find the feature, get to your UR home page (on the new interface, I click the ... button and select "Card benefits"), then click the menu button (three bars) and "Pay Yourself Back" should be a menu option. It's marked as "New" for me.
remomnyc
Posts: 1055
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2016 3:27 pm

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by remomnyc »

I will reassess next year since the fee increase will not be implemented this year. I typically redeem points for at least $1k value each year, which makes the card more than pay for itself. I used Pay Yourself Back to redeem points for $2k in lieu of travel this year.
jhawktx
Posts: 441
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 8:15 am

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by jhawktx »

Mudpuppy wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 6:08 pm
totallynotsure wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 5:23 pm Can someone fill me in on the Pay Yourself Back feature?

I haven’t used that at all.
You can use your UR points to "pay off" certain charges (currently groceries, dining, home improvement, and select national charities) at a rate of 1.5 cents per point. It's really spending points to get a statement credit for those charges. Say you have a $50 grocery charge, you can spend a little over 3.3k points to get a $50 statement credit for that transaction.

Edit: Also, to find the feature, get to your UR home page (on the new interface, I click the ... button and select "Card benefits"), then click the menu button (three bars) and "Pay Yourself Back" should be a menu option. It's marked as "New" for me.
Why pay yourself back at 1.5 cents? Get Citi double cash and pay yourself back at 2.0 cents.
TravelGeek
Posts: 4902
Joined: Sat Oct 25, 2014 3:23 pm

Re: Any Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders planning on cancelling?

Post by TravelGeek »

deltaneutral83 wrote: Mon Aug 03, 2020 2:41 pm The variable PYB is a knockout, not sure why anyone would consider closing the card with this going on. Chase has also hinted there may be a perpetual PYB category one at a time beyond Sept.
Chase apparently confirmed that it will be extended beyond Sept. 30. No details yet on what categories.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-pa ... -extended/
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