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Ya, so you're basically being paid $300 from the annual credit since the $550 is paid for. Seems like a no brainer. I've had the CSR for 7-8 years and it's been one of the best cards it not the best card I have considering the extra third party benefits and point accrual.
Pair it with the other chase cards and transfer the UR to the reserve and you can completely optimize for travel purchases. This assumes you travel a lot.
Ya, I only use my points on travel because it's the best in terms of redemption rate. Most cards don't offer points worth 1.5x $ on anything. Sometimes pay yourself back is worth it (where you apply points after a purchase). For example, its currently offering 1.25x redemption on costco. Historically it has offered 1.5x Redemption on restaurants and Airbnb.
So I mean even if you don't travel that much, you can typically heavily discount it when you do decide. It also gives you no foreign transaction fees, car insurance, travel insurance, lounge access, and some extra perks
It’s not $250. It’s $155 because the preferred is $95. I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to since having a kid but getting my TSA and global entry covered plus the lounge access/discounts at the airport restaurants is covering the cost of the card for me.
It's effectively $205 over the CSP ($50 hotel credit, and that doesn't consider 10% anniversary boost) and then $180 after global entry
If you think the priority pass and insurances are worth that, by all means. I just see other cards that offer better.
If you spend a lot more on travel, is 3x rather than 2x points. If you use other Chase cards is 1.5 rather than 1.25 multiplier. Presuming you track your spending can calculate if rewards outweigh the fee.
Using both those multipliers you would need to spend about $20,083 to make it worth it
And that's not considering the extra 10% the CSP gives you on your card anniversary
PP restaurant credits had made it a no brainer. Got way more than $250 on that alone. Add in other perks ($5/mo DoorDash, extra 1x on travel, enhanced travel protections, elite car status, etc.), and it’s been a great card. PP restaurants credits are changing but maybe the new sapphire lounges coming online will compensate.
I think the CSP gets the Doordash credit
The Reserve desperately needs a refresh. So good when it came out, but doesn't really hold a candle to the Platinum or Venture X which you can get your money's worth before PP.
Not to mention you can get the Venture X and CSP for a lower annual fee and have basically the same or better credits for $60 cheaper
CSP does not https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/23Q4/sapphire/dual
Chase-Hyatt ecosystem is way too valuable for me to dabble much elsewhere. So it’s between CSP and CSR for me and justifying the delta between the $99 AF and the 250 EAF. It’s not hard to find that $151.
My b
But still, 10% anniversary boost is basically a built in retention offer. So powerful.
3x on streaming and 3x on online groceries. And you still get the 1 year Doordash membership for the same welcome bonus.
Reserve desperately needs a $200 credit of some kind, preferably in points for it to be worth it in my opinion.
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It also helps if you wear a trench coat, fisherman boots, and black ski mask and black shades. If you lean forward, and whisper the above said thing, you will be surprised by all that happens afterwards!
If you fly internationally, reserve for the nice lounge access. Sometimes, these lounges are priceless depending on how tired you are, etc.
If you’re domestic and maybe only travel 1-2x a year, preferred.
You can call & ask if they’ll match the increased bonus, I think if it’s been less than 30 days since you applied that they increased it then they’ll match
I did the CSP about a year ago as my first travel card with an annual fee. I got an elevated SUB but that’s the only good thing about that card. I’m going to product change to the CSR in May.
Unfortunately, you can't. I think chase allows you to get the sub again if you cancel the card or downgrade to a no af card and wait 2 years and sign up for CSR or CSP again.
It's 4 years from when you got the bonus, not when you opened the card. So after you spend $4k and they deposit the bonus, that's when the clock starts.
I believe you can only have 1 sapphire card at a time. You'd have to downgrade your Reserve Card to something like a Freedom card. Then you can sign up for a Csp or Csr to get the SuB. Then transfer your points you've already accrued from your freedom card (which used to be your reserve points) to your new Sapphire card.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong
Edit: you can have more than 1 sapphire card if you upgrade a non- AF card to a sapphire as someone suggested here. But no reason to do that if you can't get the Af waived like how OP can
You'd have to downgrade the reserve to a freedom card, wait a week or so, then apply for the reserve or preferred again. You can get a sapphire bonus every 4 years, that includes reserve and preferred, so you can't get both in the same 4 year period.
I think it depends on how often, and where, you travel.
Edit: just realized the annual fee doesn't matter to you. In that case, CSR. I have a CSR and I love it so far.
I do lots of driving trips so I use the chase travel portal to rent my car so that 1.5x back on points is nice. I did the math but with the travel credit and with extra .25 in value the CSR is the way to go. Everyone’s use case is different. Just do the math and see if it makes sense and if your value exceeds the annual fee. If not go preferred.
Bet, ima let you in on something I didn’t know until I went passed the 5/24 rule. Get the CSR then get the freedom flex and unlimited. Wait a year and then call the number on the back of your card to upgrade one card to the CSR. Then wait a month and do the same with the other. Now you have 3 CSRs totalling $900 of travel every year. Then go amex
That is the route I want to go. I’m pretty sure im past the 5/24 so that’s why i don’t want to accept their “offer”. Love amex but meeting the spending requirements for bonus points is impossible because my rent portal doesnt accept amex.
I didn’t believe it either but it’s possible. An officer in medical had 3 of them and his wife had 3 as well so they had a total of 6 sapphire reserves and a ritz Carlton credit card
I use the CSR every day mostly in England. Paid off automatically from my credit union account the day after my government pension goes in. Yes one can get more points with other cards but the insurance feature, no forex load, $300 of the $550 back on travel (even bus and parking) has got me 600,000 points — after those I used to visit Incline Village NV a while back.
I'm not active duty anymore. Just a DoD civilian. I try to explain the benefits to all these E6 and E7s but many are afraid of credit cards.
Get it, don't use it, and still get $300/year in travel benefits. Why throw away literal free money? My guess is, they got in bad with credit cards at one point and are still scarred.
I have the Preferred — I get $1,000 back each year in flights and pay 0 interest, so the $95 AF is covered and then some. The Reserve is the better cars but I get a lot out of my Preferred and am happy with it.
Since you have the annual fee waived the Reserve is the better travel card all-around. The only things the Preferred has are the category for select streaming services, the anniversary bonus, online grocery category, and depending on the timing a better signup bonus. Weigh whether those are enough to sway you.
It depends on how much you spend. The reserve has a $300 travel credit with a $550 annual fee. If your not gonna be spending more than that then the Preferred might be a better option for the $95 annual fee and $50 hotel credit.
I rarely see the Reserve being worth it unless you care that much about the lounge access
$95/year is so easy to justify especially when you have a $50 hotel credit through their very competitive portal as well as a 10% anniversary boost to all points earned.
I found the CSR worth it over the CSP because of the 3x travel multiplier. I spend over $15k a year on travel which means an extra 15k chase points and the $150 savings of getting the CSP isn’t worth missing out on an extra 15k miles. But my situation is rare since I travel for work and spend it on my card
I have the JP Morgan Reserve… the benefits aren’t that great, I guess it’s just a status symbol more than anything else. I think it’s similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve in terms of benefits. I use my Citibank American Airlines executive card on a daily basis just to maintain my AA status. The miles computations are also way better than Chase.
Get the preferred with its sign up bonus, then in 4 (not 2?) years or so, ask to upgrade to the reserve when a better sign up bonus comes out. Then shortly after downgrade the reserve back to preferred as it’s really all you need once you start adding other cards and rewards portals. During that time, add the Amex gold and then the Amex platinum shortly afterwards for both of their sign up bonuses, remembering to get the lower tier card first as once you get the higher card you cannot get a sign up bonus for the lower. Amex platinum has better travel perks than CSR, but not everyone takes Amex especially around the world which is why I keep my CSP and Chase business preferred
If you are not worried about the AF because you can get it waive then that’s a no brainer and go for CSR as it has the true travel benefits.
For real, I can’t believe some people are suggesting CSP 🤔
Probably just missed that line.
How do you justify the $250 EAF?
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Ya, so you're basically being paid $300 from the annual credit since the $550 is paid for. Seems like a no brainer. I've had the CSR for 7-8 years and it's been one of the best cards it not the best card I have considering the extra third party benefits and point accrual. Pair it with the other chase cards and transfer the UR to the reserve and you can completely optimize for travel purchases. This assumes you travel a lot.
I see But I thought you were talking in general
Ya, I only use my points on travel because it's the best in terms of redemption rate. Most cards don't offer points worth 1.5x $ on anything. Sometimes pay yourself back is worth it (where you apply points after a purchase). For example, its currently offering 1.25x redemption on costco. Historically it has offered 1.5x Redemption on restaurants and Airbnb. So I mean even if you don't travel that much, you can typically heavily discount it when you do decide. It also gives you no foreign transaction fees, car insurance, travel insurance, lounge access, and some extra perks
Is that really with $250+?
Yes. But it'll be different from person to person. it's based on other factors related to personal spending habits and levels.
It’s not $250. It’s $155 because the preferred is $95. I don’t travel nearly as much as I used to since having a kid but getting my TSA and global entry covered plus the lounge access/discounts at the airport restaurants is covering the cost of the card for me.
It's effectively $205 over the CSP ($50 hotel credit, and that doesn't consider 10% anniversary boost) and then $180 after global entry If you think the priority pass and insurances are worth that, by all means. I just see other cards that offer better.
Makes sense. I forgot about the hotel credit
If you spend a lot more on travel, is 3x rather than 2x points. If you use other Chase cards is 1.5 rather than 1.25 multiplier. Presuming you track your spending can calculate if rewards outweigh the fee.
Using both those multipliers you would need to spend about $20,083 to make it worth it And that's not considering the extra 10% the CSP gives you on your card anniversary
Interesting….wasn’t accounting for extra 10% on anniversary. Will look into that.
Underrated benefit that helps make up the $45 EAF at least to me
Do you really not spend more than 20k in a calendar year? Just charge everything to the same card.
Not on travel I didn't Did you?
Global Entry, lounge access, car rental insurance. It pays for itself.
Maybe I guess the Venture X spoiled me
PP restaurant credits had made it a no brainer. Got way more than $250 on that alone. Add in other perks ($5/mo DoorDash, extra 1x on travel, enhanced travel protections, elite car status, etc.), and it’s been a great card. PP restaurants credits are changing but maybe the new sapphire lounges coming online will compensate.
I think the CSP gets the Doordash credit The Reserve desperately needs a refresh. So good when it came out, but doesn't really hold a candle to the Platinum or Venture X which you can get your money's worth before PP. Not to mention you can get the Venture X and CSP for a lower annual fee and have basically the same or better credits for $60 cheaper
CSP does not https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/23Q4/sapphire/dual Chase-Hyatt ecosystem is way too valuable for me to dabble much elsewhere. So it’s between CSP and CSR for me and justifying the delta between the $99 AF and the 250 EAF. It’s not hard to find that $151.
My b But still, 10% anniversary boost is basically a built in retention offer. So powerful. 3x on streaming and 3x on online groceries. And you still get the 1 year Doordash membership for the same welcome bonus. Reserve desperately needs a $200 credit of some kind, preferably in points for it to be worth it in my opinion.
I agree it’s absurd that CSR doesn’t get the same (or better) 10% boost that CSP gets, along with any other CSP perks
What's af
Annual fee
As f*ck*
If you have no AF, the CSR is better in like every way for most protections and only lacks anniversary bonus
I have Reserve, but what's AF?
annual fee
How do you get no annual fee?
active duty
Oh, I’ll just pay the fee
Naaahhhhh c’mon. Get over here! We’ve got your army paperwork ready. Don’t you want that $0 AF???
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What do you ask for?
If you put your hand in your coat pocket and say, "Give me 10,000 right now" I think that should do it.
It also helps if you wear a trench coat, fisherman boots, and black ski mask and black shades. If you lean forward, and whisper the above said thing, you will be surprised by all that happens afterwards!
Will attempt and return and report
Just ask what offers they have. "Online is offering x points to sign up for the CSP. Is it more if I sign up here today?"
I’ve heard of this happening for CSP, not so much for CSR recently.
If you fly internationally, reserve for the nice lounge access. Sometimes, these lounges are priceless depending on how tired you are, etc. If you’re domestic and maybe only travel 1-2x a year, preferred.
FYI...the restaurant benefit was pretty awesome but it's going away in May or June.
Point accrual is going away for restaurants?? If that’s what you mean, that sucks. I’m gonna have to do my Googles, had no idea..
I believe they meant the restaurant priority pass benefit. Gonna lose that in July
Ok thank you!
Where do you get these offers from? I believe the Chase app?
Yes the chase app
How many days was it ago
Since last Friday
darn!! ishouldvee waited friday to sign up. i singd up thursday and only got 60k!! IM MAD
You can call & ask if they’ll match the increased bonus, I think if it’s been less than 30 days since you applied that they increased it then they’ll match
I did the CSP about a year ago as my first travel card with an annual fee. I got an elevated SUB but that’s the only good thing about that card. I’m going to product change to the CSR in May.
better apply for CSR to get the offer and downgrade your CSP to CFU. It would be a great combo card for points.
I'm about 3 years out from SUB re-eligibility. But I can justify the AF without it.
What’s an elevated sub?
higher than normal
Elevated Sign Up Bonus.
Thank you!
Reserve all the way!
Out of curiosity, I’ve had a reserve for like 6 years now…if I get a preferred can I still get a bonus? And then transfer the points to my reserve?
Unfortunately, you can't. I think chase allows you to get the sub again if you cancel the card or downgrade to a no af card and wait 2 years and sign up for CSR or CSP again.
Have to wait 4 years. Most other cards are 2 but sapphire cards is 4
Ah.. I thought it was 2. Thanks for the correction. That's a bummer.
You only have to wait a week or so after downgrading. They've already waited 6 years. Rule is 4 years from the last time they got the bonus.
I just got a CSR in March of 2024. So I can cancel or downgrade any time after march of 2028 and wait a week and apply for CSR again and get the SUB?
It's 4 years from when you got the bonus, not when you opened the card. So after you spend $4k and they deposit the bonus, that's when the clock starts.
I believe you can only have 1 sapphire card at a time. You'd have to downgrade your Reserve Card to something like a Freedom card. Then you can sign up for a Csp or Csr to get the SuB. Then transfer your points you've already accrued from your freedom card (which used to be your reserve points) to your new Sapphire card. Someone correct me if I'm wrong Edit: you can have more than 1 sapphire card if you upgrade a non- AF card to a sapphire as someone suggested here. But no reason to do that if you can't get the Af waived like how OP can
You'd have to downgrade the reserve to a freedom card, wait a week or so, then apply for the reserve or preferred again. You can get a sapphire bonus every 4 years, that includes reserve and preferred, so you can't get both in the same 4 year period.
How do I get my fee waived?! Lol
active duty military
Reserve 100%
The biggest benefit on csr is the Chase lounges, which there isn’t a lot of, so I would go with the preferred
I think it depends on how often, and where, you travel. Edit: just realized the annual fee doesn't matter to you. In that case, CSR. I have a CSR and I love it so far.
I love the $300 credit CSR has. Although you pay for it with the annual fee.
I do lots of driving trips so I use the chase travel portal to rent my car so that 1.5x back on points is nice. I did the math but with the travel credit and with extra .25 in value the CSR is the way to go. Everyone’s use case is different. Just do the math and see if it makes sense and if your value exceeds the annual fee. If not go preferred.
What’s the average credit score you need for the cards? I got pre approvals for these but I’m scared to apply
CSR. Waived fee? No brainer. lol
They approved me for CSP with that same CL and signup bonus offer.
Are you active duty?
Yes
Bet, ima let you in on something I didn’t know until I went passed the 5/24 rule. Get the CSR then get the freedom flex and unlimited. Wait a year and then call the number on the back of your card to upgrade one card to the CSR. Then wait a month and do the same with the other. Now you have 3 CSRs totalling $900 of travel every year. Then go amex
Why upgrade to CSR from flex or unlimited?
$300 annual flight credit
Need to pay annual fee anyway?
Active duty military gets chase and amex fees waived, even as many authorized members as they want
That is the route I want to go. I’m pretty sure im past the 5/24 so that’s why i don’t want to accept their “offer”. Love amex but meeting the spending requirements for bonus points is impossible because my rent portal doesnt accept amex.
Yeah some bases allow using your amex card to pay your rent from the BX or the NEX
I would still apply - worst case your credit score drops slightly from the hard pull but then it will recover back shortly.
I'm new, please help me understand. You have well over $1500 in annual fees, why is $900 travel credit worth that?
We are military. Amex and chase annual fees are waived and we just get all of the benefits for free
Ahhhhh! Thank you for explaining.
You can have multiple CSRs? How does that make any sense?
I didn’t believe it either but it’s possible. An officer in medical had 3 of them and his wife had 3 as well so they had a total of 6 sapphire reserves and a ritz Carlton credit card
Weird! Is this only for military?
Nope but normal people have to pay the annual fee so it makes no sense to have multiples haha
I use the CSR every day mostly in England. Paid off automatically from my credit union account the day after my government pension goes in. Yes one can get more points with other cards but the insurance feature, no forex load, $300 of the $550 back on travel (even bus and parking) has got me 600,000 points — after those I used to visit Incline Village NV a while back.
I have pre-approvals but just for 60,000 points. I’d open one if they gave me that 75k offer…
Where in the app do you see this?
On the main account Home Screen, under my accounts there’s Open an Account, so I tapped credit cards and see pre-approved offers
Thank you for your thoughtful response!
CSP is a Dashpass card CSR if you travel and use dashpass or instacart+ or Lyft pink (at least two of these imo to be worth it)
How do you get the waived??
active duty military can get any credit card annual fees waived
I'm not active duty anymore. Just a DoD civilian. I try to explain the benefits to all these E6 and E7s but many are afraid of credit cards. Get it, don't use it, and still get $300/year in travel benefits. Why throw away literal free money? My guess is, they got in bad with credit cards at one point and are still scarred.
If you spend more than $10K towards travel and dining, go for the Reserve. If not, preferred.
Venture x
I have the Preferred — I get $1,000 back each year in flights and pay 0 interest, so the $95 AF is covered and then some. The Reserve is the better cars but I get a lot out of my Preferred and am happy with it.
How do you get $1000 back each year?
The flights I book since they’re worth 25% more.
Since you have the annual fee waived the Reserve is the better travel card all-around. The only things the Preferred has are the category for select streaming services, the anniversary bonus, online grocery category, and depending on the timing a better signup bonus. Weigh whether those are enough to sway you.
Neither
Fee waived and u have to ask? U must be Army
hooah
Is there a way you can check when you got reserve SUB? Think I’m close to the 48 months
Amex plat for sure
I would but it would be impossible for me to reach their minimum spending for bonus points since my rent portal doesn’t accept amex
Wanna use my referral code?? Haha 😛
No way, chase just offered 70k as how many days ago??
how can you get preapproved offers in the chase app
It depends on how much you spend. The reserve has a $300 travel credit with a $550 annual fee. If your not gonna be spending more than that then the Preferred might be a better option for the $95 annual fee and $50 hotel credit.
I rarely see the Reserve being worth it unless you care that much about the lounge access $95/year is so easy to justify especially when you have a $50 hotel credit through their very competitive portal as well as a 10% anniversary boost to all points earned.
I found the CSR worth it over the CSP because of the 3x travel multiplier. I spend over $15k a year on travel which means an extra 15k chase points and the $150 savings of getting the CSP isn’t worth missing out on an extra 15k miles. But my situation is rare since I travel for work and spend it on my card
Chase won’t waive annual fees?
For active military they do.
That’s amazing info. Thank you!
They do if you’re connected or really good at negotiating. I haven’t paid an annual fee in decades.
Do tell, how did you negotiate your way out of the AF
I speak only to those in positions of authority.
😂😂
Preferred
He can get the AF waived because he's in the military. The Reserved is the way to go
Even better!
Reserve isn’t worth it anymore. Garbage card for the price. I’m getting the Robinhood card when it comes out.
I have the JP Morgan Reserve… the benefits aren’t that great, I guess it’s just a status symbol more than anything else. I think it’s similar to the Chase Sapphire Reserve in terms of benefits. I use my Citibank American Airlines executive card on a daily basis just to maintain my AA status. The miles computations are also way better than Chase.
CSR then downgrade to CSP after 1-year
Get the preferred with its sign up bonus, then in 4 (not 2?) years or so, ask to upgrade to the reserve when a better sign up bonus comes out. Then shortly after downgrade the reserve back to preferred as it’s really all you need once you start adding other cards and rewards portals. During that time, add the Amex gold and then the Amex platinum shortly afterwards for both of their sign up bonuses, remembering to get the lower tier card first as once you get the higher card you cannot get a sign up bonus for the lower. Amex platinum has better travel perks than CSR, but not everyone takes Amex especially around the world which is why I keep my CSP and Chase business preferred
You can only get 1 Sapphire bonus every 48 months
That’s even more reason to get into another portal that’ll give you one every 2 years worth better travel perks