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The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

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Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#41
post #32
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of shallow, hasty dismissal of someone else's work is just the kind of comment we're hoping to convince people to pause before posting here—and then not post. Would you please not do this in the future? It's easy to convert this kind of bad comment into a good one: instead of acting like you know someone's work better than they do, post your points as respectful questions. The odds are that a hasty internet…

These sort of cards have been around for years, specifically AMEX has been offering these deals for a long time, with lots of points and free flights every year. I can't see what is different about this card, so I think their complaint stands. This looks like a puff piece.

Perhaps you haven't yet read the excellent replies the comment received?

Even when an article is a puff piece, though, that doesn't make damaging this community ok.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#42
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sort of shallow, hasty dismissal of someone else's work is just the kind of comment we're hoping to convince people to pause before posting here—and then not post. Would you please not do this in the future? It's easy to convert this kind of bad comment into a good one: instead of acting like you know someone's work better than they do, post your points as respectful questions. The odds are that a hasty internet…

Comments like this seem reasonable, but are part of how insanely toxic the community on HN is. People don't see it as toxic because they are either used to combative or are ok with insulting dismissivity as long as it isn't pointed towards themselves. It gets tiring however, and that kind of attitude gets you edged out of many companies - rightfully so!

I don't agree that the HN community is 'insanely toxic', and have the sense that exaggerating the problem like that contributes to the problem. Many users who make this complaint also post their own share of examples of it. In other words the problem is partly unconscious. Pointing the finger at other people ("HN") takes us a step further from a solution.

Certainly it is a major concern, one we spend a lot of time on. But every public internet community of any size is at least this bad, no? and there are also many good qualities here. Let's not make the mistake of failing to take care of what we have because of its bad qualities.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#43

There was an interesting story going around the desk December 2016. The head trader was laughing and shaking his head about [1], JP's $200MM write down on the card. He then turned to the younger (millenial-aged) traders to ask if they had it. They all did. Perhaps JP is taking a calculated risk? Perhaps they created a $200 buck giveaway? I don't know much about consumer lending, but it seems like somebody convinced a…

Cross marketing with the data they collect, perhaps.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#44

There was an interesting story going around the desk December 2016. The head trader was laughing and shaking his head about [1], JP's $200MM write down on the card. He then turned to the younger (millenial-aged) traders to ask if they had it. They all did. Perhaps JP is taking a calculated risk? Perhaps they created a $200 buck giveaway? I don't know much about consumer lending, but it seems like somebody convinced a…

I think it's a lot of these things. The other thing not mentioned is "Status". When you hand over that metal card you feel special, sometimes the person receiving the card comments on its weight or its thickness. If not consciously, at least subconsciously this is a card that rewards your pleasure centers when you use it. There's no doubt I use it more than any of my other cards. My guess is they're crushing it on fees and giving ~40% of those earned fees back to the cardholder as benefits.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#45

There was an interesting story going around the desk December 2016. The head trader was laughing and shaking his head about [1], JP's $200MM write down on the card. He then turned to the younger (millenial-aged) traders to ask if they had it. They all did. Perhaps JP is taking a calculated risk? Perhaps they created a $200 buck giveaway? I don't know much about consumer lending, but it seems like somebody convinced a…

I think it's a lot of these things. The other thing not mentioned is "Status". When you hand over that metal card you feel special, sometimes the person receiving the card comments on its weight or its thickness. If not consciously, at least subconsciously this is a card that rewards your pleasure centers when you use it. There's no doubt I use it more than any of my other cards. My guess is they're crushing it on fe…

How often do you get people commenting on the weight of the card and where do you live? I have the Amex platinum and the CSR and honestly I was concerned that they’d draw too much attention.

They haven’t, and I’m happy about that. I suspect it’s because I’m in the bay area and both of those cards are common out here.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#46
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also curious how so.

10,000 points sign up bonus. $300 towards traveling every year^. Basically they pay her/him to have the card. ^Without the ridiculous restrictions that Amex has in its equivalent perk.

I max out my $200 Uber credit and $200 airline credit each year on my Platinum, so I do a bit better there than the Sapphire Reserve would get me.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a lot of these things. The other thing not mentioned is "Status". When you hand over that metal card you feel special, sometimes the person receiving the card comments on its weight or its thickness. If not consciously, at least subconsciously this is a card that rewards your pleasure centers when you use it. There's no doubt I use it more than any of my other cards. My guess is they're crushing it on fe…

How often do you get people commenting on the weight of the card and where do you live? I have the Amex platinum and the CSR and honestly I was concerned that they’d draw too much attention. They haven’t, and I’m happy about that. I suspect it’s because I’m in the bay area and both of those cards are common out here.

I haven't personally heard about the CSR card being commented on, but I've seen people comment on the Uber card. I almost feel like Uber/Barclays stole (or will soon have stolen) Chase's CSR customers.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#48
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so?

Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners. The travel bonus is $300 dollars and incredibly easy to get (uber/toll/planes/whatever all count) making the card effectively 150 dollars a month if you do any sort of travel. Add in free priority pass and it's easily the best restaurant/travel card around. With a few thousand in spend for restaurants/travel, it's trivial to exceed the 150 annu…

> Restaurants/travel are 3x points and transfer easily to airline partners.

Have you actually done the math?

3 points/$1 and each point at an airline is generally worth around 1.5 cents, so it's equivalent to getting maybe 5% cash back at restaurants. Compare this to the Uber card where you get 4% cash back on dining. For the 1% to break even with the $450 annual fee - $150 credit = $300 net, you need to average at least ~$40 on dining/travel on your credit card per day. And then you have to make sure you only use the points for trips that you would have already gone on anyway on cold hard cash, otherwise you're just spending far more money on food/hotel/rides/etc.

I don't know about you but it's an understatement to say that I'm skeptical this comes out to the benefit of the majority of the card's users.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#49

There was an interesting story going around the desk December 2016. The head trader was laughing and shaking his head about [1], JP's $200MM write down on the card. He then turned to the younger (millenial-aged) traders to ask if they had it. They all did. Perhaps JP is taking a calculated risk? Perhaps they created a $200 buck giveaway? I don't know much about consumer lending, but it seems like somebody convinced a…

I think it's a lot of these things. The other thing not mentioned is "Status". When you hand over that metal card you feel special, sometimes the person receiving the card comments on its weight or its thickness. If not consciously, at least subconsciously this is a card that rewards your pleasure centers when you use it. There's no doubt I use it more than any of my other cards. My guess is they're crushing it on fe…

"When you hand over that metal card you feel special"

The CSP is a metal card as well though, and the annual fee is definitely lower.

Re: The Mastermind Behind Chase’s Sapphire Reserve Card Sets Her Sights on Banking

#50

So she’s a marketing genius for selling $2300 of rewards for $450? (100k points at around $0.02 per point [0] plus $300 of travel credit) Also, you had to go on a “listening tour” to discover that wealthy young professionals enjoy traveling and eating at restaurants? [0]: https://thepointsguy.com/2015/03/redeeming-chase-ultimate-re...

I feel like there is a customer acquisition bubble, where companies pay $1000 to acquire $500 customers and convince investors that they are worth $2000 and use that to get ever more funding which is used for bonuses and acquiring even more customers.

If that's true then the marketing genius isn't selling the card to customers. The marketing genius is selling the card to investors.

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