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How Chase Sapphire retained customers

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Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#41

Post by jmgao »

purple_ferret wrote: post #33

They retain me with the 1.5x value if points are used for booking flights through their portal. I'm too lazy to run the numbers, but I think I'd lose value on the points I have/will have next year if I downgraded, especially since you can move all your points over from other Chase cards to that account.

You can redeem points at 1.5 cents/point as a statement credit on groceries/dining (including delivery orders). I'm almost done burning my way through 150,000 points to be able to cancel my card.

edit: The keyword to search for is "Pay yourself back"

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#42

Post by driverdan »

xnx wrote: post #36
StavrosK wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Chase will give you $2k (in cash) if you open a premium account and deposit $250k in it.

Just did this. Now waiting 4 months to withdraw and close.

4 months for a 0.8% return isn't very good. Better than CDs but your expected return in the market is higher.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#43

Post by neilv »

babaganoosh89 wrote: post #17

For those of you with 100k in stocks sitting around, I'd recommend the BofA Premium rewards card. You need to transfer 100k in stocks to BofA's brokerage but that'll give you a card which gives 3.5% back on dining/travel and 2.65% on everything else. It saves you way more time than juggling points, and I'm much happier after switching to a one card system.

If you do a lot of Amazon, you might still want to have their 5% card as the default in your Amazon account, for about double the rewards.

The Amazon card rewards redemption is pretty much automatic, so I think the only additional hassle of this particular second card is that there's an additional monhtly bill to make sure gets paid on time.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#44

Post by driverdan »

worker767424 wrote: post #29
x87678r wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm too practical, to me a fancy expensive looking card is just a fraud magnet.

Chase cards are fraud magnets. The bin is well-known, and Chase is short on card numbers, so people have actually brute-forced credit card numbers. Then they validate them by signing up for free trials of services using credit cards.

Brute forcing died a long time ago. There aren't any services left that don't require a CVV.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#45

Post by vmception »

supernova87a wrote: post #19

Here's what I remember: Basically they bribed people with the biggest frequent flier miles offer up to that point in history, lost more money Fedexing cards to customers, got worked by the credit card churning crowd for all the bonuses possible, incentivized people to visit 4 airport lounges per trip and now are struggling to keep customers as travel has fallen off the face of the Earth. So, exactly what you get when…

The churning crowd is all posers, I don't know why it bothers me that much, I think its because if they put that energy onto something actually entrepreneurial that gave them real cash or assets, they could afford to do all the things they brag about subsidizing with points, and still have the points, cards and various status'.

Like, they can still subsidize flights and hotels with points, but actually have some financial freedom.

Maybe its because people with many other hobbies don't pretend they have achieved socioeconomic status. Maybe its because the terms and conditions on points say they aren't assets, debt or anything really. Hard for me to place it, its the people in the churning communities trying to replicate travel bloggers that irk me. Maybe I’m just being classist, I enjoy being around people that can afford the business-class situations they are in, and theyre typically not bragging about it as its just fact of life and a fact of their peer’s life.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#46

Post by 013a »

babaganoosh89 wrote: post #17

For those of you with 100k in stocks sitting around, I'd recommend the BofA Premium rewards card. You need to transfer 100k in stocks to BofA's brokerage but that'll give you a card which gives 3.5% back on dining/travel and 2.65% on everything else. It saves you way more time than juggling points, and I'm much happier after switching to a one card system.

I really haven't seen any card that has better net reward generation than Discover, if you want a "one card for maximum rewards". You can definitely earn more if you juggle cards, but the base discover card is really quite good as a one-card system, and I think would beat any "2%-3% on everything" card.

It does operate on 5% categories each quarter, but those categories tend to be really common and broad, and their systems aren't exactly the best at determining when something shouldn't be in a category. In 2021, their categories are (Grocery Stores, Walgreens, CVS), (Gas Stations, Wholesale Clubs, Streaming Services), (Restaurants, Paypal), and (Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Target.com). That's in addition to 1% on everything else.

Combine that with no annual fee (the BofA Premium Rewards card is $95/year, Sapphire Reserve is $550/year)... its very difficult to beat.

That being said, I'm a bigger fan of the Chase Freedom Unlimited or Flex, as I have everything else with Chase and I prefer keeping total "accounts to log in to" at a minium. The Flex has a rewards system similar to Discover, whereas the Unlimited is more static x% on Dining; they both get pretty close to Discover.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#47

Post by vmception »

x87678r wrote: post #14
neom wrote: post #3

I was living in Manhattan when the fancy Chase Sapphire came out. It was genuinely shocking to me how many people I knew switched to Chase just to get the new card design. To be fair, it did look and feel exponentially better than any other cards around at the time.

I'm too practical, to me a fancy expensive looking card is just a fraud magnet.

that's not a valid concern as far as real life ux goes. the card issuer deals with any fraud.

these cards aren't uncommon, at least in high cost of living places because which are all dense cities.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#48

Post by xnx »

driverdan wrote: post #42
xnx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just did this. Now waiting 4 months to withdraw and close.

4 months for a 0.8% return isn't very good. Better than CDs but your expected return in the market is higher.

Yep. This was money I had in a Vio Bank savings account where the rates have gone from "very small" to "almost nothing".

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#49

Post by clintonb »

driverdan wrote: post #42
xnx wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just did this. Now waiting 4 months to withdraw and close.

4 months for a 0.8% return isn't very good. Better than CDs but your expected return in the market is higher.

If the cash shouldn’t be in the market, say an emergency fund, the return is worth the effort.

Re: How Chase Sapphire retained customers

#50

Post by vmception »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #7
kube-system wrote: post #4

I really don't see why people find it worth it to spend $550/year to get the Reserve. Sure, you get a lot of benefits, but I don't really see how they add up to $550 more in benefits over cards with $0 fee. If I want to buy $550 of airline points, I can do that without this card.

With $300 in travel refund it’s more like $250. It is worth $250 over other cards? It definitely was for me pre-2019. The points add up fast if you travel for work. It’s no longer a “great” card. But there isn’t a good competitor.

I still keep the Amex Platinum

The main issue with the Platinum is that it doesn't accrue points as fast as it doesn't have spending categories and it doesn't have as many transfer partners. There are ways to get a bunch of points though, its just different.

The varying perks are worthwhile and rotate a lot. Love the statement credits, $200 Uber credits and other things.

I think its worth it

Amex also only does soft-pulls, which to me is more valuable than any hard pull

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