Chase Sapphire Reserve 70,000 Ultimate Rewards Offer
Chase refreshed the Chase Sapphire Reserve offer yesterday in the public and affiliate channels. The offer was bumped from 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points, where it has been for a while, to 60,000 points. But, there is an offer even better than that. Doctor of Credit reports that there is a Chase Sapphire Reserve 70,000 Ultimate Rewards offer out there. Even with that underreported offer floating around is it enough to make it worth grabbing? Let’s dive in!
Sapphire Reserve 70K Offer
This increased offer has been around for several months now, first reported on Reddit. The offer is as follows:
- Earn 70,000 Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of card membership.
- The $550 annual fee is NOT waived.
Link To Direct Non Affiliate Offer
It should be noted there is an increased risk using this link since it isn’t the “public” offer. I haven’t heard of anything happening since it came out 6 months ago but it should be noted.
CSR Application Rules: Who Is Eligible?
Chase has a one Sapphire card per family rule to coincide with their difficult 5/24 rule. Here are the details on the bonus restrictions for the Chase Sapphire Reserve (application rules for all banks):
- This product is available to you if you do not currently have any Sapphire card.
- This product is available to you if you have not received a new cardmember bonus for any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.
- If you have been approved for 5, or more, new lines of credit in the last 24 months then you will be automatically denied for this card. This includes new credit cards from any bank, as well as, personal loans etc. Here is a list of cards that do not count towards Chase 5/24.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Earning Structure
The CSR has the following earning structure:
- 10X on Chase dining, hotel and car rental purchases through Chase Travel
- 5X on airline travel booked through Chase Travel
- 3X points on travel and dining at restaurants
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
CSR Card Perks
Here are the main card perks for the Sapphire Reserve:
- Redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points in the Chase portal at 1.5 cents a piece versus 1.25 cents for other Chase premium cards.
- For a limited time (until March, 31, 2022), cardmembers can also redeem points at 1.5 cents each using Pay Yourself Back in these categories: Airbnb, Away and dining purchases.
- $300 annual travel credit that works on anything travel related, including flights.
- No foreign transaction fees.
- Priority Pass Lounge membership
- The membership comes with the best guesting policy for PP lounges out there. Two accompanying guests in your travel party get in with the cardholder.
- Global Entry of PSA Precheck reimbursement
- Receive a statement credit of up to $100 every 4 years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to your card.
For a full breakdown of the card’s perks you can read our review here.
Is It Worth Grabbing The Sapphire Reserve At 70,000 Points?
The 70K offer is better than the public 60K offer, and way better than the old 50K offer for sure. But, is that enough to move the needle here? In all honesty the Chase Sapphire Reserve card has become kind of stale. What once was the best thing since sliced bread is now middle of the pack in terms of luxury credit cards. That may be by design since Chase was losing money hand over fist with this card when it launched.
Not only that, the card’s little brother, the Chase Sapphire Preferred, is the better option for most people. It comes with a lower annual fee, better long term value and usually a higher welcome offer.
What once was a slam dunk decision, Sapphire Preferred over the Sapphire Reserve, has become less clear. The CSP offer just dropped to 60,000 points, which matches the publicly increased CSR offer. That is the same set up Capital One has now with the Venture and Venture X both offering 75,000 points.
However, with this increased offer link the Sapphire Reserve has the better offer for the first time in a long time. That 10,000 points does make quite a difference if you were deciding between the two cards.
The annual fee discrepancy between the two cards, $550 vs $95, is noticeable. When you account for the $300 travel credit the CSR card has it becomes a bit closer though, $250 to $95. Then when you throw in the 10,000 additional Ultimate Rewards points with this better Reserve offer that makes them practically even (assuming a 1.5 cents per point valuation). After adding all of it up it is $100 for the CSR vs $95 for the CSP.
If we stop here the Sapphire Reserve is the better option, for most, since you would get all of the perks, lounge access and better travel insurance for essentially the same out of pocket cost of Chase Sapphire Preferred.
But, Should You Wait?
Having said all of that, should you instead sit on your hands for a bit? It is likely that the Sapphire Preferred offer will get back to 80K at some point in the near future. Especially with Citi just increasing the CSP’s main competitor, the Premier, to 80,000 points.
At that point the decision swings favorably the other way. You would get an additional 10,000 points with the Sapphire Preferred card, worth around $150, and the annual fee gap would be $155 between the two cards ($550 – $300 vs $95). Are the Sapphire Reserve’s perks and extra point per dollar for travel spend worth $305? Probably not for many.
So if you are not in a rush to grab one these two waiting for the Sapphire Preferred card’s offer to jump back up may be the best play.
Final Thoughts
If you have been eyeing the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for a bit then this 70,000 point offer is about as good as it gets. I doubt it goes higher than that any time soon and it is better than the affiliate offer of 60,000 points.
If you are not in a rush, and don’t care which Sapphire product you grab, I would wait a bit myself. When the Sapphire Preferred offer jumps up to 80,000 points it is one of the best offers out there and superior to this 70,000 point Sapphire Reserve offer in my opinion.
The way you lean depends on your application schedule and needs though. If you are ready to move past Chase 5/24 and a Sapphire product is the last domino to fall then go for this offer. If you are hovering around it and can wait 3-6 months or so, then I would wait and see how it plays out.
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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
