Chase Sapphire Reserve Pre Approved. Worth it?

Dylan1 · ‎10-28-2022

So got an email today letting me know I've been pre approved for the Sapphire reserve with a 14K starting limit and an 80,000 point offer. So what do we think? Worth it? We try to travel regularly, but realistically we only get to do about two big trips per year. However one of our biggest spend categories is restaurants. My credit file is pretty clean and doesn't have any hard pulls within the last two years. The annual fee is what has me second guessing.

wasCB14 · ‎10-28-2022

Do you have a preferred airline or hotel chain?

Personal spend: Amex Gold, Amex Schwab Plat., BofA PR+CCR(x2), Costco
Business use: Amex Bus. Plat., BBP, Lowes Amex AU, CFU AU
Perks: Delta Plat., United Explorer, IHG49, Hyatt, "Old SPG"
Mostly SD: Freedom Flex, Freedom, Arrival
Upgrade/Downgrade games: ED, BCE
SUB chasing: AA Platinum Select

WasteMgmt · ‎10-28-2022

If you can hit the sub then I think it is worth it for year 1 at least. You get Pre-check/Global entry and the $300 travel credit which basically drops the effective AF down to $150. You can downgrade to a CSP in year two and still have access to the travel partners. Otherwise the VentureX is a great alternative that basically pays for itself. Just depends on which travel partners work better for you. Chase has Hyatt and SouthWest which Cap1 does not.

CapitalOne Venture X, CapitalOne Quicksilver, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Freedom OG, Chase Freedom OG, Amex BCE, Wells Fargo Autograph
Last application 5/2023

Hoben02 · ‎10-29-2022

Here run this tool

http://www.creditcardtuneup.com

Chase (CSP,CF,CFU,southwest premier)
Barclay(jetblue, arrival)
Bofa(US pride, premium, travel, cash, Suzy komen)
Citi(Premier, Double cash, Costco)
Fnbo(Mlife)
Amex(everyday, cash, Hilton)
Blockfi
Caesars rewards
Sofi
Gemini
Cap One Savor One

Lou-natic · ‎10-29-2022

@Hoben02 wrote:
Here run this tool
http://www.creditcardtuneup.com

That site is telling me to apply for a Venure X when that card would just be anohter 2x miles card...what the deuce. That would be a horrible card for me with a huge AF and none of my spending fits the bonus catagories. That website is junk.

8/22/24

3/09/25

Dylan1 · ‎10-29-2022

Not really, tend to do Hilton and Delta. But not for any particular reason.

Lou-natic · ‎10-29-2022

@Dylan1 wrote:
Not really, tend to do Hilton and Delta. But not for any particular reason.

What cards do you have now? I guess I'm not really sure what you are asking other than "should I take this offer" so I assume you want to stay in the Chase ecosystem...if that's that case it seems like a solid offer and you are preapproved so go for it.

If I was in your shoes I'd look at the AMEX gold card but that's just me.

8/22/24

3/09/25

ridgebackpilot · ‎10-29-2022

I've had the Sapphire Reserve card for years. Best travel card in the world. Ultimate Rewards Points are worth a lot and very useful. Frankly, I find my Sapphire Reserve card more useful than my AMEX Platinum card, which is also aimed at frequent travelers. Membership Rewards points just aren't as useful to me as UR points.

If you travel a lot, the card is totally worth it. If you don't travel much for work or leisure, then other cards will probably suit you better.

Anonymous · ‎10-30-2022

Wondering too! Got and email Friday with a preapproval for the Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Maybe adding an AU would help @UncleB?

Citylights18 · ‎10-31-2022

The best time in my opinion to get a CSR is when you are just starting out in the travel game and plan to buy a couple of vacations with it.

Then what you are getting is the SUB + 5x airline + 10x hotel/rental car so if spend the $4,000 requirement on hotel/rental care you're getting another 40,000 points in addition to the SUB. The real advantage is if you are paying for travel then routing thos points over into flights at a future date.

In my situation I just started with a CSP since my scores were like 680 at the time. Back then CSR only had 3x on airline/hotel so to it made more sense to buy travel through 3rd party OTA sites like hotels.com where you get a 10th night free and 2-5% cash back shopping points. Increasing the travel multiplier on the CSR to 10x hotel/rental car I think is designed to compete against OTAs. Only the CSR and Venture X have this multiplier so far to the best of my knowledge.

With CSP and OTAs and then eventually hotel cards where you get such a high earning rate when you spend in their ecosystem (plus brand specific status) it has never made sense to pick up the CSR. I haven't actually bought travel in over two years. Everything has been on point redemptions. If you are not buying the travel then you aren't going to get anything out of a 10x hotel card. Then you aren't getting the travel credit offset against the $550 AF either. Then also you can't have both the CSP and CSR at the same time. No annual $50 dollar hotel credit like you get with a CSP booking, the 3% for only grocery or the 10% anniversary point bonus. CSR does have a monthly $15 instacart credit whereas the CSP only gets it once a quarter. Instacart works best I find if you are just a couple of items short and don't want to make an extra trip to the grocery store. Another way to consume that CSR travel credit is through Ez-Pass if you use a lot of it.

I'm keeping my eye on the Venture X since they have the 10x hotel/rental car/lounge benefit. Its a lower AF with a travel credit. Then you could keep both the CSP and the Venture X at the same time. To the best of my knowledge the Venture X travel partners aren't as good though. Then of course you don't get the discounted point purchases. But I have never bought travel through the Chase travel portal. I've done one point transfer to Southwest. With AMEX I did one to Hilton and with Citi one to Choice. The redemption ability of the CSR from my vantage point is overrated because you get more value with the transfer partners.