@Citylights18 wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
@Citylights18 wrote:No as they don't have to be mutually exclusive.
1000 points cashed out at 1.5 is 1500 points, 50% increase
Travel costing 1,000 points redemed at 1.5 is 1000/1.5, 666 (a 33% discount).
When you're on the Chase Portal buying travel you're getting discount on the price, not a cash out. Two different situatons. Take a look at the difference in points on the Chase Portal for travel and see if it takes half as many points to redeem through a CSR. It doesn't so its not half off at 1.5. Then if follows further that 3.0x travel is like 4.0 on the Chase Portal because its 33% less points used.
I communicted this to the points guy numerous times already. This is something I've been aware of for a long time.
Well, as I have said it's an inherent fact about percentages, and the difference is just in the view. Again, I have a pool of 100,000 UR. I can use them logging in with my CFU to buy a $1000 airfare. Or, I can login with the CSR and buy a $1,500 airfare. Which appears to be similar to the cashout scenario, and my "buying power" has increased by 50% Your view is "Oh, but you have paid $1000 for a $1,500 fare which is 33% reduction" but that is not the only way to view it.
Think about the RTR. There are two main components to it.
Points (credit card, shopping portal)
Discount (sale, gift card)
RTR then is Points+Discount. I get 3ccp shopping portal, put it on a 3 ccp credit card and then a 10% discount on a gift card that is a 16% total RTR.
If you paid $90 for a $100 gift card its a 10% discount. Nobody says their $90 dollars are worth 1.11 over at the gift card shop though the $90 dollars allowed them to buy $100 dollars with of gift cards. The reverse way of looking at it is that your points are worth 25% or 50% more on the Chase portal. The normal way to look at it is what was the discount on the fare and when you divide a $100 purchase by 1.5 its 33% off.
Those values work because a dollar is worth a dollar. Again, what you are stating assumes that the value of a UR is worth 1 cent and cannot be used to determine the unknown quantity of a value if the value is $0.01. As a more realistic example , if a UR is worth 2 cents when transferred to United, then your numbers would change. A discount amount is not a factor when determining the value of something if the value is unknown and you can only determine a discount amount after a value is known.
The moment of truth is nearly upon us. Maybe.
There are rumors among Reddit (and saw someone mention it in this forum as well) that Chase has told at least one person on the phone that Sapphire Reserve is getting updates on 10/5. There was no mention of CSP, but that may just be because nobody asked. There was no indication as to what the updates might be. But it was brought up by the rep on the phone when a customer asked about redeeming points for 1.5% cashback, in lieu of "Pay Yourself Back", to which the csr said something along the lines of "no, but keep an eye out for some updates on 10/5". It may or may not involve increased cashback redemptions, or any number of other things. As we already know, they already extended PYB a few days ago, through the end of the year (for Sapphire cards). They also just added a temporary 20% transfer bonus to SW Rapid Rewards through the end of this month, which I wrote about in another thread.
Just a rumor, at this point... but in 3 days we'll find out if it has any merit.
I'll give free kudos to anyone who guessed something right earlier in this thread 
Total Loan Balance: $43k / $65k
Total SL: $78k