Credit Card News
Chase Announces Revamped Rewards for Sapphire Cards
Following a big update to the American Express Platinum card last month and with Chase recently refreshing its Freedom card line-up, the latter company is now turning to its Sapphire brand for a revamp. This week, Chase announced new benefits for the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards, which will go into effect on August 16th. Notably, neither of the revamps will have an impact on the annual charges by either option, meaning that the Sapphire Preferred will still carry a $95 annual fee while the Sapphire Reserve carries an annual fee of $550.
Previously, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card earned 2 points per dollar spent on dining and travel purchases. Now, the dining category (which includes eligible delivery services, takeout, and dining out) will be increased to 3x. As for travel, a new category will allow cardholders to earn 5x points on all travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal while the 2x multiplier on generic travel purchases remains in place. Elsewhere, Sapphire Preferred customers will now also earn 3x points on select streaming service purchases and 3x points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs). These points will continue to earn a 25% bonus when redeemed for travel on the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal or when using the Pay Yourself Back program.
Other new perks coming to the Sapphire Preferred to include a $50 Annual Credit triggered by hotel stays purchased through Ultimate Rewards. This benefit will be available to all new cardholders immediately while existing cardholders will earn it after their next card anniversary. Speaking of anniversaries, cardmembers will also now receive a 10% Anniversary Point Bonus, which will be based on their annual spending. For example, if a cardholder spent $10,000 on the card during the year, they’d earn a bonus of 1,000 points. Finally, the Sapphire Preferred will get a card design update, which will roll out in tandem with the new benefits.
Turning to the ever-popular Chase Sapphire Reserve, cardholders will be able to enjoy all of the current benefits, including the $300 a year travel credit, 3x points earned on dining and travel purchases, a 50% bonus on points redeemed for travel using the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal or Pay Yourself Back program, and more. However, the card will also add three new category multipliers. Now, cardholders will earn 10x points on Chase Dining purchases, 10x points on hotel stays and car rentals purchased through the Ultimate Rewards portal, and 5x points on air travel booked through Ultimate Rewards.
As these revamped Sapphire card rollout, both options are continuing to offer attractive welcome bonuses as well. New Sapphire Preferred cardholders can currently earn 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points when they spend $4,000 in purchases on their card in their first three months. Sapphire Reserve applicants can earn 60,000 points when they spend $4,000 on purchases in their first three months. As a reminder, Chase only allows customers to hold one Sapphire card at a time.
Overall, these revamps are good news for Sapphire customers — especially since neither annual fee has increased. This stands in contrast to the American Express Platinum update, which upped the fee to $695 while adding a slew of new credits. In any case, between the new perks and the impressive welcome bonuses currently being offered, now could be a great time to apply for either the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
