Gotta Catch It!
The much-anticipated Chase Sapphire Reserve card made a brief appearance in the wild today! This card is Chase’s entry into the premium card market to compete with the American Express Platinum and the Citi Prestige cards. Rumors have been swirling about a 100,000 Ultimate Reward Point Bonus and a $300 Annual Travel Credit, among other numerous benefits. The anticipated release date was August 21, 2016, but today we caught a brief window of opportunity and learned some possible lessons in the process.
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Like Pokemon Go players, most people who play the points game want to catch the most legendary credit card offers when they appear. Today, around 2pm EST, a rogue offer link for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card appeared on forums around the internet. This set off a frenzy of activity, with everybody trying to snag the legendary offer before it disappeared.
5/24 Rule?
Of particular importance here, is the Chase 5/24 rule. Most people speculate that this card will be under the 5/24 rule, which states that you will be systematically denied a new Chase card if you have five new cards in the past 24 months. However, when a card offer is brand new, systems may not yet be in place to enforce the limitation. When the applications went in today, many people who are over 5/24 were approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserved card! Some people reported that their applications went “pending,” but they were approved with a quick call to reconsideration.
100,000 UR Bonus?
People also questioned whether the rumored 100,000 UR point bonus offer would be real. When links first surfaced today, there was no bonus language anywhere to be found. However, after about 20 minutes, the language appeared. I grabbed a screen shot from the landing page. This can be very helpful if you need to request a bonus match. This page clearly shows the 100,000/$4,000 offer terms!
Chase Sapphire Reserve Landing Page
Redeem UR Points for Travel at 1.5 Cents-Per-Point
Another rumored benefit for the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the ability to redeem UR points for 1.5 cents each towards travel. This is an increase from 1.25 CPP with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. In my opinion, this could be a big deal. Flights and travel purchased with UR points, through the Ultimate Rewards website, are treated like revenue fares. This means, it’s just like you paid cash, and you will earn points/miles for the travel! At 1.5 CPP, it may be more cost-effective to book through the UR website, instead of transferring to partner airlines.
Conclusion
Today’s action, while short lived, provides a hopeful set of data points for those over the 5/24 limit. Additionally, the landing page from the offer clearly shows the 100,000 UR point bonus and the enhanced redemption rate. If you missed the offer today, stay tuned for the official release on August 21st. And who knows, maybe you will see another CSR roaming around in the wild! Cheers!
