The Offer
- Chase has increased the sign up bonus on the Starbucks credit card to 4,500 Starbucks stars after $500 in spend within the first 3 months from account opening. You also get 250 stars (2 free drinks) when using the Starbucks Visa card to load your Starbucks card in the app for the first time.
Card Details
- $49 annual fee is not waived
- Get instant Gold status on the Starbucks loyalty program which typically takes 300 stars ($150 in spend) to reach
- Earn 1 star per $4 spent everywhere outside Starbucks (free item after $500 in spend)
- Earn 1 star per $1 spent on Starbucks purchases only when reloading your Starbucks balance via the app (if you pay directly at Starbucks you’ll earn the regular earn rate of 1/$4). The 1 star per $1 earned on Starbucks app reloads is in addition to the standard 2 stars per dollar earned by Gold members on all purchases. In total, you’ll end up with 3 stars per dollar, but again, the credit card is only adding 1 star extra per dollar.
- 8 Barista Picks: Curated food or beverage Rewards selected by baristas and automatically loaded to the cardmembers Starbucks Rewards account. These are random picks that get sent to you, not something you can choose. This benefit will load to your account 45 days after becoming a cardmember and will reset each cardmember year. Barista picks expire after 30 days.
Our Verdict
This is enough for 36 free food/drinks (38 if you load the app). Previously the bonus was 2,500 stars (enough for 20 drinks, 22 if you load the app). It’s still not worth considering at all due to the fact it looks like this card is subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule. There are also much richer credit card sign up bonuses available as well.
Just received an email from Starbucks, the new offer waives the annual fee for the first year. Seems like they are not satisfied with the sign-up quantity. LMAO
The 5/24 rule did not apply for me. I have opened way more than 5 credit cards in the last 24 months and was approved for the Chase Amazon and Chase Starbucks cards with high credit limits. My credit is in the high 700s.
I don’t remember how many cards I applied for in last 24 months? Do I need to get a credit report to find if it was less than 5 or not?
Hey rollerskater, you can get a free credit report online, from Credit Karma. (creditkarma.com) it’s fast and easy! It’s one way to find out how many credit cards you applied for and the date you applied.
Was this card always 5/24? I remember in the beginning it wasn’t
star-yucks.. no way id give up a 5/24 spot for this card…
Lol at this card being 5/24.
Who is their target audience here? Almost everyone I know who doesn’t know much about churning/maximizing points refuses to pay an annual fee on a credit card. Those of us that do know a lot about it have been laughing at this card since day 1. The only way I see this card even coming close to meeting Chase’s expectations would be to drop the annual fee (and likely the “Barista Picks” as well).
If their target market is someone who purchases Starbucks every morning, like my sister, it would make all the sense. She pays $5-6 for a venti latte every day. With this, she would get nearly $200 worth of coffee for $50. For someone that would consider a Lowes card for 0% interest on a washer/dryer purchase or a Macy’s card to save 20% on shopping, this card would make sense. Chase just hopes to convert Starbucks customers – they don’t hope to win coffee-converts.
TBH, if you’re spending 5 to 6 bucks on coffee each day, 5.50 * 365 = 2k, you’re probably not the most frugal bunch to whom this deal would make much sense. And it’ll last you, what, just 1 month?
As my calculation shows, even CFU might be a better option, as you get $175 there w/ the AU, whereas here you get 38 * 5.5 – 49 = 160, plus the barrista picks.
And just for the anecdotal evidence — did your sister actually get this card?! Or is the AF too high / no credit etc?
Not that I advocate the card but the math is wrong I think since you need to add in the use of the card. Assuming she goes 5 days a week, the intro stars would last 2 months approximately. The other 10 months, she’d be buying so 5.5 * 20 days = $110 * 10 month = $1100. Assuming she reloads her SB card with the credit card, she gets 1 star per $1, plus 2 per $1 spent. That adds up to another 26 free drinks or 26 * 5.5 = $143 on top of the $160 you calculated, plus the barista picks.
That said, for someone who goes to Starbucks that often as Leo’s sister, this card would be perfect. But it should only be used for Starbucks since the 1 star per $4 anywhere else is a joke.
Totally agree. At least they should have had some sort of a way to avoid the annual fee, e.g., a waiver if you go to SB something like 150 times a year — every other day! I bet they’ll get more money that way, TBH!
P.S. I still remember the times when every 10th drink was free or whatever; many other coffee places still have punchout cards to such an effect. How much these stars have been devalued is simply amazing.
If you go to Starbucks often it makes plenty of sense. I know several people who go 4-5 times a week and get $5 drinks each visit.
If you load the app using the card you get 1 Star plus another 2 Stars when paying meaning 3 Stars per dollar spent.
Then 125 Stars gets you a reward which I (and people I’m referencing) value at $5 (and change but let’s just say $5).
To get to 125 Stars that’s $41.67 spent, if you’re getting a return of $5 per $41.67 spent that’s 12% back, which is actually a decent return.
I’m not saying it’s for everyone but for people like my friends, or others regularly buying $5+ items at Starbucks it’s not a bad card to have.
The AF makes no real sense to me I guess it’s to cover their “barista picks” which I’m sure Cardholders and prospective Cardholders would gladly get rid of to give it no AF. Then there’s the other issue of 5/24, why make this a 5/24 Card? I’m suspecting in the next year it won’t be a 5/24 anymore due to it not being a very popular card.
But that’s just my two cents
Annual Fee? LOL
When they remove the annual fee and make it not under 5/24 (so never), I will get the card. Until then, pass.
Ya. The only thing it adds is up to 4% (depends on your redemption choice) at Starbucks and the barista picks. With almost any good dining card you can get or beat the 4%, so that’s nothing, and $59 for 8 barista picks means they need to be worth $7.38 to work out for you. Even without the annual fee we’d be looking at a worthless product.
36 free items instead of 20?!
I like where it’s going, but valuing each item at 2 bucks would already be an overspend for my budget, and, realistically, it’s more like 50 cents each for substitute stuff at the grocery stores if you’re into frugal things, so, I’d value this at like 20 to 50$ bonus max, which is better than my prior valuation of 10$, but is still quite pathetic in the value department, as even a Freedom card would give you more cash-back if you’re not into the luxuries of getting takeout coffee every day.
Also, doc, you forgot to mention that these also had to be used within only a few months last time — is that still the case? Makes it even a worse deal as it’s even likely to expire before you have a need to use it, possibly forcing you to settle for a worse-off redemption.
P.S. I even forgot about AF in above calculations! (Haven’t had my sub items yet!) Which makes this card a loss for my valuation! Hard pass!
I don’t buy drinks with my free rewards, I buy protein boxes and sandwiches. I value each reward at a $5 minuimum. I also live in an area that charges 12% tax at food places so it saves on that as well.
Stars expire after 6 months.
Even if you value it at 5$ plus 12% tax on prepared food, after the 49 AF, it’s still a net of less than $175 (38 * 5 * 1.12 – 49 = 163.80), e.g., less than what you get on Freedom cards w/ an AU. This card really makes no sense, especially as it’s subject to 5/24, and having the AF for such a useless card is simply laughable.
With CF and CFU, you also get referrals, and you can sock-drawer them, or PC the CFU to a CF for the quarterly 5% categories, which are very often trivial to MS at the grocery and drug stores.