There is a rumor circulating on Chase that as part of the Chase Sapphire Reserve changes Chase will be removing the ability to redeem points for 1.5¢ per point via the Chase travel portal. Points earned before the cut off date will be eligible to be redeemed until sometime in 2027. I haven’t been able to confirm these changes with any of my own sources with Chase so it’s unclear how reliable this information is.
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This is almost certainly true. There's no way they're going to be able to give a $500 "The Edit" credit and a $300 dining credit through their reservation system with a $795 AF and still give 1.5cpp redemptions through their travel portal. No way.
They've basically come up with a whole new card but kept the name the same.
*vomit*
Well, as long as they keep the $300 travel credit...
*sharts*
This is pretty surprising as it would make the card…*checks notes* worthless. Amex points generally have the same or higher value for redemptions/partners and have a 35% rebate vs the CSR effective 33.3% discount. I would pay no more than a $95 AF, just like any other mid tier card like the Strata or CSP
Considering switching to the BofA stack now, the coupon book-ification of premium cards in general is getting quite tiresome.
By "BofA stack" are you just referring to getting Preferred status? If not, what are you referring to?
Right, just getting Platinum Honors and a Premium Rewards / PR Elite card with a CCR for the quarterly categories. Compared to Chase or Amex it's really boring, but there's consistent value. Just have to decide if it's worth giving up Schwab customer service for my IRA in favor of Merrill for better credit card rewards.
So much of the time, the "1.5x" benefit isn't 1.5x. Maybe 1.2-1.4x, such as Priceline's "VIP" rates, Expedia's enhanced tiers.
Dropping the "1.5x" benefit might be the nail in the coffin for me. So many other cards offer enhanced earning rates on travel.
I use it on cheap cruises. Some offers and pricing as elsewhere. Amazing benefit. I'm likely out if this is gone.
still better than most miles and rewards
The high AF travel cards in a race to see who can make the most expensive, useless coupon book card makes me glad I mostly optimized for cashback. They just need to one-up Amex with a $10 Krispy Kreme monthly credit.
"Points earned before the cut off date will be eligible to be redeemed until sometime in 2027". This is a very important and vague statement. What about points that were earned a while ago on other Chase cards, but we only combine them and move them to the CSR after the cutoff date- will those be considered old or new points? Might make sense to move over all of your points to a CSR now just in case.
That's what I've been doing all along. I see no reason to leave them elsewhere. They've made it more difficult to transfer points, now requiring a code for every transfer. Guys, if I've just shown you that I'm me for my transfer from card A, why do I have to do it again when I transfer from card B two minutes later?
Because a product manager didn't find the improved user experience worthy enough to prioritize in a feature like that.
Maybe they'll replace it with a $5 Chipotle coupon for each booking so they can announce it as an "Exiting New Benefit!"
My biggest concern is this gives US Bank the idea to kill 1.5cpp redemptions on the USBAR.
I think it's more likely US Bank just kills the card if that's their concern. If they have to start putting a lot of effort into tinkering with benefits when it's no longer available it would seem to be more cost effective to discontinue it entirely.
I hope they don't - I love my USB AR.
Don’t speak that out loud.
IF they do that the portal is absolutely 100% dead. There would be 0 point to it except for the times when the flight costs line up with booking them directly (so that way you come out ahead in points).
Even Amex gives you this via the 35% reimbursement on points with their Biz Plat.
I'm going to dump all my points to transfer partners or straight cash-out. This bank quite literally is about to pull either the most profitable move any creditor has ever made or the worst one ever made.
Not even Wells Fargo or US Bank can reach these levels of idiocy. Chase bought Expedia and shoved their travel portal as the greatest thing ever and now they're ready to kill it completely. The RC card is going to be the way to go for those who want Chase lounges and to maintain a Chase footprint but honestly there's going to be 0 point to using UR points for travel unless you're doing transfers to miles.
I think I'll keep my Amex Plat, downgrade this card (if they destroy the 1.5 redemption), and get the new Alaska card.
"There would be 0 point to it except for the times when the flight costs line up with booking them directly (so that way you come out ahead in points)."
I've yet to book a flight where the booking directly or Chase portal are different. Always double checked against the airlines and travel portals.
I've seen some. YMMV.
I live in a major hub serviced by all airlines. I've seen some flight costs match up and some do not. They're usually not more than $20 or $30.
Of course, there will be exceptions, I just haven’t experienced them yet. I also live near a major hub but confined most of my travel to UAL or Alaska.