Via r/churning, Chase is surveying select customers about a premium relationship product they are considering. It might be called Chase Reserve Banking or Chase Sapphire Banking.
List of benefits:
- 50,000 points signup bonus (Ultimate Rewards, presumably) when depositing $75k for 90 days
- 10,000 points annual bonus when holding a checking account and credit card
- 75,000 points bonus + $500 back when taking out a Chase mortgage
- .50% discount on some home equity and car loans
- 500 free trades
- No ATM fees
- No foreign exchange fees
- Various other benefits and perks
The cost to be part of this Chase relationship? Two options:
- Either hold $75,000 with Chase
- Or pay $25 per month
Sounds like investments will count toward the $75k requirement; hopefully we can figure out how to passive-invest with Chase.
Or you can just pay the $25 monthly fee. Obviously, the first few months is a no-brainer due to the 50,000 points bonus. Beyond that, a case can be made to pay the fee and get 10,000 points bonus (maybe tax-free) with a host of other benefits. It’ll ultimately depend what other value you’re getting out of the premium product. Some of the benefits like no-fee ATM and no foreign transaction fees can be had with other institutions such as Schwab. Free trades can be had if you are part of Bank of America Preferred Rewards (though they don’t offer as many free trades). 
Our Verdict
Overall, it does sounds like it could provide solid value for the right person. Relationship customer might also get better credit card offers, as Private Clients often do. Personally, I’m afraid to bank with Chase, but that’s for another time.
This push to deepen relationships was also evident in their recent investor’s update which emphasized a push toward “deeper engagement with Card customers across CCB.” As evidenced from the potential name ‘Chase Reserve Banking’, CSR customers are their clear target. They’re hoping a lot of CSR customers can become Chase lifers for banking, trading, and loans.
Lots of banks have some sort of relationship banking program which often crosses over to credit cards too, including Bank of America’s Preferred Rewards program and the CitiGold program.
Chase themselves have their Private Client program. My feeling is that this new banking product would be a way of institutionalizing the Private Client since currently that program is a bit enigmatic – other banks make it clearer how to qualify and what the benefits are, and this might be a move from Chase in that direction. They may discontinue Private Client or make it somewhat more elite.
Of course this is all just a survey and I’m sure it won’t turn out exactly this way in the final product. Certainly interesting to see where they are headed.
