
Sign up & start saving!
Get our weekly newsletter for the latest in money news, credit card offers + more ways to save
finder.com’s rating: 4.6 / 5
★★★★★
50,000
Points as welcome offer
Up to 10x
Points
$550
Annual fee
16.99% to 23.99%
Purchase APR (variable)
Annual fee | $550 |
---|---|
Welcome Offer | 50,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months |
Rewards | 10x points on Lyft rides, 3x points on dining and travel after earning your $300 travel credit and 1x points on all other purchases |
Purchase APR | 16.99% to 23.99% variable |
Balance transfer APR | 16.99% to 23.99% variable |
Recommended minimum credit score | 740 |
Issuer | Visa |
Review by
Steven Dashiell is a credit cards writer at Finder. He's worked on 250 Finder articles and counting, helping readers embrace and maximize credit cards. Backed by nearly a decade of research and reporting experience, Steve's work can be seen on Debt.com, CreditCards.com and Lifehacker.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is the premier travel rewards offering under the Ultimate Rewards banner. It comes with a 50,000-point welcome offer, 3x points on travel and dining, a $300 annual statement credit and $100 toward the application fee for Global Entry or TSA Pre-Check.
Of course, these perks don’t come cheap. You’ll need to pay a $550 annual fee to use this card. But if you’re adept at fully using your card’s given benefits, this is hardly a concern – the $300 statement credit and $100 application fee statement credits nearly pay for the entirety of the annual fee.
Given so many of the card’s benefits are centered around travel, you’re most likely to get the most out of this card if you travel at least a few times a year. But then again, this card is so feature-rich you might just start visiting those bucket list destinations.
Applying for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is simple and straightforward. First, to qualify, you’ll need at least an excellent credit score of 740 or higher. Then, simply follow these steps:
Absolutely. When my partner and I applied for this card, we made sure to do so a few months ahead of a planned cross-country trip.
Once we received the card, we booked our flights using it, instantly taking advantage of the $300 travel credit — a significant portion of our annual fee! Really, even a single trip can help take the bite out of your annual fee if you take advantage of all of the card’s features.
Here’s a look at how the Sapphire Reserve stacks up to other popular travel card options.
Chase Sapphire Reserve®
★★★★★
Rates & feesGo to site |
---|
Minimum credit score 740 |
Annual fee $550 |
Purchase APR 16.99% to 23.99% variable |
Balance transfer APR 16.99% to 23.99% variable |
Rewards 10x points on Lyft rides, 3x points on dining and travel after earning your $300 travel credit and 1x points on all other purchases |
Welcome offer 50,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months |
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
★★★★★
Rates & feesGo to site |
---|
Minimum credit score 670 |
Annual fee $95 |
Purchase APR 15.99% to 22.99% variable |
Balance transfer APR 15.99% to 22.99% variable |
Rewards 5x points on Lyft, 2x points on up to $1,000 on groceries until April 30, 2021, 2x points on travel and dining and 1x points on all other purchases |
Welcome offer 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months, a value of up to $750 through Chase Ultimate Rewards. Plus up to $50 statement credit towards groceries. |
American Express® Gold Card
★★★★★
Rates & feesGo to site |
---|
Minimum credit score 670 |
Annual fee $250 |
Purchase APR See Pay Over Time APR |
Balance transfer APR See Pay Over Time APR |
Rewards 4x at restaurants including delivery and Uber Eats; 4x at US supermarkets on up to $25,000 annually (then 1x points) and 3x points on directly-booked flights |
Welcome offer 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months |
Compare even more credit cards
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a favored card from users across a variety of social media. Many customers tout the generous travel credits and signup bonus as big factors in their happiness with the card, with several users on Reddit recommending frequent travelers upgrading from the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Among social media complaints for the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, some cardholders felt the card wasn’t worth the high annual fee. Others complained about a lack of lounge coverage through the Priority Pass program — a sting felt by yours truly. Finally, a few cardholders felt Chase customer service was lacking when they encountered issues.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve® is a travel rewards workhorse. It offers plenty of ways to earn Ultimate Rewards points on top of its base earning rate. Moreover, it also allows you to redeem earned Chase rewards at a higher rate than average, and even transfer your points to other eligible rewards programs.
The name of the game with making the most of your points is pairing up your Chase rewards cards. By pairing up the Chase Freedom Unlimited with the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you can earn bigger rewards on purchases you wouldn’t earn otherwise earn accelerated rewards on. And from there, you can move the points you earn on the Unlimited over to the Reserve, allowing you to redeem those points for greater value. Check out our Chase Trifecta guide for more information on maxing your rewards.
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® can also prove useful for this technique, providing a steadier 1.5% base cashback rather than rotating categories, in addition to the same accelerated categories as the Chase Freedom Flex℠.
Chase restricts cardholders to only one Sapphire card per person. There are a few things to note about this ruling:
With a terrific signup bonus, a strong earning rate on travel and dining, more than $300 in statement credits and a plethora of travel perks, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is more than worth your time if you’re a frequent traveler. And if you were like me and hardly traveled much beforehand, this card’s benefits might motivate you to go out and see the world. Or at the very least, visit your family once in a while.
If you like the perks mentioned here but don’t quite travel enough to make this card worth it, compare rewards cards to find one that best suits your needs.
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
Our team evaluates credit cards to determine their value against similar cards on the market.
We rank card types — travel, cash back, business — on a set of factors that are most relevant to that type of card. We create these rankings to help you narrow down a credit card that best suits your spending and budget.