Chase Sapphire Reserve Review

The Reserve is a lucrative travel rewards card for frequent travelers who dine out often and have the stamina to find the best value when they redeem their points.

We used Chase’s own numbers to understand who is best served by this card. In the bank’s 2017 Investor Guide presentation (PDF), it found that early users of the card had a FICO credit score around 785, with an annual household income of $180,000 and about $800,000 in investable assets.

Don’t fret if that profile doesn’t exactly fit you. Early adopters were likely to skew higher in those metrics, as the bank sought customers who would not only use the card consistently but might also take on other Chase products (such as a mortgage).

You’ll have to pay, in both time and money, to benefit from the Reserve, and some of the benefits are eroding in value.

A high annual fee

You’re subject to a $450 annual fee as soon as you’re approved for the card. According to Experian, more than half of Americans want a credit card with no annual fee; if that sounds like you, check out our no-annual-fee pick. The annual fee isn’t a deterrent for many Reserve fans—cardholders we talked to recouped $300 through travel credits within a few months, effectively reducing the annual fee to $150.

A low rewards rate for non-travel and non-dining spending—unless you have another Chase card.

You don’t receive great rewards value for any non-travel or non-dining spending, which nets one point per $1 spent, or 1.5 points if you redeem the points for travel through Chase Ultimate Rewards.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec rutrum rutrum tortor, a pharetra magna. Donec vehicula nunc est, eu ornare eros dapibus in. Donec a tellus et quam luctus luctus ac et lacus. Fusce ac ante dolor. Aenean in purus ac mauris tincidunt condimentum nec ut tortor. Phasellus sed odio aliquam, commodo sem a, ornare turpis. Sed sed auctor mauris, sed commodo sapien. Phasellus sagittis elementum tortor ut posuere. Curabitur lacus felis, imperdiet sit amet mollis non, dictum aliquam nisl. Ut mattis tortor mauris. Vestibulum nulla augue, semper sed dui sagittis, commodo tincidunt ligula. In efficitur felis et dui ultrices aliquet. Nunc in ligula tristique, venenatis elit quis, efficitur libero. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus.

Etiam viverra lorem at sagittis ornare. Aenean a elementum metus. Proin at pharetra nisl. Phasellus nec tincidunt tortor. Aliquam erat volutpat.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Donec rutrum rutrum tortor, a pharetra magna. Donec vehicula nunc est, eu ornare eros dapibus in. Donec a tellus et quam luctus luctus ac et lacus. Fusce ac ante dolor. Aenean in purus ac mauris tincidunt condimentum nec ut tortor. Phasellus sed odio aliquam, commodo sem a, ornare turpis. Sed sed auctor mauris, sed commodo sapien. Phasellus sagittis elementum tortor ut posuere. Curabitur lacus felis, imperdiet sit amet mollis non, dictum aliquam nisl. Ut mattis tortor mauris. Vestibulum nulla augue, semper sed dui sagittis, commodo tincidunt ligula. In efficitur felis et dui ultrices aliquet. Nunc in ligula tristique, venenatis elit quis, efficitur libero. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus.

Etiam viverra lorem at sagittis ornare. Aenean a elementum metus. Proin at pharetra nisl. Phasellus nec tincidunt tortor. Aliquam erat volutpat.