So the CSR is upping its annual fee to $795 and giving some new benefits. My wife and I both currently have one, but I'm deciding if we ought to get rid of hers. I'm not sure if there is any added benefit to having a 2nd authorized user ($195/year). We can't entirely get rid of hers since she's currently got about 300k chase points.

Details: https://thepointsguy.com/news/chase-sapphire-reserve-refresh-2025/

Value that we get out of it:

• $300 travel credit
• $125 Apple TV credit (new)
• $300 Stubhub (new) - I buy tickets for games semi often. $150 every 6 months would get used
• $120 Peloton (new)

The increase for flights and hotels to 4x from 3x is nice, but losing the rental cars and other "travel" categories from 3x to 1x sucks.

I think what's confusing for existing cardholders is do these all start now or in October

I am going to move mine down, none of the new perks really move the needle for me. Guess I will have to find a new card.

dagsa03 said:

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I think what's confusing for existing cardholders is do these all start now or in October

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I believe that for existing cardholders the perks begin in October. Next renewal for annual fee after October will be when you get hit with the $795.

Yikes.

I think I will be canceling mine.

What do I do with my points? I'm still new to this points game.

I am about to burn some of mine on 2 weeks in Koh Samui and a week in Koh Phangang, Thailand. I have 2.75 million points so we gonna let it rain baby. Lol.

Hoyt Ag said:

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I am about to burn some of mine on 2 weeks in Koh Samui and a week in Koh Phangang, Thailand. I have 2.75 million points so we gonna let it rain baby. Lol.

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lol. I would like to save mine somehow. Not really ready to burn them yet.

Downgrade to a Sapphire Preferred if you want to keep the ability to transfer them to partners.
Downgrade to a Freedom Unlimited/Freedom Flex if you want to keep them alive, but just know you lose the ability to transfer without a Sapphire. They can be redeemed for 1 cent each if you just have a freedom.

SupermachJM said:

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Downgrade to a Sapphire Preferred if you want to keep the ability to transfer them to partners.
Downgrade to a Freedom Unlimited/Freedom Flex if you want to keep them alive, but just know you lose the ability to transfer without a Sapphire. They can be redeemed for 1 cent each if you just have a freedom.

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Great thanks!!

If they hadn't dropped some of the perks I liked , I would still keep them. Now just have to decide.

JMac03 said:

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SupermachJM said:

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Downgrade to a Sapphire Preferred if you want to keep the ability to transfer them to partners.
Downgrade to a Freedom Unlimited/Freedom Flex if you want to keep them alive, but just know you lose the ability to transfer without a Sapphire. They can be redeemed for 1 cent each if you just have a freedom.

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Great thanks!!

If they hadn't dropped some of the perks I liked , I would still keep them. Now just have to decide.

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If you're new to the game and not rotating through a dozen cards, this is a great suggestion. The Sapphire Preferred is a really good card for earning points. Get a Freedom Unlimited or Freedom Flex to round out points earnings in additional categories. They both have no annual fee and you still wont have to worry about a bunch of different cards or annual fees.

There's a facebook group for Sapphire holders and this was posted as a summary of changes:

Annual fee jumps from $550 $795
Authorized user fee rises from $75 $195

Earnings Rates
8 UR points on all purchases through Chase Travel portal (flights, hotels, cars, etc.)
4 UR points on flights and hotels booked directly (offline)
3 UR on dining (unchanged), 1 on other purchases

Redemption Changes
Base redemption in Chase Travel portal lowered from 1.5/pt 1/pt
Introduces Points Boost: select airfare/hotel bookings can redeem at up to 2/pt
Existing points (earned before Oct 26) can retain the 1.5 rate until Oct 26, 2027

New Statement Credits (~$2,700 total annually)
$300 travel credit (unchanged)
$500 "The Edit" hotel credit (trip minimum)
$300 dining reservations via exclusive tables
$300 in Door Dash credits + Dash Pass
$300 for StubHub/Viagogo tickets
$250 Apple TV+ & Apple Music subscriptions
$120 monthly Peloton credits + 10 on gear
$120 Global Entry/TSA Precheck fee credit (every 4 years)

For $75,000+ annual spend, you'll also earn:
IHG Diamond status
Southwest A-List and a $500 flight credit
$250 at Shops at Chase shop portal

I can't imagine theres many people who spend $75,000 annually who want IGH Diamond Status.

Right. And Southwest does nothing for me.

The Milkman said:

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I can't imagine theres many people who spend $75,000 annually who want IGH Diamond Status.

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And if they wanted IHG Diamond badly enough to spend, $40,000 on the IHG Premier card (with its $99 AF), would get at a minimum, 120k points, plus 10k bonus points, plus a $100 credit (more than offsetting your annual fee).

Burn and churn, baby! Points get less valuable every day, so the quicker you spend them, the better.

Captain Winky said:

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Burn and churn, baby! Points get less valuable every day, so the quicker you spend them, the better.

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How do you churn without crushing your credit score?

My credit score is 850 and has only increased since churning 10 years ago.

Contrary to popular belief opening new credit cards doesn't really drop your score unless you have no credit history or don't pay your bills. Maybe a temporary ~5 point drop for a month or two after opening a new card but then the score usually actually shoots up due to a higher overall credit line for your person.

Captain Winky said:

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My credit score is 850 and has only increased since churning 10 years ago.

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This. Ive been credit card churning for over 10 years, Ive opened and closed over 50+ cards, and my score is over 800.

So, based on this list I'm actually coming out ahead with the higher fee on a net basis, if we keep this card.

Old system - I'm $250 OOP.

New system - I'm $245 OOP.

That's just counting the travel credit and the Apple TV credits. Addition of latter makes this a better deal for us.

Regardless, need to run numbers on other cards. I haven't researched any other cards in a long time at this point so I'm sure I'm overpaying regardless of above based on what we need and use.