People sure love spending money on their credit cards! What’s more, the average person probably has at least two credit cards tucked in safely inside their wallet. While it can be an amazing experience not having to take out cash to pay for something, credit cards must be used responsibly!
By now, you’ve surely heard about the war between the Amex Platinum Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve. Now, we don’t mean war in the literal sense. It’s just that a lot of people have been comparing these two babies and they have a hard time deciding which option to go for. You may check out this page https://thepointsguy.com/guide/chase-sapphire-preferred-vs-chase-sapphire-reserve/.
If you’re in the same pickle, don’t worry because we’re going to point out the main differences between the two so you can make an informed decision. Sounds great, right? It’s not about choosing just any card. You should choose the one that fits your spending habits and lifestyle the best!
So, are you ready to have some fun?
Welcome offer
Bonuses change all the time, so you need to pay attention to the current offers and the required spending. To make the most of a bonus, you should check the latest deals and minimum spending requirements. The immediate benefit from both is substantial.
Chase Sapphire Reserve points can be redeemed for 1.5 cents each through Chase Ultimate Rewards, so keep that in mind if you plan on using your points for a trip. When transferred to a travel partner, American Express points can also be extremely valuable.
Annual fee
The topic of Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Amex Gold has been brewing online for quite some time now and it’s only logical you’d want to know more about it, especially about their annual fees.
You should know that the Amex is $145 more expensive each year due to its higher annual charge of $695 compared to the lower annual fee of $550.
For those who regularly charge more than $500 to their premium travel credit card, the annual fee of $145 might not seem like much of a big deal. However, if you’re looking at value, you’ll need to squeeze more money out of the American Express card.
Travel bonus reward rate
We also want you to know that using points to pay for airfare, lodging, and other trip expenses is a major perk of premium travel credit cards.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve earns a perfect score in this category. One important difference between the two cards is that in order to receive bonus benefits, you must book your trip using the issuer’s online travel site.
Oh, and when it comes to booking travel on the issuer’s website, the Chase Sapphire Reserve comes out on top in terms of benefits.
Because “travel” is pretty much broadly defined, the fact that you get three points for every dollar spent on anything else is also noteworthy. That includes things like taxi rides, parking fees, and tolls paid within the city limits as well as travel to and from the airport. Check out this page for more.
Restaurant rewards
Many credit card users argue that the Chase Sapphire Reserve is the best credit card if you don’t plan on traveling often, because you can earn three times as many points on dining out as you would with any other bonus category.
When you use Chase Ultimate Rewards to make prepaid restaurant reservations, takeaway orders, or participate in virtual cooking activities, you’ll get 10 points every dollar spent.
On the other hand, you should know that the Amex doesn’t offer any dining bonuses.
Redemption value
We’re not done yet folks! When comparing the rewards rates of these cards, it’s important to note that points are not created equal.
Chase Sapphire Reserve points can be redeemed for travel at a rate of 1.5 cents per point, which is pretty much what you might expect from a premium travel card.
Therefore, you can think of the bonus reward rates for travel booked through the Chase booking site as being 50% higher. Points earned at a rate of 10x when used to pay for travel booked through Chase Travel, such as a hotel stay or car rental, are worth 15x when redeemed for even more travel. You can get 4.5 times as much use out of the 3x multiplier in eateries.
The Amex points are worth 1 cent each in most cases (though you can transfer them to partners for potentially greater value with both cards).
Note that the value of your Membership Rewards points drops to 0.07 cents each when redeemed for hotel stays booked through American Express Travel. Compared to Chase, where you may get 1.5 cents, this is less than half as valuable.
