OK, I really needed to take a breather before writing this post. I am OH.SO.EXCITED. about this new offer that is available right now; I can barely contain myself! If you are new to the site, you probably haven’t seen some of my FREE TRAVEL posts, like How To Travel To Europe For Free With $100 In Spending Cash (YES, you are going to want to check that one out!). However, this one card is the absolute BEST of any card offers out there. We have been picking up a new credit card every few months in order to take advantage of sign up bonuses that cards offer to incentivize new business. These sign up bonuses are HUGE by themselves, but when you really stack them with other offers you can get amazing free travel/experiences. The KEY to using credit cards for the bonuses is that you MUST be able to pay the bill in full when it arrives. That means that you should only be charging things that you would normally pay out of your checking account or cash (i.e gas, groceries, insurance, cell phone, even Pay Your Mortgage!). If you are paying interest or late charges, that negates the savings. However, if you can do that one little thing, you can get absolutely incredible results. So without further adieu, I will introduce you to the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card.
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card is HIGHLY coveted in travel groups, and for good reason. The card has some really incredible benefits that make it an EXTREMELY desirable card. This card gives you 3% back on travel and dining expenses, elite travel benefits, 50% more points in travel redemption, and a $300 annual travel credit. The card will also give you free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, as well as a free Priority Pass to enter into over 1200 airport lounges worldwide. If you do any amount of traveling, this card is a HUGE deal. Here’s all of your specifics:
- I am going to start with the big one; this card has a $450 annual fee. Stick with me here!! The card costs $450 a year, but was an EASY decision for our family because of what is included; PLUS there is an offer below that will give you $500 back:
- You get a $300 travel credit annually. This will count on everything from plane tickets to Uber rides to subway fares and more. People are even reporting that it works on traffic tickets and meters as well; Chase offers a very wide range of qualifying “travel” expenses. Every year you will get up to $300 reimbursed automatically to your card. This effectively makes the annual fee $150, which is MUCH more manageable.
- You will get a credit for a free Global Entry or TSA Precheck application. This will get you through the lines SUPER quickly. If you are able to qualify for Global Entry I would recommend that one, since TSA Precheck is included, and will also save you time when going through customs.
- This card also includes a Priority Pass in the membership (runs $399 if you were to purchase separately). I did not include this in my decision to get this card, as it is not an expense that I would have splurged for without the card. However, after looking into this, you can get you +2 guests in with the card. Each guest gets about $30 in free credit towards food/beverage, or there is free food/beverage available (all depending on the lounge that you go to), plus there are some places (Portland for example), where you will have THREE different places with three different credits, totalling about $100 per person in free food/drink; this could be a huge money maker opportunity to maximize your savings.
- They are offering a $500 CASH bonus, OR $750 travel credit, when you sign up for this card and spend $4000 in the first 3 months. That is a HUGE bonus, and would be enough for a roundtrip ticket to Europe. Just with this ONE CARD, and ONE BONUS offer. This also covers the cost of the card and will then be a $50 money maker if you just cancel within the first year, and STILL keep the rest of the benefits (or even a $300 money maker if you are using the credit for travel)! Check out my post on how to Spend Your Way to FREE Travel for some ideas on how to hit this spending requirement if your expenses are super low (like most couponers!)
- THIS is the biggest reason for getting the card; the travel redemption bonus. With other cards, 1 point = $0.01. However, you get a 50% BONUS when you redeem points towards travel. That means that the 50,000 point bonus that you get for the initial spending on this card is actually equal to $750 in travel expenses; a HUGE discount! In looking at trips to Europe, the 3 of us can fly for about 220,000 points. Drop that to just 150,000 points when using this card due to the bonus that is included. That saves us SO MUCH time and money and lets us travel so much more!
Overall, I am so incredibly excited to have gotten this card. There are so many additional benefits that are included; I have really only picked the top 6. There are no blackout dates or travel restrictions; you can use this card all year long, worldwide. If you have any other Ultimate Rewards Chase cards, you can COMBINE those points to maximize your travel, and a husband and wife can EACH get one of these cards, making for a super fast way to earn $1500 in travel credits with a super low amount of spending (DON’T add a spouse as an Authorized User on this one since the benefits don’t justify the extra cost). Let me know if you get this one and where you decide to travel; we are SO excited about the potential with this one, and are looking at several international travel destinations to take our family on some free vacations!
Sign Up HERE For The 50,000 Point Bonus
