So if you had to choose between two travel credit cards, which one would you pick the card with a 95 annual fee or a seemingly comparable card with the 550 annual fee? Well, it seems like a straightforward choice, but if there's one thing that I've learned in my 37 years of being in the points and Miles game, it's that high annual fees can indeed bring you high value, but there is often a catch. So ladies and gents in this video, let's find out exactly how these cards stack up to each other and which one will be best for your own financial situation. This means whether you're trying to find the perfect travel card for you and you really like Chase or you're rounding out like the chase Trifecta for yourself. this video here is still going to be the perfect guide for you, so be sure to watch it all the way through till the end.

Now by the way, if you guys ever want to support this channel, you appreciate these credit card videos. One simple way that you guys can do that is by checking out the links Down Below in the description and at any time you want to apply for a new card all for free, just make sure the welcome bonus offer is most competitive for you. That helps support this Channel and allows me to continue pushing off free content. Just like this.

Going back into the video, let's start by comparing all the benefits of the two cards and seeing how they stack up to each other. So you're gonna first get 5x ultimate reward points on travel book through that Chase Ur portal. Now the Ultimate Rewards portal is like any other travel booking site like Expedia or Hotels.com just by logging to your Chase account, then accessing the portal through some of the various links. You can then find access to book flights, hotels, rental cars, and even more.

We'll talk a bit more later on about what the Ultimate Reward Portal offers, but moving forward you also get 3x points on restaurants, 3x points on streaming services, and then you get 3x points on online groceries which also excludes wholesale clubs like Walmart and Target. This is because places like Walmart and Target are not just known for their groceries, but usually they sell TVs Apple products like random things you know outside of just grocery. spend. One thing to note about this card is that it excludes groceries bought in person and I don't know about y'all but I've actually been only buying my grocery series online I Don't remember the last time I've been inside of a grocery store and this is just because it saves so much time and one of my favorite apps not sponsor.

It'll be cool if it was sponsored, but it's not sponsored, it's instacart. I've used that and actually one of the features that the app has is that it tells you how many hours you save from like driving there, going around waiting in line. So if you value your time and I feel like everyone should I Definitely look into using services like this in order to optimize all the time you have in your day. Now outside of those categories, you get 1X points on everything else and you also get an annual 50 statement credit on hotel stays a book through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

In order to make sure you qualify for that 50 benefit, all you have to do is make sure you pay with your Sapphire Preferred Card while using the Ultimate Rewards portal and you just need to make sure that you pay with it in cash and not in points. A lot of the benefits that I mentioned too in this video they're all new stuff I've had the Chase Sapphire preferred since I Believe it's like 2019 2020 and a lot of this stuff actually didn't exist back then. so they've continued to add on even more bonuses to follow up on that. You also get an extra 10 point bonus every account anniversary year and the way this works is pretty simple.

Every time you've hit the 365 day Mark or the full one year anniversary of you getting the card, you'll get a 10 bonus for all the points you earn. So say, as an example, you earned a hundred thousand points in a given year. You'll then get an additional 10 000 points tacked onto your account. So if you don't know the value of points, a hundred thousand points is pretty much going to be like a thousand bucks at a one point to one cent ratio.

Now ten thousand points in bonus means you're gonna be getting an additional 100 at the end of the year. Another simple way to calculate this benefit is just think of it as an extra point one percent on every benefit that we mentioned. Now where this card really does shine though is gonna be the Welcome Bonus Offer where you can get up to 60 000 points after you spend four thousand dollars in the first three months of card ownership now mentioned here Chase Sometimes elevates the welcome bonus on this card. About a few months back, they raised it to 80 000 points.

and even right now with some of their other card products like the Chase Inc Business Preferred, they've also raised the welcome bonus offering for that to a hundred thousand Ur points. Now the Chase app I Preferred comes at you with a cost of an annual fee of 95 per year. If we calculate the 95 annual fee, we break it up into every month. within that year, it comes out to be eight dollars every month in order to hold a card like this.

For all the benefits that I mentioned and the credits that you can get and even that welcome bonus offer for eight dollars a month I Believe you're getting a pretty fair value in the return of benefits that they share. So how does the Chase Sapphire Reserve stack up to the Chase Sapphire preferred? where I'd consider the Chase Staff I prefer to still be one of the best credit cards to exist on the market. A lot of people, even myself included, we have this mindset. You know the more you pay, usually the more value you get.

And with the Chase Sapphire reserve, it turns out it actually applies here too, but with a little bit of the catch that we're going to talk about soon. So first of all, let's kick off by going over what the benefits of this card are. And first, you'll get 10x ultimate Reward Points AKA 10 back on hotels and rental cars booked through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal. Now keep in mind, a benefit like this is actually so op that they intentionally excluded being able to get 10x back on flights.

This is because a lot of people aren't really renting cars as you would expect. Most people will use something like Turo if they are trying to get a nicer car. and on top of that with some of these hotels, what usually happens is that the price of them goes up on some of these other portals. So that's why companies like Expedia or Hotels.com are in business because they'll usually increase the price just a tad in order for them to make their margin compared to booking directly with some of these.

Hotel Brands Now on the off chance though, I've seen in many instances where I have booked through some of the portals and they're actually cheaper than what the hotels listed on their website. So I guess the rules just depend I have gotten better deals on the Ultimate Rewards portal before. This is one of the trips that I actually took in New York City and I Don't know why sometimes this happens if you guys are within the travel industry. you know a little bit of alpha on this.

definitely Spill the Beans Down Below in the comments, but for the most part this will vary. So I will say if you're trying to fully utilize a benefit like this, you have to Chase Sapphire Reserve You're trying to get 10 back on that hotel stay. Make sure you actually compare your rates because your models will vary now. On top of that, you'll also get 10x points on Chase Ultimate Rewards dining purchases for prepaid dining reservations, take out orders, and virtual cooking events.

but that last one virtual cooking events I'll be honest I have not yet tried that and I don't think I ever will, but you know I like to keep an open mind but that I don't I'm not gonna waste my time with that. Doing some further research on getting 10x back on Chase dining through the portal. it looks like a lot of users over on Reddit and within our Facebook Community Just talk about how it's not that useful because a lot of places don't accept the prepaid reservations. But if you happen to be in major centers like La New York Miami you'll probably get a lot more value than someone who lives out in the suburbs or out in the middle of nowhere.

On top of that, you can also get 10x points per dollar on Lyft which is absolutely fantastic if you're not team. Amex if you're not team Uber This benefit here can definitely add up, especially if you're someone who's using Lyft ride sharing apps a lot now. They also mentioned you get 10x points back on Peloton equipment and accessory purchases of 250 or more I Don't see a lot of people using this I Think it's such a niche benefit, but it's still cool to know that you can still earn a little bit extra back on some of these specialized categories. Now where this card really shines is going to be the Five Points You get back on flights purchased through the Ultimate Rewards portal.

so it's not 10x points, you get 5x which is still not terrible, and then you get 3x points per dollar on dining and all other travel and then 1X points on everything else. What people really love about this card is the fact that you can also get an annual 300 statement credit on travel purchases for flights, hotels, and rental cars. No, normally this credit here is automatically applied to any travel purchases. unlike that 50 credit we mentioned with the Chase app.

I Prefer That 300 credit also resets every account anniversary year. So I Know with some of these other issuers, these credits reset at the beginning of the year and that's where people take advantage of things like double dipping or triple dipping their benefits, where they're able to get their benefit pretty much more than once in a single year depending on the time they apply. With the Chase Sapphire Reserve it's so straightforward. I Even think that 300 credit is still very generous just because of how easy it is to use.

And if you take just a few trips per year, you'll find that by using this card, you end up getting that credit back within that one year period pretty easily. Now, unlike the Chase Staff I preferred, the reserve is going to give you access to the priority pass select membership and for this all you have to do is go online into your Chase account, sign in, and then go into the benefits Tab and then from there you can enroll via Chase for your priority pass membership. A few weeks later, you're gonna get the card in the mail and anytime you travel after that, you're gonna have access to some of those lounges. Now with the Chase Sapphire Reserve you're also going to have access to get credits for global entry and TSA pre-check This way you don't have to take off your shoes and belts and you know, do all that, No touching me TSA Agents Not today Now Very similar to the Chase Staff I Preferred, the welcome bonus offer is actually the same.

So you're going to be getting 60 000 points. After spending four grand in the first three months. with a card like this, you would imagine the welcome bonus offer would be a lot more significant, but this just shows how normal it is for them to have their welcome bonus offer. But how high the Chase Sapphire Preferred is normally with these two cards because the annual fee is so high on the Chase Sapphire Reserve you'd assume that they're going to give you a higher welcome bonus offer, but it just shows.

the Chase Staff I Preferred has a much higher elevated offer meeting with the Chase Sapphire Reserve does. On the other hand, though, seeing even like the Chase Inc business Preferred going up to a hundred thousand points I Can also imagine that Chase half Hour Reserve should be giving us like 80 000 bonus points. but this is also because of the fact that the Chase Sapphire Reserve is such a beneficial card or Chase is already losing reportedly Millions upon millions of dollars maybe even billions by now. For people who own this card from all the benefits that you get back from time to time, I Get the question asked in my comment section Brian How come these credit card companies like to lose money? I Don't think it's the fact that they like losing money, but what happens is a lot of these higher tier cards are considered to be lost leaders.

Where basically if someone uses the Chase Sapphire Reserve Eventually, later down the road, they may sign up for another one of their products like an auto loan, a home mortgage. and this is where the banks make their money. A Lost Leader within any business is being able to provide an offer that is so good where you actually lose money from it, but hopefully later down the road people realize. Okay, Chase's ecosystem is not too bad and they can monetize it in different ways.

Now comparing the Chase app I Prefer to the reserve. After going over both of those benefits, we can clearly see that the reserve card definitely wins in a lot of these different categories. Now, both of them had no annual fee. This would be a simple answer Chase Sapphire Reserve But because it has a 550 annual fee, this is where things get a little tricky and this is where we need to do some math in order to determine which card is the most viable to get.

So starting out the Chase Staff I preferred 95 annual fee. but you get that enormous welcome bonus offer by holding these cards for the first year, you're going to be coming out net positive hands down by a mile. As long as you don't miss any payments, you are able to hit that welcome bonus offer and you're not paying credit card interest. On top of that though, you get the 50 annual credit on hotel stays booked through the UR portal.

and with that credit, you know I Want to say it has direct monetary value, but you just never know. This is because the price of hotels are not guaranteed to be one and one and if you're overpaying to use that credit, it ends up canceling out regardless. the way I see it is even a broader picture. If you have any one of Chase's cards like the Freedom Flex or the Freedom Unlimited or even the Freedom Rides which recently came out.

this card here is so beneficial because you don't have to commit to a high annual fee credit card, but then you also get access to the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal where it's from there you can transfer your points out and do all the fun. Little Jazz where you can actually redeem your points for higher value. Look I know I Said we're going to do a lot of this math. We're going to save it I Don't want to give you guys over complicated headaches that you don't really need to know I'ma keep it simple.

who doesn't like Simplicity Basically I Believe everyone here can break even from the Chase Staff I preferred. and if you're too Frugal to spend the 95 or maybe you're struggling with your finances in any other way, go for the chase. I Was gonna say go for the Chase Sapphire Reserve No, don't go for the you. You may want to actually cancel the card, downgrade the card to the Chase Sapphire card which has no annual fee at all and that's actually what I've done.

The Chase Sapphire is a secret card. It's not advertised on their website, but it is a viable downgrade path at least for me like a few years ago. And you know, I'm actually curious if it still is because I haven't done that in the last two to three years. To keep it even more simple than that, if you're only traveling maybe once or twice per year and you're not fully committed to you know, a high annual fee luxury travel credit card or another example, say you have the AmEx Platinum or maybe even the Capital One Adventure X-guard and you're primarily using those and you're already struggling to make sure that you use those cards benefits, then the Chase Sapphire preferred I think is a great choice just for you to get that welcome bonus offer and to also allow you to transfer other Chase products through that card and so you can get more value on those points.

Like we mentioned earlier, now, if you're traveling more than once or twice, the Chase Sapphire Reserve is definitely going to be a viable card for you already. that 300 travel credit we mentioned that's super easy to use. I'm going to cancel that out. so this is really just a 250 annual fee card versus the 95 annual fee card that you get with the Chase Sapphire prefer.

Even if you have other luxury cards like the Platinum Card, you know the Venture X whatever it is I Still think the Chase Sapphire Reserve can work really well within anyone's setup and I'd still consider this to be a keeper card as long as you are traveling just a fair amount. Now, none of this is gonna matter if you don't have the right credit score in order to even get approved once you apply. So I would definitely make sure you have a score of at least 680 if you do. You want to qualify.

And on top of that, it's definitely going to help if you have any one of the Chase Freedom products. If you're completely new to the credit card game and you somehow stumbled upon this video here, I would recommend the Chase Freedom Rise as your first card. It's not going to be as op Okay, but if you're completely new to the space and you're trying to build that relationship with Chase, this is a card here where it actually it almost guarantees approval as long as you have a Chase checking account with more than 200 and then you apply for the Chase Freedom rise. And if you somehow get denied guys and as long as your credit score is not under like 400, I'd be very, very surprised.

Now if you're trying to make the choice for yourself, these are the three main questions that I'd ask in order to determine which card is best for you. How many trips do you have coming up, what is your current credit score, and then how much do you spend in a month. To break down the numbers even further, in order to justify the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, all you need to do is spend three thousand, four hundred dollars a year between travel and dining. To break that number down even further, just imagine spending money on travel or dining on up to 283 dollars per month within that year.

Now if you guys ever remember that one commercial, it's like the kid with the tacos and he's like, why not both with the Chase Sapphire lineup. That's exactly the same principle that I'd apply. Now there's a few ways to go about this. First of all, you can get the Chase Staff I preferred and then when you want to close it, you can close it at a certain time.

But there's a rule where you have to wait 48 months in order to qualify for the next welcome bonus offer. And obviously, you don't want to miss out on a welcome bonus offer because that's where you're going to make a majority of your points. If on the off chance you know you're a baller, you don't care about all that stuff. Another thing that you can do is to actually go ahead and upgrade your Chase Sapphire preferred by calling them or messaging them on chat.

The only thing is you need to wait one year to fully do that and make sure that the annual fee was posted onto your account and then you could upgrade. But in my opinion I think it's just better to get the beginner card. Wait it out, wait the 48 months. I Know four years seems like a long time, but I was able to do it and then go for the Chase Sapphire Reserve once again and then I'd consider the Chase Sapphire Reserve to be a keeper card.

So in conclusion, the choice really just comes down to your own spending habits, how much you travel, and what your goals are just because you choose one card option. It also doesn't mean that you can't change down the line either. if you need more help on making your decision. Link Down Below in the description I Also have a link for a Google sheet.

You know I'm not capturing nothing here guys. it's just a free value ad for you where you can compare the CSR to the CSP on the calculator based on how much you spend on dining and travel and it's going to highlight which one makes sense for you regardless. I Like the Chase Sapphire preferred right now personally just because of how competitive some of the other offers are like the capital Adventure X card and even the plat, but it's up to you completely. Regardless, if you guys want to check it out, see what the welcome bonuses are.

Be sure to discover all that link Down Below in the description. If you guys also want to join our Facebook group, be sure to do that. We got 30 000 members linked Down Below in the description and we're also building out some cool little stuff too that I want to make sure you guys have full access to because at the end of the day this is to give you even more value. So ladies and gents, be sure to check out those links.

Thank you again for watching this video. Follow me on Twitter Instagram if you haven't done so already and I'll see y'all soon! Peace.