Will you keep your CSR if annual fee goes to $550?

[ohgillian]

I know a lot of people on this board have the CSR (Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card). I've been seeing rumors online that the AF will increase to $550. The new benefits that are being mentioned (e.g., a Door Dash benefit) aren't interesting to me. 

Would you keep the card at $550? $450 was hard enough for me to swallow, even though it nets to $150 after the travel credit. I don't think I'd keep it at $550 unless the travel credit went up. Others' thoughts?

[flygirl]

I wouldn’t pay for it at $450, so another $100 would definitely be a no go for me.

[wildrice]

Eek, I hadnt heard this. Honestly, I don't know. I feel like we get a good value from it for $150 but $250 might feel less worthwhile. I'd probably have to look at math and other cards to say for sure.

[steamboat185]

We probably will. We use the travel insurance a lot and it’s still cheaper than taking out a separate policy each time.

[wildrice]

I just saw this - looks like it's confirmed.

thepointsguy.com/news/significant-changes-confirmed-for-chases-sapphire-reserve-card/?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=facebook&utm_term=Editorial&utm_content=CED89B4C-3243-11EA-906C-ABBF923C408C&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR3Agndqh1br5M9X-eSUmr6ns5XI6Ao0oo6hWmx_cmXzDYaWKtOwuJb80cA

With those benefits...maybe? It sounds like it could be a wash for the first year, with discounts on Lyft and a $60 credit for Door Dash. I don't generally do meal delivery right now, but that's partly because of the service charges. If they are waived (and $60 in food credits!) that's a little easier to swallow. I don't use Lyft a ton, but probably at least 1-2x a month so saving on that every time might offset the other $40.

However, if those benefits are only for a year - then what? I'm going to have to see how much return I'm getting on the points I earn with that vs what I'd get with a cheaper card. I do love our Priority Pass but I wouldn't say it's worth $250 a year with the way we travel.

My card renewed in November so I guess I have some time before I need to decide. I wonder when these new benefits start for existing customers - now?

I bet they are going to lose a lot of customers over this. I live downtown in a city so Door Dash and Lyft are easy for me to access, but that's not the majority of the country.

[Susie]

I have a CSP, and I kept thinking maybe CSR would make sense when my kids get a tiny bit older and we shed some of the strollers, car seats, pack & plays, etc., and travel more easily. The change is a firm nope for me though, the benefits don't work for my small city/suburban lifestyle, which includes very little Door Dash, Lyft, etc.

[wildrice]

This actually prompted me to look at what I've received in rewards from my CSR last year, and I am about 100% sure I will cancel at the end of this year now. I only earned about $300 in rewards, so if I'm paying a $250 fee I'm hardly getting anything at all. I guess $50 and access to lounges is better than nothing, but I feel like I can do better with another card with a lower fee. Plus I'd honestly rather just pay for travel related purchases when I make them, rather than paying $550 at the beginning of the year and waiting to accrue $300 in refunds. That makes for a big CC bill once a year.

Bummer.

[tripleshot]

Susie, I agree, especially with a $75 fee to add DH as an authorized user, we can’t justify the CSR.

We did just sign up for the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited to maximize our point earnings, but those are $0 fee. The Points Guy calls it the Chase Trifecta. ETA: I also have the CSP.

[wanderingback]

That's the same as the amex platinum fee, which I have.
Amex doesn't have any credits for food delivery. We get uber credits. I wonder if amex platinum is going to try to compete and get food delivery credits.
I personally think the perks are worth $550, that's about $45/month, but understandably that's not in everyone's budget.

[steamboat185]

Jan 8, 2020 21:08:58 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

That's the same as the amex platinum fee, which I have.
Amex doesn't have any credits for food delivery. We get uber credits. I wonder if amex platinum is going to try to compete and get food delivery credits.
I personally think the perks are worth $550, that's about $45/month, but understandably that's not in everyone's budget.

You can use the Uber credits for Ubereats. We rarely Uber so that is how I’ve used mine all year (just FYI).

[broadsheet]

I’m on the fence but thankfully my annual fee just hit a few days ago, so I have almost a year to decide.

I don’t use Lyft that often (only when traveling) and DoorDash has limited options in my city. (Although I decided I’ll use the 2020 Door Dash credit to get food delivered at work, because I always spend too much money going out for lunch!)

I might downgrade to the CSP before my next fee hits. (I already have the Freedom and I want the UR.) The 1.5 redemption rate is really great, and I am stockpiling points for a 2021 trip. I also think I would miss the Priority Pass access. We’ll see!

[ohgillian]

Jan 9, 2020 5:54:14 GMT -5 broadsheet said:

I’m on the fence but thankfully my annual fee just hit a few days ago, so I have almost a year to decide.

I don’t use Lyft that often (only when traveling) and DoorDash has limited options in my city. (Although I decided I’ll use the 2020 Door Dash credit to get food delivered at work, because I always spend too much money going out for lunch!)

I might downgrade to the CSP before my next fee hits. (I already have the Freedom and I want the UR.) The 1.5 redemption rate is really great, and I am stockpiling points for a 2021 trip. I also think I would miss the Priority Pass access. We’ll see!

I haven't researched the other Chase UR-related options yet, but I expect that I'll do a downgrade also. Lyft and Doordash aren't relevant/appealing for me. 

[dochas]

I was trying to decide which to apply for and this pushed me to the CSP. Lyft and Doordash mean nothing to me. I've also been reading that often the lounges are either closed or full in the busier airports. I don't fly enough that that would have been a need, but it would have been a nice perk. I just feel like I'll obsess less with the $95 fee. Plus I added my husband as an authorized user on this one, and it will be easier than passing the card back and forth as I wasn't going to pay the fee for a second card if I got the CSR.

[wildrice]

Jan 9, 2020 12:16:26 GMT -5 dochas said:

I was trying to decide which to apply for and this pushed me to the CSP. Lyft and Doordash mean nothing to me. I've also been reading that often the lounges are either closed or full in the busier airports. I don't fly enough that that would have been a need, but it would have been a nice perk. I just feel like I'll obsess less with the $95 fee. Plus I added my husband as an authorized user on this one, and it will be easier than passing the card back and forth as I wasn't going to pay the fee for a second card if I got the CSR.

Honestly, I don't know if the lounge access issue is as big as what people online tend to make it sound like. I've only had a problem getting into a lounge once, and it was because there was bad weather and lots of flights were delayed, so everyone was hanging around much longer than they would have otherwise. It's not like I've used this TONS, but probably around 10 times or so at least and the rest of the time it's been easy to use. 

That said, there are not lounges at a lot of US airports, of if there are, you may not be able to access them depending on what you are doing (example, O'Hare has one but it's only in the international terminal so domestic flights are out of luck - or at least that was the case a couple of years ago when I checked). If you are flying a ton and your local airport has a lounge, I can see its value. For me, despite using it at least a couple of times a year,  I can't justify the fee just for that. 

[Alps79]

Oh dang! dh and I both have this card. We do need to cancel one... we both use the priority pass, separately and together. That alone, at airport restaurants, has paid for itself. ($56 each time bc we are always with someone.) Dh just had a layover in Houston and his lunch at Landry's was totally covered.
Question- do we each need our own priority pass? Or can we use each others? (I'm sure it varies, but a friend was able to use her husband's priority pass at JFK to get the $56 off our ticket.)
I didn't know about the lyft perk- I use uber but will check into that. I don't use door dash.

[goldengirlz]

Yes! But we charge a ton. Our bill is rarely under $5-6k, sometimes much higher (always paid in full, of course, a chunk of it is work travel that I get reimbursed). We get a ton a points from it because travel and eating out are our two highest spending categories.

[goldengirlz]

Jan 9, 2020 13:07:18 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Oh dang! dh and I both have this card. We do need to cancel one... we both use the priority pass, separately and together. That alone, at airport restaurants, has paid for itself. ($56 each time bc we are always with someone.) Dh just had a layover in Houston and his lunch at Landry's was totally covered.
Question- do we each need our own priority pass? Or can we use each others? (I'm sure it varies, but a friend was able to use her husband's priority pass at JFK to get the $56 off our ticket.)
I didn't know about the lyft perk- I use uber but will check into that. I don't use door dash.

You only need one Priority Pass as long as you’re traveling together; most lounges allow you to bring at least one guest. The issue comes up if you’re traveling solo (but I’m not sure how closely they check the name on the card) BUT you can add an authorized user and get a second Priority Pass for less than the annual fee.

[Alps79]

Jan 9, 2020 14:56:26 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Jan 9, 2020 13:07:18 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Oh dang! dh and I both have this card. We do need to cancel one... we both use the priority pass, separately and together. That alone, at airport restaurants, has paid for itself. ($56 each time bc we are always with someone.) Dh just had a layover in Houston and his lunch at Landry's was totally covered.
Question- do we each need our own priority pass? Or can we use each others? (I'm sure it varies, but a friend was able to use her husband's priority pass at JFK to get the $56 off our ticket.)
I didn't know about the lyft perk- I use uber but will check into that. I don't use door dash.

You only need one Priority Pass as long as you’re traveling together; most lounges allow you to bring at least one guest. The issue comes up if you’re traveling solo BUT you can add an authorized user and get a second Priority Pass for less than the annual fee.

That is exactly what I need to figure out. We travel together and separately and both use the priority pass frequently. 
I need to crunch the numbers but it may be best to add authorized user to CSR and then get a second priority pass. I would be sad to lose it. I didn't even try, but here is my tab in Dulles with my daughters. Of course we always leave a really nice tip!!! 

[goldengirlz]

Jan 9, 2020 15:06:16 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 9, 2020 14:56:26 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

You only need one Priority Pass as long as you’re traveling together; most lounges allow you to bring at least one guest. The issue comes up if you’re traveling solo BUT you can add an authorized user and get a second Priority Pass for less than the annual fee.

That is exactly what I need to figure out. We travel together and separately and both use the priority pass frequently. 
I need to crunch the numbers but it may be best to add authorized user to CSR and then get a second priority pass. I would be sad to lose it. I didn't even try, but here is my tab in Dulles with my daughters. Of course we always leave a really nice tip!!! 

View Attachment

If you charge a lot of travel-related expenses, then even without the Priority Pass, you may get enough in travel points to offset the fee for an additional authorized user. The 4.5% on travel-related purchases is among the highest I’ve seen, and any other card that comes close (like Amex luxury cards) will have a similarly high fee.

[kershnic]

Ugh, I like this card, but I think with a $100 increase in fee we will drop it.

What am I missing with this priority pass.. how do you get free food? I thought it was just access to fancy lounges in airports?

[wanderingback]

Jan 9, 2020 22:05:44 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Ugh, I like this card, but I think with a $100 increase in fee we will drop it.

What am I missing with this priority pass.. how do you get free food? I thought it was just access to fancy lounges in airports?

Most lounges have free food and alcohol.
I have the Amex platinum so we have access to priority pass plus delta lounges, centurion lounges and I think a few others. The lounges vary in regards to food options, but some you can definitely get nice meals. Others are just more snack type stuff. That alone has paid for itself for me since airport food can be expensive and not healthy often.

[steamboat185]

Jan 9, 2020 22:05:44 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Ugh, I like this card, but I think with a $100 increase in fee we will drop it.

What am I missing with this priority pass.. how do you get free food? I thought it was just access to fancy lounges in airports?

There are certain restaurants you can access with the priority pass card and get 28 dollars pp covered. Until October there was one in Denver so we could go and have a meal covered. We also use the one in Boston frequently.

[Alps79]

Jan 9, 2020 22:05:44 GMT -5 kershnic said:

What am I missing with this priority pass.. how do you get free food? I thought it was just access to fancy lounges in airports?

Some (few) airport restaurants are on the priority pass and you can get $28 worth of "free" food/drinks and it doubles if you have a guest. So my daughters and I get $56. If MH is with us (we both have the card/priority pass) we get $112 worth of food lol which is hard to spend!! (I always get a NICE glass of wine) Tip is excluded obv. It's a GREAT deal and with as often as MH travels it does pay for itself.

I would be curious to know what other credit cards offer lounge benefits similar to CSR. Maybe he should get a different one and I keep CSR. 

Maybe I should look into AmEx Plat as a second card. idk. Makes my head spin. 

[Alps79]

Jan 10, 2020 4:12:42 GMT -5 steamboat185 said:

Jan 9, 2020 22:05:44 GMT -5 kershnic said:

Ugh, I like this card, but I think with a $100 increase in fee we will drop it.

What am I missing with this priority pass.. how do you get free food? I thought it was just access to fancy lounges in airports?

There are certain restaurants you can access with the priority pass card and get 28 dollars pp covered. Until October there was one in Denver so we could go and have a meal covered. We also use the one in Boston frequently.

We were sad they "closed" the one in Denver. 

[steamboat185]

Jan 10, 2020 10:41:03 GMT -5 Alps79 said:

Jan 10, 2020 4:12:42 GMT -5 steamboat185 said:

There are certain restaurants you can access with the priority pass card and get 28 dollars pp covered. Until October there was one in Denver so we could go and have a meal covered. We also use the one in Boston frequently.

We were sad they "closed" the one in Denver. 

We must have gone there 10 times in the last year. It wasn’t amazing food, but we could all get a decent meal for the price of a tip! Our server even gave us water bottles to go as we were way under our 78 dollar limit.

[audry80]

Yes I will keep it. I use it for work related purchases and the points rack up very fast. We are able to transfer points to airlines and fly business class when traveling international so it’s 100% worth it for us.

[shaynaatl]

We have until Oct to decide. I don’t really care about the Lyft an DoorDash benefits.
I do like the ability to save on flights using the Rewards Portal. If my math is correct, I get a 33% discount on Delta flights that I buy using points.

[ohgillian]

So I have an anecdote that could possibly help someone here. I'll share it just in case.

I opened the CSR and at opening, I added DH as an authorized user, paying the $75 fee.

After the cards came I was like, "nah, that was a mistake to add him." I called Chase and took him back off, and they credited me the authorized user fee.

Then I commented that we still would have a card with his name on it and the CS was like, "oh yeah, he can still use it. It'll work fine. He just won't be able to call in and chat about the account."

I haven't ever actually TRIED DH's card, but I should confirm this. Would be useful if true, I think.