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My Experience applying for the Chase Sapphire Reserve
I headed to my nearest Chase bank today to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Not only did I go in person, but I brought along a good friend that is a Private Client. I’ve had a good relationship with this particular branch for a few years now, and have brought in several clients to sign up as Private Clients. I, myself, however am not a private client of Chase and do all of my banking with a couple small regional banks.
Private Clients get approved
Without much issue at all, my friend got approved and defffffffinitely had more than 5/24. This backs up the anecdotal evidence that various sources around the net have purported, specifically FrequentMiler, that there are different rules for Private Clients. It wasn’t an immediate approval and it required a call into the lending department, but the application was approved.
My strategy: power through private client proximity.
I thought perhaps I would wield power through proximity: apply with a Private Client and have a banker call lending on both our behalf. For transparency’s sake, I already have 4 personal Chase cards and am over 5/24 as well. Our banker didn’t seem to think it would be a problem and I even intimated that I wanted to close my Sapphire Preferred and move the line over to the new Reserve. I’m not waaaaaaay over the 5/24 and have been a long term customer of Chase…I opened my first Chase card about 15 years ago and I also maintain an 800+ credit score.
5/24 is in effect
After a long time waiting, the rep came back on the line. She was super nice and said she had tried every way around it, but specifically said that I was being denied because I had too many opened accounts in the last 24 months. I asked if I could know how many is “too many” and she quoted some banking law that she couldn’t break and therefore couldn’t tell me. uh huh.
so what now?
The banker is really cool. He felt really bad that he couldn’t get me the card, highlighted my credit score and income, and said it didn’t make much sense to him and that he was going to try another route. He knows a couple people in the “back office” and is going to try that avenue to see if he can wiggle my credit lines around and get me approved. So we shall see. NOT feeling good about though, but it was a good experiment.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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