Just minutes after hitting publish on my post about ditching the Chase Sapphire Reserve card I checked my mail. In my mailbox was a mailer from Chase regarding my CSR card. The mailer highlighted the rewarding year I’ve had with the card and served as a reminder of all the benefits offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
A Rewarding Year For Chase Sapphire Reserve
The mailer began with a wonderful image of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card in front of a picturesque Italian villa.
That image of the Tuscan villa continued on the reverse side of the mailer. The copy on the back of the envelope instructed me to open the pamphlet to see my rewards recap through Summer of 2018.
Inside I found a brief listing of the benefits I’ve received from the Chase Sapphire Reserve card this year.
Apparently in the past year I’ve earned 52,543 Ultimate Rewards points which are worth approximately $788.15. Additionally, I’ve avoided $18.46 in foreign transaction fees when using my card abroad. Finally, I did not receive any credits toward Global Entry or TSA PreCheck because that benefit hasn’t yet reloaded.
The mailer continued by highlighting the premier benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card.
At this point none of the benefits listed on this final page should be surprising. That being said, I always find it interesting to see which benefits Chase tries to highlight with these mailers.
How Did I Use My Points?
With my earlier post about potentially closing the Chase Sapphire Reserve I debated if I was getting much value from the card. Well, according to Chase I am. In fact, Chase estimates that the points I earned this year are worth $788. However, I used my Ultimate Rewards points to book a Lufthansa First Class flight earlier this year. I booked that flight by transferring 110,000 Ultimate Rewards points to the United MileagePlus program. From there I booked the Lufthansa flight for 110,000 United miles.
The flight I booked traditionally costs well over $7,000. In fact, as I write this I’m seeing a price through the end of schedule of $7,766. That means I received about $0.051 of value from my Chase points. Since I earned 52,543 of those points in the past year, it means I actually got closer to $2,700 of value from the Chase Sapphire Reserve card in 2018. Cleary the CSR is a bit more rewarding than I estimated in my prior post.
Final Thoughts
I really like when Credit Card companies send information like this out. It’s often hard to remember just how rewarding a credit card is if you’re not paying attention. Prior to receiving this mailer I assumed I earned a few thousand points this year from the card. I never realized just how many points I earned through organic spending.
Surprisingly, I this mailer actually helped convinced me to keep the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I suppose that was Chase’s intention with this mailer and I’m happy to say it worked. Here’s to another year of earning and burning with the fantastic Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card.
