100,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points with the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card

Edit: The Chase Sapphire Reserve card sign up bonus is now 50,000 points.  The 100,000 point offer is over.

We’ve been playing the credit card points game for a while and have applied and been approved for all of the best offers.  There hasn’t been an exciting credit card offer since May 2015, when American Express briefly had a 100,000 point offer on the Platinum charge card.  The AMEX Platinum card has some excellent benefits such as free lounge access, Hilton Gold status, Starwood Preferred Guest Gold status, $100 Global Entry credit, and $200 airline fee credit yearly.  Other than those benefits, I’ve never wanted to keep my Platinum card long term.  The card only earns 1x points on every purchase and really isn’t useful for daily spend. 

Last Monday, Chase introduced a brand new credit card: The Chase Sapphire Reserve.  It will likely be the number one most popular premium travel credit card.  I am excited! 

All the credit card blogs and forums have already discussed the features of the Chase Sapphire Reserve in minute detail.  This card earns 3x points at restaurants and on travel purchases.  The card offers a lot of unique benefits including lounge access with unlimited guest access, $300 yearly travel credit, free Global Entry or TSA Precheck (up to $100 value), roadside assistance up to 4 times a year with $50 credit per incident, and much more.  See this Chase Sapphire Reserve review from Doctor of Credit for a complete rundown of benefits and features of the CSR.  The best part of this card is the hot new 100,000 point sign up bonus after spending $4,000 within 3 months.  I would value this sign up bonus at over $1,500. 

The annual fee of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card is $450, which is quite a bit if you look only at the fee itself.  Looking deeper into the benefits, I would give this card more value than the American Express Platinum card, which also has an annual fee of $450.  Owning this card for the first year is definitely worth it.  You effectively get $600 worth of travel credit ($300 per calendar year).  You get Global Entry, a $100 value.  You get an unbeatable 100,000 point sign up bonus.  Lounge access is also much better with the Sapphire Reserve than the Platinum card because the CSR allows unlimited guests while the Platinum card only allows the cardholder lounge access. 

When the card was first announced last Monday, I had to have it.  I applied for it first thing Monday morning.  I did not get instant approval and the following message popped up on my screen:

I was bummed.  Immediately I called the Chase automated line at 800-432-3117.  When prompted, hit #, then 3, then 1, and enter your social security number.  The automated response will indicate the status of your credit card application.

• 7-10 day message is likely a denial
• 2 weeks message is likely an approval
• 30 day message means Chase is still reviewing your application.  Many users report 30 day message means approval.

Knowing this information, I was especially bummed out to hear the “7-10 day” message, which meant that I was likely denied. I immediately called the Chase reconsideration number at 888-245-0625.  

I spoke with a live representative who looked more closely into my application.  I explained that I was excited about signing up for this new Chase card.  I was told that I had too much credit with Chase.  I do own 4 other Chase credit cards currently including the Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Plus, and Ink Cash.  I told the rep that I would be happy to reallocate my credit limits around if I could get approved for the CSR.  He put me on hold for a few minutes and then tentatively approved my application.  My application was put into a queue for review by a senior lender.  I anxiously waited one week and today I found out that I had been approved for my Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card!

When logging into my Chase account, this new account already shows up:

The Chase Sapphire Reserve is the ultimate travel credit card.  I can’t wait to get my hands on mine.  You can apply for your own here.