A few years ago, Chase made a big splash with its Sapphire Reserve credit card. The card, which came with a $450 annual fee, had travel perks and a sizeable welcome bonus points offer. Plus, it was stylish--the metal card launched a slew of unboxing videos.
Now Chase is adding some benefits to the card, but it's also increasing some of the costs around it as well.
Chase is now offering a free one-year DashPass subscription to DoorDash, an online service that partners with restaurants for food delivery. DashPass subscribers don't pay delivery fees, and they get discounts on service fees when their orders are over $12. DashPass is normally $9.99 a month, making the benefit worth about $120 a year.
Cardholders will need to pay for their DoorDash orders with their Chase card in order to receive the benefit. This offer applies not only to the Sapphire Reserve card, but also to Chase Sapphire Preferred card, and cardholders will have Chase cardholders who have cards in the Freedom and Slate lines will receive a three-month free DashPass subscription, and then they'll be able to get a 50 percent discount on that subscription for the subsequent nine months.
Sapphire Reserve cardholders will also get $60 in statement credits on DoorDash purchases in both 2020 and 2021.
"Across Chase branded cards, we’ve seen spending with food delivery more than double in the last year, and the majority of those cardmembers are ordering-in on average at least one time per month," said Catherine Hogan, president of Chase Branded Cards, in a statement. "We’re excited to team up with DoorDash to bring their industry-leading selection of restaurants to our cardmembers with an added perk to make dining in more rewarding."
Chase is also adding Lyft ride-sharing benefits. Sapphire Reserve cardholders will receive a free one-year membership to Lyft Pink when they use their card on the Lyft app. Lyft Pink gives users 15 percent off every car ride, priority airport pickups, leeway on cancellation fees, lost and found fee protection, and three free 30-minute bike or scooter rides per month—in select cities. The membership is worth $19.99 a month, so this benefit is worth about $240 a year.
Additionally, Chase is offering ten times the points on Lyft rides through March 2022, up from three times the points cardholders normally get on travel purchases.
If these perks are already something you use, you could save at least $420 for the next year, but the savings would decrease once the DoorDash and Lyft perks lapse. Those perks could offset the pain of an increased annual fee—perhaps for a little while. Chase has upped its annual fee $100 to $550 per year. Read what credit card experts think of this change.
Chase is maintaining its $300 annual credit on travel purchases, and points have 1.5 times the value when cardholders redeem them through the Chase Ultimate Rewards service.
Additionally, Chase offers a 50,000-point welcome bonus after spending $4,000 in the first three months you own the card. However, that's reserved for new cardholders who haven't received a Chase new cardholder bonus in the last four years.
If you're contemplating whether or not the increased annual fee is worth having the card, be sure to read the fine print on the terms, particularly if you carry a balance. When news of the card's annual fee increase first came out, CNBC linked to the card's terms, which had the APR listed at a variable 17.74 percent to 25.74 percent.
However, on Chase's website, it currently states that the APR is a variable 18.49 percent to 25.49 percent, nearly a point more in interest, if you're in the most creditworthy segment.
If you pay your card off in full every month, this means nothing to you, but if you do carry a balance, the extra interest charges could eat up any savings you get in the other card perks. That means it's crucial to weigh the pros and cons of having this card before you sign up for it.
