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Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What is a credit card retention offer — and how do you ask for one?
It makes sense to apply for credit cards if they'll provide value to you with their rewards and benefits, especially if you're able to earn a generous credit card sign-up bonus. However, you might find you aren't getting as much value from a new card as you hoped, particularly if a high annual fee has just posted to your account after the first year. Before canceling or downgrading to a no-annual-fee credit card, consider whether your card issuer might extend a retention offer to keep you as a cardholder. This could result in opportunities to earn rewards or statement credits, even if you weren't thinking of canceling, for simply asking for a retention offer. What is a credit card retention offer? A credit card retention offer is an offer a card issuer makes to entice a current cardholder not to cancel their card membership. You might want to cancel for various reasons, but credit card companies want to keep you on as a customer, especially if your card has an annual fee. For example, here's a retention offer I once received from an online chat agent for The Platinum Card® from American Express: 'As you are such a valued Card Member, you can earn 45,000 Membership Rewards points after you spend $4,000 or more on purchases on your Platinum Card account within 3 months of accepting this offer. The 45,000 Membership Rewards points will be credited to your account 8 to 12 weeks after the purchase requirement has been met. This is our way of saying thank you for keeping your Platinum Card account open today.' To receive the above retention offer of 45,000 bonus points, I would have had to spend $4,000 on my Amex Platinum card in three months. Related: Does closing a credit card hurt your credit? How credit card retention offers work A retention offer is designed to entice you away from closing your credit card account, so it must offer something worthwhile. That often means you're able to earn points, miles, or cash back for spending a certain amount on your card within a specified timeframe, similar to how new cardmember welcome bonuses work. You might also receive retention offers that don't require any spending at all. In these cases, the card issuer might simply give you a statement credit or an annual fee reduction to keep your account open. You might also receive a completely waived annual fee. Whether a retention offer is worth it depends on the potential value of the continued card membership, including the value of the offer. Types of retention offers These are common types of retention offers people have received from different card issuers: Rewards: You can earn points or miles for meeting a spending requirement on your card over the course of a few months or more. This is the same format as welcome bonuses for new cardmembers. Statement credit: You receive a flat statement credit, which may cover some or all of your annual fee. Waived or reduced annual fee: Your annual fee is reduced, or you receive an annual fee waiver for the upcoming membership year. Related: Best rewards credit cards How to ask for a retention offer If you don't think your card is providing enough value, you can call the number on the back of your card and ask to be transferred to the retention department. Some card issuers, like American Express, also have online chat agents who are authorized to extend retention offers. You can log in to your Amex account to chat with an agent. It's common to receive retention offers if you're asking to close your card, and many people call in to close their card after an annual fee posts to their account. However, there's no official guideline stating that you can only ask for a retention offer after a year or more; that's just a common time for people to ask for one. Here are some things to keep in mind when asking for a retention offer: You might have to call: I prefer speaking with chat agents, but not all card issuers have chat options. If that's the case, you'll have to call in. You typically want to ask specifically about retention offers: Depending on the agent, calling in and saying you want to cancel might get you exactly what you're asking for. Rather than talking about canceling, specifically ask for available retention offers associated with your account. You might have to explain why you're considering canceling: An agent will know you're considering canceling if you mention 'retention offers,' so you might get a few questions about why you want to cancel. In most cases, talking about the annual fee will move the conversation along, especially if you say you 'aren't getting enough value' from any card benefits or perks the agent might mention, like travel credits or airport lounge access. You want to keep records: If you receive a retention offer you're happy with, make sure you have some sort of record of the conversation in case the offer doesn't post later. For phone calls, get a reference number or ask if they can email you something about the offer. For chat conversations, you can ask for a reference number and take screenshots of the conversation (send them to yourself in an email). Related: How to safely cancel a credit card in 7 steps Credit card retention offer FAQs How often can you ask for a retention offer? There's no official time frame for asking for retention offers, but it likely doesn't make sense to continuously ask for offers week after week or month after month. A few times per year might make more sense. Should you take a retention offer? You should only accept a credit card retention offer if you're willing to keep your card account open and you think you'll get enough value from the card's benefits and the retention offer to more than offset the annual fee. What is an example of a credit card retention offer? An example of a credit card retention offer is your card issuer offering you a $150 statement credit to help offset your card's annual fee. Another example would be an offer to receive 20,000 points after spending $2,000 in three months on your card. Can you negotiate credit card retention offers? You can always ask an agent about any additional or better offers, even if they've just presented you with an offer. There's no harm in asking, and you might end up with a superior offer than previously extended. How do I get an Amex retention offer? If you have an American Express credit card with an annual fee, consider calling the number on the back of your card or using your online account's chat function to ask an agent about Amex retention offers. There's no guarantee that you'll have any offers available, but it doesn't hurt to check. Which credit card issuers provide retention offers? Many credit card issuers, including American Express, Bank of America, Chase, and Citi, have been known to provide retention bonuses to existing cardholders. Capital One isn't known for frequently providing retention offers. Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. All opinions belong solely to the Yahoo Finance and are not those of any other entity. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank's website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers. Credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.
CNET
08-07-2025
- Business
- CNET
The New Chase Sapphire Reserve Is an Expensive Waste of Time. Here's Why I'm Skipping It
Chase/CNET The Chase Sapphire Reserve®* now includes new rewards, annual credits and memberships, like Apple Plus and Apple Music, valued at $250 a year (ends June 22, 2027). Chase updated the card earlier this month, and the updates sound good on paper (aside from the larger $795 annual fee), but there are some fine-print changes that aren't great. The short version is this -- cardholders will now have to do more work to get enough value from the card to cover its cost. That likely means the average credit cardholder won't even want to consider this as an option. Which is fair -- the updates put me off from applying for the card, too. I don't think you should have to redeem dozens of credits, sign up for several complimentary subscriptions, only book flights and hotels when your points are boosted, or feel like you have to buy a Peloton to make sure you're getting enough value to justify a card's annual fee. There are some important changes to the card's rewards, too. It has a larger welcome offer and new rewards rates, and, less excitingly, Chase is changing how it values the card's points. The card issuer also changed who is eligible for the welcome offer on its Sapphire cards. I'm sure some travel and credit card experts will disagree, and could easily get enough value to justify the higher cost of the card, but for credit cardholders like myself who would rather have a more automated, streamlined experience, it's not worth the extra effort. Here's everything Chase changed with its Sapphire Reserve update. What does the new Chase Sapphire Reserve look like? Chase has changed the card's rewards and how much they're worth when it's time to redeem. New and old rewards compared New rewards Old rewards 8x points for all travel booked through Chase Travel 10x points for booking hotels and rental cars through Chase Travel 4x points on flights and hotels booked directly 5x points on flights booked through Chase 3x points on dining 3x points for all other travel 1x point for everything else 1x point for everything else These changes are good. Dining rewards seem like a no-brainer on a travel card, and it's something I was surprised to not see on the card originally. Also, not needing to always book through Chase Travel opens more travel and earning opportunities. The card also includes a higher welcome offer: 100,000 bonus points and a $500 Chase Travel℠ credit for spending $5,000 in the first three months from account opening. Chase also changed some of the eligibility requirements for its Sapphire card's welcome offers. Whereas previously, you could earn a Sapphire welcome bonus (from either the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card* or Sapphire Reserve) once every 48 months, you can now only earn one bonus for either card per cardholder lifetime. For example, since I have the Sapphire Preferred and have already earned its welcome offer, if I applied for the Reserve, I wouldn't be eligible to earn the new welcome offer. This unfortunate change doesn't do much to incentivize an upgrade. Chase also changed the value of the rewards you earn with its new Points Boost program. You used to be able to redeem your points for travel through Chase at a bonus value of 1.5 cents per point. Now, you'll earn 2 cents per point, but only with rotating boosted redemption flights and hotels. And if you redeem your points for any nonboosted flight or hotel, they'll only be worth 1 cent each. You can still transfer your points at a 1:1 ratio to Chase's travel partners. This is clearly less flexible than the card's previous reward program, and will likely cause cardholders to miss out on value they would've otherwise secured. What if there are no boosted flights or hotels for when and where you're looking to travel? You'll either need to wait or have less of your trip covered. Or, you could transfer your points where they could be worth more -- but again, that takes more work than simply redeeming through your card issuer's portal for a small bonus, as it was before. The Sapphire Preferred now uses the Points Boost program as well. New annual credits The card is also gaining a handful of new annual credits: $500 The Edit℠ credit: The Edit is Chase's new collection of over 1,100 hotels. You get $250 from January to June, and the other $250 from July to December. The Edit is Chase's new collection of over 1,100 hotels. You get $250 from January to June, and the other $250 from July to December. $300 dining credit: Again, split in half -- $150 for January through June, and the other $150 for July to December. Again, split in half -- $150 for January through June, and the other $150 for July to December. $300 StubHub credit: $150 for January through June, $150 for July to December. Ends Dec. 31, 2027. $150 for January through June, $150 for July to December. Ends Dec. 31, 2027. Apple Plus and Apple Music membership , worth $250 annually. Ends June 22, 2027. , worth $250 annually. Ends June 22, 2027. $120 Peloton credit: You get $10 monthly statement credits for a Peloton membership through Dec. 31, 2027, for a maximum of $120 annually. Plus, you'll earn 10x rewards on Peloton equipment purchases. Those are the new credits; there are a number of others, too. You can see them all on Chase's page. The issuer says the card offers more than $2,700 in value, but you'll really need to work to achieve that. For those who spend $75,000 in travel on the card in a calendar year, you'll unlock a $500 Southwest travel credit plus A-list status, IHG Diamond Elite Status and $250 in statement credits for The Shop at Chase. That's a high spending threshold that only the most well-off traveller will likely be able to reach, and it doesn't seem like a great return on investment. And a higher fee Lastly, the card now costs $245 more than it did a month ago. The annual fee for the Chase Sapphire Reserve now sits at $795, one of the highest on the market. While the credits offered can surpass the price of the card, you'll need to do the work to use everything it has to offer. That means buying and using a Peloton, checking the Points Boost program, ordering DoorDash, using Lyft and taking advantage of the new dining credit and two travel credits, and on and on. It's a lot of homework. If you don't use enough of the extra perks, you'll likely be on the hook for at least part of its annual fee. Should you get this card? In short, I think there are people who will find this card worth it, particularly those with higher-than-average travel budgets (and perhaps some sort of assistant to help them keep track of everything), but for the average traveler or credit cardholder, they are more likely to leave value on the table and be stuck with a high annual fee. There's just so much offered here, which is great, but the change in how points are valued, how much additional work you, as the cardholder, have to do annually to make the card's $795 fee actually worth the cost, doesn't add up to me. But again, I probably view credit cards a bit differently than most card experts. I like the easy route, the one that guarantees value without any financial corrosion or work beyond my usual routine. So I'll happily stick with my Sapphire Preferred, which offers way less, but only costs $95 each year. I use it for my dining and travel expenses, redeem my points for trips home through Chase Travel and take advantage of its annual $50 hotel statement credit. There may not be countless annual credits, memberships and subscriptions, but I barely need to do any additional work -- and definitely don't need to overspend -- to realize its value versus how much it costs me annually. *All information about the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred has been collected independently by CNET and has not been reviewed by the issuer.
Wall Street Journal
22-06-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Most Exclusive Credit Cards Are About to Get Even More Expensive
When JPMorgan Chase said it was raising the annual fee by 45% on its popular Sapphire Reserve credit card, longtime cardholder David O'Brien didn't notice. 'My eyes glaze over with this stuff,' said the 36-year-old New York lawyer.
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Chase Sapphire Reserve card members will see a major fee increase: Here's when and what to expect
The chase is on among premium credit card issuers. Pentagon Pizza Index: The theory that surging pizza orders signal global crises 5 signals that make you instantly more trustworthy at work How Field Notes went from side project to cult notebook JPMorgan Chase has announced some big changes to its high-end Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card, which include a hefty new annual fee of $795, up from $550. The Sapphire Reserve card, which is known for its slate of perks and benefits including travel credits and access to airport lounges, is also getting a counterpart in the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business card. When the card was first introduced in 2016, the annual fee was $450, so it has increased by more than 75% since then. Interestingly, customers don't seem to mind: The amount paid in annual fees totaled $6.4 billion in 2022, more than double the $3 billion paid in 2015, according to a 2023 report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). According to Chase, customers still have a few days to sign up for the card at the old rate. If you're already a Sapphire Preferred member, or if you sign up before Monday, June 23, you can expect the same benefits and fee through October 25 of this year. Though the fee is increasing significantly, there will be new card designs, and new credits and benefits that arrive along with the revamp. Specifically, for cardholders who spend at least $75,000 per year on their cards, there will be new perks, such as exclusive online shopping experiences, and status rewards at IHG Hotels, and Southwest Airlines. Points earnings rates and multipliers are also changing through a new Points Boost program. The new Business card will also have credits for services from ZipRecruiter, Google Workspace, and more. 'It's the culmination of five years of investment that we've made across Chase in completely uplifting and repositioning what we mean for premium travelers in the premium-card space,' Allison Beer, JPMorgan's head of card and connected commerce, told Bloomberg. 'This is about having the best-in-class travel assets and an end-to-end travel experience.' Chase's announcement comes shortly after American Express, one of its chief rivals in the credit card space, teased a forthcoming overhaul to its premium Platinum Card. Details are scarce, but those changes are expected by the end of the year. The Platinum Card currently has a $695 annual fee. In all, the board is set for Chase and Amex to duke it out with their premium offerings, which might provide some serious perks to customers who can afford them. 'We're going to take these cards to a new level,' Amex's said Howard Grosfield in a statement, 'not only in what they offer in travel, dining and lifestyle benefits, but also in how they look and feel, to meet the evolving needs of our customers.' This post originally appeared at to get the Fast Company newsletter: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
18-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How Chase's new Sapphire Reserve credit card compares to rivals
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) is hiking the annual fee on its Sapphire Reserve card from $550 to $795 and adding perks like new spending bonuses. Yahoo Finance Senior Credit Card Writer Ben Walker joins Wealth to break down how the revamped card compares to Chase Sapphire Preferred, American Express (AXP) Platinum, and Capital One (COF) Venture X credit cards. To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Wealth here. Well, JP Morgan Chase unveiling the latest update to its Sapphire Reserve card on Tuesday. The changes include a hefty bump in its annual fee to $795. That's up from the prior $550. But with that extra money comes extra perks, including new credits, free status at IHG Hotels and additional perks after spending $75,000 in a year. So how do these changes stack up against other popular credit cards? For more on that, we have Ben Walker, Yahoo Finance senior credit card writer. So Ben, let's start by comparing this to a card many Chase fans hold, the Sapphire preferred card. What are the differences here? Because the preferred card, especially now, the annual fee is a lot less. Yeah, thanks for having me. I mean, the annual fee on the Sapphire preferred is $95 compared to the updated Sapphire Reserve, which is $795. That's a difference of $700. So that's the biggest difference you're going to find between these two cards. Um, I would recommend, just in general, or if we're talking about the vast majority of people, the Sapphire preferred is probably the better card because most people do not need to be paying $795 for a travel credit card. However, if you want premium benefits, including airport lounge access, then the difference, you know, in annual fees could make a lot of sense. The Sapphire Reserve also has a lot of new benefits. However, they could be a little complicated to use. So you have to look at those benefits and see how they align with your travel preferences. And do you think when the reserve card was in the 500s for the annual fee, did that make it worth it to choose a reserve over the preferred, or are you still a preferred guy? Uh, in general, still a preferred guy, but the Sapphire Reserve made a lot more sense for a lot more people when it was at the $550 annual fee. And that's just because the $300 flexible travel credit, you know, immediately cut out a lot of that annual fee. And then you could find a lot of value just by using, you know, the airport lounge access benefits. Yeah, good point there. Now let's compare the Chase Sapphire Reserve to some other travel cards. First, how does it stack up against the American Express Platinum card? Yeah, I would say the American Express Platinum card is probably, you know, the easiest comparison, uh, for premium travel credit cards, especially with the updates to the Sapphire Reserve and its annual fee. Um, so the Sapphire Reserve annual fee is 795, and the Amex Platinum is actually 695 right now. So the Amex Platinum has a little bit of an edge over the reserve in that regard. However, they both have tons of travel credits. They both have airport lounge access. You can transfer points to hotel and airline partners. Um, they're actually very similar cards in regards to their benefits. So I think it really comes down to, again, seeing how your travel preferences align with each card. For example, you know, if you prefer Chase Sapphire lounges compared to Centurion lounges, or if with the Sapphire Reserve new benefits you want that IHG Platinum Elite status compared to the Marriott or Hilton status on the Platinum. Interesting. And are there certain airline partners that either card has as well? Yeah, they have specific transfer partners. Um, you know, with Chase, one of the big ones is you can transfer your points to the World of Hyatt program. And that has consistently been one of the most popular transfer partners for getting a lot of value out of your points. And what about the Capital One Venture X card? How does the Chase Sapphire stack up? Yeah, just, uh, first off, looking at the annual fees, the Venture X has a $395 annual fee. Compare that to the new $795 annual fee on the Sapphire Reserve, and that's a $400 difference. So immediately, the Venture X is going to be more appealing to a lot of people who don't want to pay such a high annual fee. Um, I also would recommend the Venture X to more people who want a premium travel credit card because it's just a little more straightforward to use. Um, there is one big downside of the Venture X coming up. They have changes that, they're getting rid of the guest access, the complimentary guest access to airport lounges. Um, so that is a big change that the Sapphire Reserve will still have two complimentary guests to airport lounges, and that's a big, you know, pro in their favor. Um, but the Venture X still is a more straightforward card. Uh, the Sapphire Reserve, uh, really got to look at the benefits, see if you can actually use them every year to get the value out of them. Otherwise, you know, that 795 annual fee is not going to make sense for a lot of people. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
