Chase Sapphire Cards Now Earn Up to 10x Ultimate Reward Points!
Let’s Fuel Up the Car, Hit the Road, Stream Music, and Maximize the Points!
This year might just be the year of road trips and staycations, as spending patterns shift away from air travel in response to the coronavirus pandemic. In order to continue to serve cardholders, Chase began offering bonuses in April 2020 that better aligned with these new patterns, by offering 5X Ultimate Reward points on DoorDash deliveries. In May 2020, Chase announced 5x Ultimate Reward points on groceries through June 30, 2020, and later announced the Pay Yourself Back tool. This allows you to redeem Ultimate Reward points for 1.5 CPP (Cents Per Point) on purchases previously made at grocery stores and home improvement stores, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s. They also updated the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s $300 annual travel credit to also cover groceries and gas station purchases. Additionally, the Chase Sapphire Reserve earned 5x Ultimate Reward points at grocery stores, up to $1,500 for May and June 2020, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred also saw a limited time increase to earning in these categories as well. Now that June is behind us and we head into July, Chase has updated the temporary bonus categories for the summer!
Starting from July 1, 2020, Chase is allowing Sapphire cardholders the opportunity to earn 5x and up to 10x Ultimate Reward points on new bonus categories, such as gas stations and streaming services! There’s no need to activate these bonus offers, simply just use your card for eligible purchases. It’s worth noting that the fine print does say that some bonuses may take 6-8 weeks to post, or 1-2 billing cycles. Now that you know what the bonus categories are for the next three months, let’s dive into and earn those extra Ultimate Reward points!
Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Limited-Time Summer 2020 Perks
The flagship Chase Sapphire Reserve card kicks things off by offering new perks on Instacart. You’ll now earn 5x Ultimate Reward points on Instacart deliveries and pickups, up to a total of $3,000 between July 1 and September 30, 2020. To sweeten the deal, you’ll also get up to $50 in statement credits towards an Instacart Express membership. While we wish this were offered as a $50 Instacart statement credit, it’s still a great perk if you find yourself using Instacart for your groceries.
While not everyone uses Instacart, we’re sure you’ll benefit from these next two perks: gas station purchases and streaming services. From July 1 to September 30, 2020, the Chase Sapphire Reserve will earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points on all gas station purchases. With our valuation of 2.0 CPP (Cents Per Point), that’s an effective “10% back” on gas with our optimization strategies, and 1.5 CPP inside the Chase travel portal, or when redeemed as a “Pay Yourself Back” option for groceries or home improvement purchases! This makes the Chase Sapphire Reserve the absolute best credit card for gas purchases between July and September 2020!
Now for the real high earner: streaming services! Earlier this year, we saw Chase rollout a limited, targeted offer for Spotify. Starting in July, you’ll now earn 10x Ultimate Reward points on all of the streaming services listed below:
Apple Music
Disney+
ESPN+
Fubo TV
Google Play
Hulu
Netflix
Pandora
Sirius XM
Sling
Spotify
Vudu
YouTube TV
This new perk maxes out at $1,500 over the three-month promotional period. That’s an average cap of $500/month across these streaming services. While most of us don’t spend that much, the theoretical maximum for this is a massive $1,500 x 10X = 15,000 UR points! At our 2.0 CPP valuation that is essentially $300 worth of Ultimate Reward points when redeemed for travel, or $225 when redeemed in the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Ultimate Reward portal, or as statement credits for grocery or home improvement purchases.
Chase Sapphire Preferred’s Limited-Time Summer 2020 Perks
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is not to be left out of these new summer benefits, despite having a lower annual fee than the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Through September 30, 2020, the Chase Sapphire Preferred will earn 3X Ultimate Reward points on purchases made with Instacart. Just like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you’ll also receive a $50 statement credit towards an Instacart membership.
On gas station purchases, you’ll earn 3X Ultimate Rewards points per $1 spent, up to a maximum of $1,500 during the three-month promotional period. This has a maximum earning potential of 4,500 Ultimate Rewards points, worth $90 with our valuation of 2.0 CPP.
For streaming services, you’ll also earn 5x Ultimate Rewards points for the same services as the Chase Sapphire Reserve, with the same cap of $1,500 and maximum earnings of 4,500 Ultimate Rewards points.
Show Me the Money
So what does all of this mean, what is it worth, and why should you care? Let’s break down what these are all worth, assuming you max out each category:
Chase Sapphire Reserve Maximizations: July 1 to September 30, 2020
5x on Instacart - 5X URs, capped at $3,000: 15,000 URs = $300+
Instacart Express Membership Statement Credit - $50
5x at Gas Stations, capped at $1,500: 7,500 URs = $150+
10x on select Streaming Services, capped at $1,500: 15,000 URs = $300+
Total maximization: 30,000 Ultimate Reward points ($800+ fully optimized; $450 in the CSR UR portal) + $50 statement credit (Instacart Membership)
Chase Sapphire Preferred Maximizations: July 1 to September 30, 2020
3x on Instacart - 5X URs, capped at $3,000: 9,000 URs = $180+
Instacart Express Membership Statement Credit - $50
3x at Gas Stations, capped at $1,500: 4,500 URs = $90+
5x on select Streaming Services, capped at $1,500: 7,500 URs = $150+
Total maximization: 21,000 Ultimate Reward points ( $420+ fully optimized, $262.50 in the CSP UR portal;) + $50 statement credit (Instacart Membership)
The Final Point
Overall, we’re glad to see Chase continuing to bring value to cardholders in these challenging times, especially when most of us are grounded from the skies and have had to fully reassess our 2020 travel plans. By delivering an opportunity to earn $800+ in value to offset the Chase Sapphire Reserve card’s $450 annual fee or $420+ in value to offset the Chase Sapphire Preferred’s $95 annual fee, we see less and less of a reason to consider downgrading either card in 2020. The current trend this year is that Chase is taking things quarter by quarter, and we’re certain that they’ll continue to take care of their cardholders throughout the pandemic. This flexibility also allows a win for Chase by having us use our Chase Sapphire cards for Instacart for groceries, gas stations for that summer road trip, and streaming services to keep the beats bumpin! While we wish Chase would’ve offered the $50 statement credit for any Instacart purchase, if you were debating testing out the Instacart Express membership, we think this is definitely the time to take it for a test ride and advantage of the statement credit.
Since we also hold The Platinum Card from American Express, which is offering a competing $20 per month statement credit on streaming services for the remainder of 2020, our strategy will be to keep at least $20 worth of streaming services on The Platinum Card to maximize the statement credit and bring the rest of these services over to the Chase Sapphire Reserve to take advantage of the 10X Ultimate Rewards points for the next three months. The bonus earnings for gas stations is a slam dunk, as we’ll fuel up the cars, trucks, and boats with the Chase Sapphire Reserve while earning 5X UItimate Reward points on gas for the next three months of summer!
Comment down below, DM us on Instagram, or message us on Facebook to let us know what you think about these summer 2020 Chase Sapphire card bonus categories!
Full details and fine print here on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Sapphire Preferred, and JP Morgan Reserve cards. Details are current at the time of posting on July 2, 2020. Chase may later update this page to reflect current benefits.