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I rarely use it because my Chase Preferred has more offers/benefits. Mostly these days it's used for Apple payments like iCloud for the extra percent back in c

I rarely use it because my Chase Preferred has more offers/benefits. Mostly these days it's used for Apple payments like iCloud for the extra percent back in cash.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
Ah, that is a decent use case. Seems like it would only net you a few bucks more back a year than chase points if you're, say, buying the Apple One Family plan though. I also have both the Apple card and the Chase Reserve and end up using the Chase card exclusively because it has better benefits, and can really probably only recommend the Apple one for people who rarely travel and buy a lot of Apple products. The Chase ones pay for themselves across one weeklong vacation. If you use them as daily drivers (e.g. funnel all of your expenses through them) you can usually buy several plane tickets a year on points alone
- spike021 3y ago
  Yeah Chase works out the best for sure. Especially if you manage to get a signup bonus. That's what I did for the Preferred earlier this year and it netted me 80k extra points. Used part of it to get "free" roundtrip economy tickets to Japan from California. Not bad. You're right though that the Apple Card just isn't really that worth it unless you're buying hardware every year, which I do not.
  - SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
    If you have some greater than nominal amount of yearly spend on travel (like $500, seriously) I highly recommend upgrading to the reserve right after your year end bonus (this will maximize your points). Better even if you get an upgrade bonus. You get $300 of the $450 back immediately after you spend it on travel and the extra points will be made back in weeks if not months if you spend on it even a little. I had the preferred for like 6 years because it was the cheapest card with no foreign transaction fees and after upgrading to the reserve this year I am kicking myself for having waited this long. The lounges are meh but the better insurance and more points are killer, plus the one time free global entry is a nice benefit as well if you don’t already have it.

I rarely use it because my Chase Preferred has more offers/benefits. Mostly these days it's used for Apple payments like iCloud for the extra percent back in cash.

SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago

Ah, that is a decent use case. Seems like it would only net you a few bucks more back a year than chase points if you're, say, buying the Apple One Family plan though. I also have both the Apple card and the Chase Reserve and end up using the Chase card exclusively because it has better benefits, and can really probably only recommend the Apple one for people who rarely travel and buy a lot of Apple products. The Chase ones pay for themselves across one weeklong vacation. If you use them as daily drivers (e.g. funnel all of your expenses through them) you can usually buy several plane tickets a year on points alone

spike021 3y ago
Yeah Chase works out the best for sure. Especially if you manage to get a signup bonus. That's what I did for the Preferred earlier this year and it netted me 80k extra points. Used part of it to get "free" roundtrip economy tickets to Japan from California. Not bad. You're right though that the Apple Card just isn't really that worth it unless you're buying hardware every year, which I do not.
- SOLAR_FIELDS 3y ago
  If you have some greater than nominal amount of yearly spend on travel (like $500, seriously) I highly recommend upgrading to the reserve right after your year end bonus (this will maximize your points). Better even if you get an upgrade bonus. You get $300 of the $450 back immediately after you spend it on travel and the extra points will be made back in weeks if not months if you spend on it even a little. I had the preferred for like 6 years because it was the cheapest card with no foreign transaction fees and after upgrading to the reserve this year I am kicking myself for having waited this long. The lounges are meh but the better insurance and more points are killer, plus the one time free global entry is a nice benefit as well if you don’t already have it.