How the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card Could Save You $450 or More per Year

First, the bad. The Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees) has a $795 annual fee, which makes it one of the costliest credit cards you can apply for. But when you look at its perks, you might be surprised at the value you can get.

With that in mind, here's a rundown of the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, what they're worth, and how much value the card can provide for frequent travelers who take full advantage of its perks.

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Chase Sapphire Reserve® perks and what they could save you

As you might expect from such a high-end credit card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® has several perks for members. Here's a rundown of the major benefits and what they could be worth to you.

Annual travel credit ($300)

Cardholders get $300 in travel purchases automatically reimbursed as a statement credit every year. Unlike some competing high-end travel cards, this isn't just for incidentals. You can use this toward flights, hotels, rental cars, and more.

Airport lounge access ($469)

Chase Sapphire Reserve® holders get a Priority Pass Select airport lounge membership, which includes access for you and up to two guests at over 1,000 lounges worldwide.

To be sure, you can't buy a Select membership (it's only used as a credit card perk), but an unlimited Priority Pass membership without guest access costs $469 per year, so we can conservatively value this benefit that way.

Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit ($30)

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® gives you a $120 credit for a Global Entry membership or $85 for TSA PreCheck once every four years. On an annual basis, let's call this a $30 value, assuming you opt for the more expensive $120 option and renew every four years.

Other memberships ($200 or more)

In addition, Chase Sapphire Reserve® card members get complimentary partner memberships, including Lyft Pink All Access (worth up to $199 per year), a DoorDash DashPass membership, and more.

Since cardholders are not likely to use all of these (although you certainly could), we'll say this can be valued at about $200 for the average person.

Chase Ultimate Rewards (Varies)

The Chase Sapphire Reserve® has an excellent rewards program that earns 10 points per dollar on hotels and car rentals booked through Chase, 5 points per dollar on flights through Chase, 3 points per dollar on other travel and dining, and 1 point per dollar on other purchases.

The value of the rewards you get depends on your spending habits. But let's say that you charge a total of $20,000 on the card in a year, with $2,000 in the 10x categories, $2,000 on the 5x category, $10,000 on other travel and dining, and $6,000 on other general purchases. This would get you 66,000 points, worth nearly $1,000 in free travel.

Welcome bonus

This discussion so far hasn't even mentioned the welcome bonus of the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which gives you 100,000 bonus points + $500 Chase Travel℠ promo credit after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months on the card. Since points can be redeemed through Chase Ultimate Rewards for travel at a $0.015 per-point rate for Chase Sapphire Reserve® cardholders, this is worth at least $1,000 in free travel. So your first-year savings with the card could be much greater.

Putting it all together

The combined value of these benefits, without the rewards points you can earn or the welcome bonus, is just shy of $1,000 per year. Even when accounting for the annual fee, someone who takes advantage of the card's benefits could save $450 or more per year. And of course, the true "value" depends on whether you use them -- for example, airport lounge access is clearly not worth $469 per year to someone who travels just once or twice a year.

However, between all of the perks and the rewards points you can earn, the Chase Sapphire Reserve® can justify its annual fee several times over for frequent travelers who spend enough to take advantage of its excellent rewards program. So, just because the card comes with a hefty $795 annual fee doesn't necessarily mean that it's expensive.

>> Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card. <<