As covered in a previous post, we praised Chase Sapphire Reserve for offering powerful temporary COVID-19 related benefits such as reduced annual fees, 5x points on groceries, enhanced flexibility for $300 annual travel credit, and enhanced flexibility in points redemption.  Now Citi and US Bank are following Chase to offer some great temporary benefits for Sapphire Reserve's two major competitors.

• Citi Prestige: (1) earn 5x points on online purchases, up to $1,500 spent in this category (in addition to the regular 5x on airlines | travel agencies | dining, 3x on hotels | cruise lines), from 6/2/2020 through 8/31/2020; (2) as previously announced, the annual $250 travel credits can be used towards groceries and dining, from 5/1/2020 through 12/31/2020.
• US Bank Altitude Reserve: (1) the annual $325 travel credits can be used towards dining, from 6/1/2020 through 12/31/2020; (2) earn 3x points on dining (in addition to the regular 3x on travel and mobile wallets), from 6/1/2020 through 12/31/2020.

So with all these, which card is the "king of credit cards" during this pandemic?  Obviously it depends on your spending patterns.  In our opinions, as most consumers have been cutting down on travel and dining while increasing online and grocery purchases, who offers the most for the latter two categories will win.  In this way, we have to choose between Sapphire Reserve and Citi Prestige: the former offers 5x on groceries for two months (capped at $1,500 spent per month) and allows points to be redeemed for groceries | dining | home improvement in addition to travel at the impressive 1.5 cents per point value for seven months, and the latter offers 5x on a arguably wider category for three months but capped at $1,500 spent total.  Due to the higher spending cap as well as the enhanced flexibility of redemption, we think Sapphire Reserve is still the best card during the pandemic.

With the unfortunate recent devaluation of United miles, we have to adjust our ranking.  Chase United Club Visa is now replaced with Amex Green Card as the #10 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card.  We don't want to cover the details of the devaluation - you might visit travel blogs such as onemileatatime for details.  In a nutshell, United has decided to align its Star Alliance partner redemption rates with those of its own metals, and as a result, our valuation of United miles is adjusted from 1.4 cents per mile (cpm) to 1.3 cpm.  Below is a comparison of our Top 10 list before and after this change.

As detailed in the previous post, several card issuers have temporary COVID-19 related benefits for select credit cards.  Now Chase pushes this further on the popular Sapphire Reserve Card and Sapphire Preferred Card.

• Chase Sapphire Reserve: (1) the annual $300 travel credit will apply automatically to groceries and gas stations between 6/1/2020 to 12/31/2020 (in addition to the regular travel category); (2) between 5/31/2020 to 9/30/2020, Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed in statement credits for groceries & dining & home improvement at a fixed value of 1.5 cents per point (in addition to the regular travel category redemption through Chase booking portal); (3) the annual fee will be reduced from $550 to $450 when you renew before 12/31/2020 (previously this reduction applies to renewals between 4/1/2020 to 7/31/2020); (4) as previously announced, continue to earn 5x points on groceries, up to $1,500 in purchases per month, from 5/1/2020 through 6/30/2020.
• Chase Sapphire Preferred: (1) between 5/31/2020 to 9/30/2020, Ultimate Rewards points can be redeemed in statement credits for groceries & dining & home improvement at a fixed value of 1.25 cents per point (in addition to the regular travel category redemption through Chase booking portal); (2) as previously announced, continue to earn 3x points on groceries, up to $1,500 in purchase per month, from 5/1/2020 through 6/30/2020.

Obviously, Sapphire Reserve is a very powerful card during this special time, as no other card has offered 5x points on groceries temporarily or offered 1.5 cent/point temporary redemption option for groceries & dining & home improvement.  Of course the added flexibility of the annual $300 travel credit and temporary reduced annual fees all add to the value of the card.  Personally, I was on the fence whether to keep this card upon my renewal in the coming October due to the increased annual fee and greatly reduced spending on travel & dining, and now it is clear that I will keep this card, at least for another year.

COVID-19 pandemic has obviously changed consumer behavior big time, and it makes sense that credit card issuers are making adjustments accordingly.  This post summarizes these adjustments from Amex, Chase, and Citi.

American Express

• For those who open a credit card (personal or small business) between 12/1/2019 and 5/31/2020, the period to meet spending requirement to receive signup bonus will be extended for three months.
• Platinum Card (personal): up to $320 in statement credits on select U.S. streaming services and U.S. wireless phone services (up to $20 per category per month, from May through December 2020); cardmembers that renew between April and December 2020 will receive $200 in statement credits for Amex Travel (Amex's travel booking portal, from August 2020 to December 2021).
• Business Platinum Card: up to $320 in statement credits on wireless phone services and U.S. shipping (up to $20 per category per month, from May to December 2020); up to additional $200 in statement credits on Dell purchases in U.S. (up to $100 from 5/1/2020 to 6/30/2020; up to $100 from 7/1/2020 to 12/31/2020) - this is on top of the $200 Dell credits that are already part of this card's benefits; select cardmembers will also receive a $200 credit when they renew between May and November 2020.
• Green Card: up to $80 in statement credits on U.S. wireless phone services (up to $10 per month, from May through December 2020).
• Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card: earn 6x points on U.S. supermarkets, up to $7,500 in purchase, from May through July 2020); $300 Marriott statement credits can now be used towards U.S. restaurants, from June through August 2020).
• Marriott Bonvoy Business Card: select cardmembers will receive a $59 credit when they renew between May and December 2020.
• Hilton Aspire Card & Hilton Surpass Card: earn 12x points on U.S. supermarkets, up to $7,500 in purchase, from May through July 2020; bonus points earned through these credit cards from May to December 2020 will be considered base points for determining Hilton elite status; unexpired free weekend night certificates as of 5/1/2020 and newer certificates issued until 12/31/2020, will be valid for any night of the week, and those issued between 5/1/2020 and 12/31/2020 will be valid for 24 months (instead of 12 months); in addition, Hilton Aspire's $250 Hilton resort credits can now be used towards U.S. restaurants, from June through August 2020.
• Hilton Business Card: select cardmembers will receive a $50 credit when they renew between May and December 2020.
• Delta SkyMiles Reserve, SkyMiles Platinum, SkyMiles Gold, SkyMiles Blue cards: earn 4x miles on U.S. supermarkets, from May through July 2020; select Business SkyMiles Reserve cardmembers will receive a $125 credit when they renew between May and December 2020; select Business SkyMiles Platinum cardmembers will also receive a $75 credit when they renew between May and December 2020.

Chase

• For those who open a new credit card (personal or small business) from January through March 2020, the period to meet spending requirements to receive signup bonus will be extended for three months.
• Sapphire Reserve Card: annual fees will be reduced from $550 to $450 for those who renew the card from 4/1/2020 through 7/31/2020; earn 5x points on groceries, up to $1,500 in purchases per month, from 5/1/2020 through 6/30/2020.
• United Club Infinite Card, United Club Card, United Presidential Plus Card: earn 5x miles on groceries, up to $1,500 in purchase per month, from 5/1/2020 through 6/30/2020.
• Marriott Bonvoy Boundless, Bonvoy Bold, Marriott Rewards Premier: earn 6x points on groceries, up to $6,000 in purchase, from 5/1/2020 through 7/31/2020.
• The following cards will earn 3 points or miles on groceries, up to $1,500 in purchase per month, from 5/1/2020 through 6/30/2020: Sapphire Preferred Card, United Explorer Card, United MileagePlus Select Card, Southwest RapidRewards (RR) Plus Visa, Southwest RR Premier Visa, Southwest RR Priority Visa, British Airways Visa, Iberia Visa, Aer Lingus Visa, World of Hyatt Visa, Hyatt Visa, IHG Rewards Club Premier WEMC, IHG Rewards Club Select MasterCard, and Disney Premier Visa.

Citi

• For those who open a credit card (personal or small business) between 12/1/2019 and 5/31/2020, the period to meet spending requirement to receive signup bonus will be extended for three months.
• Citi Prestige: the annual $250 travel credits can now be used towards groceries and dining, from May to December 2020.
• Citi AA Executive: cardholders that renew after 3/31/2020 will receive a $225 statement credit, which equals to half of the annual fee.
• Citi AA Platinum Select: the annual $125 flight discount certificates (after $20K annual spending) that are expiring between 3/31/2020 and 5/31/2020 will be extended for 6 months.
• CitiBusiness AA Platinum Select: the annual $99 companion certificates (after $30K annual spending) that are expiring on 12/31/2020 will be extended for 6 months.

Chase and Southwest have brought the signup bonus on the Rapid Rewards (RR) Performance Business Visa to a historical high of 100,000 points.  You receive up to 100,000 points (70,000 points after you spend $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and additional 30,000 points after you spend $25,000 total within 6 months of new account opening).  This bonus is not available if you currently have any personal Southwest Rapid Rewards credit card or have received a signup bonus for any personal Southwest credit card in the past 24 months.

Opening a business card requires you have a small business or you are preparing to open a small business, and the $25K spending requirement within the first 6 months is pretty high.  However, once you hit $25K spending, you will earn at least 125,000 points which are more than enough to earn you Southwest Companion Pass, which normally requires 110,000 points in a calendar year and allows you to take a companion for free (you pay for your ticket and the taxes and fees for your companion) as many times as you could for the rest of 2020 and the entire 2021.  This is arguably the easiest way to qualify for the lucrative status.

Chase has re-branded United Explorer Business Visa as United Business Visa, and introduced a few changes:

• Annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, and not waived for the first year any more;
• Annual 10,000 miles booster for $15K spending is removed;
• Local transportation is now a 2x points category; NEW
• Receive 5,000 miles upon each anniversary when you also have a personal United credit card; NEW
• Receive $100 statement credit upon each anniversary when you buy at least 7 United tickets of $100 or more each.  NEW

Also now the card offers 100,000 miles after you spend $10,000 within 3 months of new account opening, better than United Explorer Business Visa ever offered.

To reflect the major changes that kicked in as of January 12, 2020, our review of Chase Sapphire Reserve has been updated, so as many other reviews that involve this popular card.

In a nutshell, the changes for Sapphire Reserve are as the following:

• The annual fee for primary cardholder is increased from $450 to $550, which seems an industry wide trend (Amex Platinum is $550, Amex Delta Reserve will soon be $550, Citi Prestige is $495, ...)
• One year Lyft Pink membership - activate before March 31, 2022.  Lyft Pink (valued at least $199 on paper) offers 15% off every car ride, priority airport pickups, relaxed cancellations, and exclusive savings;
• 10x points on Lyft purchases through March 2022, i.e., 7 additional points over the 3 points on regular travel;
• One year DoorDash subscription service for free - activate before December 31, 2021.  This subscription service offers $0 delivery fee and reduced service fees on food orders over $12 via DoorDash;  
• Receive $60 statement credits for DoorDash purchases through December 2020 and another $60 through December 2021;

As we can see the new Lyft and DoorDash perks, which might be useful to some customers, are sort of temporary to mitigate the annual fee increase.  We think in general this card was devaluated.  Considering the easy-to-use $300 annual credit, the effective annual fee is increased from $150 to $250.  In order to cancel that out and beat the benchmark 2% cashback provided by several non-fee cards such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa, the minimum spending on the 3x categories (dining & travel) is increased from $6,000 to $10,000, with our valuation of Chase Ultimate Rewards points at 1.5 cents a piece, because $6,000 x 3 x 1.5% = $6,000 x 2% + $150 while $10,000 x 3 x 1.5% = $10,000 x 2% + $250.

When compared to another Chase card that offer flexible miles/points transfer feature - Sapphire Preferred which carries a $95 annual fee and offers 2x points on dining & travel, you need to spend $10,500 per year on dining & travel to cancel out the effective annual fee difference, because $10,500 x 3 x 1.5% - $250 = $10,500 x 2 x 1.5% - $95.  Previously, you only need to spend $3,700t on dining & travel to cancel out the difference in effective annual fees, and that was why it was an easier recommendation to get the seemingly more expensive Sapphire Reserve.  Now you really need to figure out if you could spend that much in those categories and how much you value the extra perks and protection provided by Sapphire Reserve.  Another factor to consider is that Sapphire Reserve is still a better card for Ultimate Rewards ecosystem (we always recommend comparing it with the non-fee Freedom Unlimited to get best out of this ecosystem), as in addition to the flexible miles/points transfer feature it does offer a better fixed travel redemption option at 1.5 cents when you book through Chase.

All in all, it is not as easy as before to recommend Chase Sapphire Reserve, but for cardholders who spend enough on dining & travel and/or value excellent travel perks such as airport lounge access, luxury hotel privileges, primary rental car insurance, premium roadside assistance, the best travel & consumer protection provided by any credit card, and the ultimate flexibility in redeeming points, this card still represents great value.  After number crunching, Sapphire Reserve maintains the No.1 spot on our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list, for now.

Chase has upped signup bonuses on all three personal Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards  (RR) Visa Credit Cards to 75,000 points each with a $5,000 spending requirement: Southwest RR Plus Visa ($69 annual fee), Southwest RR Premier Visa ($99 annual fee), and Southwest RR Priority Visa ($150 annual fee).  These bonuses are arguably the best in history in terms of number of points.  Remember Chase used to offer a straight Companion Pass plus 30K points back in 2019, and Companion Pass plus 40K points for California residents back in 2017.  Companion Pass status allows you to take one companion for free as many times as you want, as long as you pay your own tickets and taxes and fees for your companion.  With the new 75K offers, it is actually not hard at all the qualify for the Companion Pass which requires 110K points accumulation in a calendar year.  Note that you won't receive a second bonus if you open two personal Southwest Visa cards; however, you could open one personal Southwest Visa and one Southwest Business Visa (RR Premier Business or RR Performance Business) to easily qualify for Companion Pass.

We never reviewed Amex Green Card because of the mediocre rewards (2x points on travel booked through Amex Travel, 1x everywhere else), until October 2019 when Amex had a major revamp of the card by increasing annual from $95 to $150 but enhancing travel & dining earning to 3x points and adding $100 CLEAR credit & $100 LoungeBuddy credit.  Please see our review for details.  It is now rated as one of the best credit cards for rewards.

The current signup bonus is 45,000 points after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening; you also receive up to $100 in statement credits for purchases made directly with Away (a travel luggage brand) within the first three months when you apply by January 15, 2020.  This signup bonus is not available to applicants who have or have had this card or any previous Amex Green Card. 

Our analysis: "The annual $100 CLEAR credit and $100 LoungeBuddy credit can't be treated at face value for most customers, so we will still consider the annual fee to be $150 for this card.  Using our current valuation of MR points at 1.5 cents a piece, you need to spend $6,000 a year in travel & dining combined to beat the $150 annual fee and 2% cashback provided by non-fee cards such as Citi Double Cash and Fidelity Visa, because $6,000 x 3 point/$ x 1.5 cent/point - $150 = $6,000 x 2%."

The 3x rewards structure is exactly the same as our favorite card Chase Sapphire Reserve which happens to have an effective annual fee of $150 after considering the $300 annual travel credit, and our current valuation of Chase Ultimate Rewards points happens to be the same at 1.5 cents per point.  In general, however, Sapphire Reserve is still a better card due to its travel perks, consumer protection, and enhanced 1.5 cent per point fixed value travel redemption.

Amex Green Card also pairs well with Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP) to form a formidable MR combo.  We wrote, "with 30 transactions per month, EDP returns 4.5x points on groceries (up to $6K spent each year, = 6.75% rewards) and 3x on gas (=4.5% rewards), while Amex Green returns 3x points on travel and dining (=4.5% rewards).  As for general spending, EDP returns higher rewards at 1.5x (=2.25% rewards) and will be ideal for most purchases other than foreign transactions.  With this powerful combo, you can easily cover all five most important bonus categories: grocery, gas, dining, airfare, and non-air travel, with impressive returns - that is an incredible deal! 

There are quite a few updates on the website in the recent weeks, and here is a quick roundup.

• Chase Southwest Performance Business Visa write-up is up - please see the Chase Southwest Visa Cards review for details.  The impressive 80K points signup will get you really close to the 110K-point qualifying threshold to achieve the potentially extremely lucrative Southwest Companion Pass which allows you take a companion for free for a year.
• Amex Blue Business Cash review is up - this card is no the new benchmark for general business spending with a strait 2% cashback on everything up to $50K spent per year and no annual fees.  If you can leverage Membership Rewards' miles transfer feature to achieve a points value higher than 1 cent a piece (1.5 cents in our book), you'd better off with the old "King of Business Cards" Amex Blue Business Plus; however, for most business owners, Blue Business Cash is a much easier option to get $1,000 in rewards per year.
• U.S. Bank Business Cash WEMC review is up.  Its 3.75% & 1.25% cash rewards structure is nothing to write about, but the $500 signup bonus is worth looking into.
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold Visa review is up.  If you can take advantage of the annual free night capped at 35K redemption level, the $95 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Visa is actually a better card to apply and keep.
• Chase United Explorer Business Visa is offering up to 100,000 miles at signup.  Before get too excited, you have to know that this comes with a rather difficult spending requirement of $25K within 6 months of new account opening.  Even with the devaluation of United miles in the coming November, due to the fact that partner redemption will be kept the same, this signup offer (worth $1,250 in our book) still tops our chart of best signup bonuses.
• Chase IHG Premier MasterCard offers the historical high - 125K points & $50 statement credit & 15 extra points for IHG purchase for the first year & 2 extra points for other general spending for the first year.  However, due to the relative low value of IHG points, this signup offer is worth about $460 in our book.
• Amex Hilton Ascend has been rebranded back to Amex Hilton Surpass, and nothing else changed.  It still comes with 130K Hilton points at signup (worth $425 in our book), complimentary Hilton Gold status, and an annual free weekend night after $15K spending.
• Amex Platinum Card offers 75K Membership Rewards at signup now.  It is very decent offer for those who are also interested in the iconic card's Fine Hotels & Resorts program, arguably the best airport lounge program offered by a credit card, Hilton Gold status, Uber & Saks credits, 5x points on airfare, etc.