Chase just brought us an improved signup bonus for Sapphire Preferred:

• 80,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (=$1,000 travel rewards via Chase, or 80K miles/points of United, Singapore, British, Flying Blue, Southwest, JetBlue, Hyatt, etc.) after spending $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening.  Note that there is no more first annual fee waiver as before.  
• This bonus is not available if you currently have a Sapphire card (Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred, or Sapphire Reserve) or have received signup bonus from any Sapphire card in the past 48 months.  
• Based on anecdotal reports, this card is subject to Chase's 5/24 rule (you won't be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards). 
• The historical high of the signup bonus for this card was 100,000 points, but it was many years ago in 2012.  This 80K points offer is the best bonus we have seen since 2012.
• Sapphire Preferred is a great card to pair with the newly enhanced Chase Freedom Unlimited which offers 5x points on travel through Chase, 3x on dining & drugstores, and 1.5x everywhere else, because you might move points earned from Freedom Unlimited (which is ineligible for miles/points transfer) to Sapphire Preferred's account so they become eligible for miles/points transfer as well as the 1.25 cents per point fixed-value travel redemptions, greatly improving Freedom Unlimited's value.

Citi Premier has been revamped to offer 3x ThankYou points on groceries & gas & dining & airlines & hotels & travel agencies, almost single-handedly covering all important bonus categories.  Previously, Citi Premier offered 3x on gas & travel, and 2x on dining & entertainment.  Our current valuation for ThankYou points is 1.5 cents a piece based on the miles/points transfer feature (partners including Avianca, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, JetBlue, Etihad, etc.), and thus Citi Premier returns 4.5% travel rewards for all its 3x categories.  With this substantial improvement, Citi Premier is now #1 Best Credit Card for Rewards, unseating the long reigning Amex EveryDay Preferred, and also rated #3 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card.  Note that 3x bonus on groceries & gas has been offered to cardmembers since June, ahead of the schedule revamp as part of temporary COVID-19 relief by credit cards.  Here are the before and after snapshots for our Top 10 list.

Just like many other credit cards that receive COVID-19 related temporary benefits, now Citi Premier also receives something pretty good: starting June 2, 2020, you will earn 3x points on groceries (increased from 1x) and dining (increased from 2x); however, the difference here is that this benefit is considered permanent rather than temporary.  Back in April, Citi announced the revamp of Citi Premier which would kick in as of August 23, 2020 and include 3x points on groceries and dining; obviously after seeing competitors ramping up the temporary COVID-19 relief, Citi has decided to move the implementation date of this benefit a couple of months earlier.  However, the whole revamp situation is kind of complicated, and here we would like to break it down for you.

• For those who applied on or after April 10, 2020: (1) effective June 2, 2020, earn 3x points on groceries and dining; (2) continue to earn 3x on travel & gas and 2x on entertainment through August 22, 2020; (3) effective August 23, 2020, earn 3x on airlines & hotels & gas & groceries & dining and 1x everywhere else; (4) effective August 23, 2020, earn $100 annual hotel credits when you purchase a hotel stay $500 or more through ThankYou.com; (5) effective April 10, 2021, the fixed value travel redemption will be reduced from 1.25 cents to 1 cent per point. 
• For those who applied before April 10, 2020: (1) effective June 2, 2020, earn 3x points on groceries and dining; (2) continue to earn 3x on travel & gas and 2x on entertainment through April 9, 2021; (3) effective April 10, 2021, earn 3x on airlines & hotels & gas & groceries & dining and 1x everywhere else; (4) effective August 23, 2020, earn $100 annual hotel credits when you purchase a hotel stay $500 or more through ThankYou.com; (5) effective April 10, 2021, the fixed value travel redemption will be reduced from 1.25 cents to 1 cent per point. 

​Confusing? Indeed.  As the the revamp for new applications will fully take effect on August 23, 2020, we will wait until then to re-rank this card and expect a higher ranking.

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.