Chase J.P. Morgan Palladium Visa Signature Review (discontinued)
Updated August 26, 2016. Note: as of August 2016, J.P. Morgan Palladium was discontinued for new applications and replaced by J.P. Morgan Reserve. The existing Palladium cards will be converted to J.P. Morgan Reserve as well.
The Facts
The Math
While Chase certainly has Amex Centurion as the arch rival and target in mind, we think in terms benefits JPM Palladium is actually comparable to Amex Platinum.
JPM Palladium vs. Amex Platinum: Amex Platinum is $150 less in annual fee, and offers $200 airline incidental credit, Delta lounge access, Priority Pass Select, Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR), and other nice perks. JPM Palladium, on the other hand, offers 2x travel, 35% bonus for $100K spending, United Club membership which covers United and Star Alliance lounges, Lounge Club whose coverage is a subset of Priority Pass Select, premium hotel benefits and so on. For United flyers, JPM Palladium will make a lot of sense since it is only $150 more than MP Club Visa, another card offering United Club membership. With the 2014 change to the Amex's lounge program - American and US Air left the program and Delta stopped to give free access to guests, JMP Palladium's lounge program suddenly became more attractive by comparison since United Club membership still allows two guests for free and Lounge Club allows one guest for free. Also JPM Palladium's image and exclusivity is superior to Amex Platinum. However, Amex's FHR is a better program than Palladium's in general due to its wider coverage. Ultimately Amex Platinum is actually $350 cheaper in annual fees if you can make use of the $200 airline credit. If you spend more than $100K a year, JPM Palladium is the highest earning UR product out there, and while regular Amex Platinum is not great for general spending, Amex does have a Goldman Sachs version which offers a comparable 40K annual bonus after $100K spending. The bottom line is that depending on your need, you may choose one over another or may even keep both.
To see how JPM Palladium competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum, Amex Delta Reserve, Chase United MP Club, JPM Ritz-Carlton, JPM Palladium, Citi Executive/AA, Citi Prestige, Diners Club Elite, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
JPM Palladium vs. Amex Centurion: Amex Centurion is much more expensive in fees (one-time $7,500 initiation fee, $2,500 annual fee, and $1,500 for an additional card) while also offering much more in benefits such as free Delta Platinum, US Airways Platinum, Virgin Atlantic Gold, Hilton Gold, Priority Club Platinum, and so on. However, JPM Palladium's benefits do seem different and can be attractive to Centurion holders.
The Conclusion
While JPM Palladium's benefits are comparable to Amex Platinum's, its image and exclusivity rivals that of Amex Centurion.
The Facts
- Annual Fee: $595 for the primary cardholder, $99 for an additional user.
- Signup Bonus: none
- Rewards: 2x travel and 1x everywhere else. You also receive a 35K point bonus when your annual spending exceeds $100K.
- Best Use of Ultimate Rewards (UR) points: The Ultimate Rewards is Chase's rewards program - normally the points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, or travel, at up to 1 cent per point. However, JPM Palladium, has two premium redemption options that are not available on regular UR cards. One option is to redeem for travel through UR and get 50% bonus value, essentially making 1 point = 1.5 cents. Note this is more than the 25% bonus on other premium UR products such as Chase Sapphire Preferred and JPM Select. The other option, similar to SPG and Amex's Membership Rewards (MR), is to transfer points into miles or points of frequent traveler programs. Please see our review on SPG vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR for detailed comparison.
- Benefits: (1) Complimentary Lounge Club membership with unlimited lounge access for you and your guests to over 350 airport lounges worldwide (authorized users also get Lounge Club memberships). (2) Complimentary United Club membership with unlimited lounge access for the primary cardholder plus two guests to over 270 airport lounges worldwide (this is an unadvertised benefit and card members need to call their bankers or concierge to make a request). (3) It was reported that some cardholders even received complimentary Delta Sky Club membership. Please see our featured review for details on airport lounge access. (4) Complimentary Global Hotel Alliance Black status. (5) Premium hotel privileges (upgrades, breakfasts, late check-out, etc.) when booking thru J.P. Morgan - while the benefits are comparable to Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts', the footprints are much smaller (less than 200 hotels worldwide). (5) Waived foreign transaction fees. EMV chip embedded for chip-and-signature transactions abroad. (6) Primary rental car collision damage waiver - please see our featured review on credit cards that come with primary rental card insurance for details.
- Other Fact: Chase launched this card obviously targeting Amex Centurion members. While Amex Centurion is made of titanium, JPM Palladium is made of some alloy containing the precious metal palladium, with your signature laser engraved to the card. The card weights about 1 ounce, and some early reports misleadingly claimed that the card is made of pure palladium and costs $1,000 by itself which later turned out untrue. In order to qualify for the card, you need to have a private banker at J.P. Morgan, which requires at least $1,000,000 (1 million) in assets with the bank. It has been reported and confirmed that you may also qualify through Chase Private Client, lowering the requirement to $250,000.
The Math
While Chase certainly has Amex Centurion as the arch rival and target in mind, we think in terms benefits JPM Palladium is actually comparable to Amex Platinum.
JPM Palladium vs. Amex Platinum: Amex Platinum is $150 less in annual fee, and offers $200 airline incidental credit, Delta lounge access, Priority Pass Select, Fine Hotels & Resorts (FHR), and other nice perks. JPM Palladium, on the other hand, offers 2x travel, 35% bonus for $100K spending, United Club membership which covers United and Star Alliance lounges, Lounge Club whose coverage is a subset of Priority Pass Select, premium hotel benefits and so on. For United flyers, JPM Palladium will make a lot of sense since it is only $150 more than MP Club Visa, another card offering United Club membership. With the 2014 change to the Amex's lounge program - American and US Air left the program and Delta stopped to give free access to guests, JMP Palladium's lounge program suddenly became more attractive by comparison since United Club membership still allows two guests for free and Lounge Club allows one guest for free. Also JPM Palladium's image and exclusivity is superior to Amex Platinum. However, Amex's FHR is a better program than Palladium's in general due to its wider coverage. Ultimately Amex Platinum is actually $350 cheaper in annual fees if you can make use of the $200 airline credit. If you spend more than $100K a year, JPM Palladium is the highest earning UR product out there, and while regular Amex Platinum is not great for general spending, Amex does have a Goldman Sachs version which offers a comparable 40K annual bonus after $100K spending. The bottom line is that depending on your need, you may choose one over another or may even keep both.
To see how JPM Palladium competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum, Amex Delta Reserve, Chase United MP Club, JPM Ritz-Carlton, JPM Palladium, Citi Executive/AA, Citi Prestige, Diners Club Elite, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
JPM Palladium vs. Amex Centurion: Amex Centurion is much more expensive in fees (one-time $7,500 initiation fee, $2,500 annual fee, and $1,500 for an additional card) while also offering much more in benefits such as free Delta Platinum, US Airways Platinum, Virgin Atlantic Gold, Hilton Gold, Priority Club Platinum, and so on. However, JPM Palladium's benefits do seem different and can be attractive to Centurion holders.
The Conclusion
While JPM Palladium's benefits are comparable to Amex Platinum's, its image and exclusivity rivals that of Amex Centurion.