Chase Reserve and Sapphire unofficially coding bonus cashback for dining

A few weeks ago, Chase announced that their Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards, which normally just earn 3x and 2x on travel and dining purchases, respectively, will be earning bonus Ultimate Rewards (UR) for the 3rd quarter (Q3) for Instacart, gas station, and streaming subscription services.  This is a welcome addition as typically, only the Chase Freedom earns quarterly bonus UR.  And new datapoints are now showing that the Chase Reserve and Sapphire Preferred are now also earning 5x and 3x, respectively, on all dining purchases.


As you can see from the screenshot above (credit: Traveling for Miles), dining purchases before July 1 earned the standard 3x for the Reserve.  But a similar dining purchase after July 1 earned 5x.  Since this is an unannounced bonus, it's unclear as to how long it's good for and what the cap is.  But more likely than not, it'll be good for all of Q3 as datapoints suggested that dining began earning extra UR effective July 1.

So in summary for Q3, the Reserve will earn the following bonus cashback:
  • 5x on Instacart on up to $3,000 in spending
  • Up to $50 in statement credits toward Instacart Express annual ($99/yr) or monthly ($9.99/mo) membership
  • 5x at gas stations on up to $1500 in spending
  • 10x on select streaming like Netflix and Spotify on up to $1500 in spending
  • 5x on dining (increased from the standard 3x)
And the Sapphire Preferred earns the following:
  • 3x on Instacart on up to $3,000 in spending
  • Up to $50 in statement credits toward Instacart Express annual ($99/yr) or monthly ($9.99/mo) membership
  • 3x at gas stations on up to $1500 in spending
  • 5x on select streaming like Netflix and Spotify on up to $1500 in spending
  • 3x on dining (increased from the standard 2x)

Quick thoughts

It's good to see Chase adjust to the times.  Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards where designed with travel in mind.  But now that travel has plummeted and it could be months and even years before it fully recovers, Chase is adjusting the bonus cashback categories to reflect more of our daily purchases.  This is helpful for Chase as card holders will likely continue using their cards with these categorical bonuses in mind, and also beneficial for the car holder who will be earning the bonus UR.

From all of us at Flying for Fitness, please stay healthy during this trying time.  We hope you enjoyed this post.  Please consider visiting one of our sponsors by clicking on the advertisements.  Our sponsors pay us for customer visits and help us to keep the lights on.  Thanks!



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