JPMorgan Chase is raising the fee on its popular Sapphire Reserve credit card to $550 and adding more perks just as some of the biggest card issuers have been pulling back on them.
To justify the $100 increase Chase is offering $60 in annual DoorDash credits in 2020 and 2021 and a complimentary year of Lyft Pink — which costs $19.99 per month and includes 15 percent off Lyft rides, free bike and scooter trips, priority airport pickup, and more flexibility for cancellations.
Cardholders will also earn 10 points per dollar on Lyft rides — a 20 percent return according to valuations by The Points Guy — versus the 3 points per dollar they normally earn on transportation spending, through March 2022.
Chase unveiled the Sapphire Reserve card in 2016 when anti-bank sentiment among the under-40 crowd was at its peak and seemingly no one in the industry thought millennials wanted credit cards. It began an arms race among competitors including Citi and AmEx to improve their own rewards offerings. That soon quieted and both issuers have begun to pull back on high-end rewards due to their high costs and reduced profits.
The rewards market has since boomed. Personal finance content and advice sites NerdWallet, Square's Cash App, and even Chase have integrated cash-back features into their apps. Rakuten, the Japanese e-commerce giant that bought the cash-back platform Ebates in 2014, is currently going hard on marketing. The rewards app Drop, which gives users points for shopping and gift cards to redeem with them, raised $21 million in Series A funding last year. And PayPal bought rewards platform Honey last month in its largest-ever acquisition.
The Sapphire Reserve fee updates will go into effect Jan. 12 for new cardholders as well as existing cardholders whose cards renew after April 1.
This story has been updated with a response from Chase Cards.
"We take a variety of factors into account when determining pricing on our products – value to the customer, customer demand and the competitive environment to name a few. Sapphire customers are incredibly savvy and we know they will consider the value of the card for them. That’s always been the case with Sapphire Reserve, and we expect no difference here," Catherine Hogan, president of Chase Cards, wrote in a statement.
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
