I’m $875 Ahead on My Chase Sapphire Reserve This Year — And I’m Still Downgrading It

If you follow points and miles content, you’ve read a hundred posts about whether the Chase Sapphire Reserve is “worth it” after the fee hike. This isn’t one of those posts.

I made money on my Chase Sapphire Reserve this year. By my own count, I’m about $875 ahead of the $550 I actually paid for the card once I add up the credits I used. And I’m downgrading it anyway.

Here’s why the math isn’t actually the reason I’m doing it — and why that distinction matters more than any spreadsheet.

What Happened to the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s Annual Fee?

My Chase Sapphire Reserve annual fee hits on August 1st, and this year it’s jumping to $795. Last year I was still grandfathered in at $550 — the old fee, before Chase’s broader card overhaul raised it for existing cardholders on renewals starting October 2025. So everything I’m about to walk you through, the full $875 I got out of this card, is value I got for a $550 fee. That math changes significantly at $795. But the math isn’t why I’m walking away. It’s about strategy. More on that below.

I applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred five years ago, back when Chase only let you hold one Sapphire product at a time and you could earn a new sign-on bonus roughly every four years. Chase has since scrapped both of those rules.

As of January 2026, you can hold the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve at the same time, but each card’s welcome bonus is now a once-per-lifetime deal (Chase hasn’t clearly defined what “lifetime” means — for comparison, Amex’s version of this rule tends to run around seven-plus years). I’ve never actually earned the Sapphire Reserve’s bonus, which turns out to be the whole reason I’m doing this.

How I Actually Used the Credits on my Chase Sapphire Reserve This Year

Before I get into the “why,” I want to be honest about the “how much,” because I think too many people downgrade a card without ever tallying what they got out of it first.

• The Edit Collection credit ($250 x2): I used both this year, and each one tells its own story. The first went toward our stay at the Ryder Hotel in Charleston. [Full breakdown in my Charleston post →] The second went toward the Kimpton Marlowe in Boston — which is an IHG Hotels & Resorts property, and that turned out to matter.
• Hotel Collection credit ($250): Because the Marlowe is an IHG property, that Boston stay also qualified for the separate Hotel Collection credit, so I was able to stack both credits on the same booking. [Full breakdown in my Boston post →]
• $300 annual travel credit: Used in full.
• Dining credit ($150 x2): Used both, though not on myself — I gifted both to my son and my wife for restaurants in Chicago. I still count that as real value, because it’s money I didn’t have to spend elsewhere.
• StubHub credit: Used twice, and I gave both of them away. One went to a fan of my son’s esports team, the other to a good friend for a Steelers ticket. I didn’t personally attend either event — the only value I actually captured was the points earned on the purchases, stacked with whichever of Rakuten or Rove had the better return that week. On the second one I tried to also stack Paze but clicked through too fast and only ended up with the Rakuten points — a good reminder to slow down at checkout.
• Lyft credits: Used three times, only when we were traveling. We drive everywhere locally, so rideshare credits sitting unused when I’m home isn’t a knock on the card, it’s just not how we live.
• DashPass/DoorDash: Used it, quit it, then came back to it with a completely different strategy. More on that below.
• Peloton app: Downloaded, used for a bit, then canceled deliberately once I knew a downgrade was coming, so I wouldn’t forget and eat the charge.
• Apple TV: Not counting this one — it’s not something I’d pay for on my own, so it’s not real value to me even though it’s technically included. (And writing this out loud just reminded me I still need to actually cancel it. Noted.)

The DoorDash Detour: Quitting, Then Coming Back Smarter

This one deserves its own space because it’s a good example of how this hobby actually works day to day.

In January, DashPass let me place a $10 minimum pickup order at my local Sheetz — the only place near me where I can actually use pickup. When Chase raised that minimum to $20, I was genuinely annoyed, and I stopped using it altogether. For a few months I just didn’t think about it.

It took me until May to come to my senses and rethink the situation instead of just writing the benefit off. I found this hobby through the FIRE community — financial independence, retire early — and it taught me a lot about how I think about money. I got into points and miles in the first place to save money on travel, something that’s genuinely important to me.

So once I actually sat with it, I knew rethinking the DoorDash situation was going to save me money in the end, not cost me the win I’d already decided I lost. I order energy drinks by the case from Sam’s Club, and there’s always at least one flavor in every case we don’t like. So I started ordering them individually through DoorDash instead, stacking whatever coupon codes were available. I went from paying around $2 a drink to somewhere between $1.33 and $1.67 a drink — and I get to pick flavors we actually want instead of whatever came in the case.

Small shift, but it’s a good reminder for this hobby in general: sometimes we need to take a step back and rethink things — from sign-on bonuses down to a simple $10 credit on a credit card. When a benefit changes on you, give yourself a minute before you quit it outright. Sometimes the better move isn’t out the door, it’s a different door.

Add it all up, and I land around $875 ahead of the $550 fee I paid for the year. By a pure numbers test, the card worked.

One caveat worth flagging: Chase hasn’t been fully clear on whether the Hotel Collection credit resets on a calendar-year basis or on your card’s anniversary date. I’m treating this as an open question rather than a settled fact, and I’d encourage you to confirm your own reset date with Chase directly before you plan a booking around it.

So Why Downgrade a Card That’s Making Me Money?

Because the credits were never really the reason I was frustrated. The frustration is with what I’d call the couponification of the Chase Sapphire Reserve — the fact that getting real value out of it now requires actively working a checklist of credits, minimums, and stacking rules, rather than just… using a good travel card. I had to work for that $875. It didn’t just happen.

And here’s the part that actually matters for my strategy: I’ve never earned the Chase Sapphire Reserve’s sign-on bonus. I only ever got the Sapphire Preferred’s, five years ago. Under the new once-per-lifetime rule, that bonus is still sitting there, unclaimed, whenever I decide to go get it.

So my plan is simple: downgrade the Reserve now, and reapply for it later once I’ve actually gotten value out of the card as a product rather than a bonus. I’m not in a rush. I’m currently at 2/24 (more on what that means in my Credit Card Rules 101 [blog post →] and [YouTube video →] if you’re not familiar), and I’ve been playing a slower game with applications lately. I’m also sitting on a healthy points balance right now, which makes it a lot easier to take a step back and let a couple of my cards get some quiet time instead of constantly chasing the next thing.

While I wait, I’m keeping an eye on whether Chase rolls out an even stronger Sapphire Reserve welcome offer before I reapply. There’s no reason to rush into a bonus I’ll only get once.

What About the Sapphire Preferred and the Amex Gold?

Two cards are on my radar right now: the Chase Sapphire Reserve bonus I mentioned above, and the American Express Gold, which I keep getting denied a welcome bonus on. Rather than force it, I’m treating this as a “get back in Amex’s good graces” season — building history with them instead of pushing for an approval I’m not going to get anyway.

Is Downgrading Right for You?

I want to be really clear that this isn’t a “the Chase Sapphire Reserve isn’t worth it” post. It made me money this year. If you’re getting genuine use out of the credit stack and you value the perks, that’s a completely valid reason to keep it.

My decision comes down to something more specific to my situation: an unclaimed lifetime bonus, a slower application strategy right now, and being tired of treating a travel card like a part-time job. That’s not a universal answer — it’s mine. As always, the right move depends on your own card history, your 5/24 status, and how much bandwidth you actually have to work a credit stack like this one.

If you’re sitting on your own annual fee renewal right now, I’d ask yourself the same question I asked myself: are you keeping this card because it’s working for you, or because you feel like you should?

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I’m not affiliated with any major credit card issuer, including Chase or American Express — that’s intentional, so I can talk about cards like this one honestly, credits and all.

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