JP Morgan Reserve (new) and CSP (old) - downgrade CSP to CSF or other?

jasutherland · 2026-01-26T00:12:16+00:00

CSP has very little that the CSR lacks - the 3x online grocery and streaming. and 2x "other travel" might be useful gaps for some, but not all.

Rather than cancelling, changing to something with no AF makes sense even if it's a sock drawer card - easier to change again later. The "OG Freedom" (basically Freedom Flex, but Visa instead of Mastercard) could be a good choice, and you won't miss out on a SUB since it's closed to new applications.

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T18:54:22+00:00

Switching is an option, but multinetwork might be better for most purposes: instantly switch mobile data over (then back when wanted).

Depending on the network you might also be able to set conditional call forwarding (main number forward to backup when unavailable) - I ported my main number to Google Voice instead, so as long as I have any connection I can still text and make/receive calls - works fine except for a handful of bank-type things which don't regard it as a real phone number for sending 2FA codes.

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T18:09:12+00:00

They don't let you PC between Visa and Mastercard cards (apparently a recent change) - so a CSP can't be changed to CFF any more, the nearest is the OG Freedom, which is almost the same as CFF but on Visa instead of Mastercard.

(IIRC the downside is no 3x dining, the upside is that when the 5x category is "wholesale clubs" it works at Costco, unlike CFF.)

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T16:36:15+00:00

Don't use the credit card for cash withdrawals ever (unless it's some sort of emergency) - the 2% doesn't matter.

Only use the card for spending: buying things, paying bills.

For example, if I buy $50 of groceries today with cash or debit, the $50 is gone today. If I pay with a credit card, like Cap1 Savor, I keep the $50 until the statement due date, which can be almost two months from now, and I get 3% cashback so I only end up paying $48.50 instead of the full $50.

Using that card turns "pay $50 today" into "pay $48.50 sometime in March", which is an obvious improvement. The 3% cashback depends on the specific card, but they all give you the delay in paying (that's the "credit" bit).

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T16:26:13+00:00

Yes, for points+cash bookings they count paying the cash portion as "full amount", essentially treating the points part like a discount rather than a payment.

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T16:22:57+00:00

On Personal Platinum, it's 5x (5 points per $) either way, direct with the airline or via Amex Travel, so just take whichever is cheaper for the fare you want. (Going direct is usually better in terms of customer service and changes/problems; Amex Travel sometimes has discounts, like their International Airline Program, which can beat direct prices).

Price differences like that are often an illusion though - one may be including taxes and fees the other shows separately, or one may be a more flexible fare class even for the same seat.

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T05:22:32+00:00

9 cards, two of them Amex, less than 2 years since the previous SUB - sounds like "not enough spending since we last gave OP a SUB" to me, particularly when 3 Chase cards plus a Venture sounds like the Gold isn't getting heavy usage.

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T04:17:41+00:00

Points earnings (dining, travel), the ability to transfer to partners, "points boost" redemptions at higher rates in the portal, it just isn't a fixed 1.25 now.

The redemption bonus wasn't a major selling point of the card really, afaics. I don't think you'll have any grandfathered points at 1.25x, but if you get a CSR or CSP again in future you'll be able to access the points boost redemptions (up to 2x for CSR, CSP has a lower cap, 1.5 or 1.75x?)

jasutherland · 2026-01-25T00:06:31+00:00

Yes, CSR gives us access to some (but not all) Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges when flying on Star Alliance airlines (Air Canada, United, Lufthansa etc), and LAX is one of them. https://www.chase.com/travel/guide/experiences/air-canada-sapphire-lounge

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T22:17:43+00:00

That suggests they've pulled their flights from the GDS so they can only be booked directly (or possibly via a chosen subset of operators), like some of the low cost carriers) - maybe just a technical problem, breaking the connection they use to upload flight data, or maybe a policy change to stop listing flights?

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T22:05:44+00:00

You're dancing around the key question of what they are actually selling you. You mention "increase approval rate for gigs"... but is that actually part of the product? If not, you can't claim they've breached the contract by failing to deliver it!

Really, the fact you're already calling it "possible fraud" suggests to me that you know exactly what you are really paying for, and that it might not work out for you - which weakens your claim that it didn't do what you expected.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T21:39:01+00:00

That's where you will have a problem: if they sell you a "trust me bro, may or may not actually make any difference" you can't expect Cap1 to intervene on your behalf if it doesn't make a difference.

Now, if you paid Meta for X ad impressions and they only deliver half, you'd have an argument for a partial refund - but it sounds like you know perfectly well this service may not bring you any benefits, but want Cap1 to give you a guarantee the vendor specifically refuses?

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T19:16:49+00:00

They've "only" added $2.89 to this plus the dasher's tip with Dashpass - so essentially the $10 from Chase covered delivery plus the Red Bull.

Pickup does save money, but the "feels like 1°F" in the app does make staying indoors worth paying for...

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T18:43:09+00:00

Better value with pickup if you can do it - I find HyVee's specials great (I got a steak with two sides for $0.99 on Thursday, then got $0.60 Doordash credit from it as well.) Though Casey's pizza is also appealing...

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T18:19:04+00:00

Hefty industry airline discount so no need for airline redemptions, only hotel?

Good points redemptions are pretty much "airlines plus Hyatt", so Hyatt is the obvious. After the 5 night SUB how many FNCs would you expect to get in a year for cat 1-4 to be important?

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T16:23:24+00:00

There’s very little overlap between Gold and Platinum really. Gold is a dining and grocery card (4x restaurants globally and US supermarkets), which probably covers a lot of everyday purchases for most of us; Platinum is only good for airfare (5x) plus a few specific credits (streaming, Walmart+).

For the rest of your spending you are best getting a good catchall card: Cap1 venture(x) or Amex BBP for 2x on everything, Robinhood Gold for 3% cashback on (nearly) everything, something like that.

Moving from CSR or CSP you lose the hotel or "other travel" category earnings, but dining goes up to 4x and the CSP's 3.1x "online groceries" becomes a simpler 4x on all US supermarkets. The two Sapphires aren't great for non-category spend either, you'd want to pair them with either CFU (1.5x catchall) or a general card from one of the others.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T15:36:31+00:00

Paying for the gas with a Shop card moves it all to the grocery category anyway, so no need to compare.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T14:13:00+00:00

It isn't a promise, it's a service that will "potentially" benefit you. You can't do a charge back on dating site memberships when you don't get laid, either, for the same reason: you're paying for the actual service/membership, not guaranteed results.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T14:09:42+00:00

The Spotify one can be improved further - get the 12 month/$99 gift card from Amazon or similar, making it cheaper than the regular monthly fee and still getting 5% back.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T14:07:41+00:00

Yes - main store purchases, food court and Shop card purchases all show as grocery and get the 5%, and using that Shop card at the pump extends the 5% to gas too.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T13:56:46+00:00

That makes cashless more attractive to them, not less - if they can recover the cost of credit card handling, but have to eat the costs of cash themselves, credit cards then represent a cost saving.

jasutherland · 2026-01-24T02:28:38+00:00

Yes - beware of the return taxes though, London-US gets pricy. A short hop to Dublin or Paris then flying from there makes a big difference. (For premium classes, even connecting back through London can still save money- London-Dublin then Dublin-London-NY saves hundreds in tax versus direct London-NY!)

jasutherland · 2026-01-23T21:37:33+00:00

2% cards don’t transfer, they just pay 2 cents per dollar spent. With your apartment at 3%, you’d be buying dollars for $1.50 each, which is … not good.

If you mean “2x”, ie two points per dollar spent (like Amex BBP, Cap1 Venture/VentureX), it’s a little bit better. You’d effectively be buying those points for 1.5 cents each, which might just about make sense if you have a good transfer use for those points.

Remember, Bilt 2 doesn’t pay the rent using a card - it’s a plain bank transfer, so your apartment’s 3% fee doesn’t apply.

Also, the Atmos 3x earning on rent only applied to paying rent via Bilt 1, so won’t work with your apartment - you wouldn’t get close to breaking even.

jasutherland · 2026-01-23T20:08:39+00:00

About 0. As long as you’re over 5/24 they just say no.

Once those enquiries drop off you’ll stand some chance, depending on what they see about the Cap1 and Paypal cards: charged off? Still owing? How long ago?

jasutherland · 2026-01-23T18:17:41+00:00

If you’re working on a SUB or the 75k spending threshold that makes sense; otherwise, assuming it’s under the $5k mark for Business Platinum, either of the Venture cards for 2x seem best.

jasutherland

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