Regarding the debt vs credit card and risk for swipe fees: I think the biggest benefit of credit cards is that I do not have to keep a large amount in a checking account. FZEXX's one-year yield is 2.56%, tax-free. Using that as my "checking account" (you can pay your Fidelity card bill from a money market fund), plus getting the 2% cash back, means that I could pay a 3% card fee on on every transaction and still come out ahead. This obviously only accounts for a fraction of my spending, but still...
The new changes to the CSR was my whole motivation in looking into this option. I like the CSP, but saw people complaining about the CSR on Reddit, looked into it, ran my numbers, and realized for the past 4+ years I have spent >$300/year at Sapphire Reserve Exclusive Tables in my city (only seven options in my city, luckily I go to all of them, includes probably 4 of my top 6 places), >$300/year on travel, >$300/year on sports tickets, as well as >$10/month on lyft almost every month. It seems so organic that, as noted in my original post, I'm considering getting it even without the SUB...You know, I was pretty miffed by the CSR changes, but i have to admit that I’ve managed to really take advantage of the new structure on some recent trips. Just last weekend I booked an Edit hotel using Points Boost at 2x, and with that you get $30/person/day breakfast credit and $100 in incidental expenses. I also used the $150 Chase Exclusive tables benefit. So, it was an easy $370 in benefits, not including the extra points value (which was real since the price wasn’t inflated for the booking). We also didn’t use the $250 edit credit because I booked before Oct 36, when the new benefits kicked in.
If it remains this easy to use—and part of the reason it’s easy is that I live in SoCal—I may actually keep the card. But I wouldn’t be surprised if these benefits get worse quickly.
Statistics: Posted by breakfastinbed — Tue Nov 11, 2025 10:50 pm — Replies 71 — Views 6783