Did Chase Just Ruin ANOTHER Credit Card? + Last Chance for 100k Bonus

In this video, I want to talk about another credit card that is apparently going to be raising its annual fee and adding the dreaded credits to make up for that. Then we also have a 100,000 point bonus on a certain airline card that is ending soon. It's your last chance if you want it. So do stick around for that. Hey credit warriors, welcome to the show. My name is Ben Hedges aka the credit shu and on this channel I cover US credit cards and personal finance. If you like the sound of that, do subscribe. And this video is brought to you by Max Rewards. But more on that later. So, over the past few months, we have seen Chase totally copy American Express by turning many of their credit cards into glorified coupon books and raising the annual fee. The United Cards are a good example of this. They've all gone through these changes. Then we had the relaunch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, which now has an annual fee of $795 with $2,700 worth of credits. That's the value you get if you use all of them. Although most people won't use every single one, but you should at least be able to offset the annual fee. And now we have rumored changes to another long-standing Chase credit card, and that is the Ritz Carlton card. Now, this card is not available for new applications, but you can actually still get it by product changing from a Chase Marriott credit card. I had Mark Reese on the show 3 years ago talking about how he did just that. recently you were able to product change to quite a special card, the Ritz Carlton credit card. Uh, which is Oh, wow. Here it is. Nice. Yes, absolutely. But anyway, it seems the Ritz Carlton card is the latest victim of these changes. Let's look at some Reddit posts from people who have heard from Chase reps about what is going to happen. First one is from someone who tried to do exactly the same upgrade that Mark did a few years ago. I tried to upgrade my Marriott card to the Ritz Carlton card and they just told me that the annual fee is going to be changed from $450 to $695. Anyone hearing if this is true? So, that is apparently happening. The annual fee is significantly increasing. But when is that going to take place? And will new benefits be added to offset that? Okay, that's the crucial thing. Well, we have a couple more posts from people who spoke to Chase reps to look at, and those people share more details. So, here is our next one. Just called and confirmed. $695 annual fee starting August 1st. $200 renowned resort reservation credit. $300 travel credit. Couldn't know if it's the old airline credit or made to general travel. Marriott Gold Status unlimited authorized users with priority pass. car rental insurance and travel protection stays the same. So, from what we see, it starts August 1st and they are adding a $200 credit for renowned resorts, which if you don't know is a hotel program that Chase's United Credit card members get access to. This is not the edit, which is the program that exists for the Sapphire Reserve. Note, this is a separate program that up until now has just been for the United Card members. Here are the benefits you get through Renowned Resorts. daily breakfast for two, $100 property credit including dining, spa, and other activities at the properties, room upgrade at check-in if available, early check-in, late checkout if available, and complimentary Wi-Fi. And so, I guess as part of this, the Ritz Carlton card gains access to that program, too. Okay, as of right now, it's only the United cards that have access to it. So, presumably, you will be able to book more stays after you've used up the credit. Okay, I mean, you definitely will be able to. I'm sure hotels in that program cost more than $200 per night anyway, so you're going to have to pay some money uh in cash. All right, here's one more. And this guy shares more opinions on the changes. More leaked details on the Ritz refresh from XHS. He means Xiaoongu, which is little red book, the Chinese like similar to Tik Tok uh app that I'm not installing on my phone because I don't want Chinese spyware. But anyway, okay. So, more details from Xiaoongu and from r/creditedcards, the credit card subreddit. The details don't quite line up, so I'm not sure how seriously to take this. According to calls from customer reps, as of August 1st, $300 credit plus $85 annual free night certificate unchanged. Unlimited priority pass on authorized users unchanged. New annual fee going from $450 to $6.95, increase of $245. New $200 renowned hotel and resorts credit. This is suspicious given that it's the Ritz card. How on earth is it not a $200 Marriott credit? New free times Ritz bar vouchers. If this is actually true, then the card just went from god tier to very meh/bad. If August 1st date is true, then it's also very suspicious that this is the first we've heard of it. Usually Chase gives more notice than that. Edit. more and more reports coming in of Chase reps confirming the annual fee is increasing. So, it's probably in their internal docs. It was good while it lasted. Time to move on. Okay, so you can see that this is a pretty bleak assessment from that guy. And he mentions the Ritz bar vouchers. No word as of yet on the value of those. I also share his thoughts that it is a bit weird that they would offer a renowned hotel reward program credit, not a Ritz Carlton or Marriott credit. Although you could limit it to Marriott branded hotels through the renowned hotel and resorts program. So maybe that would work. But anyway, since we have so many sources now, I think this probably is true. But if the annual fee is going from $4.95 to $6.95, that is a difference of $245. So the credits add it have to at least cover that distance. But normally you would be looking at more like double the difference for a card in this tier. All right, a tier 4 premium travel card in my five tier credit card ladder system. So either these Ritz Bar vouchers are worth like $100 each and you get three of them or there is something else coming, some other kind of credit that will deliver value. But you know, you won't have to wait that long anyway since if this is all true, it's supposedly launching on August 1st. If you upgrade now, I'm not quite sure what will happen, but presumably you'll first get the $450 annual fee and then you'll have to pay $6.95 in a year's time while still getting the new benefits when they come in on August 1st. Unless the guys, you know, what he meant in his Reddit post was that they're already requiring the $695 annual fee for upgrades. I'm not totally sure. All right, let's move on. But first, if you have a lot of credit cards like I do, using a credit card management software can really help you keep on top of your credit card payments and your fees. And most importantly, remembering to use all those benefits like credits to get the maximum value out of your cards. And that's why I have partnered with Max Rewards. They're actually my oldest sponsor on this channel. I have worked with them since pretty much the beginning. and their app provides a convenient way to see all your info on all your credit cards in one place regardless of which bank issues them. So you can see your balances, your points and rewards balances, your credit utilization, and a load of other things in one place. You can also see the value you're getting out of your cards versus your annual fees like here on my Platinum. I'd better hurry up and use some of those credits. Max Rewards also has a really useful page where you can see all of the credits on all of your credit cards together and how much you've used of those credits and how many days you have left to use them. There's how much I've spent towards my Hilton free night on my Hilton card. I haven't used the airline credit or hotel credit yet on my platinum. And oh, I have some of my dunking credit left for this month on gold, too. I better use that. This is what the credit card companies have forced us to become, guys. Extreme couponers. But with an app like Max Rewards, it certainly helps you keep on top of that. With the Pro version, MaxRewards Gold, the app will even activate all of your credit card offers for you, so you never miss a deal. It's really useful for MX cards. And when you activate all your MX offers, new offers that you never knew existed will be activated and added to your account, too. If you want a free trial of MaxRewards Gold, do click my link below and you can use code hedges 25 when you sign up and you will even get a 3month discount on the annual plan if you choose to continue after the trial or you can download it and check out the free features. All right, let's now get back to this 100,000 points bonus that is ending soon and that would be on the American Airlines advantage card from City. This is their tier 4 premium travel card that gives you Admiral's Club lounge access. Now, sites that have affiliate links like the points guy are reporting that this bonus is quote ending soon. And let's have a look at what the bonus actually is. For a limited time, earn 100,000 American Airlines Advantage bonus miles after $10,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. So, it's a pretty high spending requirement, and that's going to be working out at just 10 miles per dollar on top of the regular earning rate of the card. But let's contrast that with the refreshed Sapphire Reserve, for example. You only have to spend half of that to get the 100,000 points bonus. Okay, just $5,000. And thus, it would be 20 points per dollar. And you also get an additional $500 travel credit. And you can also book American Airlines flights through the Chase travel portal or by transferring Chase points to British Airways. The annual fee is $200 more, but then you have more credits. But if you've been looking at getting this American Airlines card anyway, which some people might have been because it's the only card on the US market that gives full Admirals Club membership, it is definitely a good time to get it. So, you know, check it out. Don't miss out before it ends. All right, guys. That is the video for today. What do you think about the rumored changes to the Ritz Carlton card? Is it ruined? I'd love to hear your thoughts. And is anyone thinking about getting the 100,000 point bonus on the American Airlines card, too? Leave your comments below. You can also get three months free of Max Rewards Gold by clicking my link below and using my code, hedges25, when you sign up. Please subscribe to the channel if you're new, and we'll see you next time. Bye-bye.