Nope, I use my Costco/Citi card and earn about $500 more than my membership fee every year.

Yes, and we're debating what to do - it's a really huge increase. Before, the travel credit offset a large part of the yearly fee, but that credit is apparently not going up. We appreciate the travel insurance that comes with the card, so we never have to buy that separately. But that also doesn't make up for the new fee.

We decided to cancel ours with this latest increase. We never book travel using the OTAs associated with reward cards, and we already have a Delta co-branded Amex Platinum card that provides us with appropriate benefits, including the companion pass - which more than pays for the admittedly high (but not as high as the CSR) annual fee.

Our customer service experiences have always been stellar, and having the Amex in-hand when we move to the UK will allow us to have immediate access to a UK-based Amex card. Building credit in a "new" country is difficult, so we will need that even though we have perfect credit here in the US. No UK banks take American credit worthiness into account when establishing finances there.

We have Costco/Citi too and I won't/don't use it. The customer service experiences offered by each is night and day. Two actual experiences in the last 6 weeks.

Sapphire Reserve - For some funny reason, both the proximity chip in the card and the "insert and read the ROM" function stopped working, so the physical card became inert. On a Monday morning, I called Chase (with Chase SR, a real person speaking excellent English who's knowledgeable and empowered answers the phone, no endless computer phone tree). I explained the situation, asked if I could have a new physical card but with the same numbers because of all the auto-pays I use it for. "No problem" was her response. The card was delivered two days later, Wednesday morning, FedEx Overnight service. Free.

Costco/Citi- I scan account charges I download into Quicken and found two odd ones, totaling about $100. I called, waited too long before being connected, then was able to bring the charges to their attention. They appeared to come from related "retailers", appeared to come from China. The Citi agent said they would investigate. Fine, no problem. A week later, I got an email that the charges were found to be fraudulent (duh!) and would be reversed. I called - after a 15 minute wait, I was connected to a human who told me that the account would be suspended and new cards issued with another number. Again fine, no problem. I asked if they could mail to our second residence, we were leaving our primary one the next day. No, can't do that. Wait until it comes in the mail. Call if any problems.

We have USPS hold our mail when we're away. I could see in Informed Delivery that a plain white envelope had been "received" (but held at the Post Office) one week later. I called again, had to hold again, explained the situation, asked if another card could be sent to a different address. "Yes, of course". I asked "Why couldn't that be done the first time?" The reply was, "We can't do that when we issue a card but we can always send a duplicate to a different address". It came one week later. Start to finish, it took 3 weeks.

There was another problem with Costco too because of this but this comment is already too long, I'll leave it off. It had to do with getting the wrong advice from Citi concerning the change. .

I won't use the Costco/Citi card and will find something more suitable should I decide to not renew Sapphire Reserve.

$795? What was it before? Whatever it was, just like before I guess you just gotta do the math, decide how much American accents are worth to you, and make the call.

Quick and dirty calc -

Cost - $550

Travel charge reimbursement - $300 per year, which immediately reduces the cost to $250

Membership and access to Priority Pass and other lounges worldwide - $100 per year membership avoided, no entrance fee.They're very nice. Sometimes, there's a free meal credit (up to $30 or so per person)

Reimb Global Entry cost - $120 every 4 years

Door Dash premiere membership plus monthly credits - $60 per year plus something for the membership tier I don't know. It gets you faster deliveries and reduced delivery charges in addition to the monthly credit. I didn't fgure this into the benefit value but certainly over $100 per year

No travel insurance required because of extended coverage - Up to $100 per person per trip

Up to 10X points for travel booked through Chase Travel, plus

50% bonus value on points redeemed for travel. Which could be the equivalent of 15 points per dollar spent. Put another way, a 1/3 discount in the amount charged.

The generous points alone are worthwhile, we use them regularly. We spent 7 nights not long ago in a nicer hotel in London than we might have booked otherwise, because it was free. Wonderful experience. Too many plane trips to remember that were booked through Chase because of the bonus points and value reason.

And, service that was 19 days faster than Citi for a new card. I'll never use that card and my wife is coming around to dropping it.

We've been Am Ex card holders for decades (I have Platinum, DH has Gold) but last month I signed up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred just for the 100,000 points introductory offer.

Am Ex will be updating their Plat soon and I wouldn't be surprised if they decide to 'up' their annual fee to $1000. If they do I will drop it. I have been thinking about getting a different card anyway, maybe Capitol one or a Cash Back card.

" last month I signed up for a Chase Sapphire Preferred just for the 100,000 points introductory offer. "

If I decide to replace what I have, I was going to look at other Chase offerings. Thanks for the info.

PS - I think I got 150,000 when I first got Sapphire Reserve, and it may have been 200K. I don't remember. That and the other benefits easily paid for my annual dues for at least the first 5 years. 150,000 is worth 225,000 points when spent on Chase-booked travel. Over $2K in value. 200K points pays for 300K of Chase booked travel spending.

That particular offer expired but there will be others I'm sure. I've never been one to open accounts just for the initial bonuses but I did succumb to the Sapphire one. I've had a Chase account for 6 years and the few times I contacted customer service I was happy with the response time.

It's interesting how things have changed in the credit card world. When we first married we probably had a Sears card or maybe an airline card and the Am Ex gold was our first major card. There were no bonuses then and you were probably just happy that you were 'accepted' - that was in 1977.

Travel is difficult for DH and that's why I'm considering a cash back card. Over the years we've accumulated quite a few points - surprisingly 2 of the colleges my kids attended let me charge their tuition to a card without an extra usage fee. Plus I like to maximize my points by checking to see where I can earn extra points or cash credits on regular purchases. Utilizing points for travel is usually the best rate of return. So without traveling I find I often use my points to to buy gift cards - especially when they happen to be discounted. Which is why adding a cash back card probably makes more sense for us.

I'm pre-approved for it, I'm NOT traveling these days. I appreciate YOUR breakdown of what it provides. Very helpful!

As for Chase customer service: years ago (before smartphones, or at least before we had them) we were in Italy and I was checking us in on the hotel computer for our flight home. My check-in went fine; my husband's did not. There was "no ticket" under his name. We tried calling the airline, and after a long time on hold we just gave up. So then we called Chase, since we had booked the tickets with that card. A CSR answered immediately, my husband explained the situation, and the CSR said he would look into it and get back to us. "Yeah, sure" we thought. 10 minutes later my husband's phone rang, the CSR told us to try checking in again, and lo and behold his ticket had magically appeared.

We've had other dealings with them, as when we had to cancel an expensive trip because my husband became ill. Chase's travel protection, after providing them with documentation and a doctor's note, covered everything, with minimal hassle. But $795 is a bridge too far.

I have been a Chase customer for decades. Long enough that I may still call it Chase Manhattan on occasion. 😆 They have been fabulous whenever I have needed them.

I did have one negative experience with Chase. I'll say it was perhaps because of the card, but didn't involve the card.

Chase contacted me and invited me to contact their financial management service at a local branch. We met with them and gave them details of our investments. They had a series of observations that I said I would think about. At the end of the meeting, the guy suggested I open a checking account to begin the transfer of my business from other financial institutions. I said fine, thinking that it was easy enough to try it out. I kept my main checking account open for a fall back.

It turned out that a number of recurring things I do regularly in my own money management, were either difficult or not possible to do as a Chase retail banking customer. I don't remember exactly what was involved, but I think one was that there were dollar limits per day on how much could be transferred out, and that prevented me from doing the monthly task of redirecting where the funds from a monthly direct deposit go. It was either a per-transfer dollar limit or a daily limit. Anyway, that was a non-negotiable limitation for me, and it was annoying because I had asked about it specifically in the meeting. The guy was either misinformed or didn't want to answer my question truthfully, because that would have ended my interest in opening the account.

I closed the account after first encountering the problem. Maybe things have changed and what I need to do simply each month could be done now. I'll never know. I did wind up changing my checking account to what by far is the best bank I've ever dealt with - USAA. I could give a testimonial for them if they had TV ads - dealing with them is better than I ever imagined a relationship with a bank could be. They're fantastic. I recommend them highly. Several of my kids use their insurance products too and are similarly happy with the service and pricing too.

Sign my name to the "Extremely Satisfied USAA Customer" praise. I've been with them since I was a young teen. I bank with them, and have, for 40+ years. They have a remarkable portfolio of accounts that are beneficial, and we do have all insurances through them, as well.

When my father died, they sent a sympathy card and a floral arrangement. What other insurance companies would do that? He had been a member for 60 years - signing up the day he received his US Army commission.

I haven't set foot in a brick-and-mortar bank in decades.

I call USAA periodically because of the need to make outbound transfers of amounts greater than their online limits. It's never a problem, never an issue and only takes a few minutes, but it does take a call.

I reach a human in a few seconds. It amuses me that when the session is completed, the rep ends the conversation with something like "Thank you General Eisenhower for your service". IE, by addressing me using my final military rank and my last name. I was a draft dodger who took refuge in the reserves to avoid any chance of going to Southeast Asia. My service was a waste of their time and mine and it's nothing anyone needs to thank me for. There's no way for them to know that at quick glance. I understand the respect and deference offered to those who deserve it and it's nice they treat their customers that way.

As for bricks and mortar, I'm not sure where it has physical locations or if it has any. My interactions with them are by phone, online, electronically from other institutions, by using their great app which makes transfers and deposits easy, and the ATM network which is every one you'd ever encounter. Free. No charges, no minimum balances, great service.