(Editor's Note: This article should have published on June 20, 2025, but was delayed due to a technical issue)

Chase's Sapphire Reserve is charging $795, topping the AmEx Platinum card. We look at the slew of rewards these cards offer.

 
By Abby Schultz 

Premium credit cards that offer access to airport lounges and generous rewards for travel are getting more expensive and more complicated. The question for consumers: Are they worth it?

Chase Sapphire Reserve -- one of the most popular -- announced on June 17 that it was hiking its annual fee by 45%, to $795, topping the already steep $695 annual fee for the American Express Platinum card. Sapphire Reserve was introduced in August 2016 with an annual fee of $450.

Though these cards are pricey, consumers flock to them for the slew of rewards that can easily dwarf the fee. Sapphire Reserve's new menu of travel, dining, and entertainment perks can add up to more than $2,700 in annual value, according to the Points Guy, a card-tracking website. By redesigning the card to tap into all of JPMorgan Chase's assets, the bank was "able to increase the fee by only a small fraction of the incremental rewards and benefits that customers will get," says Chris Reagan, Chase's president of branded cards.

Still, $795 -- plus $195 for each authorized user -- is "serious money," says Clint Henderson, the Points Guy's managing editor. "I've always argued that most consumers can get more than the value from the annual fee on these high-end cards, but consumers will really need to become experts to make sure that remains the case going forward."

Credit-card fees are critical to issuers. From 2015 to 2022, fee volume more than doubled industrywide to $6.4 billion, according to a 2023 report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

There's a good chance that American Express Platinum cardholders may also see their already sky-high annual fee escalate. Amex -- the elder statesman of the premium card market -- announced on June 16 that "major updates" are in store later this year for both the Platinum and Platinum Business cards. Amex spokeswoman Elizabeth Crosta said the company had "no additional details to share," including whether fees would go up.

Henderson expects that Amex will want to retain its exclusive position as the most expensive card on the market. "I think we'll see a $995 annual fee for the Platinum card," he says.

Amex really doesn't have to worry about its hold on exclusivity. The Amex Centurion, or "Black" card, an invitation-only charge card that the company doesn't publicize, requires an initiation fee of at least $10,000 and an annual fee of $5,000, according to several published reports. (Amex doesn't provide details.)

Both the Sapphire Reserve and Amex Platinum cards offer points on purchases that can be applied to flights and hotels, in addition to statement credits, which are credits made to a consumer's monthly statement for specific purchases. Chase is doubling down on statement credits with its Sapphire Reserve revamp. These include a new, $300 dining credit and a $300 annual StubHub credit for tickets to concerts and events.

Statement credits can be pretty complex, however. Sometimes the annual credit is split into monthly or biannual increments. A $500 credit to the Edit, a collection of Chase luxury hotels and resorts, is split into biannual credits of $250 -- an amount that won't go too far at these high-end hotels. "Two-hundred-and-fifty dollars may not even get you one night," says Sara Rathner, a NerdWallet credit-card expert.

In the premium card category, there's a third contender: Capital One Financial's Venture X, which carries a $395 annual fee. Its main perk is its relative simplicity, Rathner says.

The card comes with plenty of benefits -- such as $300 in annual travel booked through the Capital One portal -- and there are no statement credits to keep track of, she says.

Chase and Amex may be willing to charge high fees amid economic uncertainty simply to secure wealthy consumers. In the first quarter, bad-debt write-offs on credit cards reached 4.7% on an annualized basis, according to Tim Kolk, president of TRK Advisors, which works with smaller credit-card issuers. "That's higher than any full year since 2011, with the most escalation in the middle-market and below segments," Kolk says.

Henderson of Points Guy also notes the big investment issuers are making to build airport lounges for their cardholders. "The credit-card companies wouldn't be spending the millions upon millions of dollars it costs to build and operate an airport lounge if it wasn't bringing in big profits," he says.

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Paul R. La Monica contributed to this article.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2025 21:30 ET (01:30 GMT)

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