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Chase Ultimate Rewards vs American Express Membership Rewards | Which Points Program is Better? - YouTube
Channel: Trip Astute
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Hey, how itâs going everyone?
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Hope you all are having a great week.
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Itâs Ernest from Trip Astute.
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Make sure youâre sitting down before you
start this video, since today we are going
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over a controversial and heated topic.
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Iâll be comparing Chase Ultimate Rewards
to American Express Membership Rewards, and
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sharing which one I think is better.
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(light chiming music)
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The two biggest players in the points and
miles game are Chase and American Express.
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I know Citi is also in the game with their
ThankYou Rewards program, but for the sake
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of simplicity, Iâm going to compare the
Chase Ultimate Rewards program to the American
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Express Membership Rewards program.
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I know this question comes up a lot during
my credit card consultations.
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A lot of people want to know whether I think
Chase is better than American Express, and
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whether they should wait until they are under
5/24 to pursue more Chase cards or build out
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their American Express cards.
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So today, Iâm going to share my personal
opinion on both programs.
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Obviously, itâs just my opinion, and you
might feel completely different about it.
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But for those of you who are new to the points
and miles hobby, or even new to one of these
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rewards programs, Iâm hoping my analysis
is helpful.
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And if youâre an experienced points and
miles nerd, I would love to hear your thoughts
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on which program you prefer and why.
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Before we get started, if youâre new here,
welcome to our channel.
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Trip Astute is a travel channel that is focused
on sharing ways to make travel easier, affordable,
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and more enjoyable.
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Traveling can be stressful and expensive,
so weâre looking for ways to help you maximize
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your experience through travel tips, points
and miles, and innovative gear.
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If that sounds interesting to you, please
consider subscribing.
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To be fair, I want to compare both programs
in a couple of different categories and share
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the pros and cons of each.
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Iâll be looking at point earnings, point
redemptions, benefits, acceptance, customer
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service, downgrade options, and approval and
welcome offer rules.
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So, letâs jump in.
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For points earnings, itâs a bit of mixed
bag.
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For both Chase and American Express, there
are multiple personal and business credit
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cards that earn in different rewards categories.
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However, I will say that Chase lacks a card
that offers a bonus category in groceries,
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which is often a big spending category for
people.
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Chase does have the Freedom card which usually
has at least one quarter where you can earn
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five points per dollar on grocery spending.
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However, I do wish that Chase would add a
grocery category to one of their cards, as
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I think itâs an area where American Express
has the upper hand.
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On the flip side, I dislike how American Express
has more restrictive bonus categories.
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For example, while the American Express Gold
earns four points per dollar on dining out
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and groceries, itâs only valid for US merchants.
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While the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve
earn bonus points on dining out even when
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outside the US.
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Also, since travel is a bonus category for
the Chase Sapphire cards too, you donât
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have to think twice about earning a bonus
at a hotel restaurant since it might code
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as a hotel instead of an actual restaurant.
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In summary, both have fairly equal earning
potentials, especially if you get multiple
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cards that offer different bonus categories.
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However, Chase is definitely lacking when
it comes to grocery purchases.
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And while I like American Express' bonus categories,
I do find them to be a bit more restrictive.
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So for me, itâs a tie for both programs.
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Moving on to point redemptions, I personally
find Chase Ultimate Rewards points to be a
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lot easier to redeem.
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Chase might not have as many airline travel
partners as American Express, but they seem
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to have the ones that I personally use the
most, like Southwest and United.
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Also, we often use our points toward Hyatt
and have been able to get some amazing redemptions,
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even at some of Hyattâs more budget hotels.
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I also like that I can use the Chase Travel
Portal to redeem points.
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It might not be the highest redemption value,
but getting 1.25 or 1.5 cents per point isnât
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horrible either.
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Plus, it gives me the opportunity to redeem
for boutique hotels or even tours, which
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I think is very handy.
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In fact, check out our video on how and when
to use the Chase Travel Portal for more information.
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I do have friends that absolutely love and
prefer American Express points.
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A friend of mine loves to fly ANA to Japan
and she finds the point transfers to be very
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lucrative, especially for business class travel.
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Itâs definitely possible to get a lot of
value from American Express points, but I
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think youâre mostly limited to air travel
redemptions.
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And Iâd even argue that the best value redemptions
are for business and first-class travel, which
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may or may not be your style.
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I know personally that while I love the idea
of luxury aspirational travel, I personally would
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rather be able to travel further and more
often with my points, which means that Iâm more
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inclined to fly on budget airlines or economy.
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Again, this is going to be a very personal
choice and will really depend on your travel
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style, destinations, and personal spending.
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American Express does offer bonuses at times
on their points transfers, which is something
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I wish Chase would offer.
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However, while I love this aspect of Membership
Rewards points, I dislike that they charge
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a fee to transfer points to domestic travel
partners.
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Also, redeeming points on the American Express
Travel Portal yields you a much lower redemption
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rate, so I donât recommend using it unless
youâre determined to use your points at
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whatever value you can get.
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Lastly, for the sake of simplicity, Iâm
not going to cover American Express versus
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Chase cash back redemptions.
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I know there are American Express cards that
can help you get to get a higher cash back
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redemption rate, but thatâs a whole another
topic and video.
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So, in summary, Chase has more flexible redemption
types and options with hotel and travel portal
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bookings.
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Though they lack additional bonuses and have
less airline travel partners to choose from.
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American Express, on the other hand, has more
airline travel partners and offers bonuses
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certain times of the year on transfers, but
also charges a fee to transfer points to domestic
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carriers.
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I personally prefer Chase points, so Iâm
going to give this category to them.
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But again, your travel preferences and style
will dictate which program is a better fit
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for you.
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Next up are benefits.
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This is also a mixed bag.
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Both Chase and American Express offer benefits
on their cards.
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I think youâll find that American Express
does offer credits on more of their cards,
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though the catch is that they tend to be a
bit more restrictive.
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For example, the Gold and Platinum card both
have an airline incidental fee credit, but
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you canât use it toward paying for flights.
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I know you buy gift cards, but even that is
kind of a workaround solution since itâs
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not officially supported by American Express.
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Also, American Express often requires you
to redeem your credits over the span of a year.
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For example, the dining credit on the Gold
card is $120, but you can only redeem $10
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per month at select restaurants and ordering
services.
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You wonât find as many credits on Chaseâs
cards.
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However, if we look at the Chase Sapphire
Reserve, it has a $300 annual travel credit,
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which you can basically redeem all at once.
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Plus, since Chase is fairly liberal with what
they qualify as travel, itâs so easy to
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redeem the credit.
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In fact, I often tell people that though the
Chase Sapphire Reserveâs annual fee is $450,
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itâs really more like $150 since itâs
so easy to get the travel credit.
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Even for me, Iâll often see parking expenses
get credited on my account, which is, unfortunately,
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a common expense for me since we live in LA.
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If we compare lounge access, the American
Express definitely wins since their Platinum
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card offers access to Centurion lounges.
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Both Chase and American Express do have concierge
services, though I have to admit that Iâve
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never used it.
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Also, when looking at things like primary
car rental insurance and trip delays, the
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Chase Sapphire cards offer a lot more protection
as part of their membership.
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On the other hand, purchase protection is
more seamless on American Express cards since
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you file a claim with American Express and
not a third party.
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This is not the case with Chase.
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Iâm not saying that it doesnât work, but
my experience is that it's often easier when
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itâs processed by the same company as the
card issuer.
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American Express card members also get a free
membership to ShopRunner, which is like Amazon
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Prime for other retailers.
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Also, I really like the way that American
Express does their offers.
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All you have to do is activate the offer,
rather than going through a portal.
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This means that you can potentially double
up on rewards by using a cash back portal
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or a discount coupon with your purchase.
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I know that Chase recently started to do offers
as well, but I think that American Express
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is way ahead in this regard.
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In summary, American Express offers credits
on more of their cards, though they are more
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restrictive to redeem.
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American Express also tends to have better
lounge access, concierge service, and purchase
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protection.
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They also have an incredible offers program
as part of their membership.
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However, Chase has much easier to redeem credits
and better car rental and trip delay coverages.
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Itâs a bit of a toss-up since they both offer significant value, though
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in different ways.
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But if youâre some who can maximize the
benefits of your American Express cards, there
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is probably more there to take advantage of.
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Even with higher annual fees on their cards,
there is a lot of benefits included.
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So, Iâm giving this category to American
Express.
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Next up is acceptance.
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This is one is pretty simple.
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Youâre going to have more acceptance with
a Visa or Mastercard over American Express.
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Itâs not much of an issue here in the US,
but when traveling abroad, it can be difficult
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to find places that will accept American Express
cards.
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So, Chase takes this category.
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In terms of customer service, Iâve had great experiences with both the service
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reps from Chase and American Express.
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Though I would probably give the edge to American
Express, mostly because they have a fantastic
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chat functionality on their website.
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Iâve asked the reps to downgrade cards over
chat, and theyâve been able to do it without
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any problems.
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Speaking of downgrade options, this is an
area where Chase definitely has the advantage.
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If you have the Chase Sapphire Reserve or
Preferred card, you can always downgrade your
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card to a Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, or even
a basic Sapphire, which isnât even listed
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on the Chase website.
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American Express, on the other hand, is a bit
more complicated.
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If you have an American Express Platinum or
Gold card, and you want to downgrade, your
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only option is the Green Card, which still
has an annual fee.
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You canât downgrade to an Everyday card,
even though it also earns Membership Rewards
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points, since the Everyday card is a credit
card and the Platinum, Gold, and Green card
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are charge cards.
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This presents some issues for those of you
that donât want to cancel cards since it
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can temporarily hurt your credit score.
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So, in this category, I have to say that Chase
definitely has the advantage.
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While American Express does have a lot of
cards, including a mix of charge and credit
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cards, it isnât easy to downgrade their
charge cards since there isnât a no-annual-fee
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charge card in their lineup.
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Lastly, approval and welcome offer rules!
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Chase is notorious for some of their strict
approval rules like 5/24 and 2/30.
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If youâre not familiar with them, see our
videos on the topic.
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However, these rules usually result in people
wanting to build their Chase portfolio before
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American Express.
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I recommend that strategy as well since you
can essentially disqualify yourself from getting
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Chase cards if you get too many other cards
within a 24 month period.
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Also, a lot of people will go the small business
card route in order to get around the 5/24 rule.
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Basically, you need to be below 5/24 to get
a business credit card, but once you get one,
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it doesnât count against your 5/24 total.
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If you qualify for a business card, itâs
definitely a great way to go.
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Business cards provide some of the best welcome
offers and bonus categories.
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If youâre interested in small business cards
or want to understand whether you may qualify,
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check out our video on the topic.
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American Express has fewer restrictions when
it comes to getting approvals.
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However, they do have a once in a lifetime
rule for their welcome offers.
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For example, if you had the American Express
Platinum card in the past and received the
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welcome offer, but then canceled or downgraded
the card, you wonât be able to get the welcome offer
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again if you apply for the card.
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So in, this category, I have to give the upper
hand to American Express.
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Though, if you do have any interest in building
a Chase card portfolio, then you should start
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with them since their cards are much more difficult
to get due to these rules.
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When we tally up the points, you can see that
itâs tied, which is what I expected.
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Both programs offer a lot of value, especially
if youâre able to take advantage of the
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benefits.
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Though if I could only earn one points program,
I would say that I prefer to earn Chase Ultimate
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Rewards points.
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That shouldnât be a surprise to those of
you that have been watching my channel for
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a while.
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I just find that the program seems to meet
my travel needs, and I feel like Iâm able
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to get a lot of value from the points.
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And I donât think Iâm the only one that feels
this way either.
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When I asked the question on my Community
tab a few months ago, I noticed that about
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60% of you felt the same way.
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That being said, I still think itâs a good
idea to diversify and build multiple points
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programs.
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Things change all the time in this hobby,
and I wouldnât be surprised if Iâm focused
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on another program within the next three years.
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Though I kind of hope not, especially since
I love my collection of Chase Ultimate Rewards
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earning cards.
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I was going to say sixfecta, but Iâm pretty
sure thatâs not the right terminology.
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In fact, if you know that the equivalent of
âtrifectaâ is for six cards, let me know.
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Which flexible points program do you prefer?
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Do you earn multiple currencies, or do you
focus on just one?
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Let me know in the comment section below.
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If youâre interested in applying for a new
credit card, we would love it if you used
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our link in the video description or on our
website.
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Itâs an easy way to support our channel,
especially if youâve found our content to
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be valuable and helpful.
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Also, if you need any help with determining
what your next credit card should be, sign-up for
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our free card consultation service.
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You basically fill out a questionnaire and
schedule a 15-minute video or audio call with
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me to review your recommendation.
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Hope enjoyed the video and found it useful.
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Please give us a thumbs up and consider sharing
the video with others.
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It really helps with growing our channel and
community.
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Until next time, travel safe and travel smart.
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