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Started By
Message
Advice on what to do with 500K Chase Sapphire Reserve points before annual renewal cancel
Posted on 5/21/26 at 7:47 am
Posted on 5/21/26 at 7:47 am
Hi folks,
I'm planning on ditching the CSR in October when my renewal comes up. I don't get the value with the fee increase from last year, but my renewal was before it happened, so I kept it.
I have a little over 500K points, and I want to transfer them somewhere before October. I've read a lot about Hyatt being the best transfer value, but wanted to ask for options. Moving it to a hotel or airline seems to be the best option, but my main airline I use is Delta, which isn't a partner, so I'm thinking Hyatt or Marriott.
I don't have a current need to spend it, but do want it for future use. I've read online that there are times where the transfer rates are better than others, but how do you know when that is, and how to find it?
Also, not sure if I just want to downgrade to CSP. I also have the Freedom Unlimited, or should I go with another higher end card like Capital one or AMEX. I have an Amex Delta platinum already.
Close to retirement and plan to travel some more, so just want to get the most bang for my buck in transferring before cancelling/downgrading.
I'm planning on ditching the CSR in October when my renewal comes up. I don't get the value with the fee increase from last year, but my renewal was before it happened, so I kept it.
I have a little over 500K points, and I want to transfer them somewhere before October. I've read a lot about Hyatt being the best transfer value, but wanted to ask for options. Moving it to a hotel or airline seems to be the best option, but my main airline I use is Delta, which isn't a partner, so I'm thinking Hyatt or Marriott.
I don't have a current need to spend it, but do want it for future use. I've read online that there are times where the transfer rates are better than others, but how do you know when that is, and how to find it?
Also, not sure if I just want to downgrade to CSP. I also have the Freedom Unlimited, or should I go with another higher end card like Capital one or AMEX. I have an Amex Delta platinum already.
Close to retirement and plan to travel some more, so just want to get the most bang for my buck in transferring before cancelling/downgrading.
9
Posted on 5/21/26 at 8:05 am to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Close to retirement and plan to travel some more, so just want to get the most bang for my buck
Congrats! Enjoy.
Boring answer…
Have Chase Sapphire. Over the years we cashed out points to purchase Mag 7 stocks.
Over last 10yrs or so:
40% annual expenses thru this CC
0% credit card finance charges paid
1% ish cash back
150% return on Mag 7 (actually 5 for most of that period) (pre tax)
Could have done better than 1% with other cards but just never prioritized.
Perhaps boring approach but got more than fill of “exciting” travel via job. So this worked well for us.
This post was edited on 5/21/26 at 8:14 am
Posted on 5/21/26 at 8:12 am to kywildcatfanone
If you want to travel, you can check the travel portal for 'boosted' flights. They'll cut the mile requirement in half for first class seats. Domestic and international.
If transferring, Nerd Wallet shows 55% bonus to Marriott.
If transferring, Nerd Wallet shows 55% bonus to Marriott.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 8:27 am to kywildcatfanone
Marriot was having a 25% transfer bonus a few weeks ago when I was transferring.
Even though you mostly fly Delta, there are still some good deals to be had on long flights. I would plan a trip around United flights paired with Marriot stays. Be flexible on the flights and your points can go a long ways.
Even though you mostly fly Delta, there are still some good deals to be had on long flights. I would plan a trip around United flights paired with Marriot stays. Be flexible on the flights and your points can go a long ways.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 8:34 am to b-rab2
To me, the most bang for your buck is still World of Hyatt. You can easily get 5-star resort award nights for 25,000-35,000 points/night. That same class of hotel is close to 100k points per night for marriott.
And, when you book hyatt with reward points, you avoid the $50-90/night "resort fee"
And, when you book hyatt with reward points, you avoid the $50-90/night "resort fee"
Posted on 5/21/26 at 9:26 am to kywildcatfanone
Just downgrade to the CSP
No need to throw your points somewhere you're not sure of, just keep them and have the $95AF card. It does have a $50 annual hotel credit that wipes half that fee away if you stay in any hotel once (booked through their portal).
A better to probably do it is open a new CSP, get the 75k SUB, then downgrade the CSR to a freedom unlimited (you can have multiple). Means you could still get a Freedom flex and get a SUB for that if you wanted a 5% rotating card which isnt a bad idea either.
For following transfer bonuses when they come in just follow this:
Nerdwallet transfer bonuses
Also folow this to see what points are worth:
TPG points valuations
Marriott has a 55% bonus for UR points if you're dead set on transferring now; which is pretty good. Their points are valued at 0.8 by TPG which means 1 point transferred at 55% uplift turns into a value of 1.24 cents per point with those bonus points (1 x 1.55 x 0.8). Hyatt is considered best but about to get devalued form those high valuations you see shortly.
No need to throw your points somewhere you're not sure of, just keep them and have the $95AF card. It does have a $50 annual hotel credit that wipes half that fee away if you stay in any hotel once (booked through their portal).
A better to probably do it is open a new CSP, get the 75k SUB, then downgrade the CSR to a freedom unlimited (you can have multiple). Means you could still get a Freedom flex and get a SUB for that if you wanted a 5% rotating card which isnt a bad idea either.
For following transfer bonuses when they come in just follow this:
Nerdwallet transfer bonuses
Also folow this to see what points are worth:
TPG points valuations
Marriott has a 55% bonus for UR points if you're dead set on transferring now; which is pretty good. Their points are valued at 0.8 by TPG which means 1 point transferred at 55% uplift turns into a value of 1.24 cents per point with those bonus points (1 x 1.55 x 0.8). Hyatt is considered best but about to get devalued form those high valuations you see shortly.
This post was edited on 5/21/26 at 9:32 am
Posted on 5/21/26 at 9:47 am to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Advice on what to do with 500K Chase Sapphire Reserve points before annual renewal canc
Downgrade or open a lower fee card on the UR platform and transfer the points over.
Yes you may lose the small bonuses like 25 more on flights booked or whatnot, but at least you can use at your own pace.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 10:15 am to b-rab2
quote:Marriot sucks serious arse as far as points value goes.
Marriot was having a 25% transfer bonus a few weeks ago when I was transferring.
I’m always amazed at the deals I can find with Hyatt using chase points. You can go to a nice arse all inclusive for a week+ for less than 500k points at Hyatt properties if that’s your thing
Posted on 5/21/26 at 10:40 am to CheesyF
quote:
If transferring, Nerd Wallet shows 55% bonus to Marriott.
How do you track these when they update, can you subscribe to get emails when they update this?
I'm not in a rush to transfer points, just need to do it before cancelling I guess and that is October.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 10:43 am to thunderbird1100
You are the 2nd person to mention the nerd wallet link, thanks. I subscribed to the travel nerd subscription. Do these points changes update regularly?
I have until October to decide where to transfer.
I will consider this. I'm going to want something to replace the CSR, was considering Captal One Venture X or maybe AMEX, but I think their AF is even higher, so not sure that would make sense.
I have until October to decide where to transfer.
quote:
A better to probably do it is open a new CSP, get the 75k SUB, then downgrade the CSR to a freedom unlimited (you can have multiple). Means you could still get a Freedom flex and get a SUB for that if you wanted a 5% rotating card which isnt a bad idea either.
I will consider this. I'm going to want something to replace the CSR, was considering Captal One Venture X or maybe AMEX, but I think their AF is even higher, so not sure that would make sense.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 12:18 pm to kywildcatfanone
Hyatt just significantly devalued their points. Do not transfer to them. Are you any other loyalist? I would just pay attention to transfer bonuses until October and pull the trigger on one you think has the best value.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 1:03 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
I will consider this. I'm going to want something to replace the CSR, was considering Captal One Venture X or maybe AMEX, but I think their AF is even higher, so not sure that would make sense.
Just have to look at the credits and see if they make sense enough to cover the annual fee or not. It's a tedious breakdown but worth looking at.
There are online calculators to help you out here like asksebby:
AMEX platinum Calc
Venture X Calc
Venture X is pretty easy to use since it has $395 AF and $300 travel credit (on anything booked through their portal) plus 10,000 anniversary miles (if valued at just $100 at 1 cent per point) they are effectively paying you $5 basically to hold the card.
I have a Venture card (non X) and my issue Cap One transfer partners are useless to me. The only domestic airline partner is Jetblue and they only transfer 5:3 there, not 1:1. The hotel partners are Choice, I Prefer, Accor and Wyndam which I'm pretty sure I've never stayed at any of those hotels in my entire 40 year life. So I find all my miles in Cap One system I just redeem to cover travel purchases which is a 1 cent per point value, which is nothing special but means the card is basically a 2% back card which is pretty weak when I now have a Robinhood 3% (on everything) gold card
I am looking to get into the AMEX and Chase spaces potentially coming up here with a AMEX Gold and either AMEX Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve as we are about to do $20k-$25k in home renovation and want to get some big SUB across a couple cards. AMEX and Chase transfer partners are just way better. AMEX has Delta (As wel las JetBlue at a better exchange rate than Cap One) which is HUGE for us as we are based in ATL plus they do Hilton (at 1:2) and Marriott which we've stayed at before. Chase has Southwest and United as well as IHG/Marriott/Hyatt/Wyndham which we do a lot of IHG stays now (wife is a contract worker for them and we got the IHG $95 AF card with 5 free nights SUB).
Posted on 5/21/26 at 1:09 pm to Roy Curado
quote:
Hyatt just significantly devalued their points. Do not transfer to them. Are you any other loyalist?
Not really. We fly Delta most of the time, and I typically book Hilton, but neither are transfer partners. I am planning a retirement trip to Hawaii, so I will book whatever gets me the best value for first class tickets or oceanfront hotel options I guess.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 1:13 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
We fly Delta most of the time, and I typically book Hilton, but neither are transfer partners
I don't know if this still the case, but you used to be able to transfer Chase to Air France, then book Delta flights through Flying Blue partner program
Posted on 5/21/26 at 1:20 pm to OldManRiver
quote:
I don't know if this still the case, but you used to be able to transfer Chase to Air France, then book Delta flights through Flying Blue partner program
You can do this, but it is not every flight by any shape of the imagination and cant be relied upon...especially for domestic travel
The couple of times i tried to transfer my cap one miles to air france to book delta flights i checked and the flights i wanted were not on the AF website to book (Domestic, and international)
I also tried to do this with aeromexico/Delta which just got confusing (we have eben to mexico a good bit the last decade)
This post was edited on 5/21/26 at 2:53 pm
Posted on 5/21/26 at 2:32 pm to kywildcatfanone
Get the chase sapphire preferred and get the sign up bonus
Then transfer your 500k points to the new card
Then transfer your 500k points to the new card
Posted on 5/21/26 at 2:38 pm to kywildcatfanone
You've gotten some good answers here and some I would not recommend. Marriott is pretty shite even with a bonus because of their crappy dynamic pricing model. If you just need to top off to get a booking done that's fine, but transferring 500k I would strongly suggest not to.
Hyatt just did a major devaluation yesterday. They still have great redemptions and this would not be a terrible way to go, but if you don't already know what you want to do, speculatively transferring points is not a good idea. Same about transferring to airline programs.
As mentioned, you don't have to do anything with the points as long as you have one of the Ultimate Rewards earning cards. I believe there's a free one you can downgrade your CSR to which is like the visa freedom unlimited UR card or something like that
I would do that and then I would apply for the CSP and get a nice bonus. It's only $95 a year. Don't downgrade to the CSP because then you don't get a sign up bonus.
I also have an AMEX Plat and Venture X. I am potentially gonna get rid of the CSR for a csp myself, but not sure yet. The VX is easy as long as you can travel each year. The $300 portal credit is super easy to use. The Platinum is $895 but it's very easy to get that in their coupon book as long as those credits match what you organically would do anyway like I do.
TLDR keep your UR and spend them when you need to spend them as they are very valuable.
Hyatt just did a major devaluation yesterday. They still have great redemptions and this would not be a terrible way to go, but if you don't already know what you want to do, speculatively transferring points is not a good idea. Same about transferring to airline programs.
As mentioned, you don't have to do anything with the points as long as you have one of the Ultimate Rewards earning cards. I believe there's a free one you can downgrade your CSR to which is like the visa freedom unlimited UR card or something like that
I would do that and then I would apply for the CSP and get a nice bonus. It's only $95 a year. Don't downgrade to the CSP because then you don't get a sign up bonus.
I also have an AMEX Plat and Venture X. I am potentially gonna get rid of the CSR for a csp myself, but not sure yet. The VX is easy as long as you can travel each year. The $300 portal credit is super easy to use. The Platinum is $895 but it's very easy to get that in their coupon book as long as those credits match what you organically would do anyway like I do.
TLDR keep your UR and spend them when you need to spend them as they are very valuable.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 3:52 pm to AndyJ
quote:
Get the chase sapphire preferred and get the sign up bonus
Then transfer your 500k points to the new card
Aren't the points value less?
Posted on 5/21/26 at 9:06 pm to Ex-Popcorn
Yeah meant to say Hyatt but had Marriot on the brain. I booked two nights at the Reno airport Hyatt for 18000 points. Hard to beat that.
Posted on 5/21/26 at 11:14 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
We fly Delta most of the time
If you actually live in KY, it cost 3x to fly from Atlanta to Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati than it did to fly from ATL to Ireland. You are captive and trapped. ORD is nearly on top of you, to at least give you Star Alliance (United, ANA) options.
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