Update #3: 60,000 bonus coming in October has been confirmed by Chase.
Update #2: Now Live. We’ll put up a formal review sometime later.
Update: Chase is now confirming that Sapphire Banking will be launched. They have also publicly stated that there will be no sign up bonus initially but later this year they will offer Ultimate Rewards points as a sign up bonus. Previous rumors indicated that this sign up bonus would be:
- 50,000 points signup bonus (Ultimate Rewards, presumably) when depositing $75k for 90 days
- 10,000 points annual bonus when holding a checking account and credit card
- 75,000 points bonus + $500 back when taking out a Chase mortgage
It’s not clear if this structure is still the one Chase plans to use, or if it will be different. In any case I wouldn’t recommend signing up on launch, instead wait for a sign up bonus to become available.Sapphire Banking customers will also get access to sports and entertainment events that Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders currently get.
Original post below:
We’ve discussed the survey and rumor of a new Sapphire Banking soon to be launched by Chase, and the bank is now educating their bankers with details of the new service which has an August 27th launch date.
The new banking experience is for high-worth individuals, a lite version of Chase Private Client. Private Client banking is for those who have or plan to have $250k+ while Chase Sapphire Banking is for those above $100k and under $250k. Deposits and investments all count toward the $100k or $250 threshold.
[An interesting difference is that Private Clients includes those who “have the intent and ability” to bring $250k while Sapphire Banking is likely only for those who actually deposit $100k in funds, at least to get started.]
In fact, Chase Sapphire Banking is strikingly similar to an existing Chase product called Chase Premier Platinum Checking (PDF). Both have a monthly fee of $25 and a requirement of $75k in funds to waive it. Both waive overdraft fees, wire fees, and stop payment fees. The Platinum waives fees for ordering checks, money orders, and returned items, and also offers a free safe deposit box. Presumably, Sapphire Banking will have all these as well.
Both banking products waive ATM fees, though the Sapphire Banking product goes beyond and waives even the fee coming from the ATM operator – a nice perk. Sapphire Banking offers no exchange rate adjustment on debit card purchases (not sure if foreign ATM withdrawals will have a foreign exchange fee – Private Clients do not have that fee).
Sapphire Banking is essentially reinventing the Premier Platinum tier into a full banking relationship by leveraging the valuable ‘Sapphire’ branding.
Existing Premier Platinum checking accounts will be upgraded to Sapphire Checking on August 27th, the day the new banking experience rolls out public.
There’ll also be some investment perks, as Chase tries gaining a stronger position in the ’emerging affluents’ wealth. The initial survey spoke of free trades, so that might be one of the perks. Update: Seems they are rolling out free trades for many tiers of Chase banking. Sapphire Banking will get free unlimited trades.
Our Verdict
Leaving $75k-$100k sitting earning no interest doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Best would be if it would be possible to buy low-few index funds with Chase – a lot of us do something similar with Bank of America and Merrill Edge to get relationship banking status there. A reader notes that all Vanguard funds are fee-free with Chase investment banking, so it might be possible to buy simple indexes like VTI through the Chase system and get relationship status that way.
Not terrible if you value the perks and relationship, but certainly not a silver bullet. I’m always a bit worried about banking with Chase since that seems to increase shutdown risk.
A big downer in all this news is that the information given to Chase bankers thus far does not indicate any sort of signup bonus for the account: based on the initial survey, we were hoping for a 50,000 Ultimate Rewards points signup bonus, plus an annual 10,000 points bonus. We do see Chase willing to hand out $300 for opening an ordinary checking account, maybe we can still hope for a signup bonus on this new Sapphire Banking product.
Big thanks to reader D. for always sending in great information.
I hate how the bonus is just for Sapphire card customers only… I am only an AU and won’t be under 5/24 for a LONG time…
Doc: Looks like the bonus you alluded to has arrived, and it’s 60k UR.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/13/jpmorgan-offers-sapphire-card-users-60000-points-for-checking-account.html
Thank you
This is a good product to start. But Chase should add some benefits to its Sapphire card line, such as $100 credit to CSP and $200 fee credit to the CSR. Also, the Sapphire checking customers get like 1.5x boost on UR points. This would be just like the BoA/Merrill Preferred Reward program.
With some bonus to move the funds, I’ll move a chunk of my $$$ to Chase…..
If there’s a decent bonus I’ll park some $$ in the for a month or two. Otherwise I’m happy getting 1.8% APR with Amex.
I am interested in the you invest aspect of the account if I can access JP Morgan stock research reports. Can someone that has this account let me know if you can access the reports of JP Morgan for specific stocks. I read that I can research stocks, but I am not sure if they allow access to their analyst reports. If they do, I think I will consider moving some money their way. Thanks if you can comment on this specific topic. I am interested in the same information based on the Citigold account if you happen to know that as well. Thanks again.
I’m looking forward to the full review. To me, I look at bank fees, interest paid and consider it all essentially “fees” in that my ROI of them holding my cash generally trails the previous 12-months of CPI increase.
Also, with a bank like Ally paying at 1.8%APY, a $100,000 average balance in a deposit account would have to generate a significant number of fees before a product like Chase Sapphire Banking would come out ahead in costs.
This product launch is going to fall flat. Renaming an existing, uncompelling product and hoping for stupid customers, did I get that right?
What kind of bonus will they end of having to offer to make up for their crappy interest rates?
Regarding shut downs, has anyone been shutdown while having hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in chase? Frankly I’m better of buying chase stocks than putting money into a chase account.
It’s nice to see Chase getting competitive across the board. Poor Amex with that shitty SPG card.
Should I close my Chase Premier Plus checking if I want the signup bonus?
What sign-up bonus?
Well, I guess the ‘rumored’ sign up bonus in the future.
BofA + Merrill destroys this