Update 8/21/20: Looks like Chase will manually credit the $300 in travel purchases discussed below. Hat tip to tranquiloMilo
Update 8/20/20: Just a little wrinkle we’ve learned now from yokuyuki: apparently, your first $300 in travel purchases will not earn points if you used up the credit on grocery/gas since the system is coded not to rewards points on the first $300 of travel purchase. So if you intend to spend some money on travel, there’s no advantage in having the $300 credit come earlier for grocery/gas purchases since you’ll still lose out on your first $300 in travel purchases.
Original Post:
The Chase Sapphire Reserve card DOES earn points on the purchase made toward the $300 annual travel credit when using the grocery/gas credit option, according to multiple reports.
Background: We had a debate in the comments of the original post about whether the travel credit gets ordinary points when used for Grocery/Gas. I had initially written that it would earn points based on the wording on the Chase page, yet readers noted that the fine print on that page seemed to say the reverse, so I crossed it out.
We know that when used for travel it does not earn points – a change Chase made years back – but the terms were conflicting about whether it would earn points when using the Grocery/Gas credit option.
Apparently, the wording on the top is what mattered. Unless they decide to change things down the road, you should get points on the grocery/gas purchase, even when getting the statement credit for that as well. I’ll update the original post.
This bit of good news matters more this month given that supermarkets are earning 5x points in June, so it’s an extra 1,500 points for the $300. It’s smarter to do the supermarket option before putting any travel charges on your cards since you’ll get points on the purchase.
We’ve previously confirmed that when using the Pay Yourself Back statement credit feature, you still get the points from the purchase. Readers confirm that you stack all three of these by making a $300 purchase during the month of June at a supermarket:
- Get $300 statement credit for the travel/grocery/gas credit
- Get a second $300 statement credit if you choose to cashout 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points using the Pay Yourself Back program
- Â Get 1,500 points for the 5x grocery promotion
Hat tip to Milestomemories
Related:
- Chase Announces Major Temporary Benefits On Sapphire Reserve/ Preferred ‘Pay Yourself Back’ (1.5 Cents Cashout; Easy Travel Credit; $450 Renewal)
- Should You Upgrade To The Chase Sapphire Reserve?
- Reminder: You Can Upgrade To The Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve From Chase Slate/Freedom Cards
- Does Chase Deduct Points Earned When ‘Pay Yourself Back’ Is Used? (No, Good News)
- Does Upgrading To Chase Sapphire Reserve Restart My 48-Month Signup Bonus Clock?
Anyone know if CSR codes Walmart as grocery as FU does? Thanks
Does this mean there is no impact to me if I don’t plan to make any travel related purchases but only does grocery purchases?
Your “impacts” are: you can use your $300 travel credit by purchasing $300 worth of gas or groceries, earn points on that $300 worth of gas or grocery purchases (which travel purchases would not), as well as – for that $300 worth of grocery purchases, as with all grocery purchases for the duration of this temporary perq – benefit further via Pay Yourself Back .
Maybe I’ve missed something but my annual fee posted 8/1 and I haven’t seen a credit for grocery or gas. Haven’t had travel expenses but is that correct?
Same here – $450 AF posted a couple weeks back and I’ve been making grocery and gas purchases since then. No credits applied so far.
I’ve asked this elsewhere, but here it is again: If I already got a $300 credit for travel in 2020 and card renews in September 2020, do I get another $300 back for gas/groceries through Dec 31, or do I have to wait until Jan 21? And actually have to spend on travel? (If I cancel and apply again, then do I get the $300 before end of year?)
thanks
My understanding is that you can do it twice with grocery/gas.
Can you provide the link that shows this?
siouxu and 
Joel T. Bell both reported (after you wrote this) not receiving the travel credit after their annual fee posted.
On this one I think Chuck is either wrong or not very clear when he said you can do it twice and the post above also needs to be corrected as I pointed out earlier. I am another DP on this: I already got the $300 credit buying groceries in June. Last month I made $500 in gas purchased and though I got 5x UR for these, I did not get any additional “travel credits”. Its still only one travel credit per year per CSR.
Calendar year or card member year?
Depends on when you opened the card.
It depends when you opened the card, some have once per cardmember year and others is calendar year: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-change-sapphire-reserve-travel-credit-calendar-year-cardmember-year-may-21/
I’m not sure which comments you are referring to, but I don’t see why these categories can not work twice for someone whose travel credit resets during the offer period that they are allowing groceries to work.
These are the 2 comments I was referring to.
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-do-you-earn-points-on-the-300-grocery-gas-credit-yes/#comment-1040677
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-sapphire-reserve-do-you-earn-points-on-the-300-grocery-gas-credit-yes/#comment-1040884
No.
Not twice. You still only get $300/year (based on your account opening date, not calendar year) credit back but they have opened it up to include grocery and gas purchases in addition to the typical travel categories.
How do the dates work if I upgraded the card from a CF?
Yours is probably card-member year. “Terms on the Chase website state that beginning May 21, 2017, the $300 annual travel credit will be based on the cardmember year, not the calendar year.”
Do you think
Chuck is correct that the $300 travel credit can be used against grocery again after my annual fee posts next month?
I assume it’ll work, if you’re worried about it then contact Chase.
Just received multiple emails stating that all of my 10 Chase credit cards are closed…. I’m so panic that I immediately call Chase to see what’s going on. Eventually I got transferred to fraud department. I asked them why they closed my cards given that I have a strong credit history (AAoA 6y3m, 790+). Then they asked me to submit my SSN card to verify my identity… WTF is going on…..
Did you have any recent spending spikes? That often causes shut down.
Nope. I don’t have any purchase of lore than 1k.
10 Chase cards with only 6 years credit history, that is actually quite an achievement. It is difficult to get Chase cards after 5/24 policy.
I used some leaked links last year despite 5/24. Idk if this is the main cause of getting shut down….
1. Get $300 statement credit for the travel/grocery/gas credit
2. Get a second $300 statement credit if you choose to cashout 20,000 Ultimate Rewards points using the Pay Yourself Back program
While this might be obvious to all, it confused me a little and so I think I should point out: Point 2 above is not really an extra $300 statement credit if you redeem 20K towards Pay Yourself Back – it is the 20K points redemption: you loose 20K in points to get that $300 credit. What may cause confusion is this: it need not be exactly 20K. If more than 20K you get more than $300 and if less than 20K you get less than $300. Not sure why $300 is even mentioned here…unless I am missing something.
Also they will deduct 3x if theres a refund on the first $300 travel but the limit doesn’t reset on the refund. So best to book $300 hotel and cancel it. Chat will them the refund deduct 3x then rebook.
Its 9 dollars.
Funny how the lower valued deals generate more comments than say a $600 bank bonus. Similar to this is the OD $10 off VGC as well as the $200 Penfed and the $125 Sofi (with possibility of additional $75 DD which actually is pretty lame for a DD bonus as compared to ther places where DD earns higher) bonuses. Compare that to the Chase $600 or other larger values bonuses and the comments on those are much lesser in number even though those may be easier to do and have a quicker payout overall.
Are you saying you’re surprised the $200 PenFed offer got a lot of comments? That was a very easy offer and is a decent amount of money. I agree with you generally though.
Straight from the terms…
Re the update – if u already used your credit on groceries,travel purchases won’t earn points ( up to $300). However if u get a refund for a travel purchases they will TAKE AWAY your points. Beware
What?! That’s even worse! Looks like, basically, they’ve hardcoded for the first $300 of travel purchases to have the points go to their own travel bank! A variations of the famous 1¢ rounding trick, so to speak!