The Thrifty Traveler Podcast · Thursday, August 27, 2026
Chase has made significant changes to its popular Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve credit cards in 2026, including reworking eligibility requirements to make them accessible to more customers. This move is seen as a response to American Express's success with the Platinum card relaunch in 2025.
“Yeah, that's a great question. When I think about 2026 and terms of the credit card landscape, uh, it's hard to overlook what Chase is done with both the Sapphire Reserve, which, uh, they refreshed last year, and then most of the start of this year was on a a pretty limited time offer.”
“But importantly, they have really reworked the eligibility requirements, those cards just making a lot more people eligible for both of those.”
“Chase has made more people eligible for for their flagship cards and, you know, they're trying to acquire customers. And I think, I think that's the headline that that sticks with me.”