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The latest Chase Sapphire offering is a bank account.
- Chase announced this week it will offer 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points to customers who open up a new Sapphire Banking account - worth as much as $1,200.
- But, to be eligible, customers must hold $75,000 in deposits or investments with Chase.
- Current Chase checking customers can upgrade for $25.
- This is the latest gambit by Chase to lure in wealthy millennials with its Sapphire brand, which started with credit cards and has also experimented with mortgages.
First it was credit cards, then it was mortgages, and now it's a checking account: JPMorgan Chase is sweetening its Sapphire offering targeted at rich millennials even more, giving as much as $1,200 in rewards to customers who open a premium checking account with the bank.
Chase announced this week it was offering 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points to customers who open up a new Sapphire Banking account. The Points Guy values Ultimate Rewards at $0.02 a piece, making the points haul worth as much as $1,200.
Like the Sapphire Reserve credit card - whose cardholders have an average income of $180,000 - this product is geared toward the young affluent demographic. To be eligible for a Sapphire bank account, which was announced last month, you'll have to have $75,000 in deposits or investments to keep with Chase.
Most Americans have far less. The median US consumer has just $2,900 in their checking account and $5,200 in savings.
For Chase customers who don't have that kind of cash but still want to upgrade, it'll cost a monthly fee of $25.
That may make sense for some, given the perks. Beyond the initial sign-up bonus, Sapphire Banking also offers:
- No ATM fees, worldwide
- No wire transfer fees
- No fees on the first four overdrafts within 12 months
- Free online stock and ETF trading with JPMorgan, which just announced a new stock-trading app
- Early access to sports events and concerts
JPMorgan has had massive success luring new customers with its Sapphire brand, though it has simultaneously seen rewards cost skyrocket and eat away at profitability.
The Sapphire Reserve, which launched two years ago with an eye-popping 100,000-point sign-up bonus, was simply the gateway drug to bring young, wealthy customers into the fold.
Not long after, the bank started experimenting with 100,000-point offers to Sapphire customers who closed a mortgage with the bank - a move that was so popular with millennials that the bank revived it a year later, albeit at a lower point total.
Now, $1,200 in rewards points for a bank account is the latest Sapphire expansion. Will it prove similarly irresistible to the young, affluent clients JPMorgan is chasing?