Help me decide please, balance pay off on Disney or Sapphire card?

Disneygrl71 · Jul 29, 2016

I'm getting ready to pay off the remainder of my Disney balance, it isn't much but figured the extra points could cash out for money to use on our trip. I currently have the regular Disney Visa and the Sapphire Visa, I booked the trip through a special promotion at a travel agency, so I wouldn't get the 6 months no interest by using Disney Visa..it would just be for the points and money cash out.

Which one would be the best deal and stretch the dollar further? Thanks

Eastern · Jul 29, 2016

I have been using Chase Sapphire over Disney. I was able to purchase airplane tickets for a flight, and got a 20% discount on the price using my points. It was easy and a good deal! Plus if your trip gets cancelled for a 'covered reason' (there is a list on the Chase site) they will redeposit your points.

hsmamato2 · Jul 29, 2016

Unsure of your actual question.... do you mean you're carrying balances on both cards,and you want to know which you should pay off first? (FWIW, carrying a balance on a rewards card pretty much negates the rewards earned) a more detailed question would get you more helpful answers

hsmamato2 · Jul 29, 2016

Sorry....Or did you mean that you intend to use a cc to pay off your trip package? If you're going to WDW you could always use the points you get there, but the points earning ratio on the Dis cc is pretty bad in comparison to the sapphire earning.... sapphire gets you 2x points on a travel purchase which can be turned into Ultimate rewards which are much more valuable in general. I personally don't use a disney cc for anything, since the points earned are too low to bother with. If you can use the rewards from the sapphire I'd go with that. But only you know what rewards you will actually use. Disney cc= rewards you an use on your planned trip, sapphire cc= rewards you can use for subsequent trips.

Albort · Jul 29, 2016

hsmamato2 said:
Sorry....Or did you mean that you intend to use a cc to pay off your trip package? If you're going to WDW you could always use the points you get there, but the points earning ratio on the Dis cc is pretty bad in comparison to the sapphire earning.... sapphire gets you 2x points on a travel purchase which can be turned into Ultimate rewards which are much more valuable in general. I personally don't use a disney cc for anything, since the points earned are too low to bother with. If you can use the rewards from the sapphire I'd go with that. But only you know what rewards you will actually use. Disney cc= rewards you an use on your planned trip, sapphire cc= rewards you can use for subsequent trips.

im not sure which Sapphire card she has. If she has the regular Sapphire card she has, it seems that it doesnt have the 2x category like the Sapphire Preferred has...

2 points for every $1 spent on restaurants

2 points for every $1 spent on airfare or hotel accomodations booked through Chase Ultimate Rewards

1 point for every $1 spent otherwise

If she has the plain Sapphire card, then i dont think it matters which card to put it on. Pick the one with the lower interest rate if you plan to carry a balance i guess. although UR points would probably be worth more if you have the power to transfer to a partner.

Disneygrl71 · Jul 29, 2016

Thanks everyone. I do have the sapphire preferred ... So it sounds like that would have the best payoff??

Marionnette · Jul 29, 2016

Disneygrl71 said:
I'm getting ready to pay off the remainder of my Disney balance, it isn't much but figured the extra points could cash out for money to use on our trip. I currently have the regular Disney Visa and the Sapphire Visa, I booked the trip through a special promotion at a travel agency, so I wouldn't get the 6 months no interest by using Disney Visa..it would just be for the points and money cash out.

Which one would be the best deal and stretch the dollar further? Thanks

As a PP pointed out, you will get 2X UR points for travel if you have the Sapphire Preferred but only 1X if you have the regular Sapphire card. The Disney Visa will give you 1x Disney Rewards Dollars.

The Disney Rewards Dollars are worth $1 when spent at Disney but it takes $100 in spending to accrue a single Disney Rewards Dollar.

Each dollar spent with the Sapphire card on travel would earn 1-2 UR points.The UR points can be used for a broader range of rewards and their value will vary, depending on how you decide to use them. They are worth 1.25¢ per point when redeemed for travel through the UR portal. So $100 spent on travel with the Sapphire Preferred would potentially yield $1.25 - $2.50 in travel.

Or if you wanted to redeem for GCs, 2,500 UR points would get you a $25 GC, making those points equal to 1¢ each. Even redeeming that way, you're at par with the Disney Visa IF you have the regular Sapphire Visa and ahead of the DIsney Visa if you have the Sapphire Preferred.

ETA: My preference is to use the Disney Visa solely for the benefits that it offers while in Disney such as the discounts and free character photo. I use the UR points for booking travel because that's where I get the most value. I have mostly booked hotel stays and rental cars. You can choose to pay for your reservation completely with points or you can partially pay with points and put the remainder on your CC.

Sagginit · Jul 29, 2016

This also depends on how close to your trip you are and how easy it is to redeem. I have one CC I stopped using in part because they make it so hard to redeem. Disney Visa is low at about 1% but I will say it is easy to redeem. I don't have the sapphire card but I find my capital one card is ten times easier to redeem than my wells fargo CC on top of giving me greater rewards. If the Sapphire card is going to be easy to cash in to use towards the trip then definitely use that over Disney Visa if you will net more rewards.

Marionnette · Jul 29, 2016

Sagginit said:
This also depends on how close to your trip you are and how easy it is to redeem. I have one CC I stopped using in part because they make it so hard to redeem. Disney Visa is low at about 1% but I will say it is easy to redeem. I don't have the sapphire card but I find my capital one card is ten times easier to redeem than my wells fargo CC on top of giving me greater rewards. If the Sapphire card is going to be easy to cash in to use towards the trip then definitely use that over Disney Visa if you will net more rewards.

UR are extremely easy to use. If you redeem UR points for Southwest RR points, they are deposited immediately. If you use your points for a hotel room, airline tickets or car rental using their portal, the transaction occurs as soon as you hit the confirm button. And like I said previously, you can use a combination of points and cash (well, charge to your CC) in order to complete a reservation. You can even use the points on Amazon .com or request a check cash back (100 pts/$1). It's a very flexible program.

Albort · Jul 29, 2016

Disneygrl71 said:
Thanks everyone. I do have the sapphire preferred ... So it sounds like that would have the best payoff??

if you have sapphire preferred, then that is the best way to go. Not only do you get 2x on travel, you also have Trip cancellation(if you get sick or something like that) and delay interruption insurance(you are stuck in a city unable to get flight out).

Pooh2 · Jul 29, 2016

We use the Sapphire when the travel insurance would benefit us and when we would get 2x points. If the purchase is only 1x points, we use our Disney visa and use all our disney visa rewards points towards meals in the park.

I miss the old days of special points bonus categories on Disney visa! That would probably be my main card if they still offered that.

Disneygrl71 · Jul 30, 2016

Thanks everyone for all great answers. I think we are going with the Sapphire.

JillianMarie · Jul 30, 2016

Sounds like you've made the right choice for you. But, just a data point for anyone who might be reading this down the road - Disney doesn't count as a "travel" charge on the CSP so it doesn't earn the 2X bonus. Disney is still usually a good chunk of change so I'd rather earn my 1% in URs than in Disney rewards, but I believe more data is better.

ruadisneyfan2 · Jul 30, 2016

JillianMarie said:
Sounds like you've made the right choice for you. But, just a data point for anyone who might be reading this down the road - Disney doesn't count as a "travel" charge on the CSP so it doesn't earn the 2X bonus. Disney is still usually a good chunk of change so I'd rather earn my 1% in URs than in Disney rewards, but I believe more data is better.

Wow that stinks. I just got the CSP card after using their SWA card for years. It's so much more flexible.
How can they not call Disney World travel? I wonder if they consider DCL as travel.

Disneygrl71 · Jul 30, 2016

ruadisneyfan2 said:
Wow that stinks. I just got the CSP card after using their SWA card for years. It's so much more flexible.
How can they not call Disney World travel? I wonder if they consider DCL as travel.

That's exactly my thought! Why is it not considered travel??

la la limon · Jul 30, 2016

JillianMarie said:
Sounds like you've made the right choice for you. But, just a data point for anyone who might be reading this down the road - Disney doesn't count as a "travel" charge on the CSP so it doesn't earn the 2X bonus. Disney is still usually a good chunk of change so I'd rather earn my 1% in URs than in Disney rewards, but I believe more data is better.

I think if you pay off the room charges or pay off the hotel balance it codes as travel. I know that Disney tickets and restaurants don't code as travel. I need to go double check my receipts...

Disneygrl71 · Jul 30, 2016

la la limon said:
I think if you pay off the room charges or pay off the hotel balance it codes as travel. I know that Disney tickets and restaurants don't code as travel. I need to go double check my receipts...

Ok, thank you! I know ours was done as a special package deal through a travel agency.

JillianMarie · Jul 31, 2016

la la limon said:
I think if you pay off the room charges or pay off the hotel balance it codes as travel. I know that Disney tickets and restaurants don't code as travel. I need to go double check my receipts...

I would LOVE to be wrong about this but at least in Feb of 2015 it counted as 'Theme Park' which didn't trigger the 2X travel bonus on the CSP. If anyone else has a more recent data point - that would be amazing. My theory is that it's coded that way because Chase has the Disney co-branded card. If I were Disney and negotiating that deal I would make darn sure that the Disney Visa with the annual fee was the only game in town that earned more than 1%.

la la limon · Jul 31, 2016

You know I checked and it was the Barclay Arrival that codes as travel in the categories mentioned above. I have not used my Sapphire at Disney since 2014, so your data point may be timely. That stinks, if so.

Help me decide please, balance pay off on Disney or Sapphire card?

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