Good morning everyone, happy Friday! Earlier this month, Frequent Miler wrote Ritz card: Double Dip Restaurants 10X + $300. In that post, Greg covered 2 overlapping promotions available on the JPMorgan Chase Ritz Carlton Visa Infinite Credit Card:
- Earn 10x Marriott Bonvoy Points at restaurants and gas stations through September 30, 2020
- Use the $300 annual travel credit to reimburse purchases made at grocery stores and restaurants though December 31, 2020
Before the Coronavirus Pandemic, I used $84.67 of my $300 annual travel credit, so I still had $215.33 remaining that I needed to use by December 31, 2020. With the above information in mind, I decided to use my Ritz Carlton Credit Card for purchases at grocery stores and restaurants until I spent at least $215.33. I made the necessary purchases and clicked the pie chart icon to confirm that the purchases fell into the right categories.
My September spending by category pie chart showed that I spent $100.40 at restaurants and $151.58 at grocery stores, which was more than enough spending to max out the remaining $215.33 annual travel credit.
I went through the Chase Secure Message center and sent a nice message asking for the qualifying restaurant and grocery store purchases to be reimbursed by the annual travel credit.
A few hours later, I received a response and logged back into my Chase account and went to the Secure Message center.
Unfortunately, my request was not specific enough for Chase. I needed to provide exact transactions with details of the date, merchant name, and dollar amount.
I responded to the message by copying the qualifying transactions into the text box. All the qualifying restaurant and grocery store transactions added up to $251.98.
A few hours later, I received another response and logged back into my Chase account and went to the Secure Message center.
Thankfully the second time was the charm. The Chase rep was able to apply the remaining $215.33 annual travel credit to my Ritz Carlton Credit Card. The rep also confirmed that I had $0.00 travel credit remaining for 2020. Beginning on January 1, 2021, the $300 annual travel credit will be available, but only for the usual travel-related purchases.
I did not see the $215.33 travel credit right away, but after waiting 24+ hours, and I did see the $215.33 travel credit post to my Ritz Carlton Credit Card.
Sending a Secure Message to Chase regarding the annual travel credit was not very quick or easy, so next time I will probably just call the JPMorgan Chase phone number on the back of the credit card and speak to an agent on the phone. If you have the Ritz Carlton Credit Card, have you maxed out your $300 annual travel credit yet for 2020? If not, you should be able to by making restaurant and grocery store purchases before December 31, 2020. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. Have a great weekend everyone!
nice
Thank you Tusher, have a great weekend.
Hey Grant!
Remind me again why you keep the RC card? It seems expensive.
Hi Brant, it is actually a funny story. Read my response from Cori to explain why I have the Ritz Carlton CC.
Hi Grant, your March 19 post said you downgraded this card to Marriott Bonvoy Boundless–how come now you have the card again? Did you upgrade it back??
Hi Cori, you are very observant. Yes, the plan was to downgrade from the Ritz Carlton CC to the $95 annual fee Marriott Bonvoy Boundless CC, but the Chase rep accidentally downgraded me to the no annual fee Marriott Bonvoy Bold CC. I didn’t want the Bold CC, so I asked if they could upgrade me to the Boundless CC. The rep said I could only product change once a year, but they could undo the downgrade. So I ended up having the Ritz Carlton CC again. It was a very strange situation, but I’m glad I was able to take advantage of the $300 annual travel credit in 2020 and have the Marriott 50K free night certificate in my Marriott account ready for me to use.
How did the annual fee get handled?
The annual fee was refunded and then a few months later, the annual fee was billed again.
Hi Grant,
You said you downgraded this card on your March 19 post–did you end up upgrading it back?
Sorry for the duplicate comment–I didn’t see the first one showing up and thought it didn’t get posted successfully.
No worries, it happens to the best of us sometimes. Have a great weekend :)
Hey Grant – Thanks for completing this experiment to make sure it worked and reporting the results. Very helpful. I’ve put a few hundred $ in restaurant charges on this card during the 10x promo and it will be nice to use the rest of our credit on them. ~Craig
Hi Craig, I hope your Friday is going well. Yes, having the ability to get reimbursed for restaurant purchases is a pretty sweet perk this year. I’m glad Chase eventually made this temporary change on the Ritz Carlton CC.
What are the official terms of this offer? I never received anything. Do you know if grubhub or food apps also apply to the credit?
Hi David, I don’t think there are any official terms for this temporary use of the annual travel credit at grocery stores and restaurants. I’m not sure if Grubhub or good apps will work. I think as long as the purchase post to the food and drink category, it should be eligible for the annual travel credit.
Hi Grant, Have you used any of the $300 travel credit in 2021? I’ve heard that the groceries and restaurant charges are not applicable this year. I still don’t have travel plans for this year. Do you have tips on using the credit without travel?
Hi Cori, yes, you are correct. Grocery store and restaurant charges are not eligible purchases for 2021. I have used a majority of my 2021 travel credits for United and Alaska seat assignments (selecting seats from basic economy flights). There are still 7+ months left in the year to use the credits, so you should be able to use the credits before the end of the year. Have a great day.
Thanks for sharing!