JPMorgan Chase is going after millennials with a new mortgage-credit card cross promotion.
From now through Aug. 6, Chase will award 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points to existing Chase Sapphire, Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cardholders who finance a home with the bank. According to Chase, half of its Sapphire customers are millennials.
Chase says it’s hoping the new offer will convince more of those millennial cardholders to take the plunge and purchase a home. The bank says customers under age 35 made up 36 percent of its mortgage originations last year — a 20 percent hike over 2015. Chase hopes to see another uptick in millennial homebuyers in 2017.
According to ThePointsGuy, the rewards-points bonus is worth up to $1,500 when redeemed for travel through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards, but that’s just its baseline value. If you sign up for automatic mortgage payments from a Chase checking account and agree to paperless statements, you’ll earn an additional $595 cash back.
To qualify for the offer, you need to have been a cardholder as of May 7. But you’ll need to act quickly if you want to cash in on it. You must be approved for a mortgage by Aug. 6 to be eligible, although your loan may close after that date, says CNN Money.
But before you start house hunting, remember that purchasing a home is a huge commitment. Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com, tells CNBC:
“The 100,000 points is one of the most generous — and perhaps tops — that we’ve seen for financial products. But it doesn’t negate the need to shop around for the best deal or justify settling for an inferior loan that could cost far more in the long run.”
Chase rolled out the Sapphire Reserve card in 2016. CNN Money says the card was a hit with consumers, even though it has an annual fee of $450. The original card offer came with a 100,000-point signup bonus. That number has since been cut by half to 50,000 points.
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