Update 2/24/23: Doctor of Credit is reporting that it’s possible to sequentially stack the free Instacart+ memberships of the Chase Freedom and Sapphire cards. Folks that link their Freedom cards to their Instacart account are finding that their free membership is being extended by 3 months as opposed to it overlapping. In addition, the $10/qtr Freedom credits are actually showing up on the account at the same time as the $15/qtr Sapphire credits (but it appears that the credits can’t be used on the same order).
Earlier this year, Chase announced that some cardholders would be eligible to receive between 3-12 months of free Instacart+ Membership as a new card benefit. Freedom cardholders received 3 months free, Sapphire Preferred received 6 months free and Sapphire Reserve cardholders got a full year.
Today, Chase and Instacart improved this benefit, giving Sapphire and Freedom cardholders varying amounts of monthly and quarterly statement credits on Instacart purchases after activating their free Instacart+ membership. The credits range from $10/quarter to $15/month.
Canadian customers aren’t currently eligible for the promo.
The Deal
Starting 8/1/22, the following Chase cardholders will receive statement credits after activating their free Instacart+ membership and making Instacart purchases:
- Chase Sapphire Reserve:
- 12 months free Instacart+ membership
- Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $15/month in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases
- Chase Sapphire Preferred:
- 6 months free Instacart+ membership
- Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $15/quarter in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases
- Chase Freedom, Freedom Flex, Freedom Unlimited and Freedom Student:
- 3 months free Instacart+ membership
- Once Instartcart + membership is activated, receive up to $10/quarter in statement credits on Instacart.com purchases
Quick Thoughts
Instacart is a grocery delivery service that offers grocery pickup and delivery in the United States and Canada. It allows you to order groceries online or via the app and then a personal shopper picks out the groceries and delivers them (or you can go pick them up).
Instacart+ is a premium membership offered by Instacart that offers a slate of benefits including reduced service fees, waived delivery fees on orders of over $35 and 5% back on pickup orders. Instacart+ normally costs $9.99 per month or $99/year when prepaying for an annual membership.
I have never been a big fan of Instacart because I’ve found the prices to be significantly higher (understandably) and there’s a lot of other things that I like to buy at the grocery store besides groceries. 😊
Because of this, when Chase launched the free Instacart+ memberships earlier this year it was a yawn for me, although I know that for folks who already used the service it was like free money. This new benefit improvement has me taking slightly more notice, but primarily because of the Sapphire Reserve card.
The benefits for the Freedom and Sapphire Preferred aren’t great, in my opinion, unless you already use the service. Unless you want to pay for Instacart+ for longer than 3 or 6 months, you basically just get one or two quarters of statement credits before you have to cancel. And $10 doesn’t get you a ton with Instacart, let me tell you. For $10, it’s almost not worth the hassle of signing-up and remembering to cancel after 3 months. The Sapphire Preferred is a little better as at least you get $30 over two quarters.
The Sapphire Reserve benefit, on the other hand, feels like it actually adds value to the card (and I’m one of the small minority that loves the card already because of the 1.5x Pay Yourself Back categories). $15 a month over a full year is fairly substantial and I can just order pickup from the grocery store before I leave for my normal shopping trips. Is it world-shattering? No…but it’s something that I can use for definite value on things that I would already buy.
As an aside, we’ve been hearing that folks who already signed up for the free membership earlier this year have been having trouble enrolling for this promotion and are getting error messages when trying to sign-up. It’s unclear whether or not they are actually eligible for the statement credits automatically (and the terms on the sign-up page aren’t updated), but I would assume that they aren’t unless they can successfully enroll through the website now. I’d love to hear data points if anyone encounters issues.
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Important DP, in the T&Cs of the offer; the $15/qtr statement credits become permanent once you enroll in the free 6-month trial on the CSP. I tried out Instacart+ back in 2021 when they first offered this gimmick, and it’s more hassle and cost than just going to the store myself, in addition to interrupting my points hacking with other cards. I thought this promo was a yawn too, and didn’t bother with it for months. However, on second look, I’m going to sign up using my CSP/CFU/CF, get $35/qtr in ongoing statement credits and a free year of Instacart+ which will completely wipe out the annual fee for the Chase Trifecta for the long term.
Just got an email saying the CSR is $15/quarter and 6 mo membership now
wow I got my instacart + extended like 2 years with all the freedoms in the family lol
Do you know if the sameday Costco grocery delivery service (powered by Instacart) triggers the CSR $15 monthly credit also?
1.5 Pay Yourself Back?
“The Sapphire Reserve benefit, on the other hand, feels like it actually adds value to the card (and I’m one of the small minority that loves the card already because of the 1.5x Pay Yourself Back categories). “
regardless of any card benefit –> try instacart for costco — Not having to deal with that hassle and time suck of that trip saves hours and aggravation each time for us.
Do I need to enroll multiple times for each card? When I add a card as payment nothing happens?
I had to enroll each one.
If one has multiple Freedom cards as well as a Sapphire Reserve, can the $10 credits stack?
I’m… not sure if this is true? Yes, when I added enough cards, I got the “Free until Dec 18, 2023” message. But when I look under my Instagram+ account settings, it still says “Payment starts on June 18, 2023.”
Mine says “membership ends on January 29, 2025”. No wording that says “payment starts…” I don’t have auto-renew turned on.
You should double-check that. Instacart got rid of the option for not having auto-renew months ago…
If you are new like me to instacart+, do not forget 1.5 Delta miles per $ spent with instacart+ by adding your delta mileage number.
Can you enroll in the Sapphire benefit after you finish using the Freedom benefit?
You can add multiple cards. I added at least 4
What I can’t find anywhere is, do you have to sign up for the free year in order to get the $15/mo statement credits? And are the credits only good for the duration of the free membership or do they continue indefinitely?
Meh, if they made it an annual credit I’d bite but $15 is not worth the monthly hassle of them not having order ready / getting it wrong / choosing bad produce
Instacart works (FEEs) lots of places like Waikiki for one and maybe 20 different stores.Look before u order like 30% less then others.Just joined Walmart $99 a year No fees No Con Job BUT if u want it now $10 fee or wait no fee.Have BOTH with keep both..