Love, Riley owner builds bakery with credit card boost

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Chase Bank announced major changes this past week to one of its most popular premium credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The biggest change? A sharp increase in the annual fee, now approaching nearly $800 a year.

Once hailed for offering “champagne travel on a beer budget,” the card is now prompting questions about its value, especially as everyday Americans continue to grapple with inflation and rising costs.

Financial experts warn the card may no longer be worth it for those who aren’t frequent travelers or big spenders.

“There’s a little bit of gamesmanship,” said Ted Rossman with Bankrate. “You need to keep spending to get more perks and some people might overspend. For a lot of folks, a mid-tier travel card or a no-fee cashback card might be the smarter choice.”

Still, for some business owners, the perks of plastic have helped turn dreams into reality.

A Columbus bakery built on credit

On North High Street in Columbus, Riley Harris is piping cream cheese frosting onto her signature carrot cake cupcakes — the smell of fresh-baked sweets wafting through her storefront, Love Riley.

But her bakery almost didn’t happen.

“I was running a home bakery out of my house, and it was so successful, but I was just so limited by the space and what I could produce,” Harris said.

Earlier this year, she opened her brick-and-mortar location after traditional banks turned her down for business loans.

“We just kept getting denied by banks. They didn’t want to loan us money, they didn’t think it was safe enough,” Harris said.

So she turned to credit cards, leveraging no-interest promotional offers from 16 to 18 months from companies to cover startup costs and buy time.

“The biggest ones I used, that gave me the highest limits, were American Express, Chase and Capital One,” Harris said.

It was a financial gamble — but one that paid off.

“We paid our last one off a month ago,” said Harris. “We had a little celebration, we cut a cake and we’re in the green now.”

Rossman said credit cards like Harris used can be helpful when used responsibly, especially with 0% interest promotions, but the risks rise quickly if balances aren’t paid off.

“It’s easy, almost too easy,” Rossman said. “Interest rates are high. So you’ve really got to have a payoff plan.”

Harris said the flexibility helped her scale a business she believed in. Now, she’s racking up rewards and dreaming even bigger.

“We are kind of just accumulating them [points],” Harris said. “We kind of want to do a research trip. Take the team somewhere and go try bakeries and use those points to travel.”

In addition to the Chase Sapphire Reserve update, American Express also announced this week that changes are coming later this year to both the consumer and business versions of its Platinum cards, another signal that the premium credit card market is shifting fast.

Experts advise consumers to reassess their card benefits annually and consider whether those perks still align with their lifestyle and spending habits.

As for Harris, she has a message for others with a dream.

“If you’re ready to bet on yourself 100%? Do it,” Harris said.

And with every swipe, she’s continuing to build something sweet.