Originally Posted by diesteldorf

My Sapphire Reserve has an anniversary of March 6, when I got the card officially at a branch in 2017. However, looking at history, my annual fee is always charged in April, so I don't know 100% what the annual fee will be when I am charged, though I am thinking it will be $550.

I like the card, but I also have the Chase Ritz card, Amex Green, Gold, and Platinum. Of those cards, it is easier for me to utilize all of the Amex credits and many of the benefits overlap.

Depending on what my renewal fee is for the CSR, I am planning to downgrade. However, I have a lot of Chase points that I am planning to combine with Amex for a trip to Australia or Japan. However, I pobably won't take the trip for 2+ years.

I know I could easily downgrade the CSR to a CSP with a $95 annual fee, but I don't plan to put much spend on the CSP. I currently have a Chase Freedom Unlimited. It has been a Freedom Unlimited for several years.

My plan is to transfer all my Chase points from my CSR to my Freedom Unlimited and then product change the CSR to a regular Freedom card.

When I get ready to plan my big trip and transfer my points to airlines, I'll upgrade my Freedom Unlimited card back to a CSP or CSR and then keep it for at least a year while I use my stash of Chase points. Doing this would save me a $95 annual fee for the 2+ years before I take my trip and I am assuming I could just call and product change whenever I wanted to, since I haven't product changed my Freedom Unlimited for a few years.

Does anyone see any risks with this strategy? Obviously, the big risk would be if Chase ended the ability to transfer Chase Ultimate Reward points between cards with little or no notice.