Reason to KEEP the Chase Continental credit card
 

Are there any good reasons to keep the Chase Continental card?

I've had it almost a year, so the $85 annual fee will be due soon. I have just received a Chase Sapphire Preferred card.

The only benefits I can see (for the Continental card) are the free first-bag checked and, possibly, the travel discount certificate that it says you get annually. I can't even figure out how much the discount certificate is worth...

It does have price protection which looks like it could be beneficial.

So, can you think of any reasons to pay the annual fee and keep the Chase Continental cc?

I am curious too especially as the benefits are somewhat duplicative for a 1k on UA/CO. The only real benefits for me are the 2 RCC passes and primary rental car insurance.

The only reason I keep my Chase WN card is that I get 1% money (0% cash advance offers) and the annual points at renewal largely offset the annual fee. Ditto for CitiAA, which is otherwise worthless.

Downgrade to the free CO card if the annual fee is in the way.

Not sure if Chase still offers it, but I converted a CO card years ago to the one that earns 1 mile per $2. The AF version might still be worth it if you fly a lot on CO/UA.

The downgrade method preserves the age of account and still contributes to your total CL.

I like it for the primary rental car coverage...but thats about it...other then flying on CO/UA

sweet...hopefully they still have a free card...i'll go and call in feb hopefully they wouldn't have switched to a new credit card by then.

That is probably the wrong answer. The free card will not have the benefits you value, if any. Just move you CL to another card and close the card if you don't value it much. Or call to cancel and see what they offer to keep it open.

Sure, cancelling's an option if OP considers keeping the card open too much hassle or not worth the AF. But for me, I do value the benefits of the downgraded card.

Downgrading still keeps the Chase loophole of small bill cancellations of $.99 and 1 mile for free each month. FICO's use of AAOA and total CL is untouched and there's also the random free CO mileage thing which generally require their cc. I am still getting a checked bag for free even with the downgraded card which was the only benefit that OP seemed to value. Admittedly, some benefits may go away when the UA/CO merger is truly finalized.

I can understand playing the retention "game" but the card closure / reallocation route seems worse than downgrading.

I called to canx it awhile back to avoid the $85 fee. The agent offered me $100 credit if I kept it open, so I did.

Did she take away the $85 fee, or did the $85 fee essentially come out of the $100 credit?

Primary rental car coverage is my primary reason,along with the fact that I need a MC for one of my utility bills that only takes MC. I am signed up for Amex car rental coverage,but at 19.95 per rental, the CO card is still better for me at this point.

I will hold on to it for a while,at least until I see what Chase plans to do with respect to the CO and UA cards in general.

Is the primary rental card coverage offered by the Chase Continental card any different than the rental card coverage you have on your other non-AMEX cards?

What sort of difference are you asking about? Primary versus secondary coverage is a substantial difference. Primary means you need not file a claim with your own auto insurer.

The fee was not waived but I made $15 to keep the account open. The $85 fee showed up on my statement, the $100 credit showed up on the same statement as a completely different transaction not tied to the fee. The credit was not tied to any spend requirement.

I was also offered 10K miles to keep it open as an alternative to the $100 credit. It however was tied to a 3K spend in 30 days.

Interesting. I got the same 10K miles vs. $100 offer, but the 10K miles was not tied to any spending whatsoever. Took the miles.

The computer saw you as a more valuable customer. I was surprised I got such a good offer to begin with as I put less then $3K on it all of last year.