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Chase Product Change/Card Conversion: Downgrade, Upgrade, Keep or Cancel? (2016-2019)

Old Feb 12, 2016, 8:56 am
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Last edit by: beltway
This is the general 2016-2019 thread for weighing the relative merits
of keeping, downgrading, or canceling Chase-issued credit cards.


Post-2019 discussion continues in this thread.

What's the main reason people product change (PC)?
The benefits offered by a particular card, might suit you better than the card you are holding. Many people, unable to qualify for a new Chase Sapphire Reserve application, upgraded from the Sapphire Preferred to the Sapphire Reserve, because the benefits of the CSR's cash reimbursements made the annual fee a nominal difference the first year. And vice versa- the onerous $450 yearly fee of the CSR makes an appealing case to downgrade to the Sapphire Preferred, and eventually to the no-fee Sapphire or a Freedom card.

Many people product change to avoid the annual fees on the premium versions of the card. Keeping the card open, via a product change, keeps the account open. This allows you to retain the seasoned account, and the banking relationship that the older card has established with Chase.

Why not just cancel the card and be done with it?
This may be the right choice for you, but others want some of the card benefits without having to reapply. Also, Chase has become very restrictive for new card applicants. For Chase cards, you must wait 24- 48 months since the last time you received a bonus before reapplying. Please see the threads on the individual cards for updated overlay rules.

An additional (and more stringent) overlay is the infamous 5/24 rule, which Chase instituted in May 2016 as a counter-measure against churning, or, as they refer to it, "Serial Starters." The 5/24 rule is that you won't be eligible for most Chase card products if you've opened more than 5 credit cards in 24 months. For more on this and other application-related issues, see the current "Applying for Chase Credit Cards " Master thread.

Finally, canceling certain cards--those earning Chase Ultimate Rewards--may deprive you of the ability to exchange UR for miles/points in air & hotel programs. See Ultimate Rewards transfer partners, times & rules.

Is there any way I can keep a card without paying the annual fee?
See Chase Retention Bonuses: June 2015-Present

Are there any restrictions on product changes?
Product changes are only allowed within the same card "family," and are not permitted between business and personal cards. Also, Chase cites the federal CARD Act to deny product changes on any account less that one year old.

Will a product change count as a new card?
No, you will keep your same card number, "opened on" date, credit line, automatic payment arrangements, etc. A product change does not count against Chase's 5/24 limitations on new cards.

Will I get a signup bonus when I change?
No, product changes do not result in point bonuses. Signup bonuses are reserved for new applicants only. For the complete list of public sign up offers, check the Chase sitemap here: https://creditcards.chase.com/sitemap

Is there a place I can look to compare cards?
Go here: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...D=177087865887
Click: All cards
Place a checkmark in the Compare box for up to three cards.
Click: Compare cards...and you should see a side-by-side display.

I've figured out what I want to switch to. How do I product change my card?
Call the number on the back of your card.

Product changes for the Ultimate Reward Business and Personal Card Family

The UR family of cards includes the Chase Ink business cards, the Freedom Unlimited, the Freedom Card, and the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Reserve and Sapphire.

The Slate (personal) card is also available to downgrade to. It has no annual fee and does not earn any type of reward points. It offers a low fee (currently 0% for the first 60 days) balance transfers and APR.

Personal Cards
  • Freedom: 5X points in rotating quarterly categories up to $1500 spend per quarter. If you max out the $1500 every quarter, it totals 7500 UR per quarter, or 30,000 UR per year.
  • Freedom Unlimited: 1.5X for all spending, no bonus categories. $20,000 in spend would net 30,000 UR per year.
  • Sapphire Reserve: $450 annual fee, $300 annual travel credit, 3X points for travel and dining. Books travel through the UR portal for 1.5 per dollar. Lounge access and other goodies. See the thread here for details.
  • Sapphire Preferred: $95 annual fee, 2X points for travel & dining
  • Sapphire: Not available to new applicants. Available as a product downgrade/change only, must tier down from the Sapphire Reserve to Sapphire Preferred to Sapphire or Freedom cards. No annual fee. Some Customer Service Reps are citing that the original product (i.e., the CSR), must be held for one year before downgrading. Please provide data points in the thread if this happens to you.


Business Cards
  • Ink Plus: $95 annual fee, 5X office supplies, 5X cellular/landline/cable; 2X gas and hotels
  • Ink Preferred: 3x on travel, shipping, internet/phone/cable, & some online advertising.
  • Ink Cash: No annual fee, 5X office supplies, 5X cellular/landline/cable; 2X gas and restaurants

If you still have a legacy Ink Classic or Ink Bold business card, neither of which is available for new signups, you can product change to one of the other Ink cards.

Considerations for downgrading/upgrading:

Can I combine my UR points?
Yes, UR can be combined freely across the cardholder's own personal and business accounts.

What about transfering my UR to another person's Chase UR account? To their air/hotel partner account?
With restrictions, UR from a personal card can be transferred to a person living at the same address. Business cards allow transfer to owners of the company listed as authorized users.

However, be warned that there are transfer restrictions. Unauthorized transfers have resulted in shut-downs. Review the Chase T&C for details before planning a transfer. For discussion, see http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...-accounts.html.

The Freedom cards, no-fee Ink Cash, and no-fee Sapphire cards do not allow UR transfer to airline/hotel partners. If you are downgrading from a premium UR card and will only have no-fee cards left, it may be prudent to transfer your points to the partner of your choice beforehand.

I know I can use UR to pay for travel directly (as opposed to transfering points into a travel partner program). Do the Chase UR cards differ on this?
Only the Sapphire Reserve books travel on the UR portal for 1.5. So you can stack your card bonus opportunities when your UR points are combined into your CSR account and used for booking travel. If, for instance, you earned 5x on your Ink Plus on your phone bill, and combine those 5x Ink earned points into your CSR's UR account, you'll now get an additional .5 in value when you redeem them on the travel portal.

Product Changes for United Airlines Cards

There are options to downgrade or upgrade UA cards.
  • United Mileage Plus Card- no annual fee, 1 UA mile per $2 in spend
  • United Mileage Plus Explorer Card- $95 annual fee, 1 mile per dollar earning, additional award inventory on UA, free checked bag, 25% bonus on the shopping portal.
  • United Plus Club Card- $450 annual fee, 1.5 miles per $1, many additional premium card benefits
  • Business Cards for the Mileage Plus and Club Card give you a choice to upgrade or downgrade between those two.

Southwest Airlines Cards

The difference here is a nominal $30/3000 points per year.

Personal cards
  • Plus Card- $69 annual fee, 3000 bonus points upon renewal
  • Premiere Card- $99 annual fee, 6000 bonus points upon renewal
The Business cards also have a Plus and Premiere version.
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Chase Product Change/Card Conversion: Downgrade, Upgrade, Keep or Cancel? (2016-2019)

Old Aug 18, 2016, 1:18 pm
  #166  
 
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: PHX, ORD, MDW
Programs: WN A-List, Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold, National Executive Elite
Posts: 292
Can a CSP be downgraded to a Slate? I already have a Freedom and Freedom Unlimited, and I'd rather not have 2 of either card. I'm planning on downgrading the CSP after (hopefully) getting the CSR, and the Slate is the only no-annual-fee, Chase-branded card that I don't already have. I suppose I could downgrade to the regular, no-fee Sapphire, but it seems pointless to have the regular Sapphire and the CSR. I guess it doesn't really matter, though -- I'm only truly interested in preserving the account age and history.

Sorry for rambling - just thinking out loud here.
ryanmcv is offline  
Old Aug 18, 2016, 2:02 pm
  #167  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: DC
Posts: 360
Downgrade to another regular Freedom and double your 5X quarterly earnings!
mikex163 is offline  
Old Aug 18, 2016, 4:31 pm
  #168  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: LAX
Posts: 51
Originally Posted by orvando
assuming (cross fingers!) that i am approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, I'm planning on downgrading my existing CSP to a Freedom (I do not currently have a Freedom of any variety). should i wait a certain amount of time after approval for the CSR to do so? i want to make sure that Chase recognizes that I have a new UR-earning account, and does not strip me of my UR points when I downgrade the CSP. does anyone see any danger or faulty thinking in this plan? how long after getting the CSR would you wait to perform the CSP downgrade? THANKS!
The Freedom and Freedom Unlimited are UR earning cards. If you convert your CSP now, even before you get the CSR, your points will still be on the Freedom (Unlimited) card account and available to you. You just cant transfer them to a partner airline or hotel until you get the CSR (or another CSP or an Ink +).
RBM3 is offline  
Old Aug 18, 2016, 4:35 pm
  #169  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: LAX
Posts: 51
Originally Posted by ryanmcv
Can a CSP be downgraded to a Slate? I already have a Freedom and Freedom Unlimited, and I'd rather not have 2 of either card. I'm planning on downgrading the CSP after (hopefully) getting the CSR, and the Slate is the only no-annual-fee, Chase-branded card that I don't already have. I suppose I could downgrade to the regular, no-fee Sapphire, but it seems pointless to have the regular Sapphire and the CSR. I guess it doesn't really matter, though -- I'm only truly interested in preserving the account age and history.

Sorry for rambling - just thinking out loud here.
You should be able to downgrade to a Slate. Keep in mind though, if you are maxing out your $1500/quarter on the rotating categories of the Freedom, then you could get a second Freedom to earn points on up to $3000/quarter with the two cards.

The only benefit the Slate really has is a free FICO score and some balance transfer offers.

And you're right you could downgrade to the regular Sapphire, but there's no real benefit there as the CSR earns more on the travel and dining categories than the regular Sapphire or Sapphire preferred.

Last edited by RBM3; Aug 18, 2016 at 7:36 pm Reason: Corrected timeframe on earning for the Freedom. Changed from month to quarter.
RBM3 is offline  
Old Aug 19, 2016, 5:14 pm
  #170  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Moderator action

Discussion about which cards earn 5 points per dollar has been moved to this thread because that is not related to converting, downgrading or cancelling an existing card and because most of the discussion involves Ink:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...5-present.html
mia is offline  
Old Aug 20, 2016, 6:42 pm
  #171  
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Programs: Northwest, United
Posts: 3,256
Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer PC to...?

I have a Chase United Mileage Plus Explorer card which has the annual fee coming up. I don't use this card for anything and I see no reason to keep it. Rather than just dumping it, or playing for a retention bonus, I was wondering if I had any (good) options for PCing it. Ideally, I'd love to PC it to either a Freedom Unlimited or a Plain Vanilla Freedom. I'm guessing that's not an option though. Anyone know for sure? Thanks.
nwflyboy is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2016, 9:32 am
  #172  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 127
Upgrading/switching Chase Cards?

Hello -

I currently have CSP and Freedom cards - would like to minimize annual fees but am thinking of applying for the CSR. Is there a card I can downgrade my CSP to? Can you have both Freedom and Freedom Unlimited cards?

Are there other options I should look at?
senzer is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2016, 9:44 am
  #173  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Location: LAX
Posts: 51
Yes you can product change to a Sapphire (non-preferred), Freedom Unlimited, Freedom, or Slate. Yes, you can have both the CFU and CF.
EDIT: Link now redundant.

Last edited by RBM3; Aug 23, 2016 at 10:10 am
RBM3 is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2016, 9:59 am
  #174  
 
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 127
Is there a place that lists out all the benefits of each of these cards? I can't seem to find it in the linked post. Thanks!
senzer is offline  
Old Aug 23, 2016, 10:06 am
  #175  
mia
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,952
Originally Posted by senzer
Is there a place that lists out all the benefits of each of these cards? !
Go here: https://creditcards.chase.com/credit...ome/?CELL=6TKX
Click: All cards
Place a checkmark in the Compare box for up to three cards.
Click: Compare cards

...and you should see a side-by-side display.
mia is offline  
Old Aug 24, 2016, 9:08 am
  #176  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: SNA
Programs: AA EXP, Hilton Diamond, Hyatt Globalist, IHG Plat, Marriott Gold, National EE
Posts: 1,204
Originally Posted by senzer
Is there a place that lists out all the benefits of each of these cards? I can't seem to find it in the linked post. Thanks!
There's also a marketing sheet in branch that compares some of the Chase branded cards.
ralphs is offline  
Old Aug 24, 2016, 6:25 pm
  #177  
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Programs: Hyatt Glb, MR Plat
Posts: 2,576
Originally Posted by mhdena
An Ink Cash can be PC'd to an Ink Plus.
A Freedom can be PC'd to a CSP.

So if after several years of earning and you find yourself with 200K or more UR points PC your way to a transferable card. You'd pay the AF of course.

If 5/24 is otherwise a stumbling block.
Is the CSP AF applied immediately when PC'ed from a Freedom? And does the 180 days refund apply when doing this PC?

Any datapoints on PC from Freedom to CSR?

Last edited by frudd38; Aug 24, 2016 at 7:04 pm
frudd38 is offline  
Old Aug 24, 2016, 8:56 pm
  #178  
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Posts: 39
How often can you PC the same card?

Because I just got the new reserve card, I tried to convert my private client sapphire preferred to freedom, but 2 cs reps both stated that I could only convert to regular sapphire preferred or plain sapphire, so I converted to the plain sapphire.

Does anyone know when I'll be able to convert the sapphire again, and whether I'll be able to PC it to freedom?

(I already have both freedom and freedom unlimited also)
conroy9 is offline  
Old Aug 24, 2016, 9:20 pm
  #179  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Programs: Marriott Gold, Hilton Diamond, Radisson Rewards Gold, Best Western Diamond Select
Posts: 1,856
I have both sapphire preferred and both freedoms. Would it be possible to close one of the freedoms and product change my sapphire preferred to one of them? The reason I ask is because the sapphire is one of my older cards.
slickvik is offline  
Old Aug 24, 2016, 9:39 pm
  #180  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 60
Originally Posted by conroy9
Because I just got the new reserve card, I tried to convert my private client sapphire preferred to freedom, but 2 cs reps both stated that I could only convert to regular sapphire preferred or plain sapphire, so I converted to the plain sapphire.

Does anyone know when I'll be able to convert the sapphire again, and whether I'll be able to PC it to freedom?

(I already have both freedom and freedom unlimited also)
if you already have a freedom and freedom unlimited you can't convert your CSP to another freedom. You can only hold one of each card.
Clayfu is offline  

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