Feb 12, 2016, 8:56 am
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.
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
- For discussion specific to the Sapphire Preferred Card, see Chase Sapphire Preferred - Keep, Downgrade, or Cancel?
- 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
Chase Product Change/Card Conversion: Downgrade, Upgrade, Keep or Cancel? (2016-2019)
Feb 11, 2017, 5:31 pm
#406
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 615
SIAP but does anyone plan to downgrade from a CSR to freedom or is that not possible?
Feb 11, 2017, 7:23 pm
#407
Join Date: Apr 2001
Programs: AA (PLATINUM), HHonors (DIAMOND)
Posts: 1,068
How about converting BA to saphire reserve or Hyatt?
Feb 11, 2017, 9:07 pm
#408
Moderator: Travel Buzz
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 3,099
These are different families of cards. None of the 3 are interchangeable.
Feb 12, 2017, 10:50 am
#409
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 452
Apologies in advance for what is probably a stupid question, but we have been out of the credit card game for a while and don't want to do something stupid. My wife already had the Sapphire preferred for almost a year, and now has the reserve. She hasn't spent the bonus points from the preferred, but we don't want to pay another annual fee for it - can we transfer the points from it to the reserve, and then downgrade or cancel the card? (She also has a Freedom card and the Hyatt card, so I'm now sure what she should downgrade it to.)
Feb 12, 2017, 11:48 am
#410
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 832
See this thread for a good wiki on the subject and lots of discussion:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...onward-16.html
Feb 12, 2017, 12:37 pm
#411
Join Date: May 2009
Location: London, UK
Programs: BA Silver, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 452
Brilliant - thank you very much!
Feb 12, 2017, 6:35 pm
#412
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 7
Downgrading Ink+ ?
I currently have an Ink+ and 125k UR points I don't want to lose. But I don't want to keep paying the annual fee since I now have other cards.
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
Feb 12, 2017, 6:39 pm
#413
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 7
Downgrading Ink+?
I currently have an Ink+ and 125k UR points I don't want to lose. But I don't want to keep paying the annual fee since I now have other cards.
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
Feb 12, 2017, 6:55 pm
#414
Moderator
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Miami, Mpls & London
Programs: AA & Marriott Perpetual Platinum; DL & HH Gold
Posts: 48,958
Chase markets INK Cash, Freedom and Freedom Unlimited as "cash back" cards, but they actually earn points. Ultimate Rewards points (earned with any card) can be redeemed for cash, but that's optional.
Feb 12, 2017, 7:32 pm
#415
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 309
I currently have an Ink+ and 125k UR points I don't want to lose. But I don't want to keep paying the annual fee since I now have other cards.
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
If I downgrade to Ink Cash, does that let me keep my points? I'm confused about switching to a cash back card that doesn't earn points but somehow keeping my points.
Alternatively, if my wife gets a CSP, can I transfer all UR points to her account?
Other advice I haven't considered?
Feb 12, 2017, 8:33 pm
#416
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,145
CSR to ???
Got my CSR while I still could use the dining and travel benefits for business. That has changed, and I want to go to a lesser/no-fee card, preferably one that would give UR point bonuses for my monthly cell and landline phone bills.
If I understand correctly, I can only PC after one year, and only in the same category. This would not seem to get me the bonus points that come from Ink Cash?
The only CC changes that I've had in the last few years was getting the CSR, and PCing into the JPMR.
1. What is my best option to rid myself of the CSR, get the bonus points I desire, and not P-off Chase?
2a. Another question is that my wife will want to cancel her CSR outright. I understand that it is best to do this after the first year when the annual fee is posted?
2b. If we both cancel the CSR, are we really going to P-off Chase, even though we have separate accounts for these CSRs? We do have two legacy joint accounts with Chase, and I want to keep these in good standing.
Many thanks for your learned insights.
If I understand correctly, I can only PC after one year, and only in the same category. This would not seem to get me the bonus points that come from Ink Cash?
The only CC changes that I've had in the last few years was getting the CSR, and PCing into the JPMR.
1. What is my best option to rid myself of the CSR, get the bonus points I desire, and not P-off Chase?
2a. Another question is that my wife will want to cancel her CSR outright. I understand that it is best to do this after the first year when the annual fee is posted?
2b. If we both cancel the CSR, are we really going to P-off Chase, even though we have separate accounts for these CSRs? We do have two legacy joint accounts with Chase, and I want to keep these in good standing.
Many thanks for your learned insights.
Feb 13, 2017, 10:25 am
#417
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 615
Got my CSR while I still could use the dining and travel benefits for business. That has changed, and I want to go to a lesser/no-fee card, preferably one that would give UR point bonuses for my monthly cell and landline phone bills.
If I understand correctly, I can only PC after one year, and only in the same category. This would not seem to get me the bonus points that come from Ink Cash?
The only CC changes that I've had in the last few years was getting the CSR, and PCing into the JPMR.
1. What is my best option to rid myself of the CSR, get the bonus points I desire, and not P-off Chase?
2a. Another question is that my wife will want to cancel her CSR outright. I understand that it is best to do this after the first year when the annual fee is posted?
2b. If we both cancel the CSR, are we really going to P-off Chase, even though we have separate accounts for these CSRs? We do have two legacy joint accounts with Chase, and I want to keep these in good standing.
Many thanks for your learned insights.
If I understand correctly, I can only PC after one year, and only in the same category. This would not seem to get me the bonus points that come from Ink Cash?
The only CC changes that I've had in the last few years was getting the CSR, and PCing into the JPMR.
1. What is my best option to rid myself of the CSR, get the bonus points I desire, and not P-off Chase?
2a. Another question is that my wife will want to cancel her CSR outright. I understand that it is best to do this after the first year when the annual fee is posted?
2b. If we both cancel the CSR, are we really going to P-off Chase, even though we have separate accounts for these CSRs? We do have two legacy joint accounts with Chase, and I want to keep these in good standing.
Many thanks for your learned insights.
Feb 13, 2017, 11:17 am
#418
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: STL
Programs: Hyatt Platinum, Hilton Gold
Posts: 521
Earn 1.5k Rapid Rewards points for upgrading to SW Premier Card? Do it?
Hi all,
I currently have the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa card and just got a letter in the mail stating I can earn 1,500 bonus points for upgrading to a Southwest Premier Credit Card. I already have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, as well as a couple other Chase cards. I plan to travel quite a bit this year using Southwest and I'm looking to maximize my earning ability for Rapid Rewards points. With that said, should I upgrade my current card to the Premier for an annual fee of $99 and 6000 anniversay points (will it be a hard inquiry?), or can I do better elsewhere ?
I currently have the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Visa card and just got a letter in the mail stating I can earn 1,500 bonus points for upgrading to a Southwest Premier Credit Card. I already have the Chase Sapphire Reserve, as well as a couple other Chase cards. I plan to travel quite a bit this year using Southwest and I'm looking to maximize my earning ability for Rapid Rewards points. With that said, should I upgrade my current card to the Premier for an annual fee of $99 and 6000 anniversay points (will it be a hard inquiry?), or can I do better elsewhere ?
Feb 22, 2017, 9:18 am
#419
Join Date: Feb 2017
Posts: 2
Keeping Points While Downgrading Card
Question about downgrading as it relates to current Ultimate Rewards Points:
Considering downgrading my Chase Sapphire Preferred to a Chase Freedom. I transferred my existing points to my spouse's Sapphire Reserve account. Can anyone confirm what will happen with the points on my recent transactions that I have not yet shown up in my account? If I downgrade, will those points show up on my Freedom account, or will I never see those?
I can always wait a couple of months to downgrade, until they show up, while not using the card, and then transfer them to my spouse. But if they automatically show up on the downgraded card, I'd rather not wait.
Thanks for your help!
Taylor
Considering downgrading my Chase Sapphire Preferred to a Chase Freedom. I transferred my existing points to my spouse's Sapphire Reserve account. Can anyone confirm what will happen with the points on my recent transactions that I have not yet shown up in my account? If I downgrade, will those points show up on my Freedom account, or will I never see those?
I can always wait a couple of months to downgrade, until they show up, while not using the card, and then transfer them to my spouse. But if they automatically show up on the downgraded card, I'd rather not wait.
Thanks for your help!
Taylor
Feb 22, 2017, 5:52 pm
#420
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: SW Michigan, ex SF Bay Area
Posts: 832
Considering downgrading my Chase Sapphire Preferred to a Chase Freedom. ... Can anyone confirm what will happen with the points on my recent transactions that I have not yet shown up in my account? If I downgrade, will those points show up on my Freedom account, or will I never see those?
Previous points balance .......... 0
+ Points transferred from other product ........ <the residual points in CSP before conversion>
+ 1% (1 Pt)/$1 earned on all purchases
+ Bonus from 1Q 5% category: Gas stations (or whatever)
= Total points available for redemption
+ Points transferred from other product ........ <the residual points in CSP before conversion>
+ 1% (1 Pt)/$1 earned on all purchases
+ Bonus from 1Q 5% category: Gas stations (or whatever)
= Total points available for redemption