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)
Apr 14, 2017, 9:17 am
#466
Moderator: Travel Buzz
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 3,099
Shadowdog, that is an ok plan. You're right to keep the UA card in some form or other. As to your credit score, believe it or not, churning credit cards can actually improve your score, not lower it. It may drop initially, but rebounds if you keep your good practices such as low utilization and paying in full.
See this thread for interesting commentary on Fico's and churning: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ght=fico+score
Chase can be pretty stingy with retention bonuses, but the UA cards sometimes get a $100 statement credit. See this thread for recent successes and failures with Chase retention: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...5-present.html
I think if I got a retention bonus for the UA card, such as a $100 statement credit, I'd just keep it open instead of downgrading it. It's got some nice benefits that the no-fee card doesn't offer.
See this thread for interesting commentary on Fico's and churning: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ght=fico+score
Chase can be pretty stingy with retention bonuses, but the UA cards sometimes get a $100 statement credit. See this thread for recent successes and failures with Chase retention: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chase...5-present.html
I think if I got a retention bonus for the UA card, such as a $100 statement credit, I'd just keep it open instead of downgrading it. It's got some nice benefits that the no-fee card doesn't offer.
Apr 20, 2017, 1:05 pm
#467
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: BOS
Posts: 15,027
Any sense to upgrade CSP to CSR?
Apr 21, 2017, 7:59 am
#468
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 72
I called and was told that my ink+ (opened in 2015) cannot be converted to ink preferred. Is it generally true or caused by something specific to my account? The card currently has pending transactions and balances.
Thanks
Thanks
Apr 21, 2017, 10:54 am
#469
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Hawai'i Nei
Programs: Au: UA, Marriott, Hilton; GE
Posts: 7,141
Is there a no-fee card to which one can acquire for downgrading the CSR?
Apr 23, 2017, 3:24 pm
#470
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: BAY AREA
Posts: 1,125
Hey all
I currently have freedom unlimited card which has 1997 history and a CSR card that I got last year. I also have an ink plus card which the annual fee is waived since my discontinued ink was converted to it. I hardly have any travel expenses so I was thinking of either cancelling the CSR card and transfer my credit line to my freedom unlimited or converting it to a free card. The limit on my freedom is 45k and CSR is 20k. What you guys think?
Apr 23, 2017, 6:20 pm
#471
Moderator: Travel Buzz
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 3,099
Hey all
I currently have freedom unlimited card which has 1997 history and a CSR card that I got last year. I also have an ink plus card which the annual fee is waived since my discontinued ink was converted to it. I hardly have any travel expenses so I was thinking of either cancelling the CSR card and transfer my credit line to my freedom unlimited or converting it to a free card. The limit on my freedom is 45k and CSR is 20k. What you guys think?
Apr 23, 2017, 6:22 pm
#472
Join Date: Apr 2017
Posts: 284
Have Ink Preferred and was told it was fine for me to PC to Ink Cash if I wanted to do so.
Apr 23, 2017, 10:09 pm
#473
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 544
My wife had an old Ink Bold that we converted to the free Ink Cash to avoid the annual fee. Can she now apply for an Ink Preferred and get the 80K bonus? Or does having an Ink cash that was converted from a fee card preclude getting the card and/or bonus. She did get a bonus for her old Ink, but it was well more than 2 years ago. Thanks for any input!
Apr 24, 2017, 10:11 am
#474
Moderator: Travel Buzz
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Sunny San Diego
Posts: 3,099
My wife had an old Ink Bold that we converted to the free Ink Cash to avoid the annual fee. Can she now apply for an Ink Preferred and get the 80K bonus? Or does having an Ink cash that was converted from a fee card preclude getting the card and/or bonus. She did get a bonus for her old Ink, but it was well more than 2 years ago. Thanks for any input!
Apr 26, 2017, 9:48 am
#475
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 254
Hi All,
My questions first...
1. If I get a Freedom card, can I later change it to a Freedom Unlimited card?
2. Is it possible to downgrade CSR to CSP?
I assume the answer to both is yes, but just want to make sure!
Background Info:
I have a CSP and a CSR (and an Ink Cash). I don't have either Freedom card. I will downgrade my CSP soon, probably to Freedom since it can't be applied for now. Ultimately I'd prefer to have the Freedom Unlimited as my main card though. I'm way past 5/24, so applying for the Freedom Unlimited won't work. Unless I have an in-branch pre-approval (although there's no branch within 200 miles of me, so I can only try when traveling). So, I thought I'd get the Freedom with the hope of someday getting the Freedom Unlimited. In case that doesn't work out, I'm hoping I could product change to Freedom Unlimited. Thoughts?
CSR to CSP? I might do this if I'm not making regular use of the $300 travel reimbursement - great benefits, but huge annual fee...
*Sorry if these have been asked - searching this forum for "Freedom" doesn't really help to find an answer to this specific question... Thanks,
--Kyle
My questions first...
1. If I get a Freedom card, can I later change it to a Freedom Unlimited card?
2. Is it possible to downgrade CSR to CSP?
I assume the answer to both is yes, but just want to make sure!
Background Info:
I have a CSP and a CSR (and an Ink Cash). I don't have either Freedom card. I will downgrade my CSP soon, probably to Freedom since it can't be applied for now. Ultimately I'd prefer to have the Freedom Unlimited as my main card though. I'm way past 5/24, so applying for the Freedom Unlimited won't work. Unless I have an in-branch pre-approval (although there's no branch within 200 miles of me, so I can only try when traveling). So, I thought I'd get the Freedom with the hope of someday getting the Freedom Unlimited. In case that doesn't work out, I'm hoping I could product change to Freedom Unlimited. Thoughts?
CSR to CSP? I might do this if I'm not making regular use of the $300 travel reimbursement - great benefits, but huge annual fee...
*Sorry if these have been asked - searching this forum for "Freedom" doesn't really help to find an answer to this specific question... Thanks,
--Kyle
Apr 26, 2017, 6:30 pm
#476
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: SJC/SFO
Posts: 373
probably to Freedom since it can't be applied for now.
Apr 26, 2017, 10:02 pm
#478
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 254
I think the Freedom can't be applied for in branch? But the Freedom Unlimited can. So there isn't really a way for me to get the Freedom unless I product change (or wait a couple years and stop getting new cards). --Kyle
May 15, 2017, 2:54 pm
#479
Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 1
Current situation:
My anniversary is coming up for my Ink Business Plus card.
I have:
Ink Business Plus
Sapphire Preferred
Freedom
I don't want to pay the annual fee for the Ink Bus Plus card, and I hardly use this card.
What is my best course of action?
Should I downgrade the Ink Plus to the Ink Cash card?
Or, simply cancel the Ink card, and re-apply in 24 months?
Also, I should combine my UR points from my Ink card to my Sapphire Pref card before doing either of the above, correct?
Thank you in advance.
My anniversary is coming up for my Ink Business Plus card.
I have:
Ink Business Plus
Sapphire Preferred
Freedom
I don't want to pay the annual fee for the Ink Bus Plus card, and I hardly use this card.
What is my best course of action?
Should I downgrade the Ink Plus to the Ink Cash card?
Or, simply cancel the Ink card, and re-apply in 24 months?
Also, I should combine my UR points from my Ink card to my Sapphire Pref card before doing either of the above, correct?
Thank you in advance.
Jun 6, 2017, 6:09 pm
#480
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 101
Does the card balance have to be 0 in order to PC?
My situation is this: I have a CSP with a balance over $6K. I paid it in full online today, so it should go to 0 tomorrow. However, I have a charge to make tomorrow that's going to be about $4.5K. I'd like to get 1.5x on that. Can I secure message for a PC today? Should I wait until morning when the balance is at $0? The CSP has been open for years. If they make me first PC to Sapphire, can I go CSP-->Sapphire-->FU in one day? Or am I outta luck on 1.5x tomorrow? Any thoughts?
My situation is this: I have a CSP with a balance over $6K. I paid it in full online today, so it should go to 0 tomorrow. However, I have a charge to make tomorrow that's going to be about $4.5K. I'd like to get 1.5x on that. Can I secure message for a PC today? Should I wait until morning when the balance is at $0? The CSP has been open for years. If they make me first PC to Sapphire, can I go CSP-->Sapphire-->FU in one day? Or am I outta luck on 1.5x tomorrow? Any thoughts?