barabbas90

Ive held the CSP now for 3 years, I understand I wont be eligible for a sign up bonus for the CSR for another year. In the mean time is there any downside to me doing a PC from the CSP to the CSR, and then in a year do a PC to a no fee card, and then open a new CSR to get the sign up bonus?

Dr Jabadski

Not my area of expertise or experience but in case the subject matter experts here don’t reply, I believe that’s considered a safe, prudent and lucrative practice. Presumably the (only) risk is approval criteria for the CSR application in a year.

mirak

So... I suspect I know the answer to this, but I figured I'd check anyway.

I opened a Sapphire Reserve way back in 2017. Got my 100,000 points shortly thereafter. I've held onto that card ever since, although I did downgrade the account (kept same number) to Preferred a couple of years ago.

I'm thinking I might upgrade back to Reserve again, but I'd like to hit another signup bonus. I don't churn cards regularly, so 5/24 is not an issue for me. And it's been well over 4 years since I last received a sign up bonus. But in order to nab another sign up bonus, do I need to close my current account - and for how long - and then reapply (preferably wait for at least an 80k pt offer)? Or would upgrading from Preferred to Reserve be sufficient for the bonus?

And if I close the current account, any impact on my current Ultimate Rewards points?

mia

To be eligible for a Sapphire bonus you cannot hold any Sapphire card. If you close Sapphire Preferred the points will expire. The solution is to downgrade Sapphire to a Freedom card. You can do this even if you already hold the same card. This will preserve the points balance. Wait four days, then apply for Reserve. Later, you can consolidate all your points into the Reserve account using the Combine Points feature.

HPN-HRL

I will echo Mia's post as being the best way for you to proceed. Also note that upgrading from Sapphire Preferred to Sapphire Reserve will not earn any bonus (unless Chase is running some promo, but I have never heard of them doing such a thing).

mirak

Ok thank you both! That's exactly what I needed to know. I'll downgrade to a Freedom and wait for a better offer on Sapphire.

notquiteaff

The points in your new Freedom account are not transferable to airline/hotel partners while you wait for a better offer to appear. So unless you are facing an annual fee, given the short period you only need to have no CSR/CSP (4 days per mia above) it might be better to keep the CSP until a new offer for the CSR appears.

Dr Jabadski

If already holding the same card couldn’t the points more simply be combined and then close the Sapp Pref? Is there a difference in Chase’s system for recognizing a card as being closed (and CL made “available” for a new application) and/or approving a new application for an identical card when the first (original) card is PCed (product changed) vs outright closed? Thank you.

mia

Yes. When a card is closed there is a period during which it can be reopened, and during that period a Sapphire application would be rejected because the system will see that you already hold one, even though it is closed. When a card is product changed it takes much less time for the system to recognize that you do not hold a Sapphire card.

Substantial discussion here: Chase Product Change/Card Conversion: Downgrade, Upgrade, Keep or Cancel? (2023-)

Dr Jabadski

Thank you, that’s my vague understanding, thanks for clarifying.

Is the “period during which it can be reopened” generally thought to be 30 days? For a new application during that period would it be correct to state “new application will be declined and prior account can and will (at Chase’s discretion) be reopened”?

mirak

Thanks everyone for the information. So confusing! I went ahead and downgraded (converted?) from Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom Unlimited. I've just switched to a BOA Alaska Air card as my primary spender in prep for a trip to Seattle this summer (nice companion fare benefit after spending a few thousand on the card), so I barely had any spend on the Preferred when I converted. If I lose a couple hundred points for the remaining spend on the Preferred, no biggie. But they confirmed that my sizeable current UR points balance will not be impacted. Since I wasn't using the Preferred for the next couple months anyway, no point in getting hit with another $99 renewal fee. Also, I don't need to use my UR points in the next couple months, so that shouldn't be impacted, either. (Obviously tell me if I'm getting any of these assumptions wrong).

Hopefully this spring there will be another 80k point promotion on the Reserve, and I'll reapply at that time. If approved, I guess the last step would be to consolidate my points because the new Reserve would be a new account number?

DeltaNeutral28

I realize this may be a crapshoot but does anyone have any credible info about the CSR elevating their 60k SUB, I recall it being 80k a while ago. I'm getting to a point where I need to unload points with no travel on the horizon and the Grocery/PYB is looking good again. I haven't had the CSR in a while but the grocery 3x/PYB during Covid was a thing of beauty even though now it's only 1.25 vs 1.50.

shanna135

My wife down graded her Sapphire card 2 months ago after having it for 2 years. Can she now apply for the reserve card?

notquiteaff

By Sapphire card, you mean the CSP or CSR, right? (there is also a plain Sapphire NAF card, but you presumably can’t really downgrade that one)

I think the rule is you are not eligible if you have received a CSR/CSP SUB in the last 48 months.

Schnit

You cannot have any sapphire card