I have a CSR due to renew next month. I don't foresee travel coming back anytime soon, possibly not through 2021, and have no use for DoorDash or Lyft. I thought I'd like the access to Priority Lounges but then found there was only one small one that fit my usual travel itineraries. I just used the credit for renewing my Trusted Traveler enrollment (actually upgraded to Global Entry but haven't had an opportunity to do the in-person part yet) so I'm not seeing any benefit to keeping the CSR versus sticking with my current cashback Visa or Discover cards. Even assuming I did get a trip sometime in 2021 to offset $300 of the $450 AF, that would leave me with a $150 AF with no prospect of using any of the "benefits".

I was thinking about the Flex to preserve my UR points until travel returns but it's still not clear to me that the Flex would do that since it's also a cashback card. In fact, one of the blogs listed at the start of this thread implies the Flex cashback rewards can be converted to UR points but only if I keep my CSR while TPG says Flex will get 5% back on travel purchased through UR (which itself sounds odd -- if I'm buying my ticket through UR, only residual balance would be charged to the Flex).

Thoughts?

Thanks. What about the $75 AU fee? Is it prorated too?

Hmm. My $450 Chase Sapphire Reserve fee plus my $75 authorized user fee hit on September 1. I don’t get another travel credit until May 1, 2021 (my travel credits are almost always used by Uber/Lyft anyway, so they don’t feel like a huge benefit). I have a Freedom Unlimited and will convert one of my Freedoms to a Freedom Flex next week. I have about 10,000 UR points after transferring most of my points to Hyatt or using them for Pay Myself Back all summer.

Why wouldn’t I downgrade my CSR to a CSP right now? Paying $450+$75 now for a $300 travel credit in May, 1x additional earning on general travel and 5x additional earnings on Lyft doesn’t seem like much of a bargain. The CSP could still be used for general travel (like car rentals and boutique hotels), and maybe they will enhance the card. I also lose .25 cents on the redemption side, but I’m not sure if that is worth it as well. I will either be at 3/24 or 4/24 by next July. I could theoretically downgrade my CSP at that point and apply for a CSR or CSP bonus then...

You don't need to travel to use the travel credit. There are other temporary expense categories that trigger the credit and those might get extended. Even without those, there's always fully refundable airfare or hotel reservations that don't require any actual travel.

Freedom, Freedom Unlimited and (soon) Freedom Flex all earn UR points. The cards are marketed by Chase as cash back but they do earn points worth $.01 each.

Lastly, you don't need to use any points to purchase travel through the UR site. If you pay using CFF, you'll earn 5x UR points.

I don't know. I suggest cancelling the AU card now and downgrading your CSR after you monetize the travel credit in December.

With only a 10,000 UR point stash, it's probably not worth holding CSR. The .25 redemption value bump is only worth $25 to you.

Since your AF is charged in September and your travel credit resets in May, I assume you got CSR via a product change from another card and didn't get a welcome bonus, correct? I'm just trying to confirm that you will be eligible to apply next July as you plan to.

I would suggest you to do a small trial transaction at the CVS inside Target and see how that transaction is coded on the Freedom cards. There is NO TELLING on how those are treated given Target and Walmart are specifically excluded from the grocery store earning bonus, who knows how the Target / CVS pharmacy is coded? The only way to know for sure is an actual transaction then we can see how it turns out. Since you can see pending points on the UR site, you dont need to wait for statement close to find out.

It may end up you dont need to dirve that one little extra mile, or it may end up that one little extra mile is needed in order to earn the 3x! Only actual transaction can tell!

I'd also see if it shows up on the credit card as a charge from Target or CVS. If it says CVS then it's probably coded as a drug store and if it's target then it isn't.

All my scripts that I can't that aren't mailed order are from the Kroger pharmacy and it always codes as a grocery store and gets the 5x cash bonus whenever chase freedom or Discover has grocery stores as a quarterly category.

Exactly. I upgraded my CSR from a CSP in May 2019. I got an immediate travel credit in May 2019, but ended it paying my fee in September. So I have had two travel credits and paid one fee. Does anyone know if Chase would claw back a travel credit?

To date, they do not.

I called to change my Freedom to the Freedom Flex this morning. The new card is already appearing on my account. Of note is that “Combine Points” is still available under the Freedom Flex card, so as now, Freedom Flex points remain transferable to a Sapphire card...

Are they sending you a new card with Mastercard logo or you just keep on using the existing card? You get to keep the card number right? Also it seem like Chase still doesn't have wireless on the Freedom Flex card (just by looking at the picture on Chase's site without wireless logo).

They'd have to give a new number. Mastercards always start with 5 and Visa's always started with 4.

Looks like they gave me a new number. No clue about contactless.

Chase Freedom Flex is NOW LIVE
 

Chase Freedom Flex is now live (via phone) for product changes for example going from Freedom to Freedom Flex. There was talk previously that you couldn't product change from various Sapphire cards to the Flex but apparently you can do so today. (No one knows if this is a glitch in a customer's favor or not but if you want to make the switch from a non Freedom card to the Flex, now is the time to do it before the window could potentially close).

Please post your experience with the product change in this forum. Thanks.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase...sapphire-card/

I am going to be changing my CSR to a Freedom Flex. Annual fee on my CSR hit on 9/1 but statement won't close till 9/24. Does anyone know, if I PC today to Flex, what will happen to points accumulated this month on the CSR, as they are still pending considering that statement has not closed yet?

You can't keep the number. It will have to start with 5.
The current card is good for about 60 days but I should destroy it when the new card arrives. Maybe I will.

Took a phone call of about 4 minutes to get my Freedom changed to a Freedom Flex. The card number has definitely changed, the last four of the new card is already available to view on Chase.com.

Has anyone figured out if you PC from a Freedom to a Flex in Q4 can you get the 5% category points on both cards? In other words can you spend $1,500 at Walmart in October on a Freedom then PC to a Flex on November 1st and spend another $1,500 for the category bonus again?

99.95% sure that won’t work.

I know they said no bonus offer for a product change but I think there is a tiny chance the grocery 5% might work. I’ll try a test spend the first time I shop after it arrives.

FWIW it does not look like it will reset the counter so the answer is no. Product change appears to be similar to you losing you card and getting a new card number issue. The 5% tracker didn’t reset despite showing flex MC logo.

With the 5% bonus on grocery for a year promo on the Flex, doesn't it make more sense to apply for one rather than PC from Freedom if 5/24 is of no concern? Not to mention the SUB with a new application. TIA.

LAX

1. LOL
2. Unless this puts you to 5/24 and stops you from getting a large bonus on another Chase card.

You might be able to avoid 5/24 in bank. I got a Business Freedom that way at (5 + n)/24. It is definitely a YMMV. I had given up asking for pre-approvals and one day just asked while Mrs. HighOPS was doing something with her business accounts.

A couple of reports to mention:

- Reddit user reported being able to product change two Chase Freedoms to Freedom Flexes.

- Another Reddit user reported that Chase CSR said FFs would not be able to be added to mobile wallets.

(Source: yesterday's daily discussion thread on r/churning.)

Can the Chase co-branded IHG MasterCards be added to mobile wallets?

Two weeks ago I cancelled my CF on the (now known to be erroneous) speculation that getting a CFF would not be possible if one had a CF. That cancellation seemed rash at the time, but I always had a backup plan in mind. Today, I executed it. Instead of applying for a CFF I applied for a CF (instant approval). After all, the CF gets the same SUB as the CFF (and that's all I'm after anyway). Of course I used a referral from my wife.

RNE, having churned the CF while the CFF is sill there for the plucking (eventually).

P.S. I don't "need" the CFF anyway; my CFU duplicates its 3x on dining.

P.P.S. I'm still way under 5/24.

You couldn't for a really long time, but apparently now you can (I think within the last year they started allowing it): https://www.chase.com/digital/digita...accepted-cards

Even on that page, it seems like they kind of shoehorned in Mastercard support.

Should be able to. I was able to add my Hyatt co-branded chase card to applepay with no issues

When I go in the Chase Mobile app to add cards to Apple Pay, my IHG Select card does not appear as an optional. Maybe it has to be done manually, though?

Hyatt is a Visa, not a Mastercard.

This is an interesting DP in that you were able to be approved for a Chase card less than 30 days after canceling the same card.

Do you have to go thru Chase Mobile to add a card to Apple Pay? When I want to add a card to Google Pay, I just scan the card in Google Pay app.

I felt like it was a bit flaky in general where you can add them through the Chase app, at least when that feature was launched. If you try to add your IHG Select card with the Wallet app (tap +, Continue, Credit or Debit Card, etc.) and use the camera or enter the numbers manually, does that work?

You don't have to, but many issuers offer the ability to set up the card through their apps. Typically this bypasses the need to enter the card number, expiration, and CVV, and goes right to the provisioning/activation process, where you may just need to verify with an emailed code or text. If you do it through the Wallet app, it's probably like the Google Pay process (enter or scan the card number, enter the CVV, wait for it to get added.)

I almost wonder if many of Chase's systems (Chase Pay, adding cards through the app, contactless cards in general, etc.) are still geared mostly towards Visa products (even on all the digital wallet pages, they still typically say "Chase Visa" even though the IHG cards, which are all Mastercard, are listed as supported). Anyone else feel like it's just really weird that it's a Mastercard after Chase went out of their way to migrate almost their entire portfolio to Visa?

It could be a way to discourage people from maxing out the rewards categories since "cheaper" cards (like CFU and to a lesser extent Sapphire) would be easier to use. Of course, since contactless usage in the US is still some of the lowest in the world (despite the pandemic causing major increases), this may not matter right now.

Not at all. MasterCard and VISA are competitors. Launching one of their own brand cards as a MasterCard strengthens Chase's negotiating position with VISA. by demonstrating that they are willing and able to move to another network, and MasterCard undoubtedly offered Chase a handsome bounty for each card issued.

You can’t add business cards or Mastercards from Chase to Apple Pay.

The representative I talked to thought the was not in their short term plans.

Yeah, I'd agree with the negotiating piece completely. I had to find it, but about 5 or 6 years ago there was a big change where Chase moved everything over to Visa because they were rather cozy with some of the Visa execs (lots of former JPM folks): https://fortune.com/2015/02/26/dimon...-jpmorganites/

I wonder if because many of them moved on, this is a bit of a bargaining chip. Chase had gotten almost 100% Visa, much like Citi went almost 100% Mastercard (minus Costco), as opposed to BofA or Capital One who mix & match on a whim. I wonder if once this rolls out, there may be a bit more pressure from Mastercard for Chase to treat them like their Visa products.

I don't have an IHG card to test, but Chase's page lists all the IHG cards (all Mastercard) as supported on Apple Pay: https://www.chase.com/content/chase-...accepted-cards

I think the support quietly happened and at least someone replied to confirm when I asked about the art: https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplePay/co...476/chase_ihg/

This bit gives me a bit of hope that the Freedom Flex will work once cards are in-hand (and really disappointed if not, as I had planned to use the 3% dining with a lot of mobile apps).

Applied and approved for CFF today. The approval page also let me activate the Q3 categories (Amazon & Whole Foods) for the CFF. Woohoo!

Called to have card rushed so I can use it for this quarter too!

Probably in the same boat as some of you. I applied for CSR when it was released. So the AF hit on 9/1. Thinking between PC'ing to CFF now vs wait till Dec for the new travel credit cycle, spend the $300 and then PC to CFF. So essentially make $150. Am I missing something? Will I be in the bad books? I have too many URs to risk.

Pulled the trigger and called in to convert my CSR to CFF this evening. Converting means I don't get the new card bonus but I don't really care about that, just wanted to preserve my UR points until it's worth having a travel card.

I found it interesting to see what other cards they are comparing this one to https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/freedomflex/ : SavorOne, Discover and QS.

It will remain to be seen if this card will have contactless (it should, but we just don't know until we see the physical card) and if it will be digital wallet enabled (also should, but unsure yet). I am intrigued how many people are product changing versus getting a new card, but I see Chase has done a very good job discouraging having too many cards with them (and new apps with other issuers too).

I have to say Chase did a pretty good job with this card. If they were really going for it, they needed to remove the FTF, but that it still going to just stay rare with a few issuers (Barclays, Capital One).

That’s good to know. I should have Mrs. HighOPS try her IHG.