When you upgrade (or downgrade for that matter) a card, does that mean you are closing the account that you are upgrading/downgrading from?

The reason why I ask is because I have an AMEX Blue Cash but would like to get the SPG instead. I've had the AMEX Blue Cash for a while (4-5 years) and if I upgrade to SPG, I'm afraid it will hurt my credit if this is considered closing my AMEX Blue Cash card because I've had it for so long and by closing a long standing account, it will affect my credit utilization ratio.

No, conversions are not considered opening/closing accounts.

I've inquired with AMEX several times about converting one card to another. With each inquiry, I asked if this would affect my credit and each time, they said no. I think you'll be fine but you can always double check.

Also, not all AMEX cards can be converted to any other AMEX card. You'll receive a list of eligible cards.

Since I am an AMEX cardholder already, do you think they will still let me get the 25k signup bonus for converting to the SPG?

If I'm not mistaken, AMEX is pretty good about giving you the bonus as long as you haven't had the card and earned the bonus before.

Good luck with the upgrade. I think AMEX values the SPG card pretty high (rightfully so) and it may not be eligible for upgrades. It may require a new app.

I was in your same situation. I had the Blue card for about a year after which I decided that I wanted an SPG card because they were giving out a lot of free starwood points. I applied for the new SPG card so now i have 2 AmEx cards. I think I will cancel my Blue card (which really really sucks by the way) as soon as I get my $25 reward.

Maybe instead of converting, I should hold on to my Blue Cash since it has no annual fee...

You should be able to keep it but move all but $1,000 or so to the SPG card.

Since my Blue card has no annual fee, I've just kept it, even though I recently received the SPG Amex card. A few weeks after I received the SPG card, I called Amex and had most of the credit limit moved from the Blue to the SPG card, because I have no plans to use the Blue card ever again.

Even though I've had the Blue card for 5 years, I don't believe that it is doing anything for my credit score. I'm an authorized user on my husband's Amex, and Amex shows me as a cardholder since 1978, before I even met my husband! But I figure that holding onto the Blue card probably doesn't hurt anything either.

I had accumulated a few MR points with the Blue card, the limited kind that accrue with a free card, so I applied them to an Amazon purchase.