It’s easy to prove paying hundreds of dollars in annual credit card fees when you can use card benefits like travel credit, dining points, shopping points, and airport lounge access. However, if you carry multiple credit cards with similar benefits, or just try to cut expenses, it’s hard to keep paying for those fees.
If you don’t get enough value from your credit card to offset its annual fee, you can downgrade it to other products with lower or no annual fee. You can also cancel your credit card, but this can have unexpected consequences, such as a drop in your credit score. Usually, you’d better ask for a downgrade as the product is replaced rather than canceling the card directly.
Although each card issuer handles the product in his own way, in this guide we will look at how to downgrade chasing credit cards.
Should I downgrade my credit card?
Downgrading a card allows you to maintain your credit limit and average credit age, so its negative impact on credit scores is different from the negative impact of canceling a card. Also, it is better to have a good maintained account history rather than opening and closing many accounts.
If you currently pin the card in your wallet, or you have received a welcome bonus on this exact card over the past 48 months, you will usually not be able to get an introductory bonus on your Chase card.
Qualification rules have recently become more restrictive on personal sapphire cards. Now, if you’ve ever been Chase Sapphire Priority® Card (See rates and fees) or Chase SapphireReserve® (See Rates and Fees) Even if you can now have both cards, you will be eligible to receive a welcome offer on the other card.
When it comes to Southwest personal credit cards, you are not usually allowed to hold two of them at the same time, so if you already have one in your wallet, you can’t apply for another Southwest card and get a welcome bonus.
Another major limitation on Chase cards is the issuer’s 5/24 rule. In order to obtain approval for the Chase Card, you cannot open five or more personal credit cards on all banks over the past 24 months. If you are not allowed to apply for another card, you can ask to change the product to another card if its benefits are more attractive.
A big downside of downgrading a card is that you don’t usually get welcome rewards for the cards you downgraded. However, depending on your situation, professionals may outweigh the disadvantages. In some cases, you may be able to reapply for the card you waived and receive another welcome bonus.
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Related: Here’s how to calculate your 5/24 stand
What card can I downgrade?
Most reward credit cards are part of the card family and are usually only available for product changes within that family. This means you may not be able to get from such Chatong Sapphire Reserve arrive United ℠Explorer Card (See rates and fees) or other common cards, even if they are all chasing credit cards.
Instead, you need to downgrade your sapphire reserves to Sapphire prefers Or another ultimate reward card Chase FreedomFlex® (See rates and fees) or Chase for Freedom® (See rates and fees).
Sometimes you can even ask to change the product to a card that is no longer available to new applicants. For example, Chase still allows cardholders of its Marriott brand’s personal credit card to be changed to Ritz-Carlton™ credit cards, even if it does not close to new applicants in 2018.
Information on the Reitz-Carlton credit card has been collected independently by Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
There are more restrictions to note:
- You must have a card for at least 12 months before you can downgrade
- Even if they are in the same family, you can’t switch between individuals and business cards
- For example, you will not be able to change from Chase Sapphire to Ink Business First Choice® Credit Card (See rates and fees).
Finally, the chances of downgrades are not always consistent, and the opportunities offered to another person may not be offered to another person.
Related: The Power of Chase Trifecta
Protect your reward
Since you don’t close your card account, you won’t lose points. However, if you downgrade Chatong Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire prefers arrive Chasing for freedom and flexibility or Unlimited freedomyou will lose the ability to transfer these points to your hotel and airline partners (unless you have another ultimate reward card that is fully transferable (e.g. Ink business priority).
If you don’t have another transferable ultimate reward card, you may want to consider transferring points to a hotel or airline partner before you downgrade. Make sure to transfer points to a partner you book frequently, as once they are transferred, they will be in trouble with any partner you choose.
Also, if you have a qualified card, you can transfer your final reward points to family members. However, you need to call to request this question, as Chase does not allow you to do this online.
Related: How to Book a Travel (and Save Points) with Chase Travel
Contact Customer Service
Requesting a downgrade card is very simple: call the customer service phone number on the back of the card and talk to the Chase agent. Chase can also contact them through the secure messaging portal on its website, but reports indicate that a product change request must be made over the phone.
If you are lucky, you may even get a rated annual fee when you downgrade to a card with a lower annual fee (especially if you do so within 30 days of the yearly fee).
Since you want to maintain an existing account (rather than opening a new one), Chase does not need to perform a credit check.
When you downgrade your card, you will keep your old product’s account number, balance and expiration date. You will receive a new card with the new product name within a few days, but because the card numbers are the same, you can continue to use the old card of the new card before and after issuing the new card.
Related: Will canceling a credit card hurt your credit?
Bottom line
Cancelling a card is not always a good idea because your credit score is hit, so downgrade is a great option. Like other issuers, Chase does not usually promote product replacement options, so few cardholders know that this technology exists. However, this is easy to do.
You will not receive a welcome bonus when you downgrade your card. Instead, lowering the card may qualify you to earn a welcome bonus that you will otherwise be rejected. This may be a great way to optimize your wallet and save on annual fees.
Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred with Sapphire Reserve: Should you go to Medium or Advanced?
