It’s easy to justify paying hundreds of dollars in annual credit card fees when you can take advantage of card benefits like travel points, dining points, shopping points, and airport lounge access. But if you have multiple credit cards with similar benefits, or are simply trying to spend less, it can be hard to justify paying those fees.
If you don’t get enough value from your credit card to offset the annual fee, you can downgrade it to another product with a lower or no annual fee. You can also cancel your credit card, but this may have unintended consequences, such as a subsequent drop in your credit score. Typically, you’re better off downgrading or replacing your card rather than canceling it outright.
While each card issuer handles product changes in its own way, in this guide, we’ll show you how to downgrade your Chase credit card.
Related: Here’s How to Calculate Your 5/24 Reputation
Contact customer service
Requesting a card downgrade is fairly simple: Call the customer service number on the back of your card and speak to a Chase agent. Chase also lets you contact them through a secure messaging portal on their website, but the report recommends making product change requests over the phone.
If you’re lucky, you might even get a prorated annual fee refund when you downgrade to a card with a lower annual fee (especially if you do so within 30 days of the annual fee being posted to your statement).
Since you are maintaining an existing account (rather than opening a new one), Chase does not perform a credit check.
When you downgrade your card, you keep your existing account number, balance, and payment due date. You will receive a new card with a new product name within a few days, but since the card number is the same, you can continue to use your old card under the terms and benefits of the new card before and even after you get the new card.
Related: Will Canceling a Credit Card Hurt Your Credit?
Reward your inbox with the TPG daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers and get breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive offers from TPG experts
Protect your rewards
Since you didn’t close your card account, you won’t lose points. However, if you downgrade Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and charges) or Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (See Rates and Fees) TO Chase Freedom Flex® (see rates and charges) or Chasing Freedom® (see rates and fees), you will not be able to transfer these points to hotel and airline partners (unless you have another fully transferable Ultimate Rewards earning card, e.g. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card (See Rates and Fees)).
If you don’t have another transferable Ultimate Rewards earning card, you may want to consider transferring your points to a hotel or airline partner before downgrading. Please be sure to transfer your points to a partner with whom you regularly book, as transfers are final once processed.
Alternatively, you can transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to someone else in your household if they have an eligible card. However, you’ll need to call to request it because Chase doesn’t allow you to do so online.
Related: How to book travel with Chase Travel (and save points)
What Chase cards can I downgrade to?
Most rewards credit cards are part of a card series, and product changes can usually only be made within that series. This means you may not be able to downgrade from a card like this Chase Sapphire Reserve to a United℠Discover Card (see Rates and Fees) or other co-branded cards, even if they are both issued by Chase.
Instead, you need to downgrade your sapphire reserve to Sapphire preferred or other ultimate rewards cards such as Chasing freedom and flexibility or Chasing unlimited freedom.
Sometimes, you can even request a product change to a card that is no longer available to new applicants. Chase, for example, still allows those with a Marriott-branded personal credit card to switch to a Ritz-Carlton™ credit card, even though the card stopped accepting new applicants in 2018.
Ritz-Carlton Credit Card information is collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
There are also some limitations to note:
- You must have held the card for at least 12 months before you can downgrade
- You can’t switch between personal and business cards, even if they belong to the same household
Finally, the chances of relegation are not always consistent, and what is available to one person may not be available to another.
RELATED: The power of chasing a three-game winning streak
Should I downgrade my credit card?
Downgrading your card allows you to maintain your credit limit and average credit age, so it doesn’t have the same negative impact on your credit score as canceling a card. Also, it’s better to have a good track record of account maintenance than to open and close many accounts.
If you currently have a Chase card in your wallet or you received a welcome bonus with that card within the past 48 months, you generally won’t be able to get that card’s welcome offer.
For example, with Chase’s Southwest co-branded credit cards, you’re generally not allowed to hold two of them at the same time, so if you already have a Southwest card in your wallet, you won’t be able to apply for another Southwest card and receive the welcome bonus. The main exceptions to this rule are business cards and business cards – you can keep them in your wallet.
Another major limitation with Chase cards is the issuer’s 5/24 rule. In order to be approved for a Chase card, you cannot have five or more personal credit cards opened at all banks in the past 24 months. If you are not allowed to apply for another card, you can request to change the product to another card if its offers are more attractive to you.
One of the big disadvantages of downgrading your Chase card is that you usually don’t get the welcome bonus for the card you’re downgrading from. However, depending on your specific situation, the pros may outweigh the cons. In some cases, you may be able to reapply for the card you gave up and receive another welcome bonus later on.
bottom line
It’s not always a good idea to cancel a credit card because your credit score will be affected, so downgrading is a good option. Chase, like other card issuers, typically doesn’t advertise product change options, so not many cardholders know the technology exists. However, this is easy to do. Please note that you will not receive the welcome bonus after downgrading your card.
Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Sapphire Reserve: Should You Go Midrange or High-End?
