For the Travel Hackers: ABD Charge on Sapphire Reserve

[d2lane]

finally remembered to call Chase and downgrade my Chase Saphire Preferred to a Chase Freedom.

 

[luckylady131]

I must have missed it in this thread somewhere - why downgrade the Chase Sapphire Preferred to Chase Freedom? We just got our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards, and have had the Chase Sapphire Preferred cards for years.

 

[calypso726]

I must have missed it in this thread somewhere - why downgrade the Chase Sapphire Preferred to Chase Freedom? We just got our Chase Sapphire Reserve cards, and have had the Chase Sapphire Preferred cards for years.

This is only if you plan to keep the CSR. The CSR card offers everything the CSP does, only better and more. 3 points on dining and travel instead of 2, a $300 annual travel credit, better trip delay coverage etc. Once you have the CSR there is no point in using the CSP.

Chase has a rule of automatic denials for ultimate rewards earning cards on anyone who has opened 5 new credit cards from any bank over the last 24 months. Travel hackers, like me, are likely well over that number. But if you're not then you don't want to waste a new application for a card that is beneficial to UR earning like the Freedom but has a paltry sign up bonus. Therefore, rather than cancelling your CSP you product change it to a Freedom.

You get a new card from Chase without adding to the number of new opened cards in case you now want to go for the Ink Plus, United or some other Chase card with a 5/24 rule. Using myself as an example, I am way over 5/24 but was able to circumvent it via Chase Private Client, which still isn't a guarantee but for 100,000 UR points I'm going to have the banker go to bat for me. I wasn't going to push CPC leverage for also getting the Chase Freedom Unlimted which is the only other UR earning card I don't have. Not worth it for a $100 bonus. I know I will be keeping the CSR card and will never need to use my CSP card again. Rather than cancel it, I asked for a product change. Now I have the CSR, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited and the Ink Plus. Hope that helps.

 

[d2lane]

the other reason to downgrade from the Saphire Preferred is to save the $95 annual membership fee.

 

[tgeorge]

the other reason to downgrade from the Saphire Preferred is to save the $95 annual membership fee.

That's why I downgraded as well. I figure with the reserve annual fee, I didn't want to pay for the preferred annual fee since the reserve card gives me everything the preferred card does. No reason to keep both!

 

[d2lane]

And I just took the $95 that I got refunded for the annual fee for my Preferred downgrade and bought a $100 Disney Gift Card from Bj's, and I'll get another 5% back on that as well as this quarter the Freedom bonus is on stores like Costco and Bj's.

 

[luckylady131]

Thank you - very helpful!

 

[AndreaJ]

Yay! Just booked my trip with the Reserve Card!

 

[calypso726]

Attention travel hackers. If any of you were considering getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for the 100,000 ultimate reward points bonus then don't delay. The bonus will drop to 50,000 on January 12th.

 

[tink1970]

Thanks for the heads' up @calypso726...hoping I can convince DH to apply this weekend but not holding my breath!

Just as another data point---we were on the ABD Danube Holiday Cruise this Christmas and I put room charges on my CSR. Our whopping $24 was covered by our 2017 travel credit so next year I know to have them do even more laundry on board! This is really a great card for us right now

 

[calypso726]

Thanks for the heads' up @calypso726...hoping I can convince DH to apply this weekend but not holding my breath!

Just as another data point---we were on the ABD Danube Holiday Cruise this Christmas and I put room charges on my CSR. Our whopping $24 was covered by our 2017 travel credit so next year I know to have them do even more laundry on board! This is really a great card for us right now

I had some friends and family members that I knew would need convincing and assuming making the $4,000 spend in 3 months is do-able here is what worked for convincing. I never mentioned the credit card offer. I simply said to them, "Hey, I got a yes or no question for you. What would you say if I offered to give you $1,800 in 4 months if you give me $450 this month? Then, in less than a year, I will give you another $300. Would you go for it?" Oddly enough, none of them said no. LOL Anyhow, thought I'd share in case it helps you with your DH. As long as he hasn't opened 5 or more new credit card accounts in the last 2 years, then he should be good to go. Good luck!

 

[tink1970]

Thanks...sadly he's (his words) "in a cash only mode right now." It is killing me

I'd still encourage anyone who can sign up for it to do so asap (even if my own husband ignores my advice )


Update 1/6/2017...never say never, DH saw the light and his CSR is on its way! Whoo hoo!!!

 

[sayhello]

I had some friends and family members that I knew would need convincing and assuming making the $4,000 spend in 3 months is do-able here is what worked for convincing. I never mentioned the credit card offer. I simply said to them, "Hey, I got a yes or no question for you. What would you say if I offered to give you $1,800 in 4 months if you give me $450 this month? Then, in less than a year, I will give you another $300. Would you go for it?" Oddly enough, none of them said no. LOL Anyhow, thought I'd share in case it helps you with your DH. As long as he hasn't opened 5 or more new credit card accounts in the last 2 years, then he should be good to go. Good luck!

But it's only $1800 if you book your travel through their site. Which is very limited, and expensive. In reality, it's $1300. Which still ain't hay!

Sayhello

 

[calypso726]

Thanks...sadly he's (his words) "in a cash only mode right now." It is killing me

I'd still encourage anyone who can sign up for it to do so asap (even if my own husband ignores my advice )

Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Cash doesn't pay me anything so I avoid using it at all costs I was always told never use my debit card either. If my information is compromised and someone uses it fraudulently they could drain my account. The bank has no incentive to recover the money since it isn't theirs. Credit cards on the other hand do have the incentive to recovery the money and no hold you responsible since the money is theirs.

But it's only $1800 if you book your travel through their site. Which is very limited, and expensive. In reality, it's $1300. Which still ain't hay!

Sayhello

I rarely use their site to book travel since I tend to transfer those UR points to miles and redeem for first class seats. So for me the bonus was worth closer to $6,000.

 

[acndis]

I actually love the Ultimate Rewards portal and have really good luck with it. I was able to book my pre-day at the JW Marriott in Lima for 15,000 Ultimate Rewards points. If I had transferred the points to my Marriott Rewards, it would have been 40,000. It was a great deal.

I also have had really good luck with flights. I got a Delta flight to Orlando from Austin for 8,000 points. So, I think it's just luck of the draw. It's always worth a look if you can't find an award ticket. You might get lucky!

 

[OhanaCuz]

Attention travel hackers. If any of you were considering getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve card for the 100,000 ultimate reward points bonus then don't delay. The bonus will drop to 50,000 on January 12th.

Just an FYI about the CSR. You cannot get the 100k bonus from an online application anymore, but you can still get it if you apply in-brach before March 12.

http://thepointsguy.com/2017/02/act-soon-sapphire-reserve-100k/

 

[mapsd]

the other reason to downgrade from the Saphire Preferred is to save the $95 annual membership fee.

Exactly. Then you only have 1 Chase card that you're paying an annual fee on. Better for your credit score to keep the card open than cancel (and can be saved as the "back-up" card)
Don't forget to consolidate all the points to one card by transferring from the downgraded card through the Chase website.