It’s easy to justify paying hundreds of dollars credit card annual fee when you can fully utilize the benefits of the card such as travel credit, food credit, shopping credit And airport lounge access. But it can be difficult to keep paying those fees if you own multiple credit cards with similar benefits or simply want to cut costs.
If you don’t get enough value from your credit card to justify the annual fee, you can downgrade the card to another product with a lower or no annual fee. You can cancel credit cardbut that can have unintended consequences, like a drop in your credit score. Usually, you’ll be better off asking for a downgrade as a change product instead of canceling the card immediately.
Each card issuer handles product changes differently. In this guide, I’ll look at how to downgrade a Chase credit card.
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 cancel card It is possible. Additionally, it is better to have a good track record of maintaining accounts rather than opening and closing multiple accounts.
Downgrading your card may also allow you to earn a sign-up bonus that you would otherwise be denied. Chase isn’t as strict as some other issuers, but they do impose restrictions on earning sign-up bonuses.
You generally won’t be able to earn a referral bonus on a Chase card if you currently hold that card in your wallet or if you’ve earned a sign-up bonus on that same card in the past 24-48 months. To earn a bonus on a card again, you’ll need to cancel or downgrade the card before reapplying (and not have earned a bonus on that card in the past two to four years).
Depending on the card type, the policy may also group entire “families” of cards together.
For example, let’s say you currently have Chase Sapphire Reserve® and have waited 48 months since you earned your sign up bonus. If you now want to apply give Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card To enjoy the sign-up bonus (60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first three months of account opening), you must first downgrade to a Sapphire Reserve.
That’s because you’re only allowed to have one Sapphire-branded card at a time. Southwest Credit Card have similar family restrictions.
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Another big limitation to Chase cards is that of the issuer. The 5/24 Rule. To be approved for a Chase card, you must not have opened five or more personal credit cards across all banks in the past 24 months. If you are not allowed to apply for another card, you can request to switch products to another card if you find the benefits of that card more appealing.
One major downside to downgrading a card is that you usually won’t get the welcome bonus for the card you’re downgrading to. However, depending on your situation, the pros may outweigh the cons, and there’s nothing stopping you from reapplying for the card you’re giving up and earning another welcome bonus later.
What cards can I downgrade to?
Most rewards credit cards are part of card families, and product changes can usually only be made within that family. This means you probably won’t be able to downgrade from a card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve to a United℠ Explorer Card or other co-branded card, even though both are credit cards issued by Chase.
Instead, you’ll need to downgrade your Sapphire Reserve to a Sapphire Preferred or another Ultimate Rewards-earning card like the Chase Freedom Flex® or Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
Sometimes, you can even request a product change to a card that is no longer available to new applicants. For example, Chase still allows cardholders Marriott Personal Credit Card to switch to the Ritz-Carlton Card even though the card stopped accepting new applicants in 2018.
There are a few other restrictions to keep in mind. First, you have to have your card for at least 12 months before you can downgrade it. Also, you can’t switch between a personal and a business card even if they’re in the same family (e.g., Chase Sapphire Preferred to Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card).
Finally, downgrade opportunities are not always consistent and what is offered to one person may not be offered to another.
The information about the Ritz-Carlton credit card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Related: The Power of the Chase Trifecta
Protect your rewards
Since you don’t close your card account, you won’t lose points. However, if you downgrade Chase Sapphire Reserve or Sapphire favorite to one Chase Freedom Flex or Unlimited freedomYou will lose the ability to transfer those points to hotel and airline partners (unless you have another partner Ultimate Rewards points card is fully transferable like Preferred Business Ink).
If you don’t have another transferable Ultimate Rewards card, you might consider Transfer your points to a hotel or airline partner before downgrading. Make sure you transfer your points to the partner you book with regularly, as once transferred, they will be tied to whichever partner you choose.
Additionally, it is possible Transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to a family member if they have a qualifying card. However, you will need to call to request this as Chase does not allow you to do it online.
Contact customer service
Requesting a card downgrade is pretty simple: Call the customer service number on the back of your card and speak to a Chase representative. Chase also allows you to contact them via a secure messaging portal on their website, but reports indicate that product change requests must be made over the phone.
If you’re lucky, you may even get a prorated annual fee refund when you downgrade to a card with a lower annual fee (especially if you do it within 30 days of the annual fee being posted on your statement).
Because you’re maintaining your existing account — instead of opening a new one — Chase won’t need to do credit check.
When you downgrade your card, you’ll keep the same account number, balance, and expiration date as your old product. You’ll receive a new card with the new product name within a few days, but because your card number remains the same, you can continue to use your old card under the terms and benefits of the new card before and even after you’ve been issued the new card.
Related: Does canceling a credit card affect your credit?
The last line
Canceling a card isn’t always a good idea because it affects your credit score, so downgrading is a great alternative. Like other issuers, Chase doesn’t typically advertise its product switching options, so not many cardholders are aware of this technique. However, it’s fairly easy to do.
You won’t get a sign-up bonus if you downgrade your card. On the contrary, downgrading your card may make you eligible for a sign-up bonus that you would otherwise be denied. This can be a great way to optimize your wallet and save on annual fees.
Related: Chase Sapphire Preferred vs. Sapphire Reserve: Should You Choose Mid-Range or Premium?
