I have been a long time Chase customer, since at least 2006 and as a Washington Mutual customer before that. During the financial crisis, JP Morgan Chase purchased many of Washington Mutual’s assets. I used to have a WaMu MasterCard and during the Chase and WaMu integration, the WaMu card converted into a generic Chase card earning non Ultimate Rewards points. I was fortunate that I was able to product change and convert the points into another Freedom and Ultimate Rewards. At the time, that led me to have 2 Freedoms, one Visa and one MasterCard. Now they’re both Visa’s following the Chase transition of moving from MasterCard.
Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I said I’m ditching the Chase Sapphire Preferred. I did it. Here’s a couple of quick things that occurred:
- Annual fee was assessed in October, I was able to get a full refund.
- Product changed Sapphire Preferred immediately became a Freedom and the CSR immediately activated the bonus categories
- Same credit card number from the Sapphire Preferred is now the Freedom
So I probably have the fanciest mislabeled Freedom card around and this brings me to a total of three Chase Freedom cards issued in my name.
What beginners should do:
If you want more than one Chase Freedom card for the 5x quarterly bonuses this is what I suggest you do. Even if you aren’t a beginner, you could still follow this advice to grab more than one Freedom. You must sign up for the Chase Freedom before doing a product change.
This is the order of signing up for cards I would propose if you are starting off:
- Chase Freedom
- A comfortable time frame afterwards, like 6 months, apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred
- When you’re ready, product change the Sapphire Preferred into Freedom
If you’re already on your way of having many cards, but don’t have a Freedom, I suggest swapping the cards step 1 and 2. So it would look like this:
- You already have the Chase Sapphire Preferred
- A comfortable time frame afterwards, like 6 months, apply for the Chase Freedom
- When you’re ready, product change the Sapphire Preferred into Freedom
At the end, you will now have two Chase Freedoms issued in your name.
Other Products:
Remember how I posted about the three options you can convert into with the Sapphire Preferred? They are:
- Chase Freedom
- Chase Sapphire
- Chase Slate
I believe it is possible to sign up for a Slate and then product change into a Freedom. Here is some evidence:
- It is easy according to one poster on MyFico
- A “NO” for several readers on the first two pages, but then a big “YES” on the third page also on MyFico
- Freequent-Flyer was able to do it in the same time frame when they were saying “NO” on MyFico
- More recent news found on CreditCard Forum of a successful product change
Based on what I read on the “NO” and the “YES” it sounds like Chase is unable to product change an original WaMu card that became a Slate into a Chase Freedom.
Conclusion:
I love Chase Ultimate Rewards earning credit cards and you should too. The Freedom quarterly bonuses are awesome and this is one way of making it really easy to earn points. Yes, you’re limited to $1,500 per quarter, but if you are like me, I can now do $4,500 per quarter. This means if you can maximize all four quarters, you can look at making a really easy 90,000 points.
Also to note, Chase is not like Citi. It seems like Citi lets you product change anything to anything. What I mean is, it could be a co-branded Citi card and you can change into some other Citi card. Chase is not like that. They will not allow you to product change a Chase United Mileageplus Explorer into a Chase Freedom. Chase will only product change cards that are their own proprietary issued cards.
I have converted multiple CSP’s to Freedoms thus far, I believe Chase has now instituted policy where you can’t change the product before the anniversary(and by default the fee posts) but like you said they refund it.
Thanks for your feedback. Sounds like it’s something similar with Citi, must have the card open for at least a year
I was thinking about PC my CSP until I read about “Close That Unused Credit Line” from Travel Codex, and it really changed the way I churn Chase CC.
To me, Chase CC has the best signup bonus around! Instead of PC unused CC, close it and wait couple months. You will be surprised how easy you get approved on your next application. My 2cents.
That’s a brilliant idea!
We can build a few things using both. Say you have a CSP (5k CL) and a United card (5k CL) that you know you’ll churn both. Convert CSP into Freedom, move 2.5k CL to United for 7.5k CL and then close later down in the future. Lowers the line of credit that Chase will extend to you and you still have an excellent product to use, and extends the AAoA. Right? I mean I haven’t seen any hard limit of the number of cards from Chase.
I thought there’s a 4 personal CC limitation but I could be wrong. My point was, you will most likely get approved when you have less CL & cards, not to mention Chase card has 18~24 months churn rules where you can rotate different products.
I currently have 5 personal credit cards, had 6 when I had the United card before closing it. I don’t want to take away from the point you made, you’re absolutely right, when there’s less cards and credit because it makes instant approvals and less eyes on your profile
My SO recently tried to downgrade a CSP to a Freedom (CSP open for 13 months…AF had posted) and was told by a CSR that the only option was a non-Preferred Sapphire specifically because my SO already has a Freedom (her old Freedom and the CSP were both Visa). I told her to ask for a Freedom, but I wasn’t there to tell my SO to HUCA. Perhaps it was just an unfriendly agent. Perhaps my SO didn’t phrase the question properly? But just a data point.
I was planning on downgrading my CSP to a second Freedom this summer (close to when my 2nd AF hits on the CSP) and was pretty dissapointed with the results of her call.
I suggest a HUCA approach until you are able to do it. I called twice, once to see my options, then the second time to commit to the change. You’ll need to use “I’d like to product change my CSP to a Freedom.” After the agent says ok, that was when I asked about the Annual fee and he was able to refund that as well.
And you converted this like 4 years ago, right..?
To get my second Freedom, that is correct, was 4 years ago.
I thought the NAF regular Sapphire was no more?
Partially true. It’s not available for new sign ups, but can be product changed into
I’m planning to downgrade my sapphire preferred when it comes due. I don’t have a freedom yet though. Was curious why you mention you need one already. I’ll either talk them into it cancel and reapply.
I love 5% back, and if I can get my hands on more of them, I would switch into it
I would advice you to apply first for a freedom because ten you can get the 10K (or sometimes the promotional 20K) sign up bonus points. If you downgrade your CSP to a freedom, then you can not apply for another freedom, as per Chase policy (to my knowledge) you can not apply for a card that you already have. So basically, the key point is to apply for one first to get the bonus and then do the downgrade.
This is solid advice!
I PCd my CSP into regular CS, and already have a Freedom. Have there been any reports you’ve seen of a CS becoming an F? Thanks.
I haven’t seen anything about the CS turning into an F. I wouldn’t be surprised in the future if they decide to do that as a way to simplify their product offerings
I’m confused. I like my Freedom card, but was told that you can’t do anything with the points other than a statement credit or shopping at their online mall. I’m a beginner, so what am I missing here? Thanks!
If you have a different Ultimate Rewards earning card like the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Plus you will have the ability to move the Ultimate Rewards points into travel partners like United Airline MileagePlus miles, British Airways Avios, Singapore Krisflyer, Hyatt Hotels Gold Passport, Marriott, and a few others
What about conversions from Amex? Do you know if Amex lets you convert SPG to something more useful? How about Amex platinum card?
I am not as versed in AMEX products to offer any guidance. I only have 4 cards, Blue For Business, Old Blue Cash, Hilton Surpass, and SPG Business. All of which I have plans to keep for the longer term, except the Surpass. That I do plan to downgrade back to the free version of the Hilton card, but not to a different product altogether, so I am not sure how AMEX handles a product change
I like how the author cites material that is 4 years old.. Makes sense..
Here’s the chronological order in cliff notes of how I got all the Freedoms
Freedom #1, was a direct application for the product in 2009
Freedom #2, was a product change in 2010
Freedom #3, was a product change in 2015
So after a couple years of CSP, 2 years ago I wanted to downgrade to my 2nd freedom. The agent says, “I see you already have a Freedom card, you can’t have more than 1”. I HUCA’ed. The next agent told me the same thing, so I just cancelled and threw the CL over to another card. Guess the moral is, Chase must have added a bunch of new hires in the last 2 years.
It’s funny that you bring that up – I was very concerned when I called about product changing into it and they see that I have more than one. When I called them, I never made any mention to any other Freedoms or for them to dig into my profile.