Comments on: Is the Chase Sapphire Preferred worth the annual fee? Absolutely (Especially with the increased 80,000-point sign-up bonus!)

By: Soosie

Soosie — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:17:30 +0000

I do a test purchase of a small amount to see if the travel credit works for certain hotel or airline gift cards. For example, when I bought a $10 Hyatt gift card, it ended up going through 3rd party so not coded as hotel. Frustrating…

By: Andrew Wan

Andrew Wan — Mon, 24 Jun 2019 18:15:57 +0000

In reply to Sooklan. Unfortunately no. If you downgrade, you won’t be eligible for the welcome bonus.

By: Sooklan

Sooklan — Sat, 22 Jun 2019 21:28:47 +0000

I had been a Reserved card holder for more than 2 years. If I downgrade to Preferred card, will I ge the intro bonus of 60,000 points?

By: Andrew Wan

Andrew Wan — Wed, 19 Jun 2019 19:13:49 +0000

In reply to Gregory.

Hi Gregory,

Yes that should be possible. I’ve read multiple reports online of people downgrading their Sapphire Preferred to the Freedom, and were able to retain the account history and rewards balance.

You should also be eligible for the welcome bonus on the Sapphire Reserve as well since you earned the last Sapphire bonus over 48 months ago.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 18:42:29 +0000

So, I’ve been a Preferred card holder for going on 10 years now. I am starting to travel for work quite a bit and think I want to instead use the Reserve card as my primary card…but I know I can’t hold both.

Does anyone know if it’s possible to downgrade my Preferred to say the Freedom (to keep the history, but not the annual fee) and then apply for the Reserve as a fresh card (to score the big upfront bonus)?

I don’t want to upgrade right from Preferred to Reserve because I’d miss out on the initial bonus…but is that the only way to protect my current Ultimate Rewards balance? I’m a little concerned about what restrictions exist by going all the way down to the Freedom for what could be a month or two.

By: Tim

Tim — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 15:21:24 +0000

In reply to misty. Or even hotel gift cards?

By: clyn6

clyn6 — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 13:38:58 +0000

In reply to misty. Reserve has the $300 credit, not Preferred. You can use that for ANY travel; hotels, flights, taxes & fees on rewards flights, car rentals, anything coded as travel (but not gas). No need to bother with the airline gift cards, much easier to use than the cards that have airline incidentals credit.

By: misty

misty — Tue, 18 Jun 2019 12:47:33 +0000

The Chase Sapphire Preferred — is the $300 Travel Credit good toward purchasing… Airline Gift Cards?