How to Downgrade a Chase Credit Card

In case your bank card not appears like the perfect match, canceling might not be your solely possibility. Downgrading to a different bank card means that you can change a card you have already got with one other one from the identical issuer, typically with the goal of getting a card with a decrease annual price.

Chase, which points bank cards for a variety of credit score scores, permits cardholders to downgrade a bank card, though there are some restrictions. If you happen to’re eligible, downgrading your Chase card ought to be a fairly easy course of. 

Present Chase cardholders should name Chase immediately in order that an advisor can course of the downgrade request over the telephone. Chase’s bank card customer support quantity is 800-432-3117.

Chase’s web site and app does supply a safe messaging characteristic, which permits logged-in cardholders to ask questions and make some requests, however downgrade requests can’t be processed this fashion.

“Downgrading” would possibly sound such as you’re settling for much less, however on this planet of bank cards, getting a downgrade typically leads to a web achieve. Among the many advantages:

• No exhausting pull on credit score report: Downgrading places one other bank card in your pockets with out having to undergo a exhausting pull in your credit score report, probably sparing you the short-term loss of some factors to your credit score rating. 
  

• Preserved credit score historical past: Downgrading to a different card means you get one other card, however maintain the earlier card’s credit score historical past intact. If the cardboard you’re trying to eliminate is one you’ve had for a very long time, a downgrade could also be preferable to canceling the cardboard, as common age of credit score accounts is a think about figuring out one’s credit score rating. 
  

• Diminished charges: You might reduce or eliminate an annual price altogether by downgrading a Chase card. Say you presently have Chase’s top-of-the-line journey card, the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which has a $550 annual price. Downgrading to the Chase Freedom Flex℠ with its $0 annual price can be a straightforward strategy to lower that expense. 
  

• Rule workaround: Downgrading to a special card could possibly be a workaround to Chase’s casual 5/24 rule. Chase typically received’t approve you for an additional bank card in case you’ve utilized for greater than 5 bank cards throughout any issuer inside a 24-month interval. Say you’ve hit the five-card restrict over the earlier two years, however you need a new Chase bank card. It’s doable to get it by requesting a downgrade relatively than submitting a brand new card utility.

Contemplate these restrictions and caveats to Chase’s coverage on downgrading a bank card:

• You will not earn a bonus: Acquiring a brand new card by downgrading makes you ineligible for the cardboard’s sign-up bonus, which you could possibly qualify for in case you utilized for that card as a brand new account. Chase sign-up bonuses embody money, present playing cards and bonus factors that may be redeemed by Chase’s Final Rewards Program. 
  

• You might not get a refund on the annual price: While you downgrade from a card with an annual price to 1 with out, you might be eligible for at the least a partial refund on the annual price, however your timing have to be proper. Chase received’t problem a refund on the annual price in case you downgrade the cardboard within the month earlier than the annual price is due. Say your present card’s annual price is charged to your bank card on July 1, and also you downgraded to a different card in June. You’ll not obtain a refund on the annual price that you simply paid virtually a yr in the past.

Even with a few of these limitations, downgrading your Chase card could be a good transfer if it leads to a card that higher fits your present way of life.