One of the most difficult decisions of maintaining multiple credit cards is whether or not to pay a cards annual fee. Some cards, such as the Marriott Rewards Premier card, carry low annual fees which are easy to justify paying for year after year. Others, such as the Luxury Card Gold Card, are much more difficult to justify paying. Each year when a credit card’s annual fee comes due I carefully analyze unique benefits from the card. In many cases, I receive similar benefits from different cards. This creates redundancy in benefits. If I continue to pay both cards’ annual fees I’m simply throwing away money I could use for other, more valuable cards. Any cards that only offer redundant benefits are essentially worthless, unless you need to keep the card open to maintain your points balance.
That brings me to the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Although the Sapphire Preferred is still one of the best travel rewards credit cards on the market today, it doesn’t offer me any unique benefits. I currently carry the Chase Sapphire Reserve card which creates a ton of redundancy in my wallet. For me, paying the $95 annual fee simply doesn’t make sense this time around. I’ve decided to convert the Sapphire Reserve card to another Chase product to avoid paying the annual fee.
Options To Convert The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
Since my annual fee will post in a few weeks, I decided call Chase to downgrade my card. With the Citi Prestige card I waited until after the fee posted which resulted in a major headache. Although I of course eventually received a refund for my Citi Prestige annual fee, the process took over 60 days.
When I called Chase I spoke to an incredibly nice customer service representative who walked me though my limited options. I expected to convert my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to the Chase Freedom or Freedom Unlimited cards. Sadly, because my account is less than one year old, I’m only eligible to convert to the Chase Sapphire card. That’s right, although it’s not advertised, Chase offers a plain jane Chase Sapphire card with no annual fee. By converting to the Sapphire card I’d maintain my same account and hopefully I’ll be allowed to convert to the Chase Freedom card in the future.
Final Thoughts
Today’s call with Chase didn’t go to plan as I was hoping to convert to the Chase Freedom card directly. Luckily the phone representative mentioned I’ll be able to convert after my account hits the one year mark. Apparently Chase does not allow Sapphire customers to convert to the Freedom product within the first year of account opening. I don’t really understand why this is the case, but either way I avoid paying the $95 annual fee. I’ll continue to call Chase to see when I’ll be eligible for the Chase Freedom card. Also, once I receive my Chase Sapphire card I’ll be sure to write a detailed review of a card that doesn’t publicly exist!
