It’s official! After months of trying to convert my Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Chase Freedom card I finally have a Chase Freedom account. In theory this product conversion from the Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Chase Freedom should have been easy. In the end the actual conversion was easy, but there have been a few hurdles along the way. For simplicities sake, I’ll start at the beginning.
Opening The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
It all started way back in June 2016. After months of fighting the trend, I finally caved and applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. For a long time I fought against opening the Sapphire Preferred card. When compared to other cards in the same price point, the Chase Sapphire Preferred just isn’t that great. For example, I find the bonus categories from the Citi ThankYou Premier card much more rewarding for the same $95 price tag. As time passed I just couldn’t pass up the 50,000 point sign-up bonus. So, back in June I finally applied for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. A few weeks later my fancy metal card arrived in the mail.
My original plan was to open the card, reach the sign up bonus, and wait to convert or close the card. At the time I received much better rewards from other cards in my wallet. Given the cards I already had, it didn’t make sense to pay another annual fee for redundant benefits.
Shortly after earning the sign-up bonus, I called Chase to convert or cancel the card. At that time a Chase representative told me that I was ineligible for a product conversion. Apparently Chase doesn’t allow product conversions within the first year of opening an account. Since I didn’t have to pay an annual fee I decided to simply sit back, relax, and wait for my cardmember anniversary. During that waiting period Chase decided to launch one of the most exciting credit cards ever.
Opening The Chase Sapphire Reserve Card
In August of 2016 Chase officially announced the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. As the name implied the card represented a premium card which is part of the Chase Sapphire brand. The Sapphire Reserve expanded on the benefits of the Sapphire Preferred by offering 3X points on travel and dining, a $300 travel credit, and a complimentary Priority Pass membership. Although the Chase Sapphire Preferred was highly regarded as the “best” travel rewards credit card, there was no doubt the Chase Sapphire Reserve was better. Even better than the expanded benefits, the Sapphire Reserve card also came with an insane 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points sign-up bonus.
When the card officially launched I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to earn a lot of points. I was under the Chase 5/24 rule and was approved shortly after applying. Chase expedited the card to me and a few days later the even fancier metal card showed up in the mail. I tried to put every single expenditure I could on the card. At that time I did everything I could to spend another $4,000 in three months to earn the huge sign-up bonus. Before I knew it I reached that goal and the 100,000 UR points showed up in my account. I now had 150,000+ UR points from the two sign-up bonuses. Ultimately those points helped pay for my incredible Lufthansa First Class experience.
Converting The Chase Sapphire Preferred To The Chase Sapphire
During my waiting period to convert the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, I converted my Citi Prestige Card to the Citi ThankYou Premier. That conversion didn’t go quite as smooth as I’d have hoped. Thanks to my Citi experience I decided to be proactive and convert my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to the Chase Freedom card prior to my annual fee posting. I again called Chase to convert the card, but unfortunately was still ineligible. This time however the Chase representative told me that I could convert to a no annual fee Chase Sapphire card.
That card isn’t even listed on the Chase website, but is apparently still available to consumer. At that time I converted my Chase Sapphire Preferred to the Chase Sapphire card to avoid paying an annual fee or dealing with an annual fee credit again.
Converting The Chase Sapphire Card To Chase Freedom
Since I didn’t have to pay an annual fee I decided to wait a few months until I called Chase again. Finally, just the other day I called Chase to convert my Chase Sapphire card to the Chase Freedom card and Chase finally approved the conversion. Within a few minutes my account changed on the Chase website and I’m officially a Chase Freedom cardholder.
It may seem odd to move from a premium travel rewards card to a no annual fee cash back card, but it makes a lot of sense for existing Ultimate Rewards card holders. See, the Chase Freedom card is part of the Ultimate Rewards family. This means that you can transfer Chase Freedom ‘points’ to other Ultimate Rewards cards. Specifically, you can transfer Chase Freedom points to the Chase Sapphire Reserve Ultimate Rewards account. That transfer makes the 1% earned from the Chase Freedom worth 1.5% when redeemed for travel. Even further, you can also transfer those Freedom points to other loyalty programs (United, etc.) thanks to this generous transfer.
Even better, the Chase Freedom card offers a rotating quarterly 5% bonus category. Each quarter card holders need to ‘activate’ the category. From that point until the end of the quarter, card holders receive 5% cash back on the quarterly category on up to $1,500 of quarterly spend. This quarter happens to be Dining and Movie Theater purchases. If you maximize this benefit, you’ll earn 7,500 Ultimate Rewards points each quarter. That’s 30,000 points a year for a no annual fee credit card which is pretty great.
Final Thoughts
As you can tell I’m fairly excited to finally have a Chase Freedom account. I’ve been waiting to open a Chase Freedom account for a few months now and the time has finally come. The day my account converted I activated the 5% Cash Back quarterly bonus category and am now earning 5X Ultimate Rewards points on dining.
If you already have a Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred account you should definitely consider converting at least one of the two cards to a Chase Freedom account. The ultimate combo would be the Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase Freedom, and Chase Freedom Unlimited cards. What that combination you’d earn 3X points on travel and dining annually, 5X points on rotating bonus categories, and 1.5X on all non-bonus spend. I’m not going to open the Freedom Unlimited for a little while, but it’s definitely now on the radar.
