Chase Bonuses – Good Developments
Also see this related follow up post: Hacking Chase Hotel Cards – Maximize Benefits & Bonuses
Chase is one of the few banks who has made it hard to get the bonus more then once on their credit cards over the years. For a long time, you were only able to get one sign-up bonus per product.
A nice loophole has existed for awhile where you can get a bonus again if Chase does a product change. A good example of this is when the Chase Ink cards changed from Mastercard to Visa. Chase considered the Visa cards a new product and thus allowed people to get the bonus again.
A Change In Chase Bonus Language & Policy
The other day I wrote about the possibility of Citi tightening bonus rules. Thankfully Chase has moved in the opposite direction and reopened the door for multiple bonuses. They have added language in the past few months to their bonus offers which is beneficial to us.
The additional language reads:
This new cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this consumer credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this consumer credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this consumer credit card within the last 24 months.
I recently put this new language to the test by applying for a Sapphire Preferred card. My last application for a Sapphire Preferred was in October of 2012. When the annual fee came due a year later, I converted that card to a Chase Freedom.
A few weeks ago, I applied for the Sapphire Preferred card hoping for an instant approval. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I got the dreaded “processing” message. Thankfully a few hours later when I checked the application status, it was approved.
What Is the Right Time
The sign-up bonus for the Chase Sapphire Preferred usually increases to 50,000 points once a year, however I don’t know when that will happen and I feel it is important to get the clock ticking.
As the rules are written now, I will be eligible to get the Sapphire Preferred card again in December of 2016 as long as I no longer am a current cardholder. Since I think switching it to a Freedom card is the best value after the 1st year, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Conclusion
You can theoretically get the bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred and other cards once every 24 months. While this change happened a few months ago, it hasn’t received a lot of coverage and I thought I would relay my own personal experience.
This development is great news since Chase has a number of fantastic rewards card products. I just pray that they stick with these new rules for awhile!
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Hi Shawn! Thanks for the post! I’m planning on canceling and re-applying for the Sapphire Preferred…I have about 10k credit line on it now. Is it better to move the credit line to another Chase card or just cancel it out? I’m planning on canceling in a month after I pay everything off on all my other cards so my credit utilization will be low at that time.
That is a personal decision, but a lot of people like to keep their credit lines so they can negotiate later with Chase if they hit their overall limit. What I did was convert my Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom so I can get the 5x and then I applied for a new Sapphire Preferred awhile later.
Okay thanks! I also just read the article on doctorofcredit about current Chase churning and how they are denying people for the CSP if you have opened 5 new cards in the past 24 months. I have opened 9 in the past year and so I’m weary about trying for the CSP again. Maybe I should keep the CSP for now?
[…] signed up for my second Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The first time I had the card, I ended up downgrading it to a Chase Freedom after one year. Whether or not you will want to do that is going to be a personal […]
just downgraded cap to cs so can get csp when 24 months is up. Since I didn’t cancel the card, I still have chase cards. I’ve seen written that chase may limit one to 8 cards. That means I won’t be able to get a csp again till I cancel a card? If so downgrading for me is not an option?
Am I right or wrong about the 8 card limit?
someone mentioned finding out which chase cards currently qualify for. How to do that? Thanks
Good points Shawn.
But you should have also emphasized that UR points NEED to be transferred (combined) to another Chase UR card that you or a spouse have (such as Sapphire or Freedom) BEFORE you close a CSP card account, or you will lose those points. The points are the goal after all!
Definitely! Thanks for adding that. You must transfer your points out before cancelling an account. The Chase rep should hopefully tell you that, but they don’t always, so it is good to keep in mind. Thanks!
So if I understand it correctly, you don’t need to cancel the CSP credit line, just do a product change to Freedom or Sapphire while retaining the credit line and you can still get a new CSP bonus after 24 months?
That is correct. As long as you don’t currently hold the Sapphire Preferred card and it has been 24 months since you received the bonus, then you should be eligible.
I downgraded my CSP to a Chase Sapphire. Will that prevent me from getting a 2nd CSP?
The Sapphire and Sapphire Preferred are to separate products, so it should not prevent you.
[…] the past couple of weeks I have written a couple of posts (Sapphire churning & Citi AAdvantage card churning) eluding to my last churn, but nothing that talks about it […]
[…] Positive Churning News Regarding Chase Sapphire & Other Cards – Analyzing the new language regarding sign-up bonuses that Chase has added to their applications. […]
I got this card for a second time last year just a few months after canceling the card after 12 months- thus not paying an annual fee.
Chase a “see what cards you qualify for on their website. I did this and it said I qualified for this card – I got the bonus again.
I have gotten 3 or more bonus for the IHG, Marriot and United cards over the years – never paid an annual fee.
That’s interesting David. I’ll be coming up on the annual fee soon. I think I’ll check out their website “see what cards you qualify for”. I assume you have an excellent credit score? Then you cancelled the sapphire preferred and not downgraded to the sapphire. I have heard of people just downgrading to sapphire. Can you still get bonus if you just downgrade, after only 13 months?
I got the bonus for a second time by canceling and re applying.
I have never down graded a credit card. I always cancel and re apply and have always gotten the bonus again.
[…] I wrote about recent shift in Chase’s policy towards credit card churning. Basically they went from a policy of allowing cardmembers to get a […]
This is interesting. So suppose you sign up for the card in Jan of 2015 and you get the bonus (after the required spend) in March 2015. So according to the rules it would be 24 months from the bonus posting, so March 2017 before you could sign up again and be eligible for a new bonus, right?
But how is this impacted by if you still have the card? If you KEEP the card for two years so that in March 2017 STILL have the card…can you sign up for a second card, or do you need to cancel the first card? If you do…how early do you have to cancel the first card?
You need to cancel the card before getting it again. The terms state you cannot be a current cardholder.
As far as how early you need to cancel it, that information is not well known and may vary. This is all still very new, however some people have had success canceling and signing back up within a short period of time.
You weren’t exactly clear whether you actually got the bonus again… However I can confirm it works though after 24 mos. for me anyways.
Sorry. While I just got the card and haven’t completed the spending, I have confirmed with Chase that I will receive the bonus after meeting the minimum spend threshold.
The language indicates it’s 24 months after the bonus posts, not 24 months after application. Practically they aren’t enforcing the 24 month rule at all, seen people get it again after 13 months for example.
Not sure how quick you can redo it and don’t really want to push it that much because Chase has enough cards for me to spread around anyway.