Barclaycard/Chase Retention & Getting Multiple Chase Freedom Cards
Last week I covered my recent retention experience from Citi. In that post I described the process you must now go through to see if you can get a retention offer. Apparently it has always been their policy to only give you offers if you say you are cancelling, however they seem to be enforcing that now and the rep I spoke to made me say it before getting me to someone in retention. There is some good insight in the comments of that post if you’re interested.
Calling retention is not my favorite thing to do, but I had two more cards with annual fees due, a Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red (former US Airways Mastercard) and a Chase Sapphire Preferred. Naturally I put off making the calls until the very last day possible. That day was yesterday. Here is what happened.
Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red
My Motivations
This card came with a first year anniversary bonus of 10,000 miles that already posted and thus I have no need to pay the annual fee. My goal was to get the annual fee waived, however if they weren’t willing to do that I was going to cancel the account. This was a legitimate cancellation call.
Result
After navigating the automated system, I explained the reason for my call to the front line agent who immediately told me to hold for a “specialist”. What happened next was a bit of a surprise. The retention agent came on the line and proactively offered to waive the annual fee before even asking me one question. I was also offered the same bonus as my wife of 1 extra mile per dollar spent in certain categories for 3 months.
Why I Am Happy
Barclaycard has been known to send out very lucrative spending offers on these cards. I have never been lucky enough to get them, but by keeping the card open I still have a shot! Also, I have the option of upgrading this to an Aviator Silver if I am desperate for MQMs. The Silver earns 5K MQMs for $20K spend and another for an additional $20K spend. It is not something I am planning to do, but it is an option.
Chase Sapphire Preferred
My Motivations
I have the ThankYou Premier card and a Chase Ink Plus, so I don’t feel like the Sapphire Preferred warrants the annual fee. Yes I do like the primary car insurance, but don’t feel that justifies the cost. My goal was to get the annual fee waived (not likely) or convert the card to a Chase Freedom. This is basically the strategy I laid out in my review of the card back in early 2015.
Result
I was able to get to a retention representative fairly easily with Chase and the call went quickly. I explained my situation and was told there were absolutely no offers for my card. After a quick second push I was satisfied that there was no other option than converting. I asked if I could convert my card to a Freedom and after being read a few disclosures it was done!
Why I Am Happy
I think the Chase Freedom presents the better overall value with its 5X rotating categories (Including gas this quarter and groceries next quarter) and no annual fee. I already have the ability to transfer Ultimate Rewards to partners via my Chase Ink Plus, so I didn’t need that functionality and I will use my ThankYou Premier to earn 3X on travel and one of a number of other cards for 2X on dining.
Multiple Freedoms
Which brings me to a strategy I don’t see talked about enough. It is quite possible to have many many Freedom cards, although I suppose it is tougher than before. This conversion means that I now have 3 Chase Freedom cards. Yes, three! Here is how I got them:
- Freedom 1: Applied for the Freedom and got the bonus.
- Freedom 2: Converted a Sapphire Preferred a couple of years ago.
- Freedom 3: Converted another Sapphire Preferred yesterday.
Of course with Chase’s 5/24 rule, it will be harder to continue to add to my Freedom collection since I doubt that I will be able to get another Sapphire Preferred in about a year when I am eligible. Of course though the winds of change are constant and who knows when and if Chase’s policy will change. I do know that between my wife and I, we are a 5 Freedom household and that is a great thing.
Conclusion
I guess there isn’t much new to report here. Barclaycard seems to have loosened up on retention, or at least they have on the Aviator cards. The real news here is that Chase still isn’t offering much, but they continue to allow you to convert the Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom which is a great deal in my opinion!
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now
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[…] score stronger. So I wouldn’t cancel the account, and would instead convert it to a Freedom. Miles to Memories has done this several times and creates the opportunity to stack up category […]
When is the best time to downgrade the CSP to a freedom? Immediately after the bonus hits or a specific time period?
When the annual fee is up. Generally Chase wants you to have the card for a year before you can downgrade/change anyway.
I was not able to product change to a Freedom from CSP today because I already have one Freedom. Is this a new change on PC policy or I just hit a bad CSR?
This is the first time I have heard of this. I would try to call back and if that doesn’t work try to request it via secure message.
Is it because I have the CSP for less then one year? I did PC to CS first, then failed to PC to freedom. HUCA does not help, neither messenger on chase.com
[…] to max out the category bonuses for your Freedom card(s) the rest of the year. Since we have five Freedom cards in my household, this is a welcome change and one that will encourage me to visit my local Costco a bit more […]
[…] won’t be applying for this card since I just got a new Chase Ink Plus, but I plan to convert one of my three regular Freedom cards over to it. My plan is to max out the 5% grocery store category bonus in early April on my Freedom […]
[…] love this card so much in fact that I now have three of them. Over the years I have signed up once for the card to receive the bonus and converted two Sapphire […]
Just to confirm. If I just have the one CSP card. Is there any downside to converting this to a Freedom Card. Can I still access/stay in ultimate rewards etc.
If you don’t have either a Sapphire Preferred or a Chase Ink Plus then you cannot transfer to travel partners. That is the big thing you lose. In my case, my Ink Plus gives me that ability so I didn’t lose that. Other then transfers, you lose the specific features of the Sapphire Preferred (2X on dining & travel, etc.) and gain the features of the Freedom (rotating 5X categories).
Do you know if you can go product change from Marriott or United Explorer to CSP? I know I won’t qualify for CSP under the new 5/24 rules and I was recently denied for an Ink (even with recon), so I’m thinking my best bet for moving my 70,000 URs earned with my CF to transferable URs is to switch something over to a CSP, and I’d rather not give up my CF with bonuses. I haven’t seen anything about whether a co-branded card can be switched to a Chase-branded card (CSP or CF). Otherwise, if my only option is to wait and apply for a CSP after 5/24, then I might as well just convert the points to cash now. Thoughts?
Thanks!
No you cannot product change from a co-branded card to an Ultimate Rewards card. As far as converting the points to cash, that is a personal decision, but taking $.01 each is tough. Still, you don’t want points just sitting there forever. Tough call.
When you converted from the CSP to the Freedom, were you also eligible to earn the Freedom’s signup bonus?
I received the bonus on my 1st Freedom so I wasn’t eligible anyway. No, if you convert from a CSP to a Freedom then you won’t be eligible to get a sign-up bonus on the Freedom as a new customer.
A good strategy if possible given the 5/24 rule is:
Get New Freedom & CSP for bonuses
After 1 year Convert CSP to Freedom #2
Great idea. I have the CSP and the Freedom, so I may try this. I also have the Ink Plus, so it’ll be nice to eventually have three 5% UR cards.
Perhaps silly question, but…I wonder – can you convert Chase United to Chase Freedom?
I have no need for United since I have both Chase Ink and Chase Sapphire (which can transfer points to United), but I really covet Chase Freedom.
I applied for it this past November and was denied (despite excellent credit score, perfect payment history and high annual income) due to “more than 5 cards opened in the past 24 months”. Even calling for reconsideration did not help. Since I cannot imagine not applying for cards for 24 months, chances are low for me to get Freedom. So I wonder if it’s even remotely possible to convert Chase United into it?
No unfortunately Chase doesn’t allow you to convert a co-branded card to a Ultimate Rewards card.
Good to know you can go from CSP to CF. I also have two CF’s because one was originally Chemical Bank – Shell MasterCard.
Good info, but with all the Barclays US Air and AA cards I’ve had, neither my wife nor I have ever received 2 15,000 offers on the same card. Never happened, not even once. Still nice to keep it for the next annual bonus.
Yeah some people are lucky and some (like me and you) aren’t. My wife used to get the offers on her old card, but neither of us have seen an offer for awhile. Crossing my fingers and not holding my breath.
FYI- I got the same retention offer from Barclay AA Red as you did, waive the fee and 2x pts in certain catagores for 3 mos.
For Aviator Red, I was offered to choose from 3 offers. One of them is the gas one I believe. I chose $1000 spending for 5000 miles. I don’t remember the third one.