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With many people getting approvals for the premium Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR) card, they find little use for their Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) cards. Since the CSP charges an annual fee of $95, you will likely want to downgrade it to a no annual fee card, like the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited. If you choose the traditional Freedom card, you may get a nice extra bonus.
Many folks on Reddit are reporting that they downgraded their CSP to a traditional Freedom card (the one with 5x quarterly categories). Once the downgrade went through, they retroactively received 5x Ultimate Reward points for all dining purchases from this quarter (3Q16 5x bonus category). Interestingly, the 2x points for travel purchases (CSP bonus) remain on their accounts as well! If you’re already considering downgrading to the Freedom card, now would be a good time, to take advantage of this unexpected bonus.
As long as you have the CSR, you will be able to transfer your Ultimate Rewards points to travel partners. You will also be able to book travel at 1.5 cents per points through the Ultimate Rewards travel website. After a year, if you decide not to pay the second $450 annual fee, you can likely downgrade it to the CSP. That will return you to your original starting point, with an extra Freedom card in the mix and a lot of Ultimate Rewards!
