Chase Sapphire Family Eligibility Rules
Considering grabbed the new welcome offer on the Chase Sapphire Preferred card? If you currently also hold the Chase Sapphire Reserve, no worries. You no longer have to weigh whether to downgrade the Preferred card in order to be eligible for the welcome offer on the Reserve card, and vice versa. You can now hold both cards at the same time, following updates to the Chase Sapphire family eligibility rules. Let's take a look at what has changed and how you it may impact your application strategy for these cards going forward.
What Are The Sapphire Family Rules Now?
For many years, Chase Sapphire family eligibility rules dictated that cardholders had to choose which of these two cards they wanted in their wallets. You couldn't get the Reserve card if you currently held the Preferred card, and vice versa. Previously, cardholders who held one Sapphire card and wanted the other would need to downgrade their current card before applying for the other Sapphire card. That restriction is no more. Chase recently changed its rules, enabling cardholders to now get either Sapphire card even while holding the other. This means you do not need to downgrade one of these cards before applying for the other (unless, of course, you want to downgrade).
There's just one catch: You may not be eligible to earn a welcome offer on a card that you have held before. If you held a Chase Sapphire Reserve card in the past and reapply for a new one, you might be greeted with a pop-up message warning that you are ineligible for the bonus. The message will ask if you'd like to proceed with the card application regardless, at which point you can decide to exit the application if you'd like. And of course, keep in mind that Chase still has other application rules that may affect your ability to obtain either card, particularly the all-important 5/24 rule.
Only Want One? How To Choose Which Sapphire Card To Get (Or Keep)
If you've never held either card, start first by comparing the current welcome offers and required spend for both:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve: Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $6,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Perks, Earning Structures And Annual Fees
Both cards provide access to some of the industry's strongest transfer partners. (Though you may want to consider that the Preferred is decreasing its Hyatt transfer ratio, which we outlined here.) Both have similarly strong insurance for car rentals, luggage, trip interruptions and travel accidents. (You can read more about those benefits by clicking those links.) At $95, the Preferred comes with a much lower annual fee compared to the Reserve's $795 annual fee. However, the Reserve comes with a long list of coupons, which will more than offset the annual fee if you use them all. Remember that the $300 travel credit is also very easy to use. It does not require any travel portal bookings, and any purchases that code as travel are deducted automatically. So many cardholders view this as more of a $495 yearly card.
We would encourage you to read our full comparison of the two cards here. If you have had both cards for more than one year and it's a choice between which card to keep, that will likely come down to some personal number crunching. It will depend on how well you can use the credits on the Reserve. Thankfully, the Chase Sapphire family eligibility rules should no play a significant role in this decision.
Still Want To Downgrade? Here's How
If you're applying for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, for example, and no longer see a reason to simultaneously hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, you may still want to consider initiating a downgrade. The nice thing is that with the current Chase Sapphire family eligibility rules, downgrading is no longer required before your application. Your decision whether or not to downgrade one card should no longer affect your eligibility for the other.
If you do decide you don't want to pay the annual fees on both cards, we'd recommend product changing rather than closing your card. You will want to make sure it's been at least a year since you opened the card, which is in keeping with the original card offers' terms. You can start the downgrade process by calling the number on the back of your card and speaking with a representative. We recommend product changing to the original Chase Freedom card. Because this card is no longer available to new applicants, it keeps you eligible to earn signup bonuses for the other Chase Freedom cards in the future. See our full downgrade guide with step-by-step instructions here.
Chase Sapphire Family Eligibility Rules: ToP Thoughts
The Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Chase Sapphire Preferred are our ToP two travel cards for many reasons. And while you may decide you don't want to pay the fees for both longterm, it's great that you at least no longer have to factor in Chase Sapphire family eligibility rules when applying for one of these cards for the first time. Are you going for a limited-time offer o none of the cards? Let us know your thoughts in the comments over on the ToP Facebook group.
