Why a US Bank approval rushed me to the Chase 100K offer

Remember the up-to-4% everywhere Smartly card? Given how US Bank nerfed it only 5 months after its introduction, it’s understandable if you’ve forgotten it already. But it’s a key to this story. I had applied just before the card’s official nerfing. And that led indirectly to my rush to get the Chase Sapphire Preferred card while the 100K offer was available…

In November last year, US Bank launched the Smartly card which offered up to 4% cash back for all qualified purchases. To qualify for 4% back, you needed $100,000 in investments with US Bank. Those who already had that much or more in investments could do an in-kind transfer to US Bank without having to sell and re-buy stocks. Other than the fact that many reported that US Bank was a huge pain to work with, it was an amazingly good deal. Too good. That’s why US Bank made huge changes to the card. Anyone who applied April 14th 2025 or later, got the new nerfed version of the card with capped rewards, excluded categories of spend, and a requirement to keep the $100K in an extremely low-yield checking account. The good news was that people who applied before April 14th were grandfathered into the original card terms. That’s why I applied for the card on April 12th.

I’m a credit card collector. I love having cards that offer value and are no longer available to get new. My Citi Prestige card is one example. My IHG Select card is another. So, I applied for the version 1.0 Smartly card before it was too late. My application was instantly denied.

Ten days later, I got around to calling US Bank’s reconsideration line. They transferred me to their security verification department which they oddly described as the “Café team.” It turns out that my application was initially declined because I had applied while in Washington D.C. rather that from home and so that triggered a flag. After I answered their security questions, my application was put through and my application was approved.

When I received the card, I jumped right into the terms and conditions to make sure I had the original version of the card rather than the new one. I was relieved to find the original terms. Awesome. I had now secured a new unobtainable card for my collection!

After activating my Smartly card, I added it to my Travel Freely account (as I do with all new cards). That’s when I noticed that I had just hit 5/24. Chase doesn’t usually approve new credit card applications if you’ve opened 5 or more new credit cards in the past 24 months. Travel Freely does a great job in showing your current status on that score and makes it easy to see when you’ll drop below 5/24. You can read more about 5/24 here.

I wasn’t too worried about my 5/24 status because I didn’t have any immediate plans to apply for Chase cards. I didn’t intend to apply for the Sapphire Preferred 100K offer because I was happy with my Sapphire Reserve card and I’d have to get rid of that before applying for the Sapphire Preferred.

Then, I updated the post “Chase Sapphire Reserve vs Sapphire Preferred: Which is Right for You?” When I ran the numbers in that post, I realized that the Sapphire Reserve doesn’t really make sense for me anymore. At least, not at this time. And then it dawned on me… if I’m going to get rid of my Sapphire Reserve card anyway, I’d be crazy not to apply for the Sapphire Preferred while the 100K offer was available.

Even though the Smartly card was going to put me at 5/24 and make me ineligible for the Sapphire Preferred offer, I had a window of opportunity. Chase uses your credit report to determine your 5/24 status. When you open a new credit card account, it usually takes anywhere from 30 to 60 days for the new account to appear on your credit report. So, I actually had time to apply for the Sapphire Preferred offer, but I had to do it right away in case the new account was reported sooner than expected!

My next issue was that I didn’t know how long the 100K offer would last and I had to get rid of my Sapphire Reserve card before Chase would consider an application for the Sapphire Preferred. How long after product changing from the Sapphire Reserve to a Freedom card would I have to wait until I could apply? I couldn’t find any hard data on this, so I tested it out myself…

I called Chase and product changed my Sapphire Reserve card to a Freedom Unlimited card. I then immediately applied for the Sapphire Preferred card, but Chase wouldn’t even process the application because they still thought I had a Sapphire card. I proceeded to apply for the Sapphire Preferred multiple times until Chase finally processed the application. For me, the answer was that I had to wait two business days after product changing to put an application through. I wrote up the experiment here: How soon can you apply for the 100K offer after product changing?

The next day I received an email from Chase saying that my application was approved!

Please see these posts for more information:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred guide and application link
• Sapphire Preferred 100K Q&A: Everything You Need to Know
• Chase 5/24 Rule: How to Count Your Status – 3 Easy Ways

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