Chase is opening Sapphire Reserve cards for customers who don’t want them

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Update: Chase has reached out and confirmed that they’ve identified the small number of customers affected and that they’ll be contacting them directly to resolve the matter. They also confirmed that those affected can keep the card open if they wish and have the welcome offer attached which is a great resolution.

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When Chase revamped the Sapphire Reserve card and increased its welcome offer the other day, a lot of people decided to lob in an application.

As part of the new application process, Chase now displays a popup if you’re not eligible for the welcome offer. You’re then given the choice as to whether to cancel your application, or proceed without a bonus being attached. That’s a better process than in the past as it means you can still get the card if you deem the benefits valuable enough even without earning a welcome offer.

It appears that this new process isn’t going entirely smoothly though. We’ve now heard from a few readers who decided not to proceed with their applications, but Chase opened new Sapphire Reserve cards for them anyway.

For example, we received the following email from a reader last night:

My son applied for the new personal Chase Reserve card. He got the pop up that he wasn’t eligible for the bonus. He declined the offer but unexpectedly the card landed in his account. I will be helping him discuss this with Chase, but I wanted to let people know it’s probably a good idea to take a screenshot if you get the pop up. We have applied plenty of times with Amex and gotten the pop up and declined with no problems. I did not think this would be a problem but now we did not screenshot it and might have to continue with this offer without the pop up in case Chase does not agree. I will keep you posted but I wanted other people to be aware in case they face this same issue.

Similarly, a different reader emailed us with the following account:

On June 23, I submitted an application for the Chase Sapphire Reserve. Just as you outlined, I was told I was ineligible for a welcome offer due to the number of cards recently opened. I was then given the choice to either proceed without the bonus or withdraw the application entirely. I chose to withdraw, and the Chase website confirmed that my application had been successfully withdrawn.

To my surprise, about ten minutes later I received an email saying I had been approved for the card, and the account immediately appeared in my Chase online portal.

I called Chase and spoke with a representative who acknowledged what happened and said the issue would be escalated. Since then, I’ve received conflicting information from different representatives. I’m currently dealing with the issue, but the resolution remains unclear.

I haven’t yet seen other reports of this specific glitch—being approved after withdrawing the application under the new policy—but I imagine others could run into the same problem now that this process has gone live.

I thought it was worth sharing as it raises important questions about the reliability of Chase’s new application process and what happens when it breaks down.

This issue appears to be the result of growing pains with Chase’s new popup procedure rather than being something more nefarious a la Wells Fargo.

If you find yourself in this frustrating position, you should reach out to Chase to report the problem. I fully expect them to make things right by closing the account and ensuring that the card either isn’t added to your credit report if it’s caught in time, or removed from your credit report if it’s not stopped in time.

In an ideal world, Chase would give an alternative option – you can keep the card open and they’ll attach the welcome offer to it as a gesture of good will. I’d be pleasantly surprised if that’s how they choose to proceed, but it’d be worth proactively suggesting that when speaking to Chase if that’s a resolution that would be agreeable for you.

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Petronella

They probably do it in purpose. Not many people want that “new” card with 795 AF and shitty benefits.

bulls_fan

Can anyone give me a reason to NOT try to double dip this and get a second SUB right now (Other than 5/24 considerations)- I’d be happy to have 2 PFD AND 2 RES for the first year and double dip after second AF hits but before canceling….

Alex

I was wondering if book a stay for someone else through The Edit by Chase Travel .Will that person receive the same benefits as the cardholder. I know with FHR, the Platinum cardholder needs to be present at check-in to access the perks, so I was curious if The Edit has a similar requirement.
Thanks for your help!

Alex

Thanks

Bridgette Busby

This Sapphire card is the worst card I have in my wallet I feel like it’s interest rate is so out of control. Will someone please enlightening me of what is the purpose of this card. It’s front line and center of a person going into depth I will not recommend this credit card to anyone. Chase you guys do a number on customers when you offer the high interest rate credit card. You killing the American people with this card

Fenspinbi

You’ve violated the 1st Commandment of credit cards. Interest rates are irrelevant because no one here is paying it. Statement is always paid in full, without exception.

The beginner posts on FM and Thrifty Traveler will get you back on track!

[…] abuzz centering around the much awaited refresh of the Chase Sapphire Reserve card. However, as per Frequent Miler and some Reddit reports, it seems like Chase is apparently ‘approving’ certain people […]

[…] despite selecting this selection option people have been approved for the card. This is an issue on Chase’s end that they have acknowledged and stated they will contact affected cardholders directly, giving them the option to keep the […]

Laku

I have CSP and received sub in Aug 2023. Can I get new sun with this new refreshed CSR

Laku

Correction: – Can I get new sub with CSR

Brian

No. Any saphire bonus CSP or CSR in the past prevents you from qualifying a SUB. Chase can always override their policy.

Greg The Frequent Miler

Good news from Chase for whoever this happened to. They tell us: “Confirming that if the person would like to keep the card open, then we will make sure they know they’ll be eligible for the new cardmember bonus.”

LarryInNYC

So now, the obvious question — have they fixed the bug yet?

GundamWing01

this is awesome. bug in player favor. pass GO. collect SUB.

Jimmy

I have been a pretty happy customer of many types of Chase products in the past, but they haven’t looked very good with how this rollout has gone.

Mark

What’s next 1,000,000 point bonuses offers that nobody is approved for?

Andrew

My experience: I applied through the public offer for 100,000+$500, and sadly my Experian credit report was still frozen (I’d unlocked it, not realizing that’s different than unfrozen). I was directed through an onscreen prompt to unfreeze it and then call to proceed with the application. There was no pop-up at this point, which makes sense as they hadn’t viewed my credit report. I unfroze it, and called, and okayed the application, assuming that the sign-up bonus would be what I applied for since it was the same application they were proceeding with. The customer service rep didn’t mention my ineligibility for the sign up bonus points, but after being approved, she mentioned only the $500 Chase Travel credit. I inquired, and my application didn’t show the 100,000 points. I was transferred to another person, to whom I requested a match – she escalated it, and a day later I received a letter saying I was ineligible – that was it – no explanation.

At no point was I informed that I was ineligible. I certainly wouldn’t have gone through with the applicaiton had I known.

I’ve sent a secure message asking them to give me the bonus points since I wasn’t informed that I was ineligible during the application process. I’ll update here.

Lynn

They will have a lot of unhappy people!

Mark

When is an offer not an offer? This new strategy by credit cards is a sign of desperation and I’d be surprised it won’t be challenged legally sooner or later

Brian

Chase doesn’t want serial card flippers. Makes sense when both posts stated they have received SUBs in the recent past.

Ben

The Wells Fargo Sapphire Reserve.

Tom

It’s a software issue as opposed to a human rep falsifying an application.

Reed

I have find Chase to have notoriously bad customer service, this is not surprising at all. Good luck to everyone!

Reed

have found***

bulls_fan

to the contrary, I have found the JPM Reserve call center to be the ONLY good customer service of any of my cards- Amex is almost always disappointing, unable or unwilling to help and a total waste of time. Don’t even get my started with Barclay’s!!!

Dan

Last year I applied for the Chase United Explorer card. I clicked submit at the end of the application and got a message with a system error, associated details, and it said please try again. So I did as asked and went through the application a second time. Guess what? Chase opened two identical card accounts in my name. Thankfully I had taken a screenshot of the error.

I tried resolving this with chase for over a month, even getting all the way up to their executive escalation. They would not undo one of the accounts, they were simply offering to close it but not remove it from my credit reports. I filed a CFPB report and 2 weeks later they magically were able to nullify one of the accounts and can send a letter to the credit bureaus to inform them of the issues. Best of luck to these folks in trying to resolve these issues with Chase.

Last edited 22 days ago by Dan
Amy

Is CFPB still a thing? There was report that it was discontinued by the government

Daniel

He said last year not this year.

Bonnie Zimmerman

I just used CFPB and got a successful resolution to my problem. They helped me to get $700 back which was applied to someone else’s account at Chase. I am very pleased with using CFPB.