Boy, oh boy, Chase has sure been occupying a lot of space in the ‘ole blogosphere lately, due to the launch of the new Sapphire Reserve for Business card, a refresh of the already existing Sapphire Reserve, and the corresponding welcome offers for both.
As part of the launch/refresh, Chase modified the eligibility rules for Sapphire cards, as well as tinkering with the application process itself:
- Chase is moving to a more Amex-like “lifetime” restriction for individual cards, in this case for the Sapphire Reserve. If you’ve ever had the card in the past, you’re probably not eligible for a welcome offer again. Previously, being within 48 months of receiving a welcome offer for any Sapphire card would make you ineligible for a bonus on ANY Sapphire card. Now, that 48-month rule is irrelevant.
- However, even if you aren’t eligible for the welcome offer, Chase is going to show you a (again, very Amex-like) pop-up letting you know that, and asking you if you want to proceed with the application anyway. The bright side is that it sounds like it would now be possible to get approved for a card without the welcome offer if you wanted to do so.
- Cardholders are now able to have a Sapphire Preferred and a Sapphire Reserve card at the same time. Being a Sapphire Preferred cardholder would no longer keep you from getting a Reserve, although it may keep you from being eligible for the welcome offer.
Based on all this, we thought that a couple of things would be true:
- You could apply for a Sapphire Reserve worry-free, because a pop-up would tell you that you aren’t eligible for a welcome offer before you submit the application (and have your credit pulled).
- You could be approved for Sapphire Reserve while holding a Sapphire Preferred, and if you weren’t eligible for the welcome offer, you’d be told before you submitted your application.
Thus far, that hasn’t been what’s happened.
First off, there have been a whole slew of people who were auto-declined immediately after applying for the Reserve without getting a pop-up. The reason: they currently have a Sapphire Preferred card (or had one in the past). I haven’t seen any positive data points of folks who are current Preferred cardholders being able to get a new Reserve (although they probably exist). What I have seen is a lot of negative ones.
We’ve also heard from many people who applied for the Reserve, got the pop-up, withdrew their application, but still got a hard pull. Based on what we’re hearing, it seems that, if the reason that you’re not eligible for a welcome offer is that you have received a Sapphire bonus, then you don’t get a credit check if you withdraw your application. However, if the reason is that you’re over 5/24 (have 5+ new personal credit cards from any issuer within the past 24 months), Chase is still doing hard credit checks despite the applicant saying, “No thanks,” and withdrawing their application.
Lastly, there was a spate of folks who withdrew their application after getting the pop-up, but were still approved for the Sapphire Reserve…they got the card even though they didn’t want it. Chase seems to be aware of this issue, is contacting those affected, and has said that anyone who “accidentally” got a card will be able to get the welcome offer. Still, it’s another sign that things aren’t working the way that they should.
Quick Thoughts
We don’t have much additional clarity around the new rules, outside of saying that Chase’s version of the pop-up isn’t very popular.
The new application process obviously has a ton of kinks to work out, and there’s more confusion than there’s ever been about how you know if you’re eligible for a new Sapphire card.
What we can say is:
- If you’ve ever received a Sapphire Reserve welcome bonus, it’s very unlikely that you’re going to qualify for the current welcome offer (although there are some positive datapoints). You CAN get a Sapphire Reserve without the offer.
- If you currently hold the Sapphire Preferred, the best practice would be to downgrade it to a Freedom Flex or Freedom Unlimited before applying for the Sapphire Reserve.
- None of these eligibility restrictions (outside of 5/24 status) apply to the Sapphire Reserve for Business.
It’s disappointing that Chase hasn’t provided clearer guidance around eligibility and application qualifications, especially since many folks seem to be experiencing issues that are the exact opposite of what the bank seemed to say beforehand. Hopefully, both execution and communication improve quickly.
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Have had CSR since 2016 that had the 100,000 bonus. How far do they look back?
A data point to add- Downgraded CSP opened 4 years prior to ‘Classic Freedom’ with UR-2 days prior and applied to CSR (never held personal CSR before but a CSR authorized user from P2). Have 2 other Chase personal cards but not opened in past 2 years. At 4/24 and was approved without a pop up. 100K + 500 was in the link from P2. Hope to get the bonus!
Shout out to a Greg’s former post on how long do you need to wait after downgrading to apply for a new Sapphire card-it seems to be indeed 2 business days 🙂
Dang, I cancelled instead of downgrading because I already have 2 freedoms. Was this a mistake?
Cancelling should be fine I would think. Unless Chase were to see it negatively. Wouldn’t hurt trying after giving it at least few days.
So, if I presently have the CSR, can I *also* now apply for and get a CSP (presumably without a SUB)?
I got a CSP in June 2021. That card was then product changed to a CFU a year later, and was eventually closed.
Some time around 2022 (I think), I PC’d an existing CFU to a CSR, and held that for a few years. This CSR was later PC’d to a CSP, and then PC’d again to a CFU last week.
I applied for a new CSR this week, using P2’s referral link. I did not get a pop-up, and the app went pending w/ a 7-10 day message. About 10 minutes later, I got an approval email, and the card showed up in my Chase app, with all new benefits showing up as expected. A day later, the SUB tracker showed up with the 100k/$500 SUB.
So there’s at least one data point of someone (me) who (1) previously held a CSR; (2) earned a Sapphire SUB within 48 months; and (3) used a referral link, who nevertheless ended up with the new SUB.
Fun times, Chase.
Nice, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing. This is the sort of scenario I was looking to see a data point for. I’ve received CSP SUBs a couple of times and, several years ago, subsequently had upgraded one of those to CSR. I later downgraded that to a Freedom and opened a new CSP (2nd CSP SUB.) So, I’ve had the CSR before, but have not earned a bonus for it.
If I could get the SUB, it would definitely be worth downgrading the CSP and opening CSR at least for a year. If not, though, it would not be worthwhile and I’d just stick with CSP.
How is getting approved without a welcome offer a “bright side” in any respect?
Some people might like to have the benefits of a card even without the welcome offer.
Chase has historically not allowed you to be approved for a card if you weren’t eligible for the offer, whereas Amex will let you do it all the time. For instance, I know several people who applied for and accepted Amex’s Bonvoy Brilliant card without the welcome offer, so that they could take advantage of the automatic Platinum status (and the other perks of the card).
Obviously, it would be better WITH the welcome offer, but if you can’t get that and still want the card, it’s nice to have the choice.
Probably going to apply for CSR, but not now for a couple reasons. Waiting until Chase’s application issues are resolved. And waiting at least a couple of weeks into July because some of their benefits run Jan-Jun and Jul-Dec. If I wait until a few weeks into July, I’ll have time on the back end to use those Jul-Dec benefits if I decide to cancel the card.
That makes no sense. You’ll miss the Jan-Jun window completely so you’re just throwing away benefits you could have used.
I’ll get them on the back end and have more time to use them.
This (hopefully) doesn’t apply to many readers, but my own headache getting CSR:
-Applied Monday, went pending (I have several Chase personal and biz card for several years)
-I called recon Tuesday, was told they couldn’t verify me, I needed to upload my ID; I uploaded it immediately
-Called later Tuesday, they got my ID, were reviewing (lots of questions asked both times)
-Called back Thursday, after lots of questions, they said they couldn’t ID me, my ID wasn’t good enough, I could go to a branch for them to ID me
-Went to a branch, sat for 30 minutes w/ no AC while Chase rep was transferred 5x on the phone for them to verify my ID and finally get me approved
Again, probably a super rare data point with an over-eager security process, but it really made me question how insane I might be to try that hard to pay Chase $795 for this card.
Oh great, this is my future. I forgot to unfreeze my credit so I had to call them after I unfroze it. Then after I did that, they still declined my app due to fraud concerns. I called again and they had me upload my ID. I’m really looking forward to that not being good enough for them.
It’s good to mentally prepare 🙂
I keep my credit frozen and I unfroze all 3 bureaus right before applying, but I wonder if I didn’t give it enough time before the “thaw” kicked in. So my still-frozen credit (from Chase’s perspective) might have kicked off my fun experience.
Chase is doing a great job chasing people away from their Sapphire products!
I have another scenario to add to the list of problems. I sent my wife a CSR referral link on 6/24. It showed the new terms, new bonus, etc. She applied and was approved. However, she got the old card, old signup bonus (60k), and a message saying the new benefits won’t be available until 10/26. I have a screenshot showing all the new terms and the referral link.
Sent Chase a few Secure Messages, and so far I’ve only gotten the run-around.
Following…hoping for a solution.
Same scenario. I called several times, all reps were baffled and agreed I was supposed to get the correct welcome bonus (100k/500 credit). Eventually, my account showed the correct new card picture and perks/benefits, then the 60k SUB tracker popped up.
I sent secure messages and they are giving me the run around too, including “your card isn’t eligible” for the welcome bonus. One rep I was transferred to didn’t even know a 100k welcome bonus was live and argued with me about “where have you seen this SUB?”
All reps I spoke with have escalated, spoke to managers, and co-workers and they claimed they haven’t heard of this issue before, no one else has this issue, and will have “marketing” investigate. This is crazy and embarrassing to roll out a product like this.
They can take our points, give points for retention purposes, and more. But can’t figure out that someone who applied for the card, got approved for the new card, has all the new card perks…but is given a discontinued product and assigned a discontinued welcome bonus?
These guys defy logic.
This also happened to me with P2’s referral link. I have a case number with Chase that has been escalated. My benefits have been updated so that they are available now, but my bonus tracker in the app still shows the old 60,000 point bonus offer. I have talked to 2 customer service reps that have assured me that the new bonus just has to go through the escalation review process, but it will take 5-7 business days to adjust.
I also used a referral link with 100K SUB and got the 60K. Did this in 6/24/25 – CSR see me signed up but say I am not eligible for the 100K but offered an old terms and conditions of the old card . WOW! What a mess! Appears they have an IT issue and I spent 3 hrs talking to various people. They are not moving to change this.
I now look on my app and it shows the benefits of the card that I agree to but still showing like 60K. They are still a mess still acknowledging it’s not their issue and very rude customer service reps everybody needs to be trained!!
I have a few new updates. Last week after a handful of secure messages back and forth, they told me that it had been escalated as high as it could go, they weren’t able to change the SUB, and they wouldn’t reply to any more messages about that topic from me. The entire time I was extremely polite, and each time when I explained that I wasn’t asking for a SUB match, just the SUB I signed up for, they gave me some pat answer about not honoring new SUBs for this card. It felt like I was talking to an computer bot that really couldn’t understand my issue and kept giving the answer to a different issue.
So I finally decided to give up.
But then a couple days ago we got a letter from Chase saying “thanks for you request to upgrade your card”, blah, blah, blah, you’re new annual fee will change from $550 to $795.
I sent a secure message saying I didn’t request an upgrade, so this made no sense. The agent replied that there was a “technical error” when I applied and the wrong Terms & Conditions were applied to my account. When this was discovered, they automatically updated the card to the new terms.
I replied that that was fine, but I would also like the SUB to be corrected at the same time. They agreed and asked for my referral link. I sent this to them and they said they were forwarding it on to the correct department and they would get back to me.
I might still be getting the run-around, and they’ll still insist that they can’t change it, but it does feel like I’m making progress in at least getting them to admit that there was a technical error on their part.
Anyone else making any progress on this?
I have an update! I spoke with a customer service agent this morning who, AGAIN, assured me I should be getting a letter regarding the issue of the bonus (not the letter that stated “Update – Your new card comes with changes to your account terms” letter). This new letter will address the referral glitch that we had with the bonus and will state that I am eligible for the correct 100,000 point bonus + $500 travel credit. The agent did tell me that I AM eligible for the new bonus, and that if I do hit the spend requirement and receive the 60,000 points bonus, I will receive an adjustment to match the updated offer. This is the first agent I have corresponded with that acknowledged that I will be FOR CERTAIN receiving the new bonus and not danced around the subject with the promise of a letter from the marketing department. I feel like this is progress in the right direction.
Have you gotten “the letter” yet? I was supposed to hear back withing 5 business days, but it’s been 8 and no word.
Still no letter. I am frustrated. I lost track of how many times I’ve called in at this point. My last phone call ended with the custumer service agent giving me the executive office address to send a letter to regarding my situation. I sent my complaint letter to them on Saturday (7/12). I did hit the minimum spend today, and my bonus tracker updated to show that I will be getting 60,000 bonus points in 6-8 weeks. I guess I will wait to see if they go ahead and credit the difference like they said they will & report back here if they happen to respond to my letter. Good luck!
This is what happens when you use ChatGPT to write code
Do we have data points on whether “ever had a Sapphire Reserve” means had one as a primary cardholder or does it mean even authorized users?
Honestly, Chase deserves to get dragged for this. I wasn’t affected by any of this nonsense because I’m not interest in the crappy refreshed reserve but between the broken pop up, the comically bad couponing, and the lousy welcome offers, it’s enough for me to want to cancel all of my other Chase cards.
Do it.
Honestly, do it.
bully for you
I’ve seen 2 data points in Facebook groups of people getting the personal CSR while still holding a CSP.
P2 has the CSP with the bonus received about 8 years ago. Got the pop-up on new CSR application so messaged Chase to downgrade the CSP to Freedom Flex and got a message that that wasn’t an option. I had just downgraded my CSP a couple weeks ago to Freedom Flex and then was approved for the 100K offer. Very strange.
Freedom flex is a master card, you need to downgrade to the OG discontinued freedom w/ UR. Its the same rotating category card like the flex but a visa.
Oh that is a great tip. Hoping to downgrade my CSR and then apply for CSP. Downgrading to Freedom is great.
Try calling. Others have been able to downgrade and then apply in about 5 days.
I have a CSP (has been open for 3 years) and was approved for a CSR biz card on Monday with the 200k sign up bonus!
The personal and business cards are separate. Having either in no way excludes you from getting the other, the CSP hypothetically prevents you from getting a welcome offer on a personal CSR
So you’re saying one can have both a personal AND business CSR?