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What is a credit card Product Change?
Every year I do an assessment of my wallet, and I recommend you do that same. Some of the best cards have changed benefits, and they just aren’t as attractive as they once were, and maybe you’re considering cancelling it.
One option that can help insulate your credit and keep it healthy, is to keep the credit line, but change the actual credit card product.
What does that mean?
It means changing the actual card with the bank, but keeping the credit line in tact. This is a great way to reduce annual fees, align your wallet better, but keep your credit age going, credit depth in tact, and reduce your utilization. Let’s take a look at a credit card product change.
What is a credit card product change?
A credit card product change gives consumers the power to upgrade or downgrade their credit card within the family of that credit card brand, or within the rules that the card issuer lays out.
A few examples
- If you carry a Chase Sapphire Preferred®, you can downgrade within that family, to a Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Chase Freedom Flex(SM), or Chase Freedom Unlimited®
- Citi Thank You Premier to a Citi Double Cash or Custom Cash.
- Note that you have 60 days to use your points when you product change or cancel with Citi. The points are tied to a specific account, not the credit card/line
- Barclay Aviator Red to Barclay Aviator
- The Platinum Card® from American Express to The Gold Card® from American Expressmex Gold or The American Express® Green Card.
Why would I want to product change?
- Avoid the annual fee
- downgrade a premium fee card to a no annual fee card
- Keep the line open
- Reapply for the card you’re downgrading from
- Chase allows you to acquire a new cardmember sign up bonus every 24 months. So if you’re carrying a Chase Sapphire Preferred for 25 months, you could downgrade to a Freedom Flex and then signup for the Sapphire Preferred again. Not only do you get another bonus, you’ll keep your credit score healthy by keeping the line open.
- Earn Elite status
- Different credit cards can give you elite nights, or elite mileage for spend. Upgrading or downgrading between those cards can create opportunities to generate status through spend.
- Keep Points alive
- Citi will cancel your Thank You points after 60 days. EVEN IF YOU TRANSFER THEM into another Citi account. The life of those points isn’t tied to the type of credit card, but rather the account they were originally earned from.
- Avoid account cancellation
- Citi starts the clock on their sign up bonus rules whenever you open or close an account within a family of cards. If you downgrade that account it isn’t close and therefore you can sign up for that card again sooner.
Do I do this?
All the time. I intend to product change at least one of my The Business Platinum Card® from American Express cards to either a American Express® Business Gold Card or a Business Green Rewards Card from American Express. I’ve changed platinum and gold cards multiple times, as well as Sapphire Preferreds down to Freedoms. I’ve been product changing for nearly a decade now and it’s kept my credit history going, my lines deep, and improves my ability to continue to accumulate points at a consistent pace.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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