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When the Chase Sapphire Reserve® was revamped last year the eligibility rules changed. Those changes ended up being kind of confusing in respect to whether you could get the Reserve while having Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and whether you’d be eligible for a bonus if you’d had either in the past, etc. Chase has officially cleared that up and made it not only very clear, but also easier to understand. You hold both cards, get the bonus for each card, but you’re only eligible for one bonus per lifetime on each card.
Eligible Sapphire cardmembers can now earn a welcome bonus offer on each Sapphire card, once per card, as long as they haven’t previously received a welcome bonus offer on that card.
For example: A current Sapphire Reserve cardmember who has never earned a welcome bonus offer for Sapphire Preferred is now eligible for the bonus on Sapphire Preferred.
This means, if you’ve been looking at the Sapphire Reserve, but have been holding off because you currently have a Sapphire Preferred, the gates are lifted and you could add the Reserve while you’re still holding the Preferred…and vice versa.
What I’m not 100% sure about is whether, let’s say, you had a Preferred, upgraded to a Reserve, and never got the sign up bonus on the card, as to whether Chase would prevent you from getting the bonus. Same as if you had the Reserve and downgraded to Preferred. My gut says you will still qualify, but time will tell as we get data points.
Another question is how long is a lifetime? Is that credit lifetime, personal lifetime, bank lifetime? Time will tell there as well.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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