yeah, you won't be able to get those SW cards again in a couple years. prolly, like, 6 years or so if they still exist. or if they change the card in a major way and it becomes a "new" product.
SD, you sure about this? I cancelled my wifes sapphire preferred account in January, and applied her for a new sapphire preferred early May. I called when I applied to verify she was eligible for the 40k bonus and they said yes. I just called again b/c we met the $3k spend and wanted to verify the 40k points would be applied. They confirmed the 40k points will hit her account July 5th.
Are you saying Chase in general doesn't allow you to churn the same cards or just the SW cards? B/c I was going to do the exact same thing with my sapphire preferred account and rack up another 40k.
also, are you sure you just didn't get some great bonus on the regular sapphire and not two sapphire preferreds? fwiw everyone, when I say sapphire I am talking about the sapphire preferred. the UR cards are kinda confusing.
there is a visa and a mastercard sapphire preferred. my guess is he applied for the visa first and then (maybe unknowingly) applied for the mastercard the second time. that would get you the bonus twice.
I think they will make you cancel the first one before getting the other one which would fit this.
Good question about the master card. There is actually no way to apply for the sapphire preferred mastercard online now. It was removed from mastercards website, around late April.
http://milecards.com/6077/it-still-exists-mastercard-chase-sapphire-preferred/.
When I applied (my wife) early May I was not aware that you could not apply online for the mastercard sapphire preferred so I googled sapphire preferred MC and found a link. Applied, called to make sure I would get the 40k bonus. I had in fact applied for the visa card and they said I was eligble for the 40k bonus (even though my wife had received this bonus less than a year ago). Since I thought I was applying for the mastercard and wanted the mastercard, I asked them to switch the account. They sent me the visa card next day (b/c I told them I needed it for a big purchase), then they sent the new master card a few days later, I called and the switched everything over. So maybe that all had something to do with being able to get the bonus, but initially when it was a visa card, the 40k bonus was still in play.
Yesterday, sapphire preferred told me that currently there is no way to apply for the sapphire preferred mastercard. You have to apply for the visa, then request it to be switched to the mastercard, like the mess I had to go through.
So just to be straight with this. My wife had a sapphire preferred visa account and received the 40k bonus. In January 2013 I downgraded to the "non-preferred" subsequent to the 7% annual dividend and annual $95 fee (but within 30 days of the annual fee charge). So I received the 7% annual dividend, downgraded the card to non-preferred, had the $95 fee reversed since I called withinn 30 days of the charge and kept the dividend. This is a great trick by the way! I think a month or so later, I cancelled her non-preferred account. Then early May, I unknowingly applied my wife for the visa sapphire preferred (thinking I was applying for the mastercard sapphire preferred) and was approved with the bonus in tact.
I just downgraded my sapphire preferred visa to "non-preferred" and will try the exact same thing in 3 months. I just applied for the Ink Plus business and was approved. So between the 2 sapphire preferreds (cancel then reapply bonuses), 2 freedoms (5X categories), and 1 Ink plus bonus, I should get 178k UR bonus points this year, 80k sapphire preferred, 48k freedom (24k X 2), 50k Ink Plus. Might apply the wife for the Ink Plus business, once I get the $5k spend satisfied for my Ink Plus and get another 50k.
Wanted to follow up with this. Mrs. Chodo’s 40k UR bonus posted without a problem. That’s her 2nd round of 40k bonuses for the sapphire preferred. I did this with my Dad as well, but didn’t screw around with changing to a MC and his 2nd 40k bonus just posted as well. I waited around 3-6 months to reapply after downgrading for both, can’t really remember exact timing. I promptly moved Mrs. Chodo’s 40k bonus to my UR account and moved my Dad’s bonus to my Mom’s UR account, just in case the figured it out and tried to reverse it.
I’m currently churning the banana card and wanted to share this. Initially I was pissed that my wife got the banana card without consulting me. However, for the last 4 months and effective until 9/30 it offers 3X the points on purchases outside of their stores. Typically $1,000 spend is equal to $10 banana rewards, now it’s equal to $30. So I am maxing out each of our bluebird accounts at $5k, $10k total per month resulting in $300 BR rewards, less $79 in fees netting to $221 per month, $442 total for August and September (((60,000/1,000)*$10)less $158 fees = $442). Comparatively, sapphire preferred at 1X points is only equal to $92 net of fees (20,000/80=$250UR less $158 fees = $92). $442 BR rewards net of fees versus $92 UR net of fees for the same 2 month period. Great deal, just pissed I didn’t max out the full $10k each of the last 4 months although I’m not sure what I’d do with over $1,000 in free banana clothes. Rewards are available in printable sheets in increments of $10, max $50 so they can be gifted for xmas, etc and can be used at old navy, gap, and banana.
Lastly, this may have been discussed already, but the CVS in my hood allows $5k to be uploaded per day! Bluebird only allows $5k per month so that doesn’t really help on a monthly volume basis, but better than having to go 5 different days to get $5k in vanilla at the previous $1k limit.
