Unfortunately no. If you downgrade, you won’t be eligible for the welcome bonus.
]]>Hi Gregory,
Yes that should be possible. I’ve read multiple reports online of people downgrading their Sapphire Preferred to the Freedom, and were able to retain the account history and rewards balance.
You should also be eligible for the welcome bonus on the Sapphire Reserve as well since you earned the last Sapphire bonus over 48 months ago.
]]>Does anyone know if it’s possible to downgrade my Preferred to say the Freedom (to keep the history, but not the annual fee) and then apply for the Reserve as a fresh card (to score the big upfront bonus)?
I don’t want to upgrade right from Preferred to Reserve because I’d miss out on the initial bonus…but is that the only way to protect my current Ultimate Rewards balance? I’m a little concerned about what restrictions exist by going all the way down to the Freedom for what could be a month or two.
]]>Or even hotel gift cards?
]]>Reserve has the $300 credit, not Preferred. You can use that for ANY travel; hotels, flights, taxes & fees on rewards flights, car rentals, anything coded as travel (but not gas). No need to bother with the airline gift cards, much easier to use than the cards that have airline incidentals credit.
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