Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Upgrade F.A.Q

Chase recently launched the new Rapid Rewards Priority credit card. Some existing Chase Southwest Premier & Plus cardholders have been targeted for a 5,000 point bonus for upgrading to the new card. It should also be possible to upgrade without any point bonus for those not targeted. A lot of readers have questions regarding this upgrade process so I thought I’d try to answer some of the most common questions and also give readers a dedicated post to ask more questions and try to get some attempts.

If I upgrade my card now, when will I get the anniversary points?

It’s important to be clear about this because people are likely talking about two sets of anniversary points. Current Premier cardholders get 6,000 on account anniversary, Plus cardholders get 3,000 points and Priority cardholders get 7,500 points. When you upgrade what effectively happens is that your account anniversary resets.

Let’s say you’re Premier cardholder and you signed up last December. If you upgrade now you won’t receive any anniversary points in December, you’ll have to wait until late July next year and then you’ll receive 7,500 points. You’re basically forfeiting those anniversary points. That being said on previous conversions between the Plus & Premier this hasn’t been the case so it’s entirely possible that it will work differently in practice.

When do I have to pay the annual fee?

When you upgrade you’ll be charged the $149 annual fee when doing so. You’ll also receive a prorated annual fee refund depending on how long you’ve had the card. If you’re six months into your cardmember year and hold the Plus card ($69 annual fee) you’d receive a prorated annual fee of $34.50.

What do I have to do to get the 5,000 bonus points?

You must have been targeted and upgrade by 09/30/18 11:59 p.m. ET. You also need to make a purchase on the new card before that time.

When Will I Get My 5,000 Points?

Within 8 weeks of doing the above.

When Does My $75 Southwest Annual Travel Credit Start/Reset?

This is based on your account open date, for those product changing/upgrading the account open date is the date the switch is official in the Chase system. I suspect this will be the day you request the upgrade, but it might be a day or two later. You should be able to send a secured message to get clarification.

Should I Upgrade?

I think this card is significantly better for keeping long term than the Plus/Premier cards. For Southwest flyers you should come out ahead with the anniversary points (worth $96 towards Southwest flights) plus the $75 annual travel credit and all the other perks when compared to the annual fee and that hasn’t been the case with the other two cards. That being said it might make sense to just apply for this card directly to get the sign up bonus if you’re under 5/24 (you’d need to cancel your existing cards first as it isn’t available to existing Chase Southwest cardholders) or wait for anniversary points to post and then upgrade (if they will post before the September end date).

Will This Change My Card Open Date On My Credit Report?

No, when product changing this remains the same even if your account anniversary date changes.

If I Upgrade Does This Reset The 24 Month Clock For Getting The Bonus?

The terms state you can’t get the sign up bonus if (emphasis mine):

The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapids Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.

I think the key is NEW cardmember bonus. This is an upgrade offer, so it shouldn’t reset that clock.

I Have More Questions, What Should I Do?

I’d recommend asking in the comments. Chase says you can also call Rapid Rewards Cardmember Services on 1-800-792-0001 (TTY:1-200-955-8060).