Reader Chris was able to product change an Altitude Reserve card into the new Altitude Go no-fee card. A few notes:
- Reports indicate the card needs to be at least one year old in order to do a product change. That’s consistent with what we see from other issuers as well (I believe it’s a legal thing). Reader Chris waited until the annual fee posted, then called in to downgrade to the Go card. Downgrade was processed and annual fee will be refunded.
- Only Altitude Reserve can be product changed to Altitude Go. Other cards like Flexperks can not be changed over to Altitude Go (reader’s report).
- Presumably you can product change upward from the Go to Reserve as well (though you probably don’t want to do that since signing up for the Reserve directly will get you a better signup bonus).
- If you product change mid-year (after the first year) from the Reserve to the Go, you’ll probably get a prorated annual fee refund. Data points needed.
- When downgrading from Reserve to Go, I assume you keep all the points, but you will no longer be able to cash them out at 1.5 cents per point. Be sure to cash out everything you have, and then do the downgrade.
- When downgrading from Reserve to Go, they’ll issue a new card number, according to reader Chris. (It still should not count as a new card for 5/24 purposes.)
The Altitude Go card is a nice card to have since it has no annual fee, and comes with some nice perks such as $15 annual streaming credit, no foreign transaction fees, and 4x on dining/takeout. Some people won’t feel it worth a new card on their 5/24 record, and this downgrade option is the perfect way of ending an Altitude Reserve relationship, if you decide not to keep that expensive card.
Keep in mind, if you product change to the Go card, you’ll probably never be able to get the sign up bonus on the card, as the terms state: “The bonus is not available to Cardmembers who currently have, or had, a U.S. Bank Altitude Go Visa Signature account.” If you value the $200 bonus, apply for the Go card directly. (The Go and Reserve card are separate, and you can get the signup bonus on each. Each of the bonuses you can get once in your lifetime.)
We’ll add this to our post on Best Downgrade Options & Rules For Each Card Issuer.
