@jintonix wrote:
Suffice to say, if it wasn't for this forum I would not have known I would be able to place upgrades to either my Chase Freedom Mastercard and Citi Dividend Mastercard to a Visa Signature and World Elite respectively. So I decided to contribute and if it'll help any of you out there trying to upgrade here is what I did.
Citi Dividend World Mastercard to World Elite status - $13.8 CL
I've had this card for over 2 years. I use this card primarily for Balance Transfers as they provide great promotional BT rates throughout the year if I ever need to. Always maintained a balance and been paying on time. I wanted to upgrade to the World Elite status because of the many perks they provide, especially concierge service. I've read throughout the forums that the best chance to get upgraded was to call the Customer Service number and ask to speak with an Account Manager. I read that some CSR's have no idea about being able to upgrade which is why you want to be transferred to an Account Manager. The CSR asked why I wanted to speak with an Account Manager and told them straight out that I was told to speak with an AM about upgrading my card to World Elite status. She happily transferred me. Spoke to an AM, provided some detail about income and housing rent/mortgage monthly payments and was approved without a hard pull. My rate dropped by .75% and will take 35 days to convert and send me a new card. Reason it takes 35 days is due to govt rule on CC rate changes but I won't go into detail about that. Now for those vanity freaks who like the silver MC logo you have to simply ask to add an EMV chip which is for international travel purposes.
Chase Freedom Mastercard to Visa Signature - $10K CL
I've had this card for 3 years. I did some research and Chase Freedom Mastercard cannot upgrade to the World Elite status. BUT! They can change it to a Visa Signature. Since I now have a World Elite Mastercard through Citi why not go for the Visa Signature? Now there isn't much out there about people changing from a Mastercard to a Visa Signature. So I took it upon myself to simply start with a online secure message asking about changing it to a Visa Signature. The reply was that unfortunately it cannot be upgraded. I wasn't going to accept that answer and wanted to know why. Then they responded by saying that they forwarded my request to an Escalation Specialist. Aha! So there is a chance. Took one day before I got a call from an Escalation Specialist who provided his own personal number to call me back. I called back and provided some detail about income and housing rent/mortgage monthly payments without a hard pull and he was able to grant my request for a Visa Signature Chase Freedom upgrade. The CL will still be reported and also getting the benefits of having a no preset spending limit!! Which means if I go over, no penalties, but I'm sure there might be some contingencies.
Now I have the best of both worlds, saved the Concierge Numbers on my phone, and will be ready to call them if I ever need anything. Better yet, there's still no annual fee and I am comfortable knowing my future purchases on travel and goods are covered even better. For those who are looking into upgrading, I hope this helps!
Congrats!
For the Chase Freedom Mastercard that you can converted to Visa Signature, did the representative say anything about your account number/credit card number changing? I always thought that Mastercard had to begin with a "5" digit account number, and Visa/Visa Signature begins with a "4"?
Capital One 2006--$5,000 ||| AMEX Macy's 2008--$2,300 ||| Kohl's 2009-- $1,000 ||| JCP 2010-- $1,000 ||| Walmart Discover 2010-- $5,000 ||| Sears 2011 -- $3,600 ||| Sears 2011 -- $3,500 ||| Chase Freedom 2012--$7,500 ||| Discover IT 2013 -- $4,000
||| Chase Sapphire Preferred 2013 -- $10,000
SCORES: EQ FICO: 787, EX FAKO: 801, TU FICO: 790 (Lender Pull)
Starting Score: TU 595 EX 600 EQ 585
