Chase Freedom: APR reduction vs. closing + reapp

[Ghoshida]

---

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

---

@MstrPTato wrote:

I would keep the current line open, move all but $1000 to the CSP. Just use the freedom for the rotating categories. Doesn't CSP have 15.24%? If you ever need to carry a balance, you would use that one.

---

That would work in general; but under my current financial situation, I carry a balance to next month. Not interest-bearing, but I pay off after the statement is generated. Because of Freedom's good categories, I'd use $400 p.m on average and let it report. So right now, reducing the CL might make my utilization look horrible.

I'm just starting to build some savings; so I prefer stashing whatever extra money I get into that. So for maybe a year or so I wouldn't be able to follow the 1%, 1 card reporting rule that people here preach. My overall utilization is still less than 10% but most of it sits on CSP, Sallie Mae, Freedom, and QS. And from this month, Discover

Between Freedom and CSP (if they had same APR), carrying balance might make sense on Freedom more; because of the 5% rewards, even after paying 2-3% interest (if I ever carried for say 3 months) I'll still be positive. On CSP, not so much.

---

Are you carrying a balance on a 0% interest credit card?

---

Yes, time and again I carry balances, for 3-4 months at a stretch, on my 0% cards. 

With regards to Freedom being useful or not, the card does have its merits and good rewards. While many of the categories could be covered by say Discover, the card in conjunction with the CSP increases the value of the cashback, from 5% to about 7-8%.

[Ghoshida]

---

@takeshi74 wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

APR reduction on Chase is more of a psychological thing rather than an economic thing. I know it's not rational but it keeps bothering me. My AAoA isn't great (just about 15 months;

---

So it's worth it to you to further impact your AAoA to do this?  I'm not arguing one way or the other.  It's your call to make.  Just asking if it's really a bigger priority when you can avoid accruing interest in the first place.

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

That would work in general; but under my current financial situation, I carry a balance to next month. Not interest-bearing, but I pay off after the statement is generated.

---

That's not carrying a balance.  That's using your grace period.

---

Valid points, both.

In general, on interest bearing cards, I don't carry more than my grace period. But on 0% cards, I often carry for 3-4 months at a stretch, and do that multiple times. Income for us is not the major problem (well I don't make much but my SO chips in) but cash flow is. So sometimes I need some interest cushion for a couple of months beyond the grace period.

As of now, the AAoA is my biggest concern; it's roughly 1.25 now and I'd like it to grow. But I don't plan to app for any more cards for a bit, and there aren't any other cards that look fancy enough to me. Re-app for the Freedom might give an overall lower long-term APR, better CL, and maybe some bonus along with a 0% APR. By the time I close and re-app, the AAoA should be closer to 2 years. But your point is correct.

[Imperfectfuture]

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

---

@beautifulblaquepearl wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

---

@MstrPTato wrote:

I would keep the current line open, move all but $1000 to the CSP. Just use the freedom for the rotating categories. Doesn't CSP have 15.24%? If you ever need to carry a balance, you would use that one.

---

That would work in general; but under my current financial situation, I carry a balance to next month. Not interest-bearing, but I pay off after the statement is generated. Because of Freedom's good categories, I'd use $400 p.m on average and let it report. So right now, reducing the CL might make my utilization look horrible.

I'm just starting to build some savings; so I prefer stashing whatever extra money I get into that. So for maybe a year or so I wouldn't be able to follow the 1%, 1 card reporting rule that people here preach. My overall utilization is still less than 10% but most of it sits on CSP, Sallie Mae, Freedom, and QS. And from this month, Discover

Between Freedom and CSP (if they had same APR), carrying balance might make sense on Freedom more; because of the 5% rewards, even after paying 2-3% interest (if I ever carried for say 3 months) I'll still be positive. On CSP, not so much.

---

Are you carrying a balance on a 0% interest credit card?

---

Yes, time and again I carry balances, for 3-4 months at a stretch, on my 0% cards. 

With regards to Freedom being useful or not, the card does have its merits and good rewards. While many of the categories could be covered by say Discover, the card in conjunction with the CSP increases the value of the cashback, from 5% to about 7-8%.

---

What is your apr for southwest?  Also, I wouldn't close and re app until you have solid 800s+ across the board.  They seem to like that, and even mid 700s are now getting middle tier apr's.  While you value the CSP and Freedom together, in order to prove your point that you don't want the apr's, you need to stop using the cards.  I am better than the 22.99 that is on my quicksilver, but it is no longer in my wallet for awhile, so I don't care.  If I want to prove my point, I would take the netflix subscription off, and not use the card.  This gets their attention.  But I wouldn't re app until 800+, and 2 to 3 years strong AAoA.  Until then, we just gotta hang with those starter or mid tier apr's.

Today's JMHO from moi.

[Ghoshida]

---

@Imperfectfuture wrote:

---

---

What is your apr for southwest?  Also, I wouldn't close and re app until you have solid 800s+ across the board.  They seem to like that, and even mid 700s are now getting middle tier apr's.  While you value the CSP and Freedom together, in order to prove your point that you don't want the apr's, you need to stop using the cards.  I am better than the 22.99 that is on my quicksilver, but it is no longer in my wallet for awhile, so I don't care.  If I want to prove my point, I would take the netflix subscription off, and not use the card.  This gets their attention.  But I wouldn't re app until 800+, and 2 to 3 years strong AAoA.  Until then, we just gotta hang with those starter or mid tier apr's.

Today's JMHO from moi.

---

Hi, 

My APRs on both the CSP and Southwest are 15.99%, but I believe those cards come only in one APR. 

I can live off the Freedom for a while; especially in the 3rd and 4th quarter this year. The quarters could be covered by Sallie Mae and Discover respectively.

We have two Freedoms in the household so if need be, I can live off it even next year. However, I don't know if points transfer between spouse accounts will negate the "not-using-the-card-anymore" factor.

800+ - now that changes things. I'll get close to 2 years AAoA by the end of this year; but I don't think that'll get me over 800. 

[Anonymous]

---

@thelethargicage wrote:
Option B is the only one that works. FYI, I re-apped the day after I closed my original Freedom and still got the bonus.

---

What?? You can close and open freedom and you still get the sign up bonus offier?

Now THAT is saying something haha.

[Anonymous]

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

---

@takeshi74 wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

APR reduction on Chase is more of a psychological thing rather than an economic thing. I know it's not rational but it keeps bothering me. My AAoA isn't great (just about 15 months;

---

So it's worth it to you to further impact your AAoA to do this?  I'm not arguing one way or the other.  It's your call to make.  Just asking if it's really a bigger priority when you can avoid accruing interest in the first place.

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

That would work in general; but under my current financial situation, I carry a balance to next month. Not interest-bearing, but I pay off after the statement is generated.

---

That's not carrying a balance.  That's using your grace period.

---

Valid points, both.

In general, on interest bearing cards, I don't carry more than my grace period. But on 0% cards, I often carry for 3-4 months at a stretch, and do that multiple times. Income for us is not the major problem (well I don't make much but my SO chips in) but cash flow is. So sometimes I need some interest cushion for a couple of months beyond the grace period.

As of now, the AAoA is my biggest concern; it's roughly 1.25 now and I'd like it to grow. But I don't plan to app for any more cards for a bit, and there aren't any other cards that look fancy enough to me. Re-app for the Freedom might give an overall lower long-term APR, better CL, and maybe some bonus along with a 0% APR. By the time I close and re-app, the AAoA should be closer to 2 years. But your point is correct.

---

Classifying your desire for lower APR as emotional rather than financial makes things a little hard!  So suppose you closed and opened and went from 22.9 to 18.9% say.   Well, that's a good reduction, but it could be lower, right?   So in 24 months do you do it again?

[Anonymous]

If I got 13.99% prequal and $200 bonus id take it. Otherwise I'll settle for PC from CSP at 15.99%

[Ghoshida]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

---

@takeshi74 wrote:

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

APR reduction on Chase is more of a psychological thing rather than an economic thing. I know it's not rational but it keeps bothering me. My AAoA isn't great (just about 15 months;

---

So it's worth it to you to further impact your AAoA to do this?  I'm not arguing one way or the other.  It's your call to make.  Just asking if it's really a bigger priority when you can avoid accruing interest in the first place.

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

That would work in general; but under my current financial situation, I carry a balance to next month. Not interest-bearing, but I pay off after the statement is generated.

---

That's not carrying a balance.  That's using your grace period.

---

Valid points, both.

In general, on interest bearing cards, I don't carry more than my grace period. But on 0% cards, I often carry for 3-4 months at a stretch, and do that multiple times. Income for us is not the major problem (well I don't make much but my SO chips in) but cash flow is. So sometimes I need some interest cushion for a couple of months beyond the grace period.

As of now, the AAoA is my biggest concern; it's roughly 1.25 now and I'd like it to grow. But I don't plan to app for any more cards for a bit, and there aren't any other cards that look fancy enough to me. Re-app for the Freedom might give an overall lower long-term APR, better CL, and maybe some bonus along with a 0% APR. By the time I close and re-app, the AAoA should be closer to 2 years. But your point is correct.

---

Classifying your desire for lower APR as emotional rather than financial makes things a little hard!  So suppose you closed and opened and went from 22.9 to 18.9% say.   Well, that's a good reduction, but it could be lower, right?   So in 24 months do you do it again?

---

So here is what I think : the Freedom and the Slate are kinda in the same category, when it comes to underwriting. Won't it be a near-enough guess when I get a low-level APR on the Slate that I will have a similar APR on the Freedom?

I brought up the emotional aspect because strictly speaking, under very careful planning, I should be able to ensure no balances on Freedom probably at the cost of possible BTs and other strategies. I'd still like to plan for a "what -if" scenario and a "why-not" mindset.

That said, I guess 14% is a reasonable threshold for me. That'll be a good enough APR if I see it on a Slate pre-approval.

[Ghoshida]

Hello guys.

I thought I'd post an update.

The 0% APR time isn't over yet so I didn't ask for an APR reduction. I know it's next to impossible so that update may never come.

However I did request for a Visa Signature and a Chip card.

The first SM response was clear: we need $5k at least on your card. It was $4.7k then (2.7k recently moved from CSP; CSP became 6k). I said ok move another $300, make it $5k, change it to Visa Sig, and send me a chip card.

No response for a couple of days; sent another SM asking what happened, and saying that despite their message about a 24-hour response, often the response times were 48 hours or so. 

Some CSR wrote a message saying sorry for the delay and moved the limits; made Freedom 5k and said will get back on Visa Sig and Chip.

One day later another CSR sent a (possibly scripted) message saying (a) my card was not eligible for Visa Sig and (b) my card had chip already.

I was surprised; with the CSP they were already extending Signature benefits (whatever they may be) to me as a customer; what's the difference with Freedom? Then I got a bit mad, because my Freedom issued in 2014 had no chip whatsoever; it did have NFC / contactless tech, but no chip.

Sent another SM expressing my surprise. Another CSR wrote back saying they apologize for previous miscommunication; a request for Visa Sig was getting submitted, and I'd receive a chip card within 7-10 days.

Today my chip card arrived. The numbers are the same; the design is a bit different than my old Freedom. The NFC sign is gone; but the sturdyness is the same. Card and Visa logo are shinier. The "Signature" part looks fishy; while the Visa logo is all silver (no orange left tip of V), similar to CSP and Cash+, the "Signature" is regular font instead of all caps. Anybody else got such a card? 

It's more of a "just for the heck of it" upgrade than really necessary; probably they'd have sent a chip card in a few months anyway. While gardening, these replacement cards give the nice new card feel.

[FinStar]

---

@Ghoshida wrote:

Hello guys.

I thought I'd post an update.

The 0% APR time isn't over yet so I didn't ask for an APR reduction. I know it's next to impossible so that update may never come.

However I did request for a Visa Signature and a Chip card.

The first SM response was clear: we need $5k at least on your card. It was $4.7k then (2.7k recently moved from CSP; CSP became 6k). I said ok move another $300, make it $5k, change it to Visa Sig, and send me a chip card.

No response for a couple of days; sent another SM asking what happened, and saying that despite their message about a 24-hour response, often the response times were 48 hours or so. 

Some CSR wrote a message saying sorry for the delay and moved the limits; made Freedom 5k and said will get back on Visa Sig and Chip.

One day later another CSR sent a (possibly scripted) message saying (a) my card was not eligible for Visa Sig and (b) my card had chip already.

I was surprised; with the CSP they were already extending Signature benefits (whatever they may be) to me as a customer; what's the difference with Freedom? Then I got a bit mad, because my Freedom issued in 2014 had no chip whatsoever; it did have NFC / contactless tech, but no chip.

Sent another SM expressing my surprise. Another CSR wrote back saying they apologize for previous miscommunication; a request for Visa Sig was getting submitted, and I'd receive a chip card within 7-10 days.

Today my chip card arrived. The numbers are the same; the design is a bit different than my old Freedom. The NFC sign is gone; but the sturdyness is the same. Card and Visa logo are shinier. The "Signature" part looks fishy; while the Visa logo is all silver (no orange left tip of V), similar to CSP and Cash+, the "Signature" is regular font instead of all caps. Anybody else got such a card? 

It's more of a "just for the heck of it" upgrade than really necessary; probably they'd have sent a chip card in a few months anyway. While gardening, these replacement cards give the nice new card feel.

---

The new "Signature" font is the updated Visa Signature logo - there are still several versions of the former in circulation for which the word SIGNATURE was all caps and was featured in 3 different font types.