I got the Chase Sapphire Preferred card approved August 2015, and have bene using it as my primary card ever since then.
With the first year anniversary coming up, I started googling about the possibility of getting the $95 annual fee waived.
I couldn't find too many articles or posts about getting the fee waived, with most posts dating back to 2013 before Chase started pushing the preferred card real hard and took off the non-preferred Sapphire off the market.
With basic/standard strategies in mind, I called the number on the back of my card.
Conclusion: I couldn't get the full fee waived, but I got a 6000 bonus reward points retention offer ($60 worth if cashed out as statement credit, or 6k mileage if transferred to a partner airline).
The posts that I did manage to find pertaining specifically to Chase Sapphire Preferred retention offers mostly stated that such offers are rare with Chase Sapphire Preferred, not to mention nowadays as Chase Sapphire Preferred is very popular...
But I do not have a long relationship with Chase, Chase Sapphire Preferred was my first Chase personal card, and my income is 70k gross.
I am including a summary of and recommendations from the phone conversation I had with the rep, in case any of you would like to try it as well!
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Do not start off the conversation by saying that you want to cancel the card!
I started off by saying that I opened the card in August 2015, and with the first year anniversary coming up, was considering as to whether there is anything that can be done about the annual fee.
I didn't say anything along the lines of: "I'm not sure if the card is worth the $95 annual fee," as I read a few posts that said such things, and was responded to by a long lecture on all the benefits of the card.
Instead, I started listing the benefits of the card that I absolutely love, but compared it to other cards that I have that offers the same benefits but with no annual fee.
I mentioned to them that between August and December of 2015, I spent over 11k, and this year above 15k so far.
Although I absolutely love that Chase Sapphire Preferred has no foreign-transaction fees, so does my American Express cards. But Chase Sapphire is a Visa, which is more reaidly accepted by international merchants than Amex. My BOA, who I have a long baning relationship with, offers a card with no annual fee with 2X rewards on restaurant purchases just like Chase Sapphire.
I praised Chase's airline partnerships, and the amazing possibility of transferring rewards points 1:1 to parterning airlines.
In essense, Chase Sapphire Prefferred combines all the benefits of my other cards into one, EXCEPT, it has an annual fee unlike my other cards. I really want to love the card and Chase, but that dang annual fee is the only thing.
**At this point, the representative informed me that any retention offers are only available when the cardholder is considering closing the account. I told her that I have no intentions to close the account immediately, as I have another month or so until the annual fee hits. But depending on whether Chase will make a retention offer, I will have to plan accordingly and start transitioning my expenditures ahead of time.
The representative was very kind, but she did make a counter-argument (nicely) to every statement I made. Not combative, but it almost seemed as if she had a script in front of her on what to say in response to the variety of things a potential-card-canceller might say. She said that she understands, but that I have 90 days after the annual fee bill hits that I can either do a product change to a card that does not have an annual fee, consolidate the credit limit with another card, or just cancel the card - options which will refund the annual fee.
I told her I would prefer to know as to an offer is available or not NOW, so I can start transitioning expenditures.
THEN, she moved to questioning/analyzing my spending habits. She mentioned that I have not yet made any international travel purchases on the card.
I responded cheekily by saying, well that's what the 80k points sitting on my card is for! I restated my understanding of the card's international travel benefits, and why I would love to love Chase as my favorite card, but that dang annual fee...
She then proceeded to ask me, apart from the annual fee, what are some other factors that are encouraging me to consider using the other cards that I have mentioned, over Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Firstly, I told her that I have a long banking relationship established with BOA. They offer a card with no annual fee with 2X restaurants, 3X on groceries. As I like to consolidate my finances, I told her I was leaning towards transitioning to just BOA cards, as I had a saving and checking account with them for years, ONLY if it wasn't for Chase's annual fee (in case you didn't notice the pattern here, I cheekily mentioned the annual fee every opportunity I had).
I then told her that I've had a lovely experience with Chase so far - I had one fraud case in the past year, and that was handeled extremely swiftly and quickly. Hell, even to the point that I was invested in starting a long-term relationship with Chase, and opened a checking account with them a month ago (it's true, not a lie)!
She said that was fantastic.
At this point, she said she will look up if there's any offers available.... And then offered me a 6k rewards points offer.
Eh, it's not the full $95 worth an offer, but it's still something! I accepted the offer and happily bid our dues.
Considering how stingy Chase seems to be (with their bigger than ever ego with the Chase Sapphire preferred), I think this is a success!
Let me know if anyone else experience success!
If anyone has any questions, I would be happy to answer them to the best of my abilities.
