https://usa.visa.com/pay-with-visa/cards/visa-credit-cards/visa-signature-credit-cards.html
Every issuer gets to pick and choose which of the benefits to offer for their Visa Signature cards. Most people with Visa Signature/Infinite and World/World Elite MasterCard cards never make use of any of the benefits. Chase is fairly generous on some perks for non-Signature cards so the lines can be a bit blurred.
One difference between the standard and Signature versions of the Freedom cards would be that Signature would report as a flexible spending card and allow you to exceed your credit line (the amount is at Chase's discretion) at times.
I edited in a sentence while you were typing:
Chase is fairly generous on some perks for non-Signature cards so the lines can be a bit blurred.
Yes, many lenders have additional benefits for "higher tier" cards. But that doesn't mean they can't still offer things like primary CDW, travel insurance, etc. on non-Signature/Infinite/etc. cards too. Most likely in practice with Chase, the differences would be in things like access to the Visa Signature concierge and access to the hotel portfolio. I don't have a copy of my card member agreements handy and it looks like Chase mails them upon request rather than making a PDF available for individual accounts.
@rgd51 wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:I edited in a sentence while you were typing:
Chase is fairly generous on some perks for non-Signature cards so the lines can be a bit blurred.
Yes, many lenders have additional benefits for "higher tier" cards. But that doesn't mean they can't still offer things like primary CDW, travel insurance, etc. on non-Signature/Infinite/etc. cards too. Most likely in practice with Chase, the differences would be in things like access to the Visa Signature concierge and access to the hotel portfolio. I don't have a copy of my card member agreements handy and it looks like Chase mails them upon request rather than making a PDF available for individual accounts.
Makes me wonder why chase doesn't issue all freedom unlimited cards as Visa Signature since they get higher swipe fees the higher the tier of the card?
Visa Signature has a minimum limit of $5k. So if you're approved, but for less than $5k, it'll be a regular Visa. Every case I've seen of someone's initial approval being $5k+, it comes as a Visa Signature.
If your SL is under $5k and you have a regular Visa, and later get a CLI to $5k+, does it upgrade to Visa Signature? I don't think so, but I'm not really sure.
EQ8 763, TU8 757, EX8 769 as of April 24
Definitely at the discretion of the issuing bank. It's not uncommon to see a $500 Citi Double Cash World Elite MasterCard, but other institutions like Chase and BoA are usually pretty firm about issuing a standard Visa product under $5000 and "upgrading" or "downgrading" cards as they go higher or lower, and denying applications for VS products if one does meet the $5000 minimum. (And note there are some products BoA offers that will never be VS products; I am an AU on an affinity card that is not VS and the limit is $100 shy of $100k.)
With the Rakuten card, the terms of the account are actually slightly different for standard Visa and Visa Signature at approval, so that may be a reason they don't change it if you exceed $5000. That card seems to be notorious in the credit enthusiast community for denials and less-than-stellar approvals at times. Even though there are 2 people here who were approved at $12k, I was actually pretty happy when mine was approved for $6k (now seems to be capped at $10k) 2 years ago after seeing so many denials.