It may be time to upgrade your credit card. Continue reading for a simple way to swap your credit card for one with more perks — without having to apply for a new card.
An upgrade has its benefits, but there are also some notable drawbacks. Here’s a complete look at how to upgrade your credit card and decide if it makes sense for you.
How does upgrading a credit card work?
Upgrading a credit card is when you change your current credit card to a superior card in the card issuer’s lineup. This typically means you get a new card with better benefits, a higher rewards rate, and a more expensive annual fee.
You could also upgrade a secured credit card, which requires a security deposit, to an unsecured credit card. If your card issuer lets you upgrade your secured card, then your security deposit will be refunded.
Card issuers will only let you upgrade a credit card to another card in the same product line. Let’s say you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You could upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, which is a higher-end card in that line. But you couldn’t upgrade to a Chase United Airlines credit card, because that would be jumping to a different product line.
The technical term for an upgrade is a product change, which covers both upgrades and downgrades. Downgrading a credit card is a move in the opposite direction, often done to save money on a card’s annual fee.