Why is the Chase Sapphire Reserve 100k bonus not available?

The Chase Sapphire Reserve referral bonus was an offer that gave 10,000 points for each person who applied for Reserve using your referral link and got approved. Through mid-August, 2018, you were able to get up to 5 Chase Sapphire Reserve referral bonuses each year, for a total of 50,000 points. That was as much as Chase Sapphire Reserve’s initial bonus for spending $4,000 within three months of opening an account. Unfortunately, the Sapphire Reserve referral bonus offer is not currently available.… read full answer

Chase still offers referral bonuses on several other cards, including Sapphire Preferred and Freedom Unlimited. The process is the same for all the eligible cards, and it’s good to know the procedure in case the Chase Sapphire Reserve referral bonus ever comes back.

How to get a Chase Sapphire Reserve referral bonus (when available):

1. Go to the Chase Refer a Friend page and select a card.
2. Enter your last name, zip code, and card number’s last 4 digits (right side of page).
3. Click “Get Started.”
4. Invite people to apply with a special web link, email, Facebook post or Twitter post.

If the Chase Sapphire Reserve referral bonus happens again, your friends can use your referral link to apply for the card. Asking them to do so is definitely worthwhile too. It doesn’t cost you anything, and if you hit the 50,000-point maximum each year, that would put an extra $750 toward travel in your pocket. And that more than offsets the card’s $450 annual fee. Don’t expect to see any bonus points right away, though. It might take one to two billing cycles for them to post to your account.

You can ask to upgrade from Chase Sapphire Preferred to Reserve by phone or online. To do so by phone, call Chase customer service at 1-800-432-3117, enter your account information and ask to speak to a customer service representative. Tell the representative you would like to upgrade your Sapphire card to Reserve, and he or she should be able to pull up your file and give you a decision in a few minutes. To request an upgrade online, log into your Chase account and go to the Secure Message center. Send a message saying you’d like to switch to Sapphire Reserve, and you should hear back within four hours.… read full answer

Either way, asking for an upgrade won’t trigger a hard inquiry on your credit, so there’s no harm in trying. But there are a few details you should be aware of before you make your request.

Here’s how to upgrade Chase Sapphire Preferred to Reserve:

• Wait at least 13 months after opening your Chase Sapphire Preferred account. You can’t upgrade sooner than that.
• Keep your Sapphire Preferred Card for at least 24 months if you want Sapphire Reserve’s 50,000-point initial bonus.
• Contact Chase customer service by phone or secure online message when you’re ready to upgrade.
• Get a decision within four hours, if not immediately.
• Both Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve require excellent credit. So you shouldn’t need to upgrade your credit score in order to upgrade to Reserve, as long as you’ve at least maintained your standing since getting Preferred. You can check your latest credit score for free on WalletHub and use your customized credit analysis to improve, if need be.
• Even if your credit is excellent, you could be denied an upgrade. For example, you might have too much debt relative to your income, high credit utilization, or a spotty payment history. It’s especially important to pay your bills on time in the months before you want a credit card company to approve you for something.

Asking to upgrade Chase Sapphire Preferred to Reserve is quick and easy. Approval is not guaranteed, but using your available credit responsibly certainly helps. And since you’ll find out the same day, you won’t waste any time wondering if you’ve been successful.

But it’s also important to note that Chase Sapphire Reserve isn’t an obvious upgrade over Sapphire Preferred for everyone. It all depends on whether you’ll get enough value from Reserve’s extra travel perks to make up for its much higher annual fee.