Not even just a personal banker, but a BRM or business relationship manager. Not all branches have them, and a BRM can float between several branches so scheduling a meeting could be difficult. In addition, it’s been reported that depending on your market, some BRMs will only work with you if you have some minimum threshold like $500k, and in some cases $1M or more in revenue. It was always very YMMV.
In any case, the 100k UR in-branch offer has been gone since last summer, and I also don’t expect it to return. Chase didn’t do anything special during last year’s small business week, so I doubt they’ll add anything to their business card products this year, and that’s when you’d expect an increased offer if at all. If anything, I doubt the CIP offer will go back up. Chase lowered the CSR offer from 100k UR to 50k UR over two years ago and hasn’t increased the offer since. These big signup bonuses are too popular. The CIP is the biggest one that’s left in Chase’s card lineup. It’s the first and only card you always recommend. And with a 20k UR referral bonus there’s a very big incentive to push it; and if you’re in a 2-player game, then it makes referring a partner to get another one even more lucrative. Chase is well aware of customers hitting them up for the signup bonuses, which is why we’ve seen a trend towards more restrictions (and effectively more reductions) on bonuses, including the one card per family rules on the Sapphires and Southwest cards; the restrictions on the Marriott cards; the 48-month restrictions on Sapphire bonuses that increased from 24-months; reductions in card benefits like changing the CSR travel credit from calendar year to cardmember year, removal of UR earning on credited travel spend, and elimination price protection; and the increasing(ly targeted) merchants and services that no longer earn 3x and 5x UR. The recent increase in the CSP offer came at the cost of a waived AF. The recent change to the CFU’s first-year earning rate came with a cap and the elimination of the signup bonus altogether. Another trend has been towards tiered signup bonuses that require you to spend more over a longer period to get the full bonus amount. But in general, we’ve seen a tightening in the bonuses and benefits of Chase’s card product lineup. Given what’s been happening with CIP approvals recently, I fully expect Chase to put restrictions on CIP applications, decrease its signup bonus, or even place restrictions on the entire Ink family of cards sooner than later.
But it’s probably best not to spend too much time prognosticating about the future because this game changes fast, and not always for the better. New offers and cards come out, but so do new rules and restrictions. Don’t make plans; make road maps and expect detours. Work with what you know now with the realization that everything you know can be upended at anytime by the banks. It’s their court and their rules, which they can change at any time; we just take our shots when and where we can.
Also tagging
@kandb.