For churners over 5/24, in-branch pre-approvals from Chase are the one hope for obtaining the Chase Sapphire Reserve before the signup bonus decreases from 100,000 UR points to 50,000 UR points on March 12. I have bad news on that front, from an extremely reliable, but anonymous source.

Effective today, January 20, Chase has removed the Chase Sapphire Reserve Card from its pre-approval process for all Chase branches, including for Chase Private Clients. This is supposed to be temporary, but it is not specified when pre-approvals for the CSR will be reinstated.

I suspect that pre-approvals will not be reinstated before the signup bonus decreases on March 12, and that means a lot of people over 5/24 are out of luck. I will keep this post up-to-date with any changes that come in.

As a sidenote, although it has been confirmed elsewhere, I can also confirm that the in-branch signup bonus for the CSR is being dropped to match the online offer on March 12. For those not subject to the 5/24 rule, March 11 will be the last day to get the 100,000 UR signup bonus in-branch.

Questions and comments can be dropped below; I will do my best to answer them.

FAQs

Q: Is it just the check for pre-approval, or the actual likelihood of being approved behind the scenes? Another words, is Chase annoyed at people coming in for pre-approval checks, but you would still stand the same chance of approval if you applied “blind”?

A: Neither, from my understanding of the question. It’s been removed from pre-approval all together. Bankers will no longer see pre-approvals for the CSR, even if a client might’ve been pre-approved for the card before today.

Q: Is this also for other Chase cards?

A: This change only affects the CSR.

Q: Does this mean that the 100K bonus is not available at all in branch, or is this just removing the possibility of those over 5/24 to get the 100K bonus? In other words, could someone still apply for the card in branch and qualify for the 100K bonus if they are approved?

A: The 100,000 UR signup bonus is still available in branch. People over 5/24 can only get the card via pre-approval, so this eliminates their ability to obtain the CSR altogether, for now. (Outside of a product change).