Downgrade from paid Virgin credit card to the fee free card

[01A]

Hi

I would like to downgrade from the paid Virgin credit card to the free credit card since I can’t justify the fee after banking 2 companion vouchers which will take me a while to consume. My query is:

1. How do I downgrade from paid to the fee free card without making a fresh application? I have a good credit limit with Virgin (£18k) which I would very much like to keep during the downgrade process. Can I possibly keep my existing card limit?

2. I remember reading in Rob’s articles sometime ago that it might require a fresh application for the fee free card. Does it require me to apply for the fee free card and get rejected and then call them to ask for the downgrade. Ideally, I would like to skip making a fresh application as I have a re-mortgage application coming up.

Please can someone help with the above queries.
Thanks.

[NigelHamilton]

I was told today on the live chat that there is a process for this that involves keeping the paid card account open while a fresh application is made. There isn’t a straightforward downgrade process as per AMEX. The agent seemed to know what he was talking about (I’ve had a very wide range of knowledge shown by Virgin agents)

[01A]

Thanks

[Rob]

The route used to be:

cancel paid card
apply for free card
be rejected for free card as had a card in last 6 months
ring up and get decision overuled as you are just trying to downgrade

[Harrier25]

That’s the route I expected to have to take last summer, but I ended up getting lucky…

cancelled paid card
applied for free card
got instant acceptance with a credit limit of £8,700. New cards arrived within days.

[yorkieflyer]

Or in reverse, follow call centre advice, apply for paid card expecting a decline, followed by a call to refer to underwriters who will approve and also cancel free card. Call proved unnecessary and now have both…

[01A]

Harrier25 wrote:

That’s the route I expected to have to take last summer, but I ended up getting lucky…

cancelled paid card
applied for free card
got instant acceptance with a credit limit of £8,700. New cards arrived within days.

Thanks for this. Did you manage to retain your credit limit from the paid card or was the £8700 limit entirely new for the free card?

[01A]

Thanks Rob & Yorkie for your help.
Cheers.

[Ash]

Can this be done in reverse? Have the basic card, cancel, apply for premium card?

[traveller]

Ash wrote:

Can this be done in reverse? Have the basic card, cancel, apply for premium card?

Did you get a response on this as I want to upgrade the card too!

[chistery]

Has anyone done this recently? What’s the best way to downgrade?

[chistery]

To answer my own question. I asked on the app chat and after getting past the bot, someone cut and paste some text saying to apply for the fee free card and if approved, close the other one. If I apply after closing the current card, I’d have to wait for a 6 months cooling off period.

So I applied, ignoring the bit about you can’t apply if you already have a card, and was approved with a decent credit limit, similar to my existing one.