What is a product change?

You could consider requesting a product change from the card issuer if you find that you don't use the card's benefits or don't want to pay its annual fee.

Usually, yes. The exact answer will depend on which card you are looking to downgrade, but it can be a way to pay a lower annual fee or no annual fee.

Just be aware that you’ll only be able to request a product change to a card within the same “card family” that earns a similar type of points or miles.

This means that if you have a card that earns transferrable points and charges an annual fee, you can request a product change to another card within that issuer's same rewards portfolio.

Again, it depends on the specific credit card, but the answer is likely yes. You'll likely have to pay a higher annual fee with a card upgrade, but the upgraded card's benefits may offset that.

Like downgrading a card, be aware that you can only upgrade cards within the same issuer's portfolio. You can upgrade an entry-level co-branded airline card to a premium co-branded airline card with more perks, like lounge access, perhaps.

However, you cannot do a product change from an airline card to a card that earns transferrable points. This is because they are two different types of rewards.

A product change isn’t considered opening a new credit account, which means that it preserves your credit history. This could be a good option if you’ve had the card for a long time and want to preserve your stellar track record of on-time payments.

Usually, no. This is because the card issuer doesn't do a hard pull and simply transfers your existing account to a new credit card product. If you're concerned, ask your card issuer if a hard pull will be involved with a product change.