January 9, 2024
Chase 5/24 Rule Plus 10 Other Things to Know
Alex
If you have any Chase cards or want to get some (which you should), it’s a good idea to be aware of some rules and other tidbits of information. Most notable is the Chase 5/24 rule. The Chase 5/24 rule is an unofficial rule that Chase will not approve you for any of their credit cards if you have opened 5 or more cards across any bank in a 24-month period. Being an authorized user can also count towards your 5/24 total.
It is important to know this rule to plan your credit card applications strategically. Because of this rule, most people like to start their credit card points and miles journey by signing up for Chase cards first.
Most business cards won’t count towards your 5/24 total. Capital One (some), Discover, and TD Bank business cards are the exceptions and WILL count.
10 Other Things to Know:
- You likely won’t be approved for more than one Chase personal and business card in a 30-day period.
- You can earn the welcome offer on a card more than once. To do this, you can’t currently hold the card, and it has to be over 24 months since you last earned a welcome offer on that card. For example, to receive a welcome offer on The World of Hyatt Credit Card again, I would need to cancel that card and wait 24 months from when I last received the welcome offer before re-applying. The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Chase Sapphire Reserve® cards are the exceptions to this. The waiting period on these cards is 48 months. It IS possible to hold more than one Ink Business card simultaneously.
- You can only hold one personal Southwest card at a time, and you can’t hold both a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Chase Sapphire Reserve.
- If the welcome offer increases within 30 days of applying for a card, you can call or message Chase and ask to be matched to the new, higher offer.
- If you are denied a card, you can call the Chase reconsideration line. The reconsideration number for personal cards is 888-270-2127. For business credit cards, call 800-453-9719. It is imperative to find out why. Usually it is a simple fix.
- If you are denied because the bank is already lending you too much credit, you can ask to borrow from one of your other Chase cards (personal cards must borrow from personal cards, and business cards must borrow from business cards).
- Are you in a rush to get your new card? You can call or secure message Chase and ask them to expedite it. This will cost you nothing. They can’t expedite co-branded cards, though.
- Chase offers a great referral program for many of their cards. Referrals are a great way to boost your points balance. To see if your Chase card offers referral bonuses, check here.
- Chase allows you to change products to a different card within the same family. For example, you could downgrade your Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card to the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card. This is helpful if you want to eliminate or reduce an annual fee.
- Chase will reimburse your annual fee if, after holding the card for the first year, you cancel your card within 30 days of the annual fee posting.
Bottom Line
Chase issues some of our favorite cards, so it is important to know about the Chase 5/24 rule. You want to take a long, hard look at their cards before you move on to other issuers because once you are at or over 5/24, Chase will not approve you for their cards until you get under 5/24.
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If I downgrade a Chase credit card (for example the Chase Sapphire Preferred) to then reapply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred to get the signup bonus again, does that downgrade and/or upgrade count toward the 5/24 rule?
Downgrades and upgrades do NOT count towards your 5/24.
If I downgrade a Chase card (e.g., Chase Ink Business Preferred to one with no annual fee), do I loose any points?
You are fine as long as you have a card that earns Ultimate Rewards. However, you need that card or a CSP or CSR to use your points for transfer partners or in the portal. If the card you downgrade to is the only card that earns Ultimate Rewards, it will essentially be a cash-back card. I would not downgrade if I didn’t have one of the other cards.
Hi Pam. I just got the Ink Bus Cash for my FIRST card. I saw after that fact that I need a CSP, CSR, or Chase Ink Bus Pref. to be able to transfer those points to use in the portal and not just cash rewards. So question is – Can those “cash back” rewards sit tight on my Ink Bus Cash card until I get a CSP or similar to transfer them to. Or do I need that CSP card to be active and linked NOW.
You’re so helpful Thank you!
They can just hangout until you get the CSP – we think it’s smart with the higher SuBS to do the Biz Ink first right now so you are doing it right!
I have the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Southwest card as my main cards and have had them both for 3 plus years. Just discovered the travel mom squad and just applied for the Chase Ink Business preferred. Is it worth downgrading the Sapphire Reserve to the Sapphire Preferred so that I can reapply in the future? This is my favorite card. If I did this, how long would I wait to reapply?
You can’t have the Reserve and Preferred at the same time so downgrading wouldn’t make sense. You have to wait 48 months to reapply for these cards from when you got the signup bonus.