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 notably is the Chase 5/24 rule. Chase will not approve you for any of their credit cards if you have opened more than 5 cards across any bank in a 24 month period. Being an authorized user can also count against the Chase 5/24 rule.

It is important to be aware of this rule so you can plan your credit card applications strategically. Because of this rule, most people like to start by signing up for Chase cards first.

Most business cards won’t be counted towards your Chase 5/24. Capital One, Discover, and TD Bank business cards are the exception and WILL count towards your 5/24.

10 Other Things to Know:

1. You might not be approved for more than one Chase personal and business card in a 90 day period.
2. You can get the signup bonus on a card more than one time. To do this, you can’t currently hold the card and it has to be over 24 months since you last earned a bonus on that card. For example, to receive a bonus on the Hyatt card again I would need to cancel that card and wait 24 months from when I last received a signup bonus before reapplying. The Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards are the exceptions to this. The waiting period on these cards is 48 months.
3. You can’t have both a Chase Sapphire Preferred and a Chase Sapphire Reserve and you can only have one personal Southwest card at a time.
4. If the sign-up bonus increases within 90 days of applying for a card you can call or message Chase and asked to be matched to the new, higher bonus. Historically, people had better results with this in the past than they have recently.
5. If you get denied for 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 really important to find out why. Usually, it is a simple fix.
6. 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.
7. In a rush to get your new card? You can call and ask Chase to expedite it. This won’t cost you anything. They can’t expedite co-branded cards but they will expedite Chase Sapphire, Freedom, and Ink cards.
8. Chase offers a great referral program for many of their cards. Referrals are a great way to give your points balance a boost. To see if your Chase card offers referral bonuses, check here.
9. Chase allows you to product change to a different card within the same family. For example, you could downgrade your Chase Ink Business Preferred to the Chase Ink Cash. This is helpful if you want to get rid of an annual fee or reduce it.
10. Chase will reimburse you your annual fee if you cancel your card within a statement or two.

 

Bottom Line

Chase Bank issues some of our favorite cards so it 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 over 5/24, Chase will not approve you for their cards until you get under the 5/24 rule.