Chase 5/24 rule

  Credit Card Reference

Many of the the best travel and reward credit cards come from Chase. Unfortunately, because of something called the "Chase 5/24 rule", you may need to take special steps to get approved for these cards.

If you’ve already received 5 or more credit cards during the previous 24 months, Chase won't approve your credit card application (regardless of your credit score or income).

They don’t just count cards you received from Chase. They count all the (personal) cards you’ve received from any credit card company, and even include cards for which you were simply added as an authorized user.

If you are following our advice, you are about to start applying for a set of new credit cards—to take advantage of their travel benefits, signup bonuses, and/or reward earning rates. Once you hit the 5 card limit, you won’t be able to be approved for most Chase cards.

As a result, we recommend that everyone sign up for these Chase cards first, and only after hitting the limit, continue on to other cards.

Jump to

• [[#Business credit cards and the Chase 5/24 rule|Business credit cards and the Chase 5/24 rule]
• Prioritize getting Chase cards that are important to you
• Use any remaining slots to collect Chase signup bonuses
• Strategies to continue qualifying for the Southwest Companion Pass
• Possibilities for bypassing the rule
• Getting under Chase 5/24 again

Business credit cards and the Chase 5/24 rule

Before discussing our basic Chase 5/24 strategy, it is helpful to understand how business credit cards can help you partially get around the Chase 5/24 rule. The approach you'll wind up taking will depend on whether you are willing and able to take advantage of business cards.

• Business credit cards don't count against the 5/24 limit . Even though your personal credit report is used to approve you for new business cards, once you get them, most business cards aren't listed on your report and won't be counted towards your 5 card limit. The main exceptions are cards from Discover and Capital One. Chase doesn't even count their own business cards, even though they obviously know that you have them.
• As a result, you are free to get as many business cards as you want, without affecting your Chase 5/24 status. You can get them at any time in the process, without needing to worry about getting Chase cards first. That means that you can start taking advantage of cards from other banks, before you finish getting all the Chase cards you want. For example, you could get the business version of the Delta Airlines card to start taking advantage of its checked bag benefit without affecting your ability to get Chase cards you may want.
• Most people are eligible to get small business cards. As long as you have any type of side business (like selling stuff on eBay or doing some independent contracting), you are entitled to sign up for small business credit cards. You don't need to be incorporated and, in most cases, you don't even need to have made any money yet. Unlock Extra Reward Points with Business Credit Cards.
• You need to get any Chase business cards BEFORE you hit the 5/24 limit. The way that Chase handles their own small business cards is confusing. If you have gotten 4 or fewer new cards over the past 24 months, Chase will approve you for new business cards and your count won't change. Even if you get a couple of business cards, you'll still have the same number of remaining slots. But as soon as you get a 5^th card, you'll no longer be able to get any Chase cards, even the business ones. In other words, even though the United Business Explorer and Chase Ink Preferred card don't count against the limit, as soon as you hit it, you won't be able to get them.
• It is often better to get the business version of a card (if one is available). If you are under the Chase's limit or Bank of America's similar limit, it won't use up any of your slots and you'll have the flexibility to take advantage of any Chase or Bank of America cards you may want later. If you over the limits, it may let you get back under them more quickly.

Maximize your Chase 5/24 slots

Since Chase has so many good credit cards, you'll want to get as you can before you hit the Chase 5/24 limit. Avoid signing up for other personal cards, except those from Bank of America and other banks with similar restrictions, until after your finished getting the Chase cards you want.

Figure out how many remaining "slots" you have. You may need to look at your credit report, but try to figure out how many personal credit cards you've signed up for in the last 12 and 24 months, including cards where you are only an "authorized cardholder". For example, if you've signed up for a single personal card in the last year and another in the year before that, you have room for three more personal credit cards before you hit the Chase 5/24 limit, but only two more cards before hit the Bank of America 3/12 limit. Monitor Your Credit Score to Make Sure Everything is On Track. Depending on the timing of your previous cards, new slots might be opening up soon, and you may get more room to open additional cards before you hit the limits.
1. Prioritize which affected cards to get. You need to decide the best use of your remaining Chase 5/24 slots. Perhaps you want to make sure to get a United Airlines card, the Hyatt card, a Sapphire card, and an Unlimited card.

You may also need to make room for any critical Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One Wells Fargo, and U.S. Bank cards you really want.

2. If you are willing and able to get business cards, you can mix these in at any time. Prioritize signing up for any business cards that have useful benefits, so you can start using them as quickly as possible.
3. If you have any leftover slots available, use them to get the Chase and Bank of America cards with the best possible signup offers. You won't be able to get these cards later, but you will still be able to get cards from most other banks.
4. Make sure to get any Chase business cards before you hit the 5/24 limit. You don't need to get them right away, but you do need to get them before you apply for your 5th personal card in the last 24 months. You can get other business card signup offers either before or after you hit the 5/24 limit.

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Once you've figured out which cards to get, you can get them in an order, as long as your finished once you hit the limit. If your credit utilization is high, you might want to get a few personal cards first to improve your credit score. For a detailed plan of cards to get first see:


Which Signup Bonuses to Get First




Timing Your Applications

Chase limits you to a maximum of two new credit cards every month, but we wouldn't recommend getting more than one card per month or two. The faster you expand the amount of your credit with Chase, the more nervous Chase might get that you are going to become a credit risk. If you don't spend enough to quickly meet the minimum spending requirements to earn the signup bonuses, you'll need to slow down even more. You never want to miss qualifying for the bonus. Tips to Easily Meet the Initial Spending Requirements of New Credit Cards.

Mix in any non-Chase cards to slow down the speed at which you sign up for Chase cards.

Use any remaining slots to collect Chase signup bonuses

Not everyone is going to decide to collect signup bonuses. But if you do, you'll want to take steps to collect Chase signup bonuses before you hit the 5/24 limit. Credit Card Signup Bonuses: The Easiest Path to Free Airplane Tickets and Hotel Nights.

Collect Bonuses from the Chase Business Cards Before You Hit 5/24

If you are interested in collecting signup bonuses and you ware willing and able to get business cards, you should get as many remaining Chase small business cards you want, before you go over the 5/24 limit. They won't affect your 5/24 status and you won't be able to get them later.

You may have already decided to get the Southwest Premier Business, Southwest Performance Business, United Business, and Ink Unlimited cards. If not, consider getting those, along with the Ink Preferred and Ink Cash cards.

Chase sometimes limits the number of Ink cards a small business can get. Start with Ink Preferred cards, as they have the most valuable signup bonus. You can always convert between the different varieties of Ink cards (after the first year), if you want, in order to unlock the various bonus category reward rates.

You can often earn signup bonuses on multiple copies of the same Ink cards. Unlike most of their other cards, there is no 24 month limit to earning signup bonuses. Apply for one of your first two copies with an SSN and the other with an EIN to increase the likelihood you'll get approved. Getting an EIN is free and easy to do. Then you can keep applying and see if Chase is willing to give you additional cards.

Once you are done getting the Chase cards that are most important to you, and potentially collecting as many of the Chase business card signup offers as you can, you should use any remaining Chase 5/24 slots to earn the most valuable signup bonuses.

Sapphire Preferred Guide	If you aren't already planning on getting a Sapphire card, it is usually the best option. If you are already getting the Sapphire Reserve, you can't also earn a bonus on the Sapphire Preferred. Chase only allows earning the bonus on one Sapphire card every four years! But, if you aren't planning on getting the Sapphire Reserve, sign up for the Sapphire Preferred to earn its 60,000 Ultimate Rewards point bonus. The annual fee is waived the first year.
Hyatt Credit Cards Guide	If you want to focus on points that are easy to use, get the Hyatt and/or a Southwest Airlines card next. It is easy to redeem points with both programs, and both cards provide other useful benefits. As mentioned above, you can only receive the bonus on one of the personal Southwest Airlines cards every two years.
United Credit Card Guide	The United Explorer is also a decent option, typically offering 40,000 United miles. But, the current 50,000 mile offer is even better.
Marriott Credit Card Guide	The Marriott Card is probably your next best option. Its normal signup bonus is 75,000 points. Keep in mind, that it will block you from getting the signup bonus on the Marriott Business and Marriott Brilliant (premium) card for 24 months.

There is some risk of getting too many Chase cards. Each time you apply, Chase reevaluates your entire relationship. If they decide that you are a potential risk, they can shut down all your accounts. Some people can get them reinstated, and some can't. Unfortunately, there isn't really a clearly identifiable pattern, so there are no hard and fast rules to follow. We wouldn't get more than a total of 8 Chase cards, including small business cards. This won't guarantee that you avoid a shutdown, but seems like a reasonable trade-off between risk and reward.

It is also worthwhile to start reducing the credit limits on your existing Chase cards, before you apply for more.

Strategies to continue qualifying for the Southwest Companion Pass

If you qualify for a Southwest companion pass by earning your signup bonuses towards the beginning of the year, you will have access to the pass for almost two years.

When the pass expires, most people will to want to re-qualify for it. But to do that, you’ll need to be under the Chase 5/24 limit.

• The simplest approach is to have one person stick to a smaller number of cards. Every two years, they are eligible for a total of 5 personal cards. Assuming they are willing and able to get business cards, they can get 5 personal cards, both Southwest business credit cards, and whatever other business cards they want, every two years.

With just personal cards, they'd have to reserve one of the 5 slots every two years for one of the Southwest cards and earn the remaining companion pass qualification requirements through other earning options.

The other person doesn’t need to worry about the signup limit and can get as many cards as they want.

• The skip-a-year method. Under this approach, you get all the credit cards which are most important to you, including the Southwest Airlines cards, during the first year. That way, you can be sure to get all the cards you want for your core credit card collection and collect all the best signup offers. Then, you stop signing up for new credit cards.

A year later, your Southwest pass will expire, but you won’t be able to immediately re-qualify. About two years after you finished your initial burst of signup activity, you’ll back under the limit and will be able to apply for the Southwest Airlines cards again. Depending on how quickly you acquired the other cards you want, you may only need to live without the pass for 12-18 months.

Possibilities for bypassing the rule

If you are over the 5/24 limit, it is almost, but not completely, impossible to get approved for Chase cards.

• If you are “pre-approved” in-branch, you will usually be able to get the card, even if you are over 5/24. You need to ask your banker to see if you are pre-approved for any cards and you need to fill out the application in the branch (not online). Just be aware that if you are over 5/24, there is a very low likelihood that you'll have any pre-approved offers.
• Some other pre-approved offers. On the "Offers for You" section of the Chase website, you may see credit card offers that are marked with a green star and "Already Approved" or a black star and "You're pre-qualified". If these offers state a fixed APR, not a range of percentages, they will bypass the normal 5/24 limits. If you use the United mobile application and you see a pre-qualified offers for the United Explorer card with a fixed APR, it should also bypass the 5/14 limits. Any other Chase offer, where it seems like you are pre-qualified or already approved, including all offers with an adjustable APR, will NOT bypass the limits.
• If you have a more significant business, you may be able to get approved for additional cards. You will need to have your own “Business Relationship Manager” at Chase, and it will only work if you fill out a paper-based application form.
• Being a Chase Private Client no longer exempts you from the rule. During the earlier days of the Chase 5/24 rule, Chase didn’t always apply the rule to its best customers. If you were a Chase Private Client, your application might still have gotten approved or you could have gotten approved by having your personal banker help you with the reconsideration process. While anything is possible, this doesn't appear to still be working.

Getting under Chase 5/24 again

Our basic approach to the Chase 5/24 rule is simple. Sign up for as many affected cards as you can, move onto other cards, and don’t look bac.

But if Chase cards are extremely important to you, you can use a one-year-on, two-years-off strategy.

With this approach, you go crazy with credit cards signups and then go (close to) cold-turkey for two years. At the end of your two-year abstinence, you can sign up for another set of Chase cards again, then a bunch of other credit cards, and then possibly go cold-turkey again.

During the two “down years”, you can always sign up for a particularly amazing or useful card. You’ll still get under the 5-card limit around the same time. You'll just wind up having room for one less Chase card, when you do. And you can still sign up for as many business cards as you want the entire time.

Also, there is no hard and fast rule about how long your active period should be. You could limit it to six months, so you can get Chase cards every 2.5 years; or you can lengthen it out to 2 years and get a set of Chase cards every four years.







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