Nick previously published “What’s the best Chase card that’s not subject to 5/24?” As much as I enjoyed his post, I thought this was the wrong question. After all, with cards that are not subject to 5/24, there’s no particular reason to limit yourself. Even if you’re over 5/24 you can get all of those cards.
| Chase's 5/24 Rule: With most Chase credit cards, Chase will not approve your application if you have opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 24 months. To determine your 5/24 status, see: 3 Easy Ways to Count Your 5/24 Status. The easiest option is to track all of your cards for free with Travel Freely. |
A more important question is which Chase cards you should get before you go over 5/24. These are the cards that you absolutely should get before it’s too late. Once you are over 5/24, the only way to get these cards is to get pre-approved or to wait until you fall under 5/24 again.
Chase Cards that are Subject to 5/24
Before I narrow down the list to the must-haves, here’s a list of all of the interesting Chase cards that are subject to 5/24 (click the hyperlinks for more info about each card):
Ultimate Rewards Cards:
- Sapphire Preferred
- Sapphire Reserve
- Freedom
- Freedom Unlimited
- Ink Business Preferred
- Ink Cash Business
Airline and Hotel Cards:
- Southwest Airlines Plus Card
- Southwest Airlines Premier Card
- Southwest Airlines Premier Business Card
- United MileagePlus Explorer Card
- United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card
- United MileagePlus Club Card
- Marriott Rewards Premier
Pile on the Business Cards
While most Chase business cards are subject to 5/24 they do not count towards 5/24. This means that you can get these cards while you are under 5/24 and they won’t add to your 5/24 count. If you can get approved for these cards and can meet the minimum spend requirements for the signup bonuses, you might as well get them.
| Chase 5/24 semantics ("Subject to" vs. "Count towards"): Most Chase cards are subject to the 5/24 rule. That means the rule is enforced in making approval decisions. In other words, you probably won't get approved if your credit report shows that you opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months. Meanwhile, most business cards (such as those from Chase, Amex, Barclaycard, BOA, Citi, US Bank, and Wells Fargo) are not reported on your personal credit report. These cards do not count towards 5/24. Example: Chase Ink Business Preferred is subject to 5/24, so you likely won't get approved if over 5/24. If you do get approved, it won't count towards 5/24 since it won't appear as an account on your credit report. |
The business cards subject to 5/24 are:
- Ink Business Preferred
- Ink Cash Business
- United MileagePlus Explorer Business Card
- Southwest Airlines Premier Business Card
Among these, the Ink Business Preferred consistently offers the best signup bonus. Most Chase card offers state that you can’t get the bonus if you’ve received a bonus for the same card in the past 24 months, but Chase Ink cards do not have that restriction. As a result, if you have multiple businesses it is possible to sign up for the Ink Business Preferred and Ink Cash cards once for each business and you should get the signup bonus for each!
The idea of piling on business cards while under 5/24 has been explored in depth in our series of posts about the informed newbie, Ben. See, for example: Over 600,000 points and well under 5/24.
The one business card you may want to hold off on getting until you’re ready is the Southwest card. See the Southwest Companion Pass section below for more information.
| Applying for Business Credit Cards Yes, you have a business: In order to sign up for a business credit card, you must have a business. That said, it's common for people to have businesses without realizing it. If you sell items at a yard sale, or on eBay, for example, then you have a business. Similar examples include: consulting, writing (e.g. blog authorship, planning your first novel, etc.), handyman services, owning rental property, renting on airbnb, driving for Uber or Lyft, etc. In any of these cases, your business is considered a Sole Proprietorship unless you form a corporation of some sort. When you apply for a business credit card as a sole proprietor, you can use your own name as your business name, use your own address and phone as the business' address and phone, and your social security number as the business' Tax ID / EIN. Alternatively, you can get a proper Tax ID / EIN from the IRS for free, in about a minute, through this website. Is it OK to use business cards for personal expenses? Anecdotally, almost everyone I know uses business cards for personal expenses. That said, the terms in most business card applications state that you should use the card only for business use. Also, some consumer credit card protections do not apply to business cards. My advice: don't use the card for personal expenses if you're not comfortable doing so. |
Which of the business cards are keepers?
Each of the business cards listed above have excellent signup bonuses, but you may not want to keep them past the first year if their benefits do not outweigh the annual fee. In my opinion, though, there are two definite keepers in the list:
- Ink Cash Business: This card has no annual fee so there’s really no reason at all to dump it. But beyond that, it offers an amazing 5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar for office supply purchases, phone, TV, and internet for up to $25,000 spend annually. 5X rewards for phone, TV, and internet is enough on its own to make this card worth having. The 5X office supply category, though, is where things get really interesting. Office supply stores such as Staples, Office Depot, and OfficeMax sell gift cards to other merchants, as well as bank gift cards. By purchasing gift cards from these stores, you can earn 5X rewards in far more categories of spend.
- Ink Business Preferred: This card costs $95 per year and offers free cell phone protection, the ability to transfer points to airline and hotel programs, and 3X Ultimate Rewards for travel, shipping, internet, cable, phone, and advertising with social media sites (up to $150K spend per year). Surprisingly, this card has been earning 3X for all Plastiq bill payments which more than offsets Plastiq’s 2.5% fee.
Southwest Companion Pass
The Southwest Companion pass is undoubtedly the most valuable companion ticket benefit of any airline program. The key value lies in the fact that this benefit is repeatable an unlimited number of times while you have the pass and it is not subject to availability of any special fare class. As long as there is a seat available for sale on the plane, a Southwest Companion pass holder can add his/her companion to their reservation and pay only the taxes ($5.60 one-way on domestic flights within the US).
In order to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, a Rapid Rewards member must earn 110,000 qualifying Southwest Rapid Rewards points within a single year. Once the member has earned 110,000 points, the companion pass will be valid for the remainder of the calendar year in which it is earned and all of the following year. For example, if you earned your 110,000th point on February 1st, 2018, your Companion pass would be valid until December 31st, 2019. Therefore, earning the pass as early in the calendar year as possible maximizes the length of validity of the Southwest Companion Pass.
The easiest way, by far, to earn 110,000 qualifying Southwest points is to sign up for two Southwest cards that each have 50K or 60K signup bonuses (they often do). Chase offers three versions of Southwest cards: Plus, Premier, and Premier Business. People often sign up for two of these at once at the very end of the calendar year or very early in the calendar year in order to get a companion pass valid for nearly 2 full years.
As a result of this outstanding opportunity, planning your Southwest card signups is very important when deciding which cards to get while you’re under 5/24. If flying Southwest isn’t your thing, then don’t worry about it. But if you think you can get good value from the companion pass, you should plan accordingly. For many, this means making sure that you’re still under 5/24 by December so that you can sign up for two Southwest cards then and earn 110,000 points as early in the next year as possible.
For more about the companion pass, including how to use it and other ways to earn it, see: Complete guide to the Southwest Companion Pass.
Picking Personal Cards
This is where things get trickier since each of these cards count towards 5/24, so there’s a real cost to getting these cards. Each one of these cards that you get brings you closer to the dreaded 5/24 count.
The following personal cards are subject to 5/24 and count towards 5/24:
Ultimate Rewards Cards:
Airline and Hotel Cards:
- Southwest Airlines Plus Card
- Southwest Airlines Premier Card
- United MileagePlus Explorer Card
- United MileagePlus Club Card
- Marriott Rewards Premier
My Personal Card Rankings
All of the cards listed above are valuable, but some are arguably more valuable than others. Here is my ranking, sorted most valuable to least:
- Sapphire Preferred / Sapphire Reserve: Get the Sapphire Preferred bonus and then upgrade to the Reserve for better benefits.
- Southwest Airlines Plus Card or Southwest Airlines Premier Card: Get either one of these personal cards along with the Southwest Business card in order to earn a companion pass.
- Freedom Unlimited: Once you have the Sapphire Reserve, the no-fee Freedom Unlimited becomes a great “everywhere else” card thanks to earning 1.5X on all spend. Move points to the Reserve to make them more valuable.
- Freedom: This card is valuable for its quarterly rotating 5X categories (up to $1500 spend). Move points to the Reserve to make them more valuable.
- United MileagePlus Explorer Card or United MileagePlus Club Card: Both of these cards offer excellent signup bonuses and significant perks for United fliers.
- Marriott Rewards Premier: This one usually offers a nice signup bonus, but not a lot of ongoing value with one big exception: for those seeking Marriott elite status the card offers 15 elite nights per year. Combine with the business version of the card to get a significant leg up towards the status level you seek.
Sapphire Preferred / Sapphire Reserve
The reason I listed the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve together, above, is that once you get one, you can’t get the bonus on the other until you cancel the card and wait 24 months from getting the bonus on the first. In other words, for the purpose of getting signup bonuses, Chase treats them as the same product. In general, I recommend signing up for whichever currently has the better signup bonus. You can then later product change (without getting a bonus) to the card you really want to keep. See: Showdown: Sapphire Reserve vs Preferred First Year Value.
For those who spend a lot on travel and dining (as I do), I think that the Sapphire Reserve is one of the best cards available. It earns 3X for travel and dining, and you can redeem points for 1.5 cents per point value towards travel, or you can transfer points to airline and hotel programs. It also makes the points you earn from other Ultimate Rewards cards more valuable because you can move the points to the Reserve card and then redeem them for 1.5 cents value each (compare to 1.25 cents value when redeemed from the Sapphire Preferred or Ink Business Plus cards, or 1 cent value from either Freedom card or the Ink Cash card).
Advice for 4/24
Once you have 4 new accounts within the past 24 months, you are just one more personal card application away from getting locked out of getting new Chase cards for the near future. You can delay going over by signing up only for business cards, but eventually you may want a new personal card (or a business card that counts towards 5/24 such as a Capital One business card).
Let’s say, for example, that you want to get the Amex Hilton Aspire card. After you get the card and it shows up on your credit report, you’ll be at 5/24 and unable to get most Chase cards going forward. That said, there’s a window of opportunity from the time you sign up for the card and before it shows up on your credit report. During that time, you can successfully sign up for one or more Chase cards that are subject to 5/24. I recommend using this opportunity to sign up for two new Chase cards in one day. If you’re interested in the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited card, for example, those would be great candidates to get at the same time since each only requires $500 in minimum spend for its signup bonus.
Conclusion
While you are under 5/24, I recommend that you get as many Chase business cards as you can handle, and strategically sign up for personal Chase cards. If you are interested in the Southwest companion pass, then make sure that your are at 4/24 or lower at the end of the year (since the new year is the ideal time to get the pass). As to other Chase personal cards, you can use my rankings above to help decide which to get, but please keep in mind that my rankings are quite subjective. What’s best for me might not be best for you.
During this time while you are under 5/24, try to stay away from personal cards from other banks or business cards from Capital One since those add to your 5/24 count too.
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Hi Greg and Nick,
Where is the 5/24 rule actually listed on Chase. After talking to a Chase agent in Orlando he said there is no 5/24 rule that everyone talks about.
It’s not listed anywhere. Chase likes to pretend that it’s not a real rule even though it is most definitely real. It was temporarily shown on some applications but they took it away.
[…] argue this card probably isn’t worth one of those slots. Greg wrote a post in March about The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24. While the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus wasn’t yet launched at the time, its […]
I was just turned down for the United business card when I was at 4/24, I thought. The rep seemed to be about to approve my request after dropping my AU accounts. Then she got off the phone and came back and said that I still had too many new accounts. We went over them together and she was including the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, which she had “missed” in her original assessment. I read your blog, and thanked her for her help but asked to speak with her supervisor because I thought business cards wouldn’t be included. She connected me to Alan from the Resolution team. I explained that when I had applied for a personal chase card a few weeks ago, the reconsideration rep only counted 4 cards including the new one he was approving. Alan said that the rep miscounted and CHASE BUSINESS CARDS COUNT. He also chastised me on the use of the term, “5/24”, saying that it is a nomenclature that nobody at Chase uses or understands. Alan further added that his decision can’t be overturned. Help!!
It’s possible (likely even) that when the computer counts 5/24, it does not count Chase business cards, but when you have to call for a recount due to AU cards, the agent can count them. It’s also possible that you were turned down for having too many cards but not really due to 5/24. Anyway, I’d recommend calling again to see if you get a more lenient analyst.
So I dropped to 4/24 on June 1st, and I might have jumped the gun a bit last week, applying for a CSP about 6-hours after my Ink Business Cash app which was still pending decision.
Apparently, this could have been a BIG boo boo IF the CSP were to get approved first, per Chase’s 1/30 rule.
On top of that, my reasoning for the double-dipping was a bit off, thinking 2 credit pulls would be combined, which is apparently NOT true when dealing with both Chase Business and Personal offers at the same time.
BUT, on the bright side, after a few app status updates via phone system over 2-days (Started at 30-day messages then changed to the dreaded 7-10 via mail), a call today to the Chase Personal Recon line @ 888-270-2127, I’m now a proud Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP) holder with a $10k SL.
P.S. – My Ink Cash was also luckily approved FIRST @ a $12k SL…. nice start at some BIG UR SUB’s (100K) with this Chase winning duo!
Thanks to all I have and continue to learn from!
[…] branch, this offer should probably be at the top of your list when it comes live next week. See: The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24 for more on why. If it comes online, we will certainly post about it as soon as we see […]
Hi Greg, I am currently at 2/24, have CS and CSP for over three years now. I knew the new rules now is you can only have one Sapphire card at any one time now, do I need to cancel or downgrade both cards in order to apply CSP ( again) or CSR ? what is the best way to do this? is any reason to keep the CS card?
Yes, must downgrade or close both Sapphires. Then you can get a CSR.
Hi Greg or Nick~
I have two questions
1) I stop being 5/24 on May 15. I also have a large cruise payment due June 5th. I have an old csp card I planned to downgrade to chase freedom unlimited and apply for the CSR and make my spend by this crusie payment. From what I read in below comments I would have to wait until June 15th to apply for the CSR…no way around that? What a bummer that would be
2) I currently have a chase ink plus which I love. To apply for the Chase ink preferred, would I have to downgrade this card too, otherwise I would not be eligible for the bonus?
thank-you.
1) You would have to wait until June 1, not June 15. It’s tight, but you may be able to make it work for a payment due June 5th.
2) No, it’s fine to keep your Ink Plus and apply for the Ink Preferred. You can have both.
Thank you!
I recall that, with a “special invitation,” you can sometimes get a Chase card even if you are over the 5/24 Rule. What type of offer qualifies? For example, I was sent an email from “Mileage Plus Partner” (it looks like it was sent by UA) entitled “You’ve just earned miles. Now earn 50,000 more.” It then has a link to apply for the Mileage Plus Explorer Card. If I do so, will my application be rejected because of 5/24, or does my invitation override the rule? Thanks.
The general consensus is that offers by mail or email do NOT circumvent 5/24. If you log into your Chase account and see a “selected for you” offer then it should work to get around 5/24. I have never seen that on my account though. It’s much more likely to get pre-approval in-branch as a way around 5/24
[…] The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24. The comments also contain good information. […]
” there’s a window of opportunity from the time you sign up for the card and before it shows up on your credit report”…Uh…how long is that window of opportunity?
It varies with each issuer — and I imagine with the day of the week both on the bank end and the credit bureau and varies from one credit bureau to the next. Could be a week, could be a month, could be two months. In my personal anecdotal experience, Barclaycard tends to be the fastest (I’ve had new accounts show up on my report before I even had the card in the mail) and Amex is often pretty slow (usually reports sometime between the first and second statement close). When I opened my most recent Amex card, it showed up on my reports about a month later — but on a different day of the week with each of the 3 major credit bureaus. At the very least, you’ve got a few days.
[…] The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24 […]
If you have an authorize user under your card. And you product change. Does that AU automatically gets closed on as well? And are all southwest cards count towards business because theres one i see for personal. Little confuse.
If you product change, the AUs product change with you. In other words, if you have a CSP and 3 authorized users and you product change to the Freedom, they will send Freedom cards for you and your 3 authorized users.
Forgot to answer the Southwest question — there are 3 total Southwest credit cards. Two are personal cards (Premier and Plus) and there is one Business Premier.
[…] morning, Greg wrote about planning your Chase application strategy (See: The best Chase cards that ARE subject to 5/24 rule). A few months ago, standing on the cusp of 5/24, my wife opened two of those cards — two […]
Greg, is it possible to get a third Southwest card and get the bonus for that 3rd card if I already have the other 2 SW cards (Personal and Business)? And is the best way to find out if you have met the 5/24 through a credit report to see what is actually there? I’m a little confused with which business cards do count for the 5/24 rule so I’m not exactly sure where I stand. Thank you!
Yes you can get the third card. As to how to count your 5/24 status, you can go through your credit report, but be sure to count both open and closed accounts. I also outlined a simple way here: https://frequentmiler.com/2017/06/20/count-524-status-smart-phone/
Hi Greg, You stated that the “Chase IHG card is not subject to the 5/24 so it’s easy to get. But after approval it WILL count towards your 5/24”. Can you please explain that a little more and Is this true for the Hyatt card (or the other cards listed that do not fall under the 5/24 rule)?
Sorry you did explain what that means, I guess I should have read rather than scanned :-). My question is does this apply for the Hyatt card or the other cards listed that do not fall under the 5/24 rule?
I’m not sure I understand your question…so here’s a reiteration of the points in the post in the hopes that it adds clarity.
5/24 rule: You can’t get approved for certain cards if you have 5 or more new accounts on your credit report in the past 24 months.
Applying the rule: When you apply for certain cards, 5/24 rule applies. We say those cards are SUBJECT to the 5/24 rule — meaning that they are governed by the 5/24 rule when you apply. To say it another way, this rule is the first thing checked — if you have opened 5 or more new accounts in the past 24 months, you’ll be automatically disqualified and declined. For example, if you apply for a Chase Freedom card, that rule will be applied to decide whether or not you qualify. If you’ve got 5 or more, you won’t be approved. If you have 4 or fewer, you can be approved. That’s not to say everyone will be approved — just than you *can only be approved for this card with 4 or fewer new accounts in the past 24 months*.
When you apply for other cards, that rule does not apply. We say that these cards are NOT SUBJECT to the 5/24 rule — it doesn’t govern these applications. In other words, the number of new accounts you’ve opened in the past 24 months will not automatically disqualify you. For example, if you apply for the Chase IHG card, it doesn’t matter if you’ve opened more than 5 cards in the past 2 years — you can still be approved. Again, that’s not to say that everyone will be approved. But it’s *possible* to be approved even if you’ve opened 8 or 10 new cards in the past 24 months because the rule doesn’t apply to this card.
The Chase Hyatt card is another example of a card that is NOT SUBJECT to the 5/24 rule — that means the rule is not applied to approval decisions. You *can* be approved even if you’ve opened a lot of accounts.
Determining your 5/24 count
Chase looks at your credit report and adds up the total new accounts you’ve opened in the past 24 months. Once you open a personal credit card and it shows up on your report, it counts towards your total new accounts in the past 24 months. Whether you open the Freedom or the IHG or Hyatt or you open an Amex Everyday Preferred or a Citi Double Cash or any other personal credit card, it contributes to the number of new accounts you’ve opened in the past 24 months. All personal cards count. Some business cards — like those from Capital One — count. Most business cards do not show up on your personal credit report. If it doesn’t show up on your credit report, they can’t count it. Authorized user accounts will count, though if that’s the only thing bringing you to 5 or more, you can usually call Chase reconsideration and get those removed from the count (as Greg noted in the post).
So to be clear — every card they can see on your credit report contributes to your total new accounts. If that total is 5 or more, you can’t get the cards subject to 5/24. You *can* still get the cards that are not subject to 5/24.
Note that there is a small exception — some people have gotten pre-approved offers in-branch or via the Chase “Your Offers” section in the app/website (only offers with a green check mark). These offers ignore the 5/24 rule. But they are not very common.
Does that help?
Yes, thanks Greg!
Nick,
This was very helpful, but I still am scratching my head about one thing Greg posted in the “Advice for 4/24” section: “I recommend using this opportunity to sign up for two new Chase cards that are subject to 5/24.”
Why would I do this when one of the two apps will undoubtedly be rejected because the first one will put me over 5/24? What am I missing here?
As Greg notes, there is a delay between when you open a new account and when it shows up on your credit report. The computer system pulls your report and counts based on that (and sees 4). It’s well-established that it’s possible to get 2 accounts on the same day when you’re at 4/24. Even if not auto-approved for the second one, it’s possible to call reconsideration and get it opened (sometimes you need to shift credit from another open card).
Ahhh, he did not say to apply for both cards on the same day. Thanks.
Fixed
The short answer is yes: all personal cards that are not subject to 5/24 will still add to your 5/24 count after the account is opened.