The Chase Ink Business Unlimited and (especially) the Ink Business Cash cards are standards that have found honored places in many of our wallets. Each one has a unique superpower: the Business Unlimited earns 1.5x Ultimate Rewards Points on all purchases, while the Ink Business Cash earns 5x on office supplies and cellular/landline/cable purchases.
Until now, limits on how quickly you could earn new welcome offers on Ink cards have been far more relaxed than on the Chase consumer side, where 24-month and 48-month waiting periods are common. Unfortunately, that appears to be changing.
Members of Frequent Miler Insiders and Danny the Deal Guru have noticed new language within the terms and conditions of both Ink no-annual-fee cards:
The new cardmember bonus may not be available to you if you have ever had this card or any other Chase for Business card without an annual fee. We may also consider factors pertinent to your business in determining your bonus eligibility.
Evidently, Chase now reserves the right to say “no bonus for you” if you’ve had ANY no-annual-fee Chase Business card…ever.
Quick Thoughts
This is certainly a bummer to see, and we’re not really sure when the new language was added. Over the past year, Chase has seemed intent on tightening velocity rules for new card applications. It’s already limited referral bonuses on Ink cards to only those customers who have never had any Chase business card before, and flirted with lifetime restrictions on the new Chase Sapphire Reserve®.
That said, we’re not sure how serious Chase is about enforcing this. The use of “may not” vs “will not” in card terms usually indicates that it’s not a hard and fast rule, but rather a cover-your-tush (CYT) provision that allows to bank to say no if it decides it doesn’t like you. The fact that this language appeared without widespread groaning about rejections, combined with its location at the very bottom of the application page (as opposed to putting it squarely in the middle of the offer terms, like Amex does), would seem to indicate that this is more CYT and less “no soup for you!”
Regardless, we’d rather not see it there in the first place. It strengthens the appearance that Chase wants to increase velocity limits across its card portfolio. Given the examples that we’ve already seen this year, I imagine this isn’t the end of the restrictive language that we’ll see in the future.
Chase Application Tips
- 5/24 Rule: You most likely will not get approved for a new card if you have opened 5 or more cards (with any bank) within the past 24 months. Most business cards do not count towards that five card total. Business cards that DO count include: TD Bank, Discover and the Capital One Spark Cash Select, Spark Miles and Spark Miles Select.
- 24 Month Rule: If you’ve previously had a card before, you can only get a welcome offer on that card again if you no longer have the card AND if it has been more than 24 months since you last received a welcome offer for that card. This rule does not apply to the Sapphire Preferred and Reserve cards (see below). There can be exceptions with some business cards.
- Sapphire cards: The Sapphire Preferred or Sapphire Reserve cards no longer have a family rule that prevents you from getting one if you currently have the other. However, both now have significant limitations that may prevent you from being eligible for a welcome offer if you've previously had the same card. In that event, you'll get a pop-up window that tells you that you're not eligible before you get a credit check and will ask whether or not you want to proceed with the application without the welcome offer attached.
- Southwest "Family" Rules: Chase applies additional "family" rules to the Southwest cards. You're not eligible for the welcome offer on a personal Southwest card if you currently have one, or if you've received a welcome offer on any personal Southwest card within the last 24 months. This doesn't apply to business cards. You also can't be approved for the Southwest consumer card if you already have one open.
- IHG "Family" Rules: You're not eligible for the welcome offer if you've received a welcome offer on any personal IHG card within the last 24 months. You also can't be approved for another IHG consumer card if you already have one open. You can have both an IHG personal and an IHG business card.
- Ink No-Annual-Fee "Lifetime" Rule: You "may not" be eligible for the welcome offer if you have ever had the same card or any other Chase for Business card without an annual fee. We don't know how often this is enforced.
- 2 per month Rule: Most applicants are limited to 2 new cards per 30 days. Business cards are usually limited to one per 30 days.
- Marriott cards: Approval for any Marriott card is governed by a labyrinthine set of unintuitive rules. You can see the full eligibility chart here.
- Card Limits: Chase doesn't have a strict limit on the number of cards that you can have, but it does place limits on the total amount of credit that they will issue you across all cards. Because of this, reconsideration can sometimes be successful by moving credit from one existing card to the new card that you want.
- Application Status: Call (888) 338-2586 to check your application status.
- Reconsideration: If denied, call (888) 270-2127 for personal cards, or (800) 453-9719 for business cards, and ask for your application to be reconsidered.
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It will be a sad day if 5X at office supply stores disappears. Between myself and P2 we have 3 Ink Cash and an Ink Plus card. We pretty much max out the $125,000 cap at office supply stores by buying VGCs.
Does Chase show a pop-up at application to indicate I would not be eligible for the SUB (like AMEX does)??
Yes.
I just applied today, already have an Ink Cash and now got the Ink unlimited. Will I be get the bonus?
If you didn’t get the pop-up, yes.
Does this mean that Ink Preffered train is still alive?
Knowing that Chase reads the blogs . . . and comments like yours . . . perhaps not for much longer.
I bet the CIP has been spared for now because they’ve probably got plans to refresh it in the near future, along with the CSP
Yes, blame Satellite for anti churning measures. Like Chase is not aware of CIP being churned.
The email before this one in my inbox was welcoming me to a new Ink Cash card. Now I’m going to have to make sure that includes the welcome bonus.
If you didn’t get a pop-up, you’ll get the bonus. Same as with Amex
I just got approved yesterday for Ink Unlmtd while also holding an Ink Cash card.
How do I know the 90k bonus will be honored? I didn’t get any messages saying it wouldn’t (a la Amex) but does Chase inform you of this before submitting the application?
Deleted
Go to your Chase account. You should see a tracker towards your bonus.
Not surprising at all given how many people got how many chase ink cards over the past few years.
Can I assume that if I already have 2 INK CASH, bank isn’t going to unilaterally cancel one of them? I’ve only ever applied for 2, & the 2nd approval was 2 months ago (years after the first). I’ve already earned the SUB & transferred it to my CSP. Has the bank ever been known to cancel retroactively?
No. This language only refers to eligibility for new welcome offers, not product changes or the ability to have multiple Ink cards. There’s almost no risk of cancellation for current cardholders.
You’re good, no need to worry
the ink well has dried up…
Any idea if the term “you” in the limitation refers to the business applying or the person applying?
makes sense- too many people went wild applying for one Ink every couple of months but thats to be expected in this hobby I suppose
The ink train has been derailed