In our recent debate about whether to recommend a Chase Marriott card or Chase Hyatt card, one of Nick’s arguments in favor of the Marriott card was that you could sign up for that card and an Amex Marriott card in order to get two free nights each year. I slammed back with the assertion that you would need a Phd. to figure out if you’re eligible for an Amex Marriott card after signing up for the Chase Marriott card.
Even though I was joking (sort-of), it is extremely difficult to understand whether or not you can apply for a new Marriott card if you’ve had one before. Each card has a slew of rules that determine whether or not you can sign up and whether or not you’re eligible for a Marriott card’s welcome bonus.
What follows is my best attempt to simplify the rules…
Table of Contents
Hoping to get a Chase Marriott card?
How do you know if you’re eligible for either of these Chase Marriott cards?
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
|---|
First, you’ll have to be under 5/24:
| 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. |
Next, navigate this chart to figure out if you qualify (this can only be viewed online — click here). If you answer “No,” to all of the following questions then you should be eligible for a new Chase Marriott card:
Hoping to get an Amex Bonvoy Brilliant card?
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
|---|
Navigate this chart to figure out if you qualify (this can only be viewed online — click here). If you answer “No,” to all of the following questions then you should be eligible for this particular Marriott card:
Hoping to get an Amex Bonvoy Business card?
| Card Name w Details & Review (no offer) |
|---|
Navigate this chart to figure out if you qualify (this can only be viewed online — click here). If you answer “No,” to all of the following questions then you should be eligible:
All-in-one Eligibility Matrix
This display visually shows the rules as I understand them:
Product Eligibility and Bonus Eligibility Terms
The following terms are copied directly from each Marriott card’s signup page…
Bonvoy Brilliant Amex:
Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product or the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.Welcome offer not available to applicants who (i) have or have had The Ritz-Carlton™ Credit Card from JPMorgan or the J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards® Credit Card in the last 30 days,
(ii) have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase or the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase in the last 90 days,
or (iii) received a new Card Member bonus or upgrade offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ Credit Card from Chase, Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase or the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase in the last 24 months.
Bonvoy Business Amex
Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this product or The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility.Welcome offer not available to applicants who (i) have or have had the Marriott BonvoyTM Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy BusinessTM Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards® Business Credit Card from Chase in the last 30 days,
(ii) have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy BoundlessTM Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy BoldTM Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott BonvoyTM Premier Credit Card from Chase or the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase in the last 90 days,
or (iii) received a new Card Member bonus offer in the last 24 months on the Marriott Bonvoy BoundlessTM Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy BoldTM Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott BonvoyTM Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase or the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card from Chase.
Chase Bonvoy Bold
Eligibility for this product: The product is not available to either:current cardmembers of the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus), Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ credit card, or previous cardmembers of the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus), or Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ credit card, who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
The bonus is not available to you if you:
-
- are a current cardmember, or were a previous cardmember within the last 30 days, of Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express);
- are a current or previous cardmember of either Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card), and received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus in the last 24 months; or
- applied and were approved for Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card) within the last 90 days.
Bonvoy Boundless
The product is not available to either:current cardmembers of the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus), Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ credit card, or previous cardmembers of the Marriott Bonvoy™ Premier credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless™ credit card (also known as Marriott Rewards® Premier Plus), or Marriott Bonvoy Bold™ credit card, who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.
The bonus is not available to you if you:
are a current cardmember, or were a previous cardmember within the last 30 days, of Marriott Bonvoy™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express);
are a current or previous cardmember of either Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card), and received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade bonus in the last 24 months; or applied and were approved for Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (also known as The Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express) or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (also known as the Starwood Preferred Guest® American Express Luxury Card) within the last 90 days.
[…] cards in the past, you may or may not be eligible to receive the sign-up bonus. This post by the Frequent Miler is a fantastic guide to determine if you will qualify to receive the Marriott signup bonus or […]
@Greg So, I understand correctly. I am trying to get the Chase bonvoy card and I currently have the Amex Bonvoy card. I need to cancel the Amex Bonvoy card and wait 30 days before I apply for the Chase card. Is that correct?
[…] There are 4 current Marriott cards you can get but somewhat complicated rules on eligibility. Read the terms carefully before applying to make sure you are eligible. Frequent Miler has some helpful charts here you can read as well. […]
[…] 感谢Frequent Miler提供的制表思路。 […]
@Greg was going to reply to say your chart was wrong that you can’t get the Chase cards if you even HAVE any of the Amex cards when reading the terms and conditions, but of course missed the “and received a welcome offer in the past 24 months” part. Dang, they don’t make this easy do they.
Hi Greg – Need some help here please —–
Cards I have:
Chase Ritz – Have had it for 4 years
AMEX Bonvoy Brilliant – Upgraded from Bonvoy abt 4 months ago – Did NOT get an Upgrade bonus because of RITZ Carlton. Screw them!
Card I want:
Chase Bonvoy Boundless – Question is, will I get he Boundless signup bonus. Or am I going to get blocked again out of the bonus?
I think that since you didn’t get the upgrade bonus you should be safe to get a signup bonus on the Bonvoy Boundless
Just stick with Hilton. Much easier to understand and plenty of good/excellent proprties to choose from.
[…] Important: Marriott imposes strict rules as to who is eligible for each credit card. Before applying for a new card, please see this post: Are you eligible for a new Marriott card? […]
[…] What I don’t like: Marriott’s Peak pricing often makes the free night certificates unusable at category 5 hotels which are priced 35K Standard or 40K Peak. I also hate how complicated it is to get more than one Marriott card! See: Are you eligible for a new Marriott card? […]
[…] Are you eligible for a new Marriott card? […]
Thanks for making this guide. My question is a borderline case – since I’m afraid the 5-night offer will expire before I can get it:
I received the Amex Bonvoy Biz bonus on Nov 17, 2018. Do I have to wait till Dec 1 to apply for the current Chase 5 night offer, or can I apply earlier?
Yes, you would have to wait until Nov 18th at the earliest
[…] you are tempted by this offer, be sure to see the post Are you eligible for a new Marriott card? before applying. The rules for new Marriott credit card sare complex; the short of it is if you […]
[…] Are you eligible for a new Marriott card? […]
If you convert Amex card (old SPG card) to Brilliant, are you eligible 30 days later? Or are you blocked for 90 days?
Maybe Tom Lehrer can turn this into a song.
Is there any general limit to how many Chase cards a person can have at one time?
No
The Bonvoy Business in your table suggests you cannot have received an upgrade bonus within the past 24 months for the Bold and Boundless cards. But the terms you copied only reference a “new Card Member bonus offer”. By itself, it seems somewhat vague on what that means but the terms of the Brilliant reference a “new Card Member bonus or upgrade offer”. So it would seem to imply upgrades wouldn’t invalidate you from the business card?
Or perhaps have the terms changed from what is shown here?
Ooh good point. I’ll look into this tomorrow. I might have made a mistake there
I believe you’re right. I’ve updated the table (it may take an hour or so to show up). Thanks so much for the correction!
Good to hear! So perhaps I may be eligible after all. Just goes to show you do need a PhD to follow along with all the rules. 😉
LOL!
But I’m in this situation. I got the upgrade bonus about 23 months ago, and when I try to sign up for the Amex business, I’m getting the warning “Kevin, because you have or have had a Marriott Consumer and/or Business Co-Branded Credit Card issued by Chase (that may have included an earned welcome or upgrade offer), you are not eligible to receive the welcome offer.” I feel like the terms suggest I should be eligible, but the automated Amex system seems to think otherwise.
I got the same message when I tried applying for the Amex Bonvoy business card last night.
Interesting! It sounds like I need to put my mistake back in place!
I just got approved for the card. I messaged customer service, and they said they couldn’t see welcome offer eligibility on their end for 3 days, so I’ll follow up once I figure out for sure whether I’m actually eligible (despite the automated message that I’m not).
Cool. Please let us know how it turns out.
So, you went through and applied despite the popup?
I did, although I’m not sure I made the right decision. My #1 priority was to get the 15 elite night credits that are going to allow me to hit Titanium. I read that it could take up to 60 days for those to post, so I was nervous about waiting until next month, but they actually posted in about 2 days. I also took advantage of referral from Player 2’s Gold, so the extra 3 MRPs per dollar was only available this month. Also working on a few other sign-up bonuses at the moment, so another 3K in spend was going to require some effort.
Kevin- Were you able to find out if you are actually eligible for the sign up bonus?
So far not looking good. I called and was told that CSR that they can’t override it when the automated system said I wasn’t eligible, so I basically had them submit a request that it manually be reviewed (I explained exactly how according to the T&C I should have been eligible.) They said I could call back in about 3 weeks and see if there was any resolution. I’m not holding out much hope.
Thanks Kevin for the update. I might just go ahead and pull the trigger since I’m 14 nights away from retaining titanium status for another year and there is high probability I won’t be staying at Marriott properties for remainder of the year. Might not get the SUB but will get to keep titanum status for another year, get to pick free night award (40K) for titanum status and match to united silver.
My appeal was unsuccessful. I think the take home is that if the pop-up says you aren’t eligible, even if you think you should be according to T&C, you probably aren’t going to get the welcome offer.
Thanks Kevin for the update. This is a good datapoint.
Kevin- how many days after account opening did your 15 elite nights post to your Marriott account?
Not sure exactly, but less than 5.
Thanks Kevin. I ended up applying for the card on 12/18. Hopefully the 15 nights post over the next few days.
Can I get the Amex or Chase Marriott business card if I currently have the Amex Bonvoy (SPG Card) ?
Only the Amex biz card is available to new applicants. See the section titled “ Hoping to get an Amex Bonvoy Business card?” above
[…] navigate this chart to figure out if you qualify (this can only be viewed online — click here). If you answer “No,” to all of the following questions then you should be eligible for […]
Thanks Greg for detailed analysis.
One silverline to this – Chase is offering a five free night certificates that can be used on properties costing up to 50,000 points per night when you spend $5,000 within the first three months of account opening on the Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card.
With the joining bonus is now 5 nights rather points, Will I be eligible for these 5 night If I already have Amex Bonvoy ( Ex. SPG) and apply for Chase Boundless card
No, I think you would have to cancel the Amex Bonvoy, wait 30 days, and hope the 5 night cert offer still exists
If i have no Marriott card currently, will applying for Amex (brilliant) and Chase (either bold or boundless) simultaneously work? Like, the same day?
Thanks
I don’t think so
So, if I want Brilliant but have Ritz and don’t want to lose Ritz do I have any options here? Can I pc Ritz for 30 days to something and then have high confidence I can PC back?
I *think* you can PC and later change back, but I don’t have any evidence of that. There’s definitely some risk. I think that with the Ritz card, you can get the Brilliant, but not the signup bonus for it.
lord… one of the compelling reasons why I move away from Marriott. How can you even decide on which card to get and if you could get the bonus? Plus, transfer rate from Chase or Amex is just a joke.
You might want to call out that Amex “lifetime” doesn’t really mean a “lifetime”, unless something has changed recently my understanding is their records of you having a card start dropping off ~7 years.
This is relevant to those who have been in the game for a long time and had SPG cards in the past.
Added. It might take an hour or so to appear.