Chase 5/24 Rule Explained In Detail – Everything You Need To Know (Updated For 2020)

The Basics

Chase has an unpublished rule that applies to most of the credit cards they offer. The rule is an apparent attempt to limit people that sign up for credit cards for the rewards. It’s as follows:

• When it was officially added it stated: You will not be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more bank cards in the past 24 months.
• Our previous interpretation: If you have five or more new accounts (credit/charge cards) on your credit report within the past two years you will not be approved

This rule was originally implemented on Chase branded cards (e.g Freedom & Sapphire Preferred) in June of 2015 and then extended to most co-branded cards (e.g United/Marriott) on May 23rd, 2016.

What Cards Count Towards The 5 Card Limit?

It’s important to note that Chase counts all new accounts on your report, not just Chase accounts. So if you have applied for and been approved for three American Express cards & three Bank of America cards then you’d likely be denied for a Chase card (affected by this rule) due to being over 5/24.

Another thing to note is that it’s based on new accounts being reported, so applications that are denied won’t count towards your total and neither will some business cards that don’t report on your credit report (more on this below). Because new accounts will be reported to all three of the nationwide credit bureaus, it doesn’t matter what particular credit report Chase pulls.

Because authorized user accounts usually show on your credit report, these will also be counted as a new account and count towards the 5/24 rule. Although it’s possible to get some representatives to not count them when calling reconsideration.

[Read: How Does Being An Authorized User Affect Your Credit?]

What Cards Does This Affect?

Chase has a lot of credit cards, this 5/24 rule applies to the following cards:

• Chase Freedom
• Chase Freedom Unlimited
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• Chase Sapphire Reserve
• Chase Slate
• Chase Ink Cash
• Chase Ink Plus (no longer available for application)
• Chase Ink Preferred
• Chase Ink Unlimited
• Chase Starbucks
• Chase Southwest Plus personal card
• Chase Southwest Premier personal card
• Chase Southwest Premier business card
• Chase Marriott Premier personal card
• Chase United MileagePlus Club Card
• Chase United MileagePlus Club  Business Card
• Chase United MileagePlus Explorer personal card
• Chase United MileagePlus Explorer business card
• Chase IHG Select (no longer available)
• Chase IHG Premier
• Chase IHG Traveler
• Chase Hyatt
• Chase British Airways
• Chase Iberia
• Chase Aer Lingus
• Chase Disney
• Chase Fairmont No longer available
• Chase Marriott Premier business card
• Chase Ritz-Carlton (no longer available)
• Chase Amazon
• Chase AARP

What Cards Aren’t Affected?

As of November 13th, 2018 all Chase cards now have the 5/24 rule applied to them as far as we know. It was possible to get the Marriott Premier business card without this rule being applied, but that card is no longer accepting new applications.

Why Aren’t These Cards Affected?

We don’t know for certain, but I assume it has something to do with how these partnerships are structured. Two things that are interesting:

• These cards do not have business versions available (Marriott does have a business card and that isn’t affected)
• These cards do not allow you to generate referral links (apart from the Disney/Hyatt cards that do)

There is nothing to say that this rule won’t be applied to these cards in the future. Similarly there is nothing to say that this rule will be applied to these cards in the future.

How To Get Around This Rule

There are a number of exemptions to this rule and ways to get around it.

‘Selected For You Offers’/”Just For You” – Personal Offers

Online it’s possible to see if you have any offers that have been ‘selected for you’. We discuss this in great detail in this post.

‘Selected For You Offers’/”Just For You” – Black Star Business Offers

Similar to the above but for business cards, discussed in more detail here.

Chase Private Clients (CPC)

Update: This is no longer working unfortunately.

If you’re a Chase Private Client, then this rule likely won’t affect you. Frequent Miler has shared his experience about that in this post here. There are also other reports of this happening elsewhere. It doesn’t seem to matter whether you apply online or in branch.

See Using Chase Private Client Status to Get Approved for Credit Cards for more details.

In Branch Offers

Some people have been approved despite being over 5/24 when they have applied for a card at a Chase branch. Most successful reports have been of people that have been told they were pre-approved for a credit card (without them prompting the banker to look for pre-approved offers). This leads me to believe that if you receive one of these ‘pop up’ offers in branch then 5/24 is unlikely to apply – but if you specifically ask for them to check for pre-approved offers they are basically just using the online checker and this doesn’t circumvent 5/24. Sometimes it can be hard to determine what sort of pre-approval you have in branch, just ask the rep if it has a fixed APR or variable. If fixed it will bypass 5/24.

Some people have been approved even when over 5/24 and specifically asking for pre-approved offers – so this might work as well. It’s by no means guaranteed though. I’d wait to see if they say you’re pre-approved before asking for offers as that should give you a better success rate.

Read: Chase PreApproval In-Branch Frequently Asked Questions

In Branch BRM Paper Offers

If you’re able to find a BRM (business relationship manager) banker and get them to submit a paper application for a business credit card this might bypass the 5/24 rule as it goes to a different department that doesn’t enforce this rule. We discuss this in more depth here.

Targeted/Invite Offers

Some people have been able to bypass 5/24 when they have received an invite offer in the mail with an invitation code. These offers look like this (thanks to  E* from Demflyers):

Notice the invitation number at the top right. Doesn’t seem like these are really being sent out anymore and if they are might no longer bypass 5/24.

Random Success

Recently some people have been able to get around the 5/24 rule randomly, we’re not exactly sure why this is the case. At first we thought it might have been because they received a targeted sign up bonus or mail out offer, but then plenty of people with those offers have also be denied so that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Business Cards Not Reporting

Not all business cards show up on your personal credit report. This means that theoretically you could have 10+ business cards and none of them would be counted towards your five card limit. You can view what business cards do/don’t report by clicking here. Keep in mind that even though Chase business cards do not normally report, they will still be counted as Chase has this information internally. Update: It seems like Chase business cards aren’t counted.

Authorized Users & Reconsideration

If you have five cards reporting as a new account within the past two years and ONE of them is an authorized user account then it’s possible to call reconsideration and plead your case. They have the ability to approve you if this is the case, but it’s still up to the credit analyst to make the call. You can view reconsideration numbers by clicking here. You can also read this post on how to remove authorized user accounts from your credit report.

[Read: Tips For Reconsideration Phone Calls]

Our Verdict

It was getting a little confusing having this information over multiple blog posts, so I hope it’s helpful to have it in one place. I’ve also expanded on some of the ways to get around this rule. If you have any questions, please ask in the comments.

F.A.Q

Do charge cards count towards the limit?

Yes.

Do store cards count towards the limit?

If the card can be used outside of a specific store (e.g it has a payment network such as Visa, Mastercard, American Express or Discover) it will be counted. If it can only be used for a specific store, it will not be counted. Data points: 1, 2

Do auto loans count towards the limit?

No they don’t count.

Do mortgages/home loans count towards the limit?

No they don’t count. Unsure, although I’d assume they wouldn’t because they aren’t a bank card.

Do student loans count towards the limit?

According to this data point, they do.

If I’m at 5/24, does the rule apply to me?

Yes, you need to have 4 new accounts or less showing on your report otherwise the 5/24 rule will apply to you.

How do you removed authorized user accounts from your credit report?

This page has detailed information on how to do this.

Can I apply for two cards at the same time when I’m at 4/24 and get approved for both?

According to this comment it is possible. And another datapoint.

How is 24 months calculated?

It goes by calendar months, for example say if you’re under 5/24 on January the 8th you actually won’t be eligible until February the 1st. Data point and another datapoint. Another data point suggests you’ll be eligible on January 1st & another & another.

Not 100% sure why there is a discrepancy in this. One theory is that Experian reports account openings at the first of the month. So if they pull Experian only then they would use the January 1st date, otherwise it would use the February 1st date.

Can You Call Reconsideration After You Fall Under 5/24?

Yes, in the example above if you accidentally apply on January 9th then you could call reconsideration on February 1st and then get approved.

Does applying for a banner offer on through the Chase app bypass 5/24?

The Chase app sometimes shows banner offers (see image below), these do not bypass 5/24. More information here. Additional DP says if you’re pre-qualified through the app it does bypass 5/24.