There are a few new interesting credit card offers from Chase, including an incredible 3x everywhere offer on Freedom Unlimited, and 100k bonuses on Iberia, Aer Lingus, and British. This is just a cautionary reminder that Chase has been difficult recently with regards to account reviews or shut downs when applying for new cards.
We wrote about this last year in the post Chase Account Freeze due to Financial Review. Briefly, Chase occasionally reviews accounts they deem suspicious. The result is an account freeze which typically leads to all your Chase accounts getting closed down.
It all starts when eyes are put on the account. This happens either when they pull your credit report due to a new Chase account application, or if they soft pull to check up on you for other reasons such as large transactions or sudden increases in spending.
Initially, there were an encouraging number of affected people who were able to get their accounts reinstated by calling, but more recently it seems that’s only sporadically true.
There are really two separate issues here. One is applying for any Chase credit card. If your credit report doesn’t look entirely ‘clean’, e.g. if you have many new accounts showing, even non-Chase accounts, or if you’ve had your credit report close with high balances, you risk getting a review or shutdown. The second issue is a sudden spike in spending. It’s sure tempting to hit the Freedom Unlimited card hard during the first year for 3x everywhere, but there’s a risk here, especially with sudden increases.
Try ramping up slowly for best results. and attempt to time applications when your credit report is at it’s best. Something to keep in mind.
You can read more shut down stories in the r/churning shut down megathread and this Flyertalk thread and in these Milesperday posts.Â
It looks like almost all the comments were from over 2 years ago. Was this something that reflected a particular push by Chase back in 2017/2018, which eased up sometime in 2019?
My own situation is:
* I have a long history with Chase with never anything that raised a flag with them (first card in 2009),
* No applications for Chase CCs, loans, etc. in the last 25 months.
* Few inquiries (8 total scattered over three different bureaus). Of those 8, 3 were over a year ago.
* My 5/24 status is 4/24.
* No weird or suspicious spending on my Chase cards. Just occasional smallish transactions for groceries and gas and no gift card purchases.
I plan to apply for a business card for which I have previously received 50,000 UR points. This will be the first time I have churned this card. I’ll wait until 25 months after I received the last bonus of course.
I have churned Chase bank account bonuses a fair amount in the past.
Wow, so grateful for the heads up!
I just located when it was that I got my last Chase business card bonus — it was in Dec 2018. (I mistakenly thought it was more like Sept 2018.) Thus I won’t be applying for a Chase business card until Jan 2021.
I assume that people in the know are predicting that Chase’s blanket rejection of all business card apps is expected to only last for a few weeks or at worst a couple months. Is that right?
I am at 2/24. About 18 total accounts open on credit report. Got Southwest Plus (that is one of my 2/24) and Premier Business on 12/1/18. Got CIP on 1/3/19. Would like Ink Cash or Business Unlimited. Too risky to apply today?
Thanks
General recommendation is 3 months between chase business apps, seems like waiting a couple months (at least) would be wise.
Would Chase be alerted to the sudden increases in spending if you pay off the balance before the statement hits? Wondering if this would prevent a trigger to review your account.
Might help, but it’s certainly possible they’ll still see it.
Do you know if this review includes business cards not reported to your personal credit report?
Anyone have dp’s for 2 or 3bm on chase for new chase accounts, is there a concern for a fr if its som1s 2nd and 3rd card ever?? Or should ppl stay away from any bm action even if it’s the first time getting the card, and with very few accounts ever?
At 4/24. 22 inquiries in past 24 months.
Current Chase Cards:
Chat Freedom
Chase Slate
Chase Ink Business Preferred:
Chase Ink Business Cash
Recent Applications
Chase Mariott Business: 01/25/18 Approved
Chase Ink Business Preferred: 03/23/18 Approved
Chase Ink Business Cash: 05/06/18 Approved
Chase Sapphire Preferred: 05/23/18 Grilled by Lending Department, after what seemed like an eternity on the line with them and the security team, they told me it would be 1-2 week review and I would get a decision by mail. I feel like I got the “review this …….” button.
What are my odds of shutdown?
Was CSP approved, were you shutdown what happened?
How are u 4/24 yet have 20 inquiries in the last 24 months? All business cards?
Did u just apply for another card therefore the the grilling from the lending department?
Ur post is kinda hard to figure out.
I am 1/12 & 3/24. On 4/23 I lowered the CL on my Freedom card by $10k. On 4/26 I applied for the FU 3x everywhere. Got the 30 day response.
Logged into my account today and the FU is showing up with a $21k CL.
Hopefully I don’t get shutdown, my x/12, x/24 numbers don’t seem to indicate that I would.
I’ll report back as to my status in a few days.
My cc hx: store card 6.2016, CFU 5.2017, HH 6.2017, IHG 7.2017, SW 8.2017 AND CIC 3.2018. But I’m just going to continue with my plan of closing a couple cards. Starting with SW after having it for a year but still able to be reimbursed for the annual fee. Then maybe IHG. And just wait patiently for a better signup bonus for the CSR.But does this sound like a plan that hopefully won’t draw attention from Chase.
I got all my chase accounts shutdown yesterday. My story is a lot like you read in Reddit. Got approved for Chase card, showed on my account page, then all accounts closed.
Rep gave same reason you read there. I don’t know how many accounts in last 12 months but probably about 10. FICO about 790.
Called lending services and they are giving secondary review. Not hopeful though.
The point I made with them (like it matters!), is I replied to solicited offers in the past which got me here. Why are they soliciting me to advance credit line, only to shut me down once I get it?
Are there any data points on whether voluntarily closing a Chase credit card could trigger a review or shutdown?
I’m roughly 4/24 to 5/24 on personal cards (plus another 4/24 on biz cards, just got approved for Chase Marriott Biz). Hard pulls are 7/24 Experian (6 of them card related and mostly more than a year old) and 2/24 Equifax. 4+ years avg age, 800+ FICO. I plan to lay low on applying for a while but a couple cards have AF coming up. I think (hope) I’m lower risk but it seems like no one is safe. Would very much appreciate any color on the risk of closing cards!
I am in the same situation, and wondering if requesting closure of cards with annual fees (by secure message), increases any risk of shutdowns
I have not seen any DPs on issues with closing Chase card accounts. It appears that it can sometimes be an issue when opening new Chase cards.
Chase doesn’t really have easy low hanging fruit anymore. I’d rather do 3 cards for $1k spend for SUBs than 1 card at $3k spend.