There’s an interesting comment from reader OOOQ who heard from a senior supervisor at Chase a pointer which sounds correct regarding the standard 24-month rule. The rule is:
This product is available to you if you do not have this card and have not received a new cardmember bonus for this card in the past 24 months.
Now, there are some cards which offer a bonus of receiving 5% on select categories for a full year. Each time you get that 5% bonus deposit, multiple times throughout the year, the Chase system considers it as earning a signup bonus. This pushes out your eligibility to earn a signup bonus for that card another 24 months.
Essentially, assuming you take advantage of the full 12-month period to earn the signup bonus, you will be eligible for a new signup bonus around 3 years after applying for the prior card. (Side note, you’ll also have to close or product change the card away from Freedom Unlimited before applying again. Do so a few days before you are ready to apply.)
This is also quite relevant for the new double cashback bonus offer on the Freedom Unlimited which currently offers a doubling bonus at the end of the year. Since the doubling bonus posts after 12 months, that would likely start your 24 month bonus clock. You’ll be eligible for a new Freedom Unlimited bonus around 3 years after the initial application of your prior Freedom Unlimited.
Good to know.
So, if the 24 month rule applies to the date that you receive the bonus, does that mean you cannot apply or cannot receive the bonus for 24 months? For example, my bonus was received 2/23/22. Do I have to wait until after that to apply or after that to receive another bonus since it takes 1-3 months after application to receive?
Of course. Sneaky sneaky bank vs customers who want sneak past loopholes. The name of the game.
How does the 5/24 work exactly ? The cards I opened in Sep 2021 count towards 5/24 today in Oct 2023 ?
Simple. Check your credit report and see which month the account first posted a balance. If it posted in September 2021 then you can go ahead.
OK, I applied for a new Ink Cash card (90k SUB) under my sole proprietorship a few days before this info got posted. I’ve had another Ink Cash card under my corporation for 2-3 years now, and was regularly maxing out the 5%-$25k spend office supply feature. Also got the Ink Unlimited thru my corp late last year, got the 90k SUB on that.
Not sure if Chase would deny me the SUB on this new sole proprietorship card… am I worrying unnecessarily? I was under the impression from prior threads that separate entities were separate considerations (BTW, I did get a separate EIN for the sole proprietership).
I’m not 100% sure but for business cards each EIN/SSN should be considered different entity by Chase. So this would only apply if you canceled your corp card and reapplied again.
I was rejected Chase Freedom Flex for this very reason. The last transaction for 5% supermarket cashback was on 10/10/2020. Did a product change to another card and applied for Freedom Flex again on 10/11/2023, and I was rejected for this reason. It’s been over 3 years technically… so does that mean I should try again 3 years from when the October 2020 statement closed? It closed around the end of October.
I thought you can’t get bonuses with a product change? Only a new signup?
Any clarity?
Thanks for posting this.
So this means the Freedom Flex won’t ever reset if you keep using the quarterly bonus every year?
If the statement is true, you then have to close your card and wait for 24 months to be eligible for new sign up bonus of the same product, meaning you have to live without this card for 2 years, which is clearly wrong
Just have to go 24 months without earning a signup bonus
Let me start by stating the obvious: Chase customer service has gone to s**t since COVID.
Data point: this summer was churn time for me and my wife’s FUs and FFs. Both FUs and my FF went smoothly; crossed 24 months since bonus, cancelled card, reapplied a week later, etc. My wife’s FF was a problem and is still a headache. Because I track these things, I had her FF SUB listed as January 2021 and customer service was insisting it was September 2021. We argued and argued and argued and called and elevated and all that. I couldn’t get them to budge, and they never explained it to me.
Thank you DoC, now I know why.
UPDATE: Yesterday I spent 30 min on the phone with Chase customer service about the FF application. It was LENDING SERVICES that insisted my wife’s application was rejected due to being under 24 months since receiving the SUB. I stood my ground, and they transferred me to CARD SERVICES, who was able to research the account and see that the FF was opened in Dec. 2020 and the SUB was issued in Feb 2021. This guy offered to conference with LENDING and advocate for my case. After another 10 min on hold, LENDING came back on, CARD excused themselves, and LENDING told me that it was a combination offer which my wife applied for of the SUB + 5pts./dollar at grocery and gas for 12 months (true). I’m not sure how they arrived at the date, but they said that TODAY (Oct. 15th) is the end of the 24 month period from last receiving a bonus on the first FF, my wife’s application is still good for 30 days, and I should call and request a reconsideration on Oct. 16th. I will do just that, and I will update this thread.
Damn! How many hours do you have to put in before the value of your time and frustration eats up all the potential bonus value you might get? You get a sticker for trying though.
UPDATE: Wife re-applied last night after CARD services assured me we were all good. Rejected after submitting online application. Immediate phone call to reconsideration got me put on hold for five minutes, and then was told we had to wait 30 DAYS after 24 month period date (Oct. 15th) and THEN could apply and possibly get approved. Now I’m SURE we’re getting jerked around and it feels like they’re making up rules on the fly.
You made a small typo here: “close our product change”.
Fixed thanks