(Reports) Chase Tightens Up Approvals On Business Card Applications

(Update 11/21/24: Here’s a link to another take on this from a Reddit poster.)

Anecdotal reports indicate that Chase has tightened up on approving applications for INK business cards, especially since last month (October 2024).

I’ve been grumbling about this for a while now (I had been seeing anecdotal evidence of approval tightening even from before October), and there’s now a Reddit r/churning survey indicating the same. It’s not a huge sample size, but worthy of discussion.

The biggest factor seems to be that those who already have open INK cards are less likely to get approved for a new one. Here are some stats:

  • Those with zero INK cards had an 87% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (14)
  • Those with one INK card had an 68% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (19)
  • Those with two INK cards had an 57% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (28)
  • Those with three INK cards had an 18% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (40)
  • Those with four INK cards had an 0% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (14)

Some other factors that seems to have an effect of approvals:

  • Have an open Chase business deposit account had a mild positive effect on approvals.
  • Preemptively lowering credit limit had a negative effect on approvals. (This is quite surprising as previously lots of evidence suggested that have a lower credit limit would greatly increase the chances of an instant automated approval.)
  • Floating large balances on your Chase cards had a negative effect on approvals.
  • Other factors like business revenue, years in business, and spend volume on cards did not necessarily have much effect on odds of approval.

There isn’t much data on other Chase business cards outside of the INK family, but it seems those might also be getting tougher on approvals.

Thanks again to r/churning for the data, you can read the discussion on Reddit at this link.
    Chuck
  • On November 13, 2024, 22:05
Tags: chasechase ink

View Comments (140)

  • I am not convinced this tightening on approvals for Ink cards is because of churning. I applied for a CIU earlier this month, four months after opening a CIP. I also have a CIU from March of this year. I lowered the credit limits on both cards to 1k before applying. I've had many of these the past few years, only two open at time of most recent app. I was denied and again and again on two recon attempts. But what was interesting to me was the Hyatt personal card I applied for on the same day (to combined pulls). Eventually I was approved for the Hyatt card but they reallocated credit from two of my personal cards. And I always trim those back after approval but historically, Chase has been generous to me on approved credit lines. But when they approved that Hyatt, relatively speaking, I had little exposure to them on available credit, personal and obviously business side. So what I'm trying to say is that it seems to me this is a risk tolerance issue related to economic conditions. Otherwise the ordinary thing to happen would be for me to get maybe $10k or more on a new personal card approval. Definitely not a need to reallocate credit. I could be wrong on all this of course, but the Hyatt app was revealing to me. It could well be uncertainty because of the political transition and the unknown...that they have tightened up the past few months. I don't think I would read much more into this perceived Ink derailment until well into next year. In the meantime, I would imagine one every six months is doable.

  • After being repeatedly denied earlier this year, I was finally instantly approved. The differences between this time and the last denial were: one chase ink was closed so I had two left; I had deposit in the checking thus the overall balance (deposit minus the amount owned on existing cards) was positive although the amount owed on the cards increased from last time. These probably helped. Also I heard sometimes at the end of the year the banks want more signing up, that could has helped as well.

  • 09/06/2023: Opened Chase Ink Business Cash
    11/17/2024: Opened Chase Ink Business Unlimited

    $0.00 balance on ink business cash at time of application for ink business unlimited. I have a Chase business checking with minimal activity, used only for faking DD's. 3/24.

    If it matters, I applied for my ink business unlimited from a targeted mailer, with the $900 for $6,000 spend offer.

  • Just denied for a United Biz card, and I have 3 Inks. It might extend to their co-branded biz cards as well.

    • Hey Cliff, Thank for the DP. When did you open the 3 Inks? Have you applied for any Chase personal cards recently?

    • Same situation. Don't think I will bother with calling reconsideration. Just requested via secure message to close one of my Ink cards with 8K limit, and also lowered the limit on a personal card just in case. I think that might help my chances with Chase next time for business or personal cards.

  • Here's my situation with chase business. Dec 2022 i got the unlimited. March 2023 tried for cash, denied. "too many accounts or too much available credit. " Nothing in between the unlimited successful app and the cash denial. and now im over 4/24 so no chase for me until June 2025. Ive been "non chase, business only" status since august 2024. Ive hit WF and us bank since then. Next up BMO.

  • Does anyone have any DPs for trying to get the Ink Premier as a fourth or fifth card? I wonder whether the underwriting standard might be looser because you have to pay in full at the end of each month, plus most people probably don't have that card yet because the SUB is not nearly as attractive as the CIU. But beggars can't be choosers ...

  • I recently posted in the 90k Ink unlimited thread my DP. My dp summarized here:
    4 open inks( 3 cash & 1 unlimited), most recent was from 01/24, MSR reached in March. All applied and opened with SSN. I applied for the unlimited(w/ SSN) couple weeks ago and got app pending which ultimately resulted in a denial. Letter states too much C.L, underutilized, recently opened accounts. I'm carrying a small balance on 3 of my cashes, and nothing on unlimited. 1st recon call-rep agreed with letter & won't do anything. Closed out old ink unlimited prior to 2nd recon call-rep took down additional information about my business and noted that I even offered to use my existing CLs towards the new account. Recon was submitted and returned as another denial. Call a 3rd time(the charm right??)-only to be met with the same fate.
    I kept my inks open due the multipliers/offers/separate spend but will be closing them out to improve my future odds.

  • Jut counted up - I'm a slower churner - I've opened 9 since 2017 - so only 1 a year then a couple extra - always auto approved. I knew this would happen. It was greedy kinda like the grAAvy train was. There were so many other cards to open with other issuers.

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