Chase is one of the credit card banks that offer great sign-up bonuses on their credit cards. Unfortunately, Chase has tightened their application rules process that has a significant impact on the miles and points community with credit card sign-up strategies. 

Chase has introduced a very strict policy that is known to the points community as the "Chase 5/24 Rule." In this article, I'll go through the details of this 5/24 rule and go over a few known exceptions to bypass the rule. 

Chase 5/24 Rule Explained: 7 Exceptions To Bypass The Rule
Photo Credit: Chase

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    What is Chase 5/24 Rule? 

    First of all, the "Chase 5/24 Rule" term is referred to by the miles and points community. Chase bankers and Chase customer representatives mostly are not familiar with this terminology.

    Chase 5/24 Rule states the following:
    • If you have 5 or more new credit card accounts with Chase or any other banks in the past 24 months, Chase will not approve your new application. 

    Chase implemented this policy on all of their personal and business Chase Credit Cards. It does not matter if you have a nearly perfect credit score, an outstanding history payment, or make good money. Chase will not approve your new application if you have 5 or more new credit card accounts with Chase or any other banks in the past 24 months. There are, however, some methods to bypass this rule which we’ll talk about those methods later on.

    How does Chase 5/24 work?

    Once you submit your new Chase credit card application, your credit report will be pulled. If Chase sees that you have 5 or more open/closed credit card accounts with Chase or any other banks in the past 24 months on your credit report, your new Chase credit card application will be declined. 

    Any new recent credit card accounts that have not been added to your credit report yet will not be counted towards the 5 cards rule.

    Does the authorized user card count towards Chase 5/24?

    If you are an authorized user on a credit card, that credit card account is also reported to your credit report and therefore that account is also counted against the 5 cards rule. However, if your new Chase application is declined because of that authorized user card, you can call the Chase reconsideration line to speak to a lending specialist and ask them to exclude that authorized user card from their 5 cards rule. They will proceed accordingly and manually review your application again that can lead to approval. 


    Does Chase 5/24 apply to charge cards?

    Yes. American Express issues a few Charge Cards. Those cards do get reported to your credit report and counted as open credit accounts. Therefore, Chase 5/24 does apply to those charge cards. 

    In the past, American Express reported new accounts including credit cards and charge cards to the credit bureau after the card's two (2) statement cycles, but new data points indicate that Amex now reports new accounts after the account's first statement is generated. So just keep that in mind when you time your new Chase and Amex applications. 

    Does Chase 5/24 apply to store cards?

    No, store credit cards are excluded. 

    Does Chase 5/24 apply to business cards?

    Business credit cards are also excluded, except for Capital One Business Credit Cards. Business credit cards have their own credit report and therefore Chase won't be able to see them on your personal credit report. However, Capital One reports their business credit cards to the consumer's personal credit report as well.

    Does Chase 5/24 Apply to Loans?

    No, currently Chase 5/24 rule only applies to personal and business Chase Credit Cards.

    Does product change count towards Chase 5/24?

    No, product change typically means that you are downgrading or upgrading to a new card from your existing card. Therefore, all the credit history is still tied to that old account. 

    How to check your Chase 5/24 status? 

    The best way to count how many credit cards you have opened or closed in the past 24 months is to use free credit report services out there such as Free Credit Karma and Free Credit Sesame to pull your own credit report and start counting. It is worth noting that this type of credit report pulling does not impact your credit as it is considered a soft pull as opposed to a hard pull that happens when you apply for a new loan or a new credit card. Once you successfully join the service, you can view your credit report for free and start calculating the number of cards that you've opened in the past 24 months. 

    Exceptions to Bypass Chase 5/24 Rule 

    You can bypass Chase 5/24 rule with the following exceptions: 

    In Branch Pre-Approval Offer 

    Stop by a Chase branch and ask the banker to search for pre-approval offers for you. If there's any pre-approval credit card offer, you can tell the banker to make an application for you and that will bypass the Chase 5/24 rule.

    In Branch Paper Application With A Business Relationship Manager 

    If you really want to apply for a Chase business credit card and you have over 5 business cards on your business credit report in the past 24 months, you can ask your Chase Business Relationship Manager to make a paper application for you to bypass the Chase 5/24 rule.

    Mail Invitation With RSVP Code 

    Chase does send out invitation letters with an RSVP code to consumers to invite them to apply for Chase branded credit cards. If you receive one of those invitation offers, the RSVP code you use to apply for a Chase credit card will make your application bypass the Chase 5/24 rule.

    Online Targeted Just For You 

    • Log into your Chase account. 
    • On the left-hand side where the 3 lines menu ☰ icon is, click on it. 
    • Click on "Just for you" under the Explore Products section. That will take you to another page that has your targeted offers.  

    If you see a credit card offer that has a green checkmark with the word SELECTED FOR YOU, then you can apply for that credit card and your application will not be subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule.

    How to Bypass Chase 5/24 Rule


    Online Targeted Credit Card Offers

    • Log into your Chase account. 
    • On the left-hand side where the 3 lines menu ☰ icon is, click on it. 
    • Click on "Credit cards" under the Explore Products section. That will take you to another page that has Chase credit card offers. 

    If you see the words YOU'RE ALREADY APPROVED or YOU'RE PREQUALIFIED next to a credit card offer, then you can apply for that credit card and your application will not be subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule.

    How to Bypass Chase 5/24 Rule


    Online Targeted With United App 

    • Launch the United app. 
    • On the homepage, click on the United credit card offer ad.
    • Check whether the offer has the YOU'RE PREQUALIFIED word on the top. If it does, your application will not be subjected to the Chase 5/24 rule. 

    How to Bypass Chase 5/24 Rule

    Fixed APR Term 

    The miles and points community has provided data points that if a credit card offer that you are pre-qualified for has a fixed APR stated in the term, then your application will bypass the Chase 5/24 rule. If your offer has an APR range term, then that will not bypass the Chase 5/24 rule.
    Fixed APR Term that will bypass Chase 5/24 rule: 0% fixed Intro APR for the first 12 months that your Account is open. After that, 14.74%. This APR will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.
    APR Range Term that will not bypass Chase 5/24 rule: 0% fixed Intro APR for the first 12 months that your Account is open. After that, 14.74% to 20.74%, based on your creditworthiness. These APRs will vary with the market based on the Prime Rate.