Update: One or more card offers in this post are no longer available. Check our Hot Deals for the latest offers.
Million Mile Secrets reader, Jill, writes:
You’ve reported about how Chase is denying applicants with more than 5 credit cards opened in the past 24 months. I was turned down even though I have a 822 FICO score.
How many cards do you expect to apply for in a year? Many months ago you wrote that you and Emily apply to between 12 to 15 cards a year. Is that still your strategy (even after the changes with Chase)?
Chase is making it more difficult for folks with 5+ new cards (from any bank) in the last 24 months to be approved for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Plus, Chase Ink Business Cash Credit Card, Chase Freedom, and Chase Slate cards.
Find out more about the new criteria Chase is using and why it will NOT change my application strategy.
Chase Has New Rules!
Link: New Rules for Chase Credit Card Approvals
The new criteria for getting approved for Chase cards isn’t in writing, so we don’t know the exact details. But here’s what many folks have been told by customer service agents:
- If you’ve opened 5 or more credit card accounts (from any bank) in the past 24 months, you likely won’t be approved for the Chase Freedom, Chase Ink Cash, Chase Ink Plus, and Chase Sapphire Preferred, and Chase Slate.
Folks who are new to miles and points or who don’t have 5+ new cards should sign-up for Chase Ultimate Rewards cards before they become ineligible.
Chase Ultimate Rewards points are valuable because they’re flexible and never expire. Besides using them for cash back, you can get Big Travel by transferring them to airline, hotel, or rail partners:
| Chase Ultimate Rewards Airline Transfer Partners | ||
|---|---|---|
| Aer Lingus | British Airways | Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) |
| Iberia | JetBlue | Singapore Airlines |
| Southwest | United Airlines | Virgin Atlantic |
| Chase Ultimate Rewards Hotel Transfer Partners | ||
|---|---|---|
| Hyatt | IHG | Marriott |
| Ritz-Carlton |
But you can only transfer to travel partners if you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, or Chase Ink Plus cards.
So it’s a good idea to sign-up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Chase Ink Plus first. This will ensure you can transfer your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to partners like Hyatt and United Airlines.
Then you can apply for other cards later.
There Are Some Exceptions!
Link: Possible Exceptions to the Rules
As with most rules, it looks like there are some loopholes:
- This new rule does NOT seem to apply to airline and hotel branded cards such as the Chase Hyatt or United MileagePlus® Explorer Card
- If you’ve recently applied for several Chase cards and sign-up quickly for a new card, you may still be approved
- If you applied for cards (even Chase cards) that use a different credit bureau, Chase may NOT be able to see these other cards and approve your application
Why These Changes Won’t Impact My Application Strategy
I typically apply for 3 to 4 new cards each quarter and I do NOT expect this to change. That’s because in order to be approved for another Chase Ultimate Rewards card, I’d have to stop signing-up for new cards for a couple of years.
And there are just too many other great cards out there, to pass up!
Check out my the list of my current favorite sign-up bonuses and the Hot Deals page to see there are plenty of great rewards cards that aren’t from Chase.
And I may still get approved for airline and hotel branded Chase cards including:
- Chase British Airways
- Chase Fairmont
- Chase Hyatt
- Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card
- Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
- Marriott Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card
- Chase Ritz-Carlton
- Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier (Personal)
- Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier (Business)
- Southwest Rapid Rewards® Plus Credit Card
- Chase United MileagePlus Explorer (Personal)
- Chase United MileagePlus Explorer (Business)
- Chase United MileagePlus Club Card
Bottom Line
Chase has changed the criteria they use to approve applications. And folks who have 5 or more new cards within the last 24 months will LIKELY have their application denied for the following cards:
While this is disappointing news, there are exceptions and there are lots of other terrific cards out with excellent sign-up bonuses. I plan on focusing my attention on those and I’ll continue signing-up for 3 to 4 new cards each quarter.
@matthewD
She was auto approved.
@MilesMethod.com – Was she auto-approved? Did she call in? Did she wait without calling in?
My wife was recently denied a Freedom card for more than 5 new accounts in the past 24 months, but was approved for the British Airways card less than a month later (this July).
I was denied last week for the Marriott personal card and after speaking to them it was because of two many applications in the past 24 months. So it looks like their new rule is spreading to the hotel/airline cards too. I offered to lower credit lines, cancel cards, etc and they wouldn’t budge. just fyi
@Todd and @MilesMethods.com
Below is our experience.
We had:
2 credit cards approved in Jan (he was on there as an AU)
2 credit cards approved in Apr (he was primary cardholder)
1 Freedom credit card approved in May (he was primary cardholder)
1 credit card approved in June (he was on there as an AU)
— he was denied Sapphire in July because of “too much activity, more than 5 accounts”. When we pointed out that he had only opened 3 accounts but was AU on 3 of them, it didn’t matter.
If you’re sitting at this stage and still want the Sapphire card, I would recommend removing yourself as AU on other cards that are within the 2 year limit. That’s what we’re doing, and once the credit report is cleaned up, we’ll reapply (and probably get auto-approved).
To me, it doesn’t make sense to churn cards like the Freedom and Sapphire cards. I’d rather keep them around anyway.