5/24 Rule

Imagine you applied for two Citi cards, one Capital One card, and one Amex card over the past two years, then decided to finally grab the Chase Sapphire Preferred. That's four new accounts, and your application would likely sail through Chase's approval process. Now add one more store card you opened for a signup discount at checkout, and you've crossed into 5/24 territory. Chase sees five new accounts in 24 months and declines the application automatically, regardless of your credit score or income.

The most common misconception is that the rule only counts Chase cards. It counts new personal credit cards from any issuer reported on your personal credit report. A new Amazon Visa, a Discover card, a regional bank card opened last spring, all of those count. What does not count, and this trips up a lot of strategists, is small-business cards from Chase itself, Amex, Citi, Capital One, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. Those issuers do not report business accounts to your personal credit bureaus, so they leave your 5/24 slot count untouched. Authorized-user accounts are trickier; Chase has historically included them in the count, though some data points suggest success when calling in to have them reviewed.

The mechanics are straightforward: Chase pulls your personal credit report and counts the number of new account openings in the trailing 24 calendar months from your application date. There is no public appeal process or formal reconsideration path that reliably overrides a 5/24 denial. The rule applies to virtually every Chase personal card and most Chase business cards as well. Because Chase issues some of the most valuable transferable currency cards in the US, including cards that feed Chase Ultimate Rewards, timing your application sequence around this rule is the single highest-leverage planning decision in domestic points strategy.

Build your Chase card portfolio first, then shift to Amex, Citi, Capital One, and other issuers once you have the Chase cards you need.