Does the 5/24 rule affect other card issuers? Though the 5/24 rule is unique to Chase and does not affect other card issuers, other rules and restrictions may apply. The most popular card issuers, including American Express, Capital One and Citi, all have their own application rules to discourage churning.
The Chase 5/24 rule limits the number of personal credit cards you can open within a two-year period and still qualify for most Chase products.
Put simply, Chase will not approve applications for certain credit cards if the applicant has already opened 5 (or more) credit card accounts in the last 24 months. This includes not only cards you open at Chase, but also cards you open at any bank that are reported to your personal credit report.
Unlike Chase, which has a similar 5/24 rule (only five new accounts in the last 24 months), Citi's limits on new cards only apply to other Citi cards.
Remember, 5/24 is a credit card count, so home loans, student loans, personal loans, and auto loans don't count.
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.
Chase 5/24 rule exceptions
American Express, Bank of America, Citi, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo typically don't report your business cards to your personal credit unless delinquent. This means if you get a business credit card from these providers it may not count in the 5/24 rule.
Perhaps the most well-known example in the points and miles world is Chase's 5/24 rule. That rule means that Chase will reject you for nearly all of its credit cards if you've opened five or more cards across all banks in the previous 24 months, excluding most business cards.
Update: You can no longer apply for two Chase cards at the same time. It's important to remember that Chase (or more accurately the credit bureaus) combines hard pulls so if you apply for two cards at the same time or near the same time, there will usually only be one hard pull on your credit report.
Unfortunately, Citi and Capital One are both incredibly sensitive to this. I've heard stories from plenty of friends with credit scores over 800 who both issuers have rejected for having too many recent inquiries on their credit report.
Cards You Can Get If You're Over the 5/24 Rule
That means you can get these cards if you've opened five or more accounts in the last 24 months: Amazon Rewards Visa Signature.
Having a lot of credit cards can hurt your credit score under any of the following conditions: You are unable to service your current debt. Your outstanding debt is more than 30% of your total available credit1 You have added too many cards in too short a time.
There are a variety of ways to check your 5/24 status for free — including apps like those from Experian or counting the new cards on your free annual credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com. However, we found the easiest way is to sign up for a free Credit Karma account and use that to check your 5/24 status.
The 2/30 rule says that you can only have two applications every 30 days or else you'll automatically be rejected. If you don't have a high credit score (700+), your chances of getting approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® is slim. Chase usually looks for a great credit score or a banking relationship.
Number of Cards
Capital One will allow you to have only two of its personal credit cards open at once. This is a hard rule and cannot be overridden.
How many credit accounts is too many or too few? Credit scoring formulas don't punish you for having too many credit accounts, but you can have too few. Credit bureaus suggest that five or more accounts — which can be a mix of cards and loans — is a reasonable number to build toward over time.
Reports suggest that you'll typically need a score of at least 720 to get approved for the card, though the average score is slightly higher. People with scores below 700 have been approved for the card, but the approval usually isn't instant in those circumstances.
Currently, you can have up to five American Express consumer credit cards at one time. It is important to note that American Express offers multiple types of cards — business cards and consumer cards — and that the rule only applies to consumer cards where you are the primary cardholder.
The USAA® Secured American Express® Card used to be the easiest American Express card to obtain as it was available to people with bad credit.
Calling Capital One:
They will tell you what has happened with the account and why it was restricted in the first place. The problem may lie with having too much credit on your card in which case you will be asked to pay it off to zero to reopen the account.
How often should you apply for a new credit card? While the number of credit cards you should have is up to you and you can apply for new lines of credit as often as you want, it's a good idea to wait at least 90 days between new credit card applications—and it's even better if you can wait a full six months.
Do Chase business cards count toward my 5/24 score? No. If you are approved for a Chase business card, it shouldn't add to your 5/24 standing. However, you must be below 5/24 to get approved for most Chase business cards.
Most conventional loans require a credit score of at least 620 to buy a house. But, you'll find that there are several other loan types that have much lower requirements. A lot of first-time home buyers worry that their credit scores are too low to buy a home.
Conventional loans require at least three tradelines (any combination of credit cards, student loans, car loans, and so on) that have been active within the past 12-24 months. FHA loans require two tradelines. It's fine to have more, but if you have fewer, you won't qualify for a mortgage.
The standard advice is to keep unused accounts with zero balances open. The reason is that closing the accounts reduces your available credit, which makes it appear that your utilization rate, or balance-to-limit ratio, has suddenly increased.