Jul 2026

The Chase rules worth knowing before you apply.

Chase enforces more application rules than most card issuers, and they gate two separate things: whether you get approved, and whether you earn the welcome bonus. What follows covers both, for personal and business cards. Most of these rules are unofficial, pieced together from applicant data points rather than published by Chase, and each one is cited.

5/24: the rule that gates approval

Chase counts every personal credit card you've opened across all banks in the past 24 months, including ones you've since closed. If that number is five or more, Chase denies most applications, personal or business (The Points Guy, NerdWallet). The count only falls with time: you're not back under until the first day of the 25th month after you opened that fifth card. Since November 2018 it applies to every Chase card, personal and business (Doctor of Credit).

The rule is unofficial. Chase has never published it and removed the last mention from its site in 2016, so it exists through crowdsourced applicant reports (Doctor of Credit).

What counts toward 5/24: personal cards from any issuer including closed ones, authorized-user cards that appear on your credit report (with the caveat in the checklist below), store cards on national networks, and business cards from Discover, TD Bank, and some Capital One products (The Points Guy, Upgraded Points). What doesn't count: most business cards, denied applications, and installment loans such as auto, mortgage, and student loans (Doctor of Credit).

The pre-application checklist

Run through these before applying for any Chase card, personal or business:

Count the personal cards you've opened in the last 24 months, from any bank, including closed ones. Four or fewer clears the main hurdle (NerdWallet).
Add authorized-user cards that show on your credit report, with a caveat. Chase's automated system counts them, but they aren't your own accounts, so the reconsideration line will often exclude them if they're what pushed you over 5/24 (The Points Guy). You can also ask to be removed as an authorized user, and the account drops off your report in about 60 to 90 days (Upgraded Points).
Check whether you've opened two or more Chase cards in the last 30 days. A third inside that window is usually denied (Ask Sebby).
Confirm you're eligible for the bonus, not just the card. Bonuses have their own rules, and Chase shows a pop-up during the application if you aren't eligible (Doctor of Credit).
For a business card, confirm you have a business. A sole proprietorship qualifies, and you can apply with your Social Security number instead of an EIN (Chase).
Pull your Experian report to confirm your 5/24 count. It shows the open dates plainly.

Which business cards count toward 5/24?

A card counts only if it shows up on your personal credit report, and most business cards never do (Travel on Points):

Issuer	Business cards count toward 5/24?
Chase	No
American Express	No
Bank of America	No
Citi	No
Barclays	No
U.S. Bank	No
Wells Fargo	No
Discover	Yes
TD Bank	Yes
Capital One	Mixed (see below)

Capital One is mixed. Its Venture X Business, Venture Business, and Spark Cash Plus stay off your personal report, while Spark Cash, Spark Cash Select, and VentureOne Business report and count (Travel on Points).

Application velocity: two per 30 days

Beyond 5/24, Chase approves at most two cards in any 30-day window, a limit known as 2/30 (Ask Sebby, PointsNav). Business cards count toward 2/30 even though they don't count toward 5/24 (PointsNav).

Sign-up bonus rules

Approval and bonus eligibility are separate. An approved card can still come with no bonus if you trip one of these:

Same-product rule: for most cards you can't earn the bonus again if you've received it in the last 24 months and still hold the card (Monkey Miles).
No-annual-fee Ink business cards: the bonus is limited to once per lifetime per card (Monkey Miles).
Pop-up jail: Chase runs a proprietary eligibility model and warns you in the application if you aren't eligible for a bonus, with no credit impact if you cancel (Doctor of Credit).

Chase Sapphire changed in 2026

Sapphire had its own strict rules for years: only one Sapphire card at a time, and a 48-month wait between Sapphire bonuses (The Points Party). In 2026 Chase removed both. There's no more 48-month wait and no more one-Sapphire limit. You can hold the Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, and Sapphire Reserve for Business at once, and earn each card's bonus once per lifetime (Ask Sebby, One Mile at a Time). A product change between Sapphire cards earns no bonus and resets nothing; only a new application does. This change is recent and the sources are dated across 2025 and 2026, so confirm current behavior with a fresh data point before timing an application.

Business card requirements

Chase doesn't require an incorporated business or business income; anyone applying with the intent to earn a profit qualifies, including freelancers and resellers (Chase). Sole proprietors apply with their legal name as the business name and their Social Security number as the tax ID (One Mile at a Time). The application asks for business name, structure, industry, revenue, time in business, and number of employees, and Chase may request documentation such as a financial statement or articles of organization to verify it (Chase).

Underwriting basics

Credit score: approval generally needs a good-to-excellent score, roughly 670 or higher (Upgraded Points).
Income: Chase states there's no fixed minimum income, and reportable income can include household, self-employment, retirement, and investment income (Chase).
Debt-to-income and the total credit Chase has already extended also factor in; too much total credit is a common denial reason (Chase, The Points Guy).

Bureaus and reconsideration

Chase picks which credit bureau to pull based on your state of residence, not the card (Doctor of Credit). A business card application still triggers a hard pull on your personal credit, which doesn't affect your 5/24 count (Travel on Points).

If you're denied, Chase has reconsideration lines: 888-270-2127 for personal cards and 800-453-9719 for business cards. Call within 30 days (Upgraded Points, Nav). Agents can move an existing Chase credit line to fund a new card, which clears some too-much-credit denials, but they can't override 5/24 (The Points Guy).