Chase 5/24

What it does

Chase's 5/24 policy generally limits approvals for applicants who have opened five or more personal credit cards across issuers within the previous 24 months. If you're at five or more, Chase's application system will decline most of their cards regardless of your credit profile. Business cards from most issuers - including Chase's own - don't add to your 5/24 count because they don't report to your personal credit file, though Chase still checks your 5/24 status when you apply for one of its business cards.

How it works

• The clock starts on the open date of each card, not the application date. A card opened on Jan 15, 2024 falls off your 5/24 count on Jan 15, 2026.
• Authorized-user cards can count too, but reconsideration will usually back them out if you ask. Safe assumption: count them until you have to argue otherwise.
• Business cards from most issuers (Amex, Chase, Citi, US Bank, Wells Fargo) do NOT show on your personal credit report and do NOT count toward 5/24.
• Known exceptions that DO count: business cards from Discover, TD Bank, and most Capital One business cards report to personal credit. Capital One's Venture X Business and Spark Cash Plus are the carve-outs - they don't report, so they don't count.
• Closed cards still count for 24 months from when they were opened, not when they were closed.

What to do

• If Chase cards are part of your longer-term card strategy, consider 5/24 early: personal cards opened with other issuers count toward it and can affect your eligibility for Chase cards until those accounts age past the 24-month window. Early does not mean all at once: Chase also runs unpublished velocity limits we encode - a second Chase card inside 30 days often approves but is sometimes declined and a third is a near-certain auto-decline, and a BUSINESS application is typically declined within 30 days of any Chase opening, personal or business. Space the Chase applications out inside that head start.
• If you're at 5/24 and want to drop down, the only option is time. There's no way to "pay down" the count.
• A Chase business card (Ink Business, etc.) doesn't add to your 5/24 from Chase's perspective once issued, but the application itself triggers a 5/24 check. Apply when under.