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When Chase debuted the Sapphire Reserve credit card in 2016, travel rewards hackers jumped at the chance to take advantage of its points-earning potential and generous perks.


But some consumers found they couldn’t get approved for the card, even if they had excellent credit. That was due to something called the 5/24 rule.

Here’s The Points Guy’s Richard Kerr on that rash of rejections:

The reason agents gave was an applicant had “opened too many new accounts in the last 24 months.” Within a short period of time, there were enough data points to determine that the threshold for a Chase denial was having opened five or more credit card accounts across all banks in the last 24 months.


The limit seems to be applicable to Chase cards only, but that issuer has some of the most popular rewards cards out there. Beyond the Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve cards, Chase administers co-branded cards with Southwest Airlines, United, Starbucks, Hyatt, and Disney, to name a few. to be limited to Chase cards, but considering Chase cards are among the most coveted by rewards enthusiasts, it matters.



If you like to surf the credit rewards wave by opening accounts on a regular basis for the signup bonuses, the 5/24 rule could make it more difficult to achieve your goals.

If you’re wondering if you’re affected by the rule, check your credit report (via annualcreditreport.com or a free monitoring site like Credit Karma and check the date all your Chase cards were opened. You’ll see them listed as “JPMCB Card Services.” If you have more than five cards that were opened in the past 24 months, you’ll need to wait to apply for any new Chase cards. If you have, for example, three Chase cards that you opened a decade ago and two Chase cards you opened within the past two years, you should be in the clear to apply.


There are a few ways to get around the 5/24 restriction if you’re craving a new rewards card. You can apply for a new card while you’re signed into your Chase account by clicking on “Selected For You” or “Just For You” offers to bypass 5/24, according to Doctor of Credit. That site—the first to discover the 5/24 rule—also notes that if you get an email or snail mail preapproval offer for a Chase card, you may be able to successfully apply for a card within that two-year window.


Of course, if your goals are ordinary—you want to limit debt, build your credit score and use your cards wisely—you probably won’t need to worry about the 5/24 rule. But if you have several cards, it’s a good idea to check your lineup before applying for any alluring new ones.

This post was originally published in 2016 and was updated on March 25, 2020 by Lisa Rowan. Updates included the following: Checked links for accuracy; updated formatting to reflect current style; changed headline and feature image; revised content to add details and context.