What is the Chase 5/24 rule?
5/24 is an unpublished rule that applies to applications for Chase credit cards. In short, Chase will generally not approve you for a credit card if you’ve opened five or more credit cards within the past 24 months. This rule applies to all Chase business and personal credit cards, including cards that Chase issues in partnership with other brands.
- If you are “over 5/24,” that means you’ve opened more than five accounts in the previous 24 months. You will usually be denied if you apply for a Chase credit card.
- If you are “under 5/24,” you won’t automatically be denied for a Chase credit card for having too many new accounts. But this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be approved.
Previously, the 5/24 rule was uniformly enforced across all Chase products, meaning you almost certainly wouldn’t get approved if you were “over 5/24.” Recently, Chase has softened the 5/24 rule for some new products.
- In late 2022, Chase appeared to have suspended the 5/24 rule for new applications of the Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card.
- Multiple blogs and forums are reporting application approvals from people who were over 5/24 for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.
- In July 2023, Chase introduced a new welcome bonus for the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card and we got additional reports of people getting approved, despite being over 5/24.
Which accounts count against 5/24?
Any credit card account that was opened in the last 24 months and shows up on your personal credit report will count toward your 5/24 status. This includes credit cards that hit your credit report because you are an authorized user. Non-credit card accounts don’t count toward your 5/24 status. Here’s what counts and what doesn’t.
Which accounts count against 5/24?
- New personal credit card accounts opened within the last 24 months
- Small business credit card accounts opened within the last 24 months that show up on your credit report
- Credit card accounts that report to your personal credit report, on which you are an authorized user
Which accounts do not count against 5/24?
- Credit card accounts opened more than 24 months ago
- Non-credit card accounts, such as mortgages, auto loans or personal lines of credit
- Business credit cards that do not report to your personal credit report
A quick note about authorized user credit cards. When someone adds you as an authorized user on their credit card, often that credit card will show up on your personal credit report. If you are over 5/24 because you are an authorized user on someone else’s card, Chase will automatically deny your credit card application. But if you are under 5/24 when you exclude authorized user cards, you might be in luck. Sometimes you can get approved by asking Chase to reconsider your application. For example, if you have opened four personal credit cards in the past 24 months and are also an authorized user on two cards that have been opened in the past 24 months, this might apply to you. From what I gather over at FlyerTalk, you might be able successfully have Chase reconsider a denial in this case.
Non-credit card accounts that you have opened in the past 24 months do not count toward your 5/24 status. For example, if you have an auto loan, personal line of credit, or home mortgage opened within the last two years, Chase will not count these accounts toward your 5/24 status.
Business cards and 5/24
Small business credit cards that do not report to your personal credit report will not count against your 5/24 status.
If you have four new credit cards reporting to your personal credit report and open two new Chase Ink cards, such as the Chase Ink Business Cash or the Chase Ink Business Unlimited, these cards will not affect your 5/24 status. Even though Chase very much knows about these new accounts, they don’t report to your personal credit report, so they don’t count against your 5/24 status.
How to check your 5/24 status
There are several ways to check your 5/24 status. If you already subscribe to a service that allows you to see your entire credit report for free or if you’ve ordered your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, you can simply count the accounts opened in the last two years.
But you don’t need to pull your entire credit report or subscribe to a paid service to check if you are under 5/24. If you don’t have ready access to a credit report, there are two free services that you can sign up for: CreditWise and Experian.
CreditWise from Capital One
CreditWise from Capital One allows you view your TransUnion credit report and see your Vantage Score credit score for free. The service also offers credit monitoring, dark web alerts, and a credit simulator. All of this is free and you don’t need to be a Capital One cardmember. Even better, it allows you to easily determine your 5/24 status.
Here’s how to check your 5/24 status with CreditWise from Capital One.
First, log in to or sign up for CreditWise and click on “Your TransUnion Credit Report.”
Under “Accounts & Balances,” click on the icon that shows new accounts. (“5 New” in the graphic to the right.)
The next screen will show you all of your accounts that you have opened in the previous two years. Expanding each account using the arrow on the right will display either your account open date or the age of your account under the account details.
Note that all accounts on your credit report show up with CreditWise. Only credit card accounts count toward 5/24. In the example to the right, one of the accounts is an auto loan, which does not count toward 5/24 status. This person has only opened four new accounts in the previous 24 months.
Experian Mobile App
Another easy way to check your 5/24 status is through the Experian mobile app. You do not need to pay to use the Experian mobile app, view your FICO score or see your Experian credit report, but Experian will try to upsell you at every opportunity. Be very deliberate about clicking through pop-up messages on Experian’s app and website, or you might find yourself subscribed to a paid service. If you don’t have the mobile app, you can find a printable version of your credit report on the Experian website and determine your 5/24 status from that, but the mobile app is much easier.
Here’s how to check your 5/24 status with the Experian mobile app.
Within the Experian mobile app, click on “Reports.” If you have an iPhone, this is at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up a summary of your Experian credit report.
From the reports page, select “Accounts” to view summaries of each account on your credit report.
Finally, sort the accounts by the age. Click “Views” at the top of the screen to bring up the menu on the right. Select “Date Opened (New to Old)” and you’ll see all of your accounts in reverse-chronological order by opening date.
Just like with CreditWise, all reporting credit accounts will show up on your report. So if you have an auto loan, home mortgage or other non-credit card account that you’ve opened in the last two years, be sure to not count that account when tallying your 5/24 status.
Frequently asked questions
The “5” in 5/24 only refers to new credit cards accounts opened in the previous 24 months. 5/24 does not count the number of credit inquiries on your credit report.
Chase will not generally approve you on a reconsideration call if you are over 5/24. The sole exceptions are some cases where you are over 5/24 only because you are added as an authorized user on another account.
No. Chase Ink small business credit cards and Chase-issued co-branded credit cards don’t report to your personal credit report. These cards don’t count against 5/24
While the recent relaxation of 5/24 might mean that one barrier is removed, it doesn’t guarantee approval. Credit approval is based on several factors, including your credit score, your existing relationship with the bank, and the bank’s analysis of your credit report.
Chase seems to have softened its 5/24 rule as of summer, 2023. Many blogs and forum users report getting approved for Chase cards, despite being (way) over 5/24. If you find a new Chase credit card that looks attractive to you, the best thing to do is to apply and let Chase decide.