Report: Bank of America ‘7/12 Rule’ & ‘3/12 Rule’ for New Cards

A new report indicates that Bank of America will only approve new credit card applicants who have less than 7 new cards opened in the past 12 months, or less than just 3 new cards open in the past 12 months for someone who does not have a deposit account with the bank.

For the past year+, we’ve been hearing numerous reports of Bank of America declining credit card applications for lack of a banking relationship. The indication has been that it’s easier to get credit card approvals if you have a deposit account with them, such as a checking, savings, or CD account, or if you have an investment account with Merrill Edge.

It’s never been clear what the exact criteria are. Only thing we know for certain is the 2/3/4 rule. That rule references the limits of how many Bank of America cards you can get  over a given timeframe: 2 cards in any 2-month span, 3 cards in a 12-month span, and 4 cards in a 24-month span. No clear guidance has been known on the number of overall cards – from all banks – were tolerated by Bank of America.

According to someone in the know, it looks like the tolerated number is as follows:

  • Those who have a deposit account with Bank of America: 6 new cards in the last twelve months is tolerated. If you have 7 new cards in the past 12 months, your application will be denied.
  • For everyone else: 2 new cards in the last twelve months is tolerated. If you have 3 new cards in the past 12 months, your application will be denied.
  • If you have $250k+ with Bank of America, you may be able to bypass the 7/12 rule. (source)

This rule is similar to Chase’s 5/24 rule which tracks your number of overall new cards across all banks. Obviously, for those with a Bank of America deposit account, the limit of 7/12 is much easier to deal with than the 5/24 limit that Chase imposes on everyone.

The 7/12 and 3/12 rule might not be a strict rule as with Chase. It’s possible that certain factors can override it or that it can be manually overridden. (Here’s a report of someone who got approved at 9/12 with no relationship. Apparently, it’s not a hard rule.)

Two other points:

  • From what I’m reading, it sounds like the same 7/12 and 3/12 rule applies for business cards as well, though you’ll need a business deposit account to get the 7/12 leeway; your consumer account won’t help you for a business card application and vice versa. Counter data points (1, 2, 3) suggests that business cards do not fall under this rule at all, meaning that you can be approved for a business BofA card even if you have more than 7 new accounts showing on your credit report.
  • Any amount of money with the bank gets you bumped up to the 7/12 level, no minimum required. (source)

In any case, I don’t recall ever seeing a hard number for Bank of America, so I thought it was interesting to see clear numbers like this put out there. If these numbers are accurate, it’s important to calculate both your overall new accounts total and your Bank of America new accounts total before applying for a new Bank of America card. Before applying, make sure you are not in violation of the 7/12 or 3/12 rule for overall new cards, as well as the 2/3/4 rule for new Bank of America cards. Also remember, Bank of America generally limits you to getting the bonus on a single card once every 24 months – full details here.

Related:
    Chuck
  • On September 24, 2019, 13:00

View Comments (136)

  • I opened an Amazon Store Card recently, which, if counted as a personal card, would have made me 7/12. If not counted, I'd be at 6/12. I was approved for a CCR variant today. So I take it that BOA does NOT count the Amazon Store card as a personal card in their 7/12 calculation.

  • I was curious if 7/12 was to the month or precisely the day. I didn't get as close as I could have to really test this DP but I figured I'd share.

    I technically fell to 6/12 on June 7th. I applied today (June 15th) for the Premium Rewards and was auto-approved.

  • I think bank of America also has a rule if you have too much inquires. I wonder what is too much?

  • Seems business cards don't count possibly...I parked 20K in a BofA Biz account for a bonus, figured it's a good time to nail apps.
    At the start I was 1/12 personal & 5/12 business (total 6/12).
    Approved instantly for 2 business cards same day.
    29 days later threw in a personal app (while therefore being at 1/12 personal & 7/12 biz = 8/12) and also instantly approved.
    As a kicker, only one hard pull for 2x biz and 1x personal in a 29 day span.
    In fact...perhaps that's WHY I was approved...because they didn't do a new pull and didn't see the 2 extra BofA biz cards? Anyway...there's some datapoints!

    • DP update - Did another personal app this week, instant approval. Counting ONLY personal cards I was 5/12 (I have a biz checking relationship with BofA) .If biz cards from last 12mo counted I'd be LOL/12, so 100% sure they are only counting personal cards. In fact they must IGNORE BofA biz cards approved in last 12mo also, because I'd be 8/12.
      Bottom line - they ignore their own business card approvals in the count.
      Also, I froze my TransUnion report (which is what 90% of my pulls are in my area) and they auto-pulled Experian, so that was helpful!

    • Could be an idea. I usually just check the 'Things to Know about Bank xyz' post before applying for any card, though, that post will include the rules, as well as a link to the post where we discuss it more in depth.

  • Confirmed that having a Merrill Edge account qualifies you for the 7/12 rule. Wife just got approved for the BOA Alaska card while at 3/12 and without any BOA checking accounts (personal or business).

  • just to confirm, the 7 new cards is only personal cards right? i have 5 new personal cards within last 12 months and 3 more biz cards. i have existing AS card (over 1 year old now) plus existing checking and savings account with BOA. that should be sufficient to get approved for like a AF card granted i have proper credit score and income levels i assum?

  • Hi,
    I have a BofA secured card, issued Sep 2019, and two Amex cards - Green, Dec 2019, and Surpass, May 2020.
    I'm thinking about applying for a BofA card, and I'm worried that those 3 cards will cause me to be declined due to the 3/12 rule.
    Does anyone know if the charge and secured cards counts towards the 3 card max rule?
    Thanks.

  • Despite being 7/12 (all personal), I was approved for 3 new BofA cards (2 biz and 1 personal). Perhaps this is because I’m a Platinum Honors customer, but I’m not above $250.

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