26 Things Everybody Should Know About Chase Credit Cards

I’ve done this for American Express & Citi before, so it’s only fair that it’s Chase’s turn. Chase is one of everybody’s favorite banks due to their generous sign up bonuses and solid travel partners. Here are 18 things everybody should know about Chase. These are in no particular order, so read them all.

Chase won’t approve you for most cards if you’ve received 5 (or more) new cards in the last 24 months. This includes all credit cards, not just Chase cards. Not all Chase cards are affected in this rule, but most are.
They offer generous sign up bonuses on their checking & savings accounts. Everybody knows that the bonuses on their credit cards are great, but the sign up bonuses on their deposit accounts are also worth signing up for. You can usually get a bonus of $150-$300 on the total checking account and $150-$300 on the savings account. My suggestion? Wait for the public $300 bonuses. Better yet, you can actually churn these bonuses and get them more than once.
You can get the sign up bonus on Chase cards more than one time. If you look at the fine print on any Chase card, you’ll see it say you can get the sign up bonus again as long as it’s been at least 24 months since you last received the bonus. There is also a specific rule for Sapphire cards.
Chase will match higher sign up bonuses if you notify them within 90 days of applying. If you apply for a card with a 30,000 point sign up bonus and then within 90 days Chase increases that bonus then call them or send them a secured message, they will match you to this higher bonus. If the annual fee is higher on the bonus you are requesting to be matched to, then they will often deny you this match. If they approve you, then you’ll keep the lower annual fee as per the CARD act rules.
Chase will expedite your cards with 1-2 day shipping, just ask them. If you need your new, lost or stolen cards in a hurry just call Chase and request that they expedite them. They’ll say yes and there shouldn’t be any charge (obviously only do this if you actually need the cards in a hurry).
If you apply for multiple Chase cards in one day, the hard inquiries will be combined. There are a couple of rules to be mindful of though, business & personal inquiries will not be combined. It’s no longer possible to double dip some applications to avoid other rules though, you can read more about that here. You should still be able to apply for two independent cards on the same day though
Chase will usually refund the annual fee as long as you cancel within a statement or two. If your annual fee posts and you accidentally forget to cancel you can usually get it refunded as long as you don’t wait to long, the rules change based on what card it is.
You can refer friends to Chase credit cards. Chase allows you to refer friends to their credit cards that you hold, the typically bonus is $50 or 5,000 points for every referred friend. The bonus your friend receives and what is available regularly changes.
You can view what credit card offers you are pre-approved for online. Unfortunately this only works for Chase branded cards (e.g Chase Freedom or Chase Sapphire Preferred) and not any of their co-branded cards such as the Chase Ritz Carlton. Unlike other card issuers, Chase rarely if ever shows higher than publicly available offers.
There is no limit to the amount of Chase credit cards you can have. Unlike American Express, you can hold as many Chase credit cards as they’ll approve you for. Typically the limiting factor is how much credit they’ve extended to you, but if you’re denied you can always request that they transfer some of that credit limit to a new card.
You’ll only be approved for two Chase cards per month. Chase will typically not approve you for more than two of their credit cards in a single month (business & personal cards are considered separate) you can sometimes get approved for three or more in a single month by calling in but it can be difficult.
If you’re denied for a credit card, call the Chase reconsideration department. Sometimes there is a simple reason as to why your application has been denied by the automatic approval systems, calling reconsideration gives you a chance to speak to a human and turn that denial into an approval. It can be scary calling reconsideration the first time, just relax and read our guide if your nervous.
Asking for a credit limit increase will always result in a hard pull with Chase. If you ask Chase for a credit limit increase on any of your cards, be ready for a hard pull to be done on your credit file.
You can reallocate your credit limits between existing cards and it’ll usually be a soft pull. The only exception is if your increasing the credit limit on a card to more than $35,000, in which case a hard pull will be done.
There is a minimum credit limit on all Chase cards of $500. If you want to transfer credit limits when opening or closing an account, then keep in mind you need to keep a credit limit of at least $500 on each card.
If you freeze a report it’s sometimes possible to get Chase to pull from a different bureau. If you’re trying to limit the number of inquiries on one of your credit reports (e.g Experian) you can freeze that and sometimes Chase will agree to pull your report from one of the other bureaus (e.g TransUnion or Equifax). If they don’t allow you to do this, they will allow you to give them a PIN which gives them access to the original report they wanted to pull.
Chase allows product changes/downgrades but only within the same brand. For example you could product change the Chase Southwest Premier to the Chase Southwest Plus, but not to the United MileagePlus explorer.
Chase isn’t the most generous when it comes to retention bonuses, but it’s still worth calling. Keep in mind retention/spending bonuses aren’t only given when your annual fee is coming due, we recommend calling Chase at the 60 day mark and just before/after the annual fee becomes due.
You can sometimes be targeted for spending bonuses. In addition to retention bonuses, Chase often sends out targeted offers for spending on their different cards. It looks like they’ve set up the following website to show these offers to cardholders: www.mychasebonus.com. Note this isn’t working at the moment.
Chase will let you change your statement closing date. Usually your account just needs to be in good standing, but even when you’re late on payment they will sometimes make an exception.
It’s possible to get your points sooner than they would normally post. To do this you need to finish your minimum spend requirement and then change the statement closing date to be sooner than normal, once the statement closes the bonus points should post to your account.
You usually have 103 days after being approved for your Chase card to meet the minimum spend requirement and more recently they’ve been giving 115 days. That being said, don’t leave it till the last minute or otherwise you might not get your bonus at all. If you don’t make your minimum spend in time, it’s still worth asking them for the bonus – sometimes they’ll say yes!
Chase business credit cards don’t get reported to the personal credit bureaus which is useful for keeping your credit report cleaner.
A Chase credit card which was closed out can be reinstated upon request for 30-days if you change your mind and decide you want the card.
You can now check your application status online with Chase, but you must be logged in. Follow these directions: Manage Accounts link under Customer Center on the right hand side. From there, scroll to the bottom on the right hand side and you should see NEW! Check my application(s) status under Open a New Account. If that doesn’t work you can call (888) 338-2586.
If you have auto-pay set up with Chase and make a partial of full payment they will automatically adjust the auto-pay.

You can view other posts in this series by clicking the links below.

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