In Brief: Time-Related Rules Imposed by American Express, Chase, and Citi

Most issuers have soft-ish guidelines limiting how many cards you can get from them in a period of time, or what on your credit report might disqualify you. This is why you might see an issuer referred to as “inquiry sensitive”. Three issuers, though—American Express, Chase, and Citi—have some pretty hard rules in place. This is a brief survey of time-related limits that they impose, across some broad categories that match up between issuers. It is intended as a supplementary, “quick-look” table to our “things everybody should know” series, which you can find for each issuer here:

Please direct questions or comments not about this specific table to each issuer’s “things everybody should know” page, so that information can be kept in one place.

Comparison Table

American Express Chase Citi
Credit Report Limitations… No restriction. Certain cards cannot be obtained if you have 5 or more new accounts in the past 24 months. Often denies people for 6+ inquiries (hard pulls) in the past 6 months.
…Notes? N/A Reconsideration is not possible. Freezing a bureau before applying & having Citi pull a different credit bureau can work.
Signup Bonus Limitations Only eligible if you have never had the card. Only eligible if you do not currently have the card & have not received bonus from card in past 24 months. Only eligible if you have not opened or closed a card in the same product family in the past 24 months.
Shorter Timeframe Limitations… 1 approved credit card in a rolling 5-day window No restriction; see “Longer Timeframe” 1 approved card in a rolling 8-day window
…Notes? Second application is set to pending then re-evaluated once out of the 5 day window. (AmEx claims that Experian won’t let them pull twice within 5 days). Rare exceptions. See below. Second application is auto-denied with no hard pull. Reconsideration not possible, even outside of 8-day window.
Longer Timeframe Limitations… 2 approved credit cards in a rolling 90-day window 2 approved cards in a rolling 30-day window 2 applications in a rolling 65-day window
…Notes? Further applications are auto-denied with no hard pull. Reconsideration is possible, once outside of the 90-day window. Rare exceptions exist. Rarely, people manage 3. Violating this on different days will result in a hard pull. 1/8 and 2/65 denials do count. Further applications are auto-denied with no hard pull. Reconsideration not possible, even outside of 65-day window.
Number of Cards Limitations 4 or 5 credit cards. 5 may require a review by a new account senior specialist. The current theory is that having a no annual fee card may get you 5 by auto-approval. No restriction, but once you have many Chase cards, you may be limited to 1 card in a rolling 30-day window, due to “too many requests for credit”. Reconsideration is possible.  No restriction.
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Ray
Ray (@guest_1190066)
May 12, 2021 10:42

i applied for the Hilton honors surpass, got approved immediately 20 mins later i decided to apply for the hilton honors, got accepted same way, in the same day, I also called CS to ask some questions and one of them is when i can apply for another card and she said any time you want so idk lol. 5/12/2021

EasternTraveler
EasternTraveler (@guest_591136)
May 6, 2018 19:06

I applied for two cards yesterday from American Express at the same time. First was AX Platinum, it made me receive a code by voice on my phone and was approved. I then applied for the Delta Gold Skymiles immediately and got a pending for address verification. After an hours worth of phone calls and transfers, I got through to a fraud dept rep that did the approval over the phone.

Miles Hustler
Miles Hustler (@guest_453314)
August 4, 2017 15:42

Anyone had success getting two AMEX cards (one credit and one charge, which used to be the exception) approved the same day recently? I did last year, but tried assisting someone within the last few weeks and AMEX insisted that they could not.

NBG
NBG (@guest_453330)
August 4, 2017 16:27

May not help. But my wife got 2 CC approved same day 5 min apart by amex.

Ray
Ray (@guest_1190067)
May 12, 2021 10:44

just did that today too

Miles
Miles (@guest_392023)
April 19, 2017 16:19

Regarding “2 approved credit cards in a rolling 90-day window”: Does it also include an upgraded credit card? I applied for SPG Biz and upgraded Hilton HHonors to Surpass. Both were approved within last 45 days. Wondering if I need to wait for 90 days for a next application. Thanks!

niiimz
niiimz (@guest_377403)
March 26, 2017 22:47

Love this table, this should be “required reading.” Thanks for this.

DEE
DEE (@guest_349352)
February 6, 2017 17:38

LOVE your easy to read chart! CHARTS ROCK!

MarcoPolo
MarcoPolo (@guest_346679)
January 31, 2017 13:51

Great write up.
Might want to add Bank of America in the table for quick comparison.

Marty
Marty (@guest_348838)
February 5, 2017 02:09

This is good information, but I think we need another table to cover the less known banks, Barclays, Bank of America, US Bank etc…Every bit of information helps. Keep up the good work!

William Charles
Admin
February 5, 2017 19:54

They don’t have time related rules.

Traveler
Traveler (@guest_346605)
January 31, 2017 10:13

This is very useful to have all consolidated! Thanks!

Abe
Abe (@guest_346597)
January 31, 2017 09:51

Do business cards count towards the Amex 2/90 rule?

Josh
Josh (@guest_346459)
January 31, 2017 01:10

Chase recon is very possible except for 5/24. It makes it look like there’s never recon at all.