Chase has what is commonly known as the Chase 5/24 rule. When it was officially stated by Chase the wording used was:
You will not be approved for this card if you have opened 5 or more bank cards in the past 24 months.
The 5 or more includes all ‘bank cards’ and not just those issued by Chase. This rule has previously only been applied when applying for new credit cards with Chase. One reader reports that he applied for a credit limit increase with Chase and was denied due “Too many credit cards opened in the last two years associated with you” (this is the reason given for denials due to 5/24), they then called in and was specifically told the request was denied due to more than 5 cards in the last 24 months.
A lot of card issuers have been cracking down on credit limit increases due to the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertain financial times so it’s not particularly surprising to see this from Chase although the 5/24 rule is often thought of as an anti-gaming measure rather than a risk tolerance measure.
It will also be interesting to see if Chase is using this as a hard rule and will never grant credit limit increases if the cardholder is above 5/24 rule or if it’s only applied some of the time.
