Chase Applying The 5/24 Rule For Credit Limit Increases

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.

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Shawn Sullivan
Shawn Sullivan (@guest_1535412)
January 16, 2023 21:30

Are they still denying credit limit increases if at or past 5/24?

James
James (@guest_1095414)
November 21, 2020 22:49

Applied for Chase Credit line increase today but got denied

James
James (@guest_1089208)
November 12, 2020 05:16

Does Chase still apply this rule right now for CLI?

Rob B
Rob B (@guest_1015678)
July 13, 2020 16:00

Interesting…. Here is what happened to me in the past couple of weeks. I have a CSR card, and the Chase United card, both with a 25k limit. Two weeks ago I applied for the Chase IHG card. They approved me a couple days later and I was notified soon after that my IHG card would have a 16k limit. Chase at that same time reduced my CSR and United card limits from 25k each to 16 also. So all three cards are now with a 16k limit.
Why did this occur? I have a 825 on my credit rating and well under $1k on all cards combined. Very odd….

Joshua
Joshua (@guest_1310607)
January 6, 2022 21:08

Not odd – this happens a lot. Banks/lenders will have a max amount of credit they’re willing to extend you and if you request an additional card that would place you over that amount they might approve you for the card and reallocate credit limits from other cards.

Suz
Suz (@guest_1014522)
July 11, 2020 15:33

Interesting…in the last 2 weeks, my Chase CLs have all increased, unbeknownst to me.

Clifton St Juste
Clifton St Juste (@guest_1012592)
July 9, 2020 07:30

Chase looks through other credit cards utilization before they reduce your credit limit or deny your credit limit increase request.

It has been a year since I had received a CSP with 9k credit limit, just paid a $95 Annual fee and it was around 5k ish. Then, I kept paying by 1k ish a month and it is below 2400. But, my other cards like Amex Blue, Gold, Platinum at their lowest of usage 200s.

While others are decreasing or people are complaining CC decrease their credit limit and Discover just increased my CL. It is all about your utilizations, how you utilize multiple cards at the same time and keep paying minimum. Nope! That’s wrong, don’t utilize them and keep paying minimum. Keep every cards below 20-30% and use your charge cards the most.

People need to tell the truth about their cards utilization, Credit card companies won’t take your line of credit away without something like an asterisk they see on your credit report and something that shows you are not strong financially. Facts, around late December of last year my business was going to well and I had a credit company reduce my credit line. It is Barclays Bank, they reduced it $200 less and I expect them to increase next month. I called them to find out right it happened and they told me that base on other cards utilization. Then, we saw that you only made most likely minimum payments.

Josh
Josh (@guest_1015479)
July 13, 2020 10:29

Correct. I just got off the phone with Chase about my CSP denial(my reason was high balances & inquiries(I have 5, 4 from chase, go figure 😑). High % Utilization & People that only make minimum payments, are under a microscope right now. I havent paid the minimum amount in years(I always tack on an extra $10+ ), but they still asked me specifically, if i only make minimum payments, during my recon call. Best believe a crackdown wave is imminent, if we arent in one already

Scott M mcquade
Scott M mcquade (@guest_1012566)
July 9, 2020 05:31

I was approved for a CSR in January (first chase card). Last week I was denied the Hyatt (go figure). I have a 800+ fico. They said that I had too many open accounts. I didn’t know that too many was bad? I thought you should try to get 20+? I have only opened up 2 accounts in the last 24. They said I had too high of balances even though my utilization is under 6%. And finally they referenced a chapter 7 that I had with them in 2001. (probably the real reason). I asked them why did they give me a CSR only months ago with a 23,000 limit on it and he really couldn’t give a good answer, just what I wrote above. I still don’t get it. Give me a CSR but not a Hyatt?! I guess covid tightening. oh well. I transferred my points immediately to a partner carrier and am now off to the other three issuer’s, never to look back. I will close the CSR b4 the one year anniversary.

creditGuyInDixie
creditGuyInDixie (@guest_1012843)
July 9, 2020 14:53

Something happened between January (your CSR approval) and last week (the Hyatt app). That thing was COVID. The old bankruptcy was outweighed by your good FICO in January, but now a good FICO means far less because creditors are being forbidden by the CARES act to report many people who are in fact failing to make monthly payments. These people are statistically dangerous to the creditor but the risk has been made invisible, so a creditor like Chase is going to weigh your 2001 bankruptcy (in which they lost possibly a lot of money) much more heavily now than it did in January.

Lee
Lee (@guest_1014495)
July 11, 2020 14:54

Not sure I agree this is all covid. Something happened to me with Citi. They approved me for 3 cards (Costco, AA, and Premier) with CL $10k+ for each in 2017 and 2018. I applied for the Prestige in 2019 and was denied. The reason it stated in the letter was I included them in a bankruptcy filing before, which I did years ago. But why approved me for 3 cards with 10k+ limit if that was the reason?

CGID
CGID (@guest_1014614)
July 11, 2020 19:34

Hard to say. It’s uncommon for denial letters to truly reflect the entirety of the decision, which often has built into it dozens of risk factors. To do so might require writing a short novel. It’s quite possible that the previous approvals were never entirely enthusiastic, given the previous bankruptcy, but that when it came to the Prestige (a high-end card, which might have harsher credit requirements) you fell on the other side of the approval line — and so the machine grabbed bankruptcy as the first and most obvious of a collection of reasons. It’s also possible that, by the time you applied for the Prestige, Citi could see that it had already extended you multiple credit accounts — which would have been made worse if Citi could see that you had opened other non-Citi tradelines as well. Your CC utilization could have also changed (for the worse) before you applied for the Prestige. There are other possibilities — those are just a few.

Trevor
Trevor (@guest_1012327)
July 8, 2020 20:25

Was just denied for the first time on a new Chase biz card application both for Sole Prop and an existing LLC. 790+, low utilization, no revolving balances, only 2/24. Reason was “insufficient balance in deposit and investment accounts with us” because I don’t bank there. I’m getting Wells vibes lol.

Burton
Burton (@guest_1012370)
July 8, 2020 21:35

P2 got the same message earlier this week. Has CIP, applied for CIU, so will just product change when AF comes due.

Not now
Not now (@guest_1012247)
July 8, 2020 18:44

Chase cancelled all my credit cards with out even informing me first, I went to check my account online and it just says account closed. I was two days away from a long vacation when I saw this, I was going to only bring my chase credit cards, lucky I found out before I left and brought my other cards, otherwise I would have none to use but cash, why would they do that??? I say Chase is the new Bank of America!!!! I now noticed they are better to transact with and better credit card perks 😀😀😀 to chase 🥴🥴🥴…..X

Bobby Cobby
Bobby Cobby (@guest_1012048)
July 8, 2020 14:35

Dang! Wish I had known this that month when I applied for a CL increase in order to meet the minimum 10k required for the CSR.

James
James (@guest_1043241)
August 26, 2020 07:53

how did you apply for CL increase ? over phone?