Awhile ago we broke the news that Chase was denying applicants for their Chase branded cards if the applicant had applied for more than five credit cards in the past two years (and this includes all cards, not just Chase issued cards). Out & Out noticed that this targeting of churners seems to be reflected in the terms & conditions of Chase branded cards. Here is the new language (emphasis mine):
Chase cardmembers who currently have or have had a Chase credit card in any Rewards Program associated with this offer, may not be eligible for a second Chase credit card in the same Rewards Program. Chase cardmembers currently receiving promotional pricing, or Chase cardmembers with a history of only using their current or prior Chase card for promotional pricing offers, are not eligible for a second Chase credit card with promotional pricing
This new wording is found on the following cards:
- Chase Ink Plus
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Chase Freedom
It’s not found on credit cards that Chase has a co-brand with (e.g United, Southwest, Hyatt etc etc.) those still contain the old terms that read as follows:
This new cardmember bonus offer is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of this consumer credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of this consumer credit card who received a new cardmember bonus for this consumer credit card within the last 24 months
Update: Southwest card also shows the new terms & conditions as well & United.
Update: Now appears on all Chase cards
Contents
Our Verdict
It sucks that Chase are being more restrictive when it comes to churning, but not surprising. As long as they aren’t as restrictive with their co-branded cards, I’m not too worried as they still have plenty of cards worth cycling through. It probably depends on whether they are restricted via contracts with those partners if they are able to do this or not, although they recently renegotiated both the Southwest & United deals so that might have been part of the process – we’ll have to wait and see.
Not exactly related, but I just got rejected for both SW Plus & Premier on basis of ‘too many applications this year.’ (Across the board, haven’t applied to Chase in 12 months). Called, no love. Will try again, but I’m not hopeful. I have several Chase CCs I spend a lot on, so this is disappointing. SWCP is a huge part of our strategy, so this is a big set back.
Chase now checks for ANY new credit cards from any banks, not just Chase. And in the past 24 months. Chase is completely dead for churners. I luckily got the Hyatt card a few weeks ago, right before they started this new, crappy policy.
Yeah, I hadn’t seen these rules applied to co-branded cards, but now I know! I misspoke, though, actually – they both went to pending. Called status line about Plus, they rejected. Then called recon and they actually approved me after explaining all my apps this year and moving some CL. Decided not to call about Premier, may preemptively reduce some CL in the vain hopes it works. I can probably make it work with one card, portals, and hotel transfers, but I’d rather not…
Just got the BA card with the (potential) 100K bonus, and I’m still using up the Avios points I got a few years back from my first BA card. I cancelled that card after one year of very limited use after I earned that bonus. So here we have two data points: (1) Chase issued me a new BA Visa with a second bonus and (2) Chase issued me that card even though it was pretty obvious that I only used it to earn the bonus. So here the ambiguous language went in my favor.
I just closed my Hyatt card, moved my credit limit to another Chase card and re-applied a few days later. The analyst gave me a very hard time about opening so many cards in the last year. She gave me the Hyatt card in the end. I have a lot of Chase cards – both business and personal/co-branded and UR cards – and use them a lot. I think it helped that I spend thousands every month with Chase and pointed that out to her.
If Chase wants to cut off their nose to spite their face, so be it. When you make the acceptance terms so locked down, you kill the accessibility and the popularity which kills the exposure in blogs and elsewhere. You also nullify win-back of any consumers that aren’t necessarily churners. It’s awfully arrogant to believe their portfolio of credit cards will never have to change to stay competitive and they will never lose good customers to other banks. Now they can’t even lure these customers back. American Express has a much more transparent no churning terms of once per lifetime that saves everyone time and hassle. This approach is overreaching, unclear and generally idiotic. Some myopic bean counter VP in finance finally got his way.
Crappidy crap crap. R.I.P. WN Companion Pass 🙁
man, just cant keep up with all these changing guidelines….hope I don’t get Alzheimers…
Ironic that Chase cracks down on churning of credit cards. But yet I open a new checking and savings every year for a lucrative bonus of around $700. 400 for checking and 200-300 for savings. Close after 6 months and do it again every year.
It appears that this language is on all cards now, including co-branded. Just looked at British Airways and Hyatt and they both have it. As mentioned before, this is very vague language. I was noticing that it says
“may not be eligible for a second Chase credit card in the same Rewards Program”, to me, this implies that they are reserving the right to deny your application if you have had a card in that rewards program, but if you are approved, it seems that you should get the bonus. It does not say that you might not be eligible for another bonus, it says that you might not be eligible for another card. I think that one would have a pretty strong argument if they approve you for the card and then deny you for the bonus, since that is not how the terms read.
I got denied for a Chase Slate…have a 818 credit score, called and specialist said it was because I had applied for too many credit cards over the passed two years (not just chase). Currently have 2 Chase cards. Just wanted it for the 0% balance xfer.
Chase is a waste of a hard pull for anyone that has been active and smart about using credit cards for points/cashback. The only folks they’re going to add now are net new consumers that may or may not even take notice of their UR reward program once their credit maven friends sour on it. If I polled a hundred random people, very few would know of “Ultimate Rewards” short of people that are heavy points seekers/travelers or already banking with Chase. Capital One wipes the floor with them for main stream consumer market share of the type that rarely applies for new cards or is added to a spouse who does.
Same here, wife turned down for SW card with 815 score. Too many cards. Tried recon line and was told same thing. More than 4 cards in 2 years. Looks like Chase is spreading it out to all cards.
I’m offended from the previous comment. Don’t use my name in vain.
SLOPPY!!!!!!!!!!LOL