(Update 11/21/24: Here’s a link to another take on this from a Reddit poster.)
Anecdotal reports indicate that Chase has tightened up on approving applications for INK business cards, especially since last month (October 2024).
I’ve been grumbling about this for a while now (I had been seeing anecdotal evidence of approval tightening even from before October), and there’s now a Reddit r/churning survey indicating the same. It’s not a huge sample size, but worthy of discussion.
The biggest factor seems to be that those who already have open INK cards are less likely to get approved for a new one. Here are some stats:
- Those with zero INK cards had an 87% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (14)
- Those with one INK card had an 68% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (19)
- Those with two INK cards had an 57% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (28)
- Those with three INK cards had an 18% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (40)
- Those with four INK cards had an 0% chance of getting approved for an INK card. (14)
Some other factors that seems to have an effect of approvals:
- Have an open Chase business deposit account had a mild positive effect on approvals.
- Preemptively lowering credit limit had a negative effect on approvals. (This is quite surprising as previously lots of evidence suggested that have a lower credit limit would greatly increase the chances of an instant automated approval.)
- Floating large balances on your Chase cards had a negative effect on approvals.
- Other factors like business revenue, years in business, and spend volume on cards did not necessarily have much effect on odds of approval.
There isn’t much data on other Chase business cards outside of the INK family, but it seems those might also be getting tougher on approvals.
Thanks again to r/churning for the data, you can read the discussion on Reddit at this link.
Update: approved 1 month b2b for biz cards even with extensive history past couple years of churning 🙂
Hey Andy, How many Chase Bus Card accounts did you have open when approved?
3 cards at the time of opening the 4th, see my post directly below.
Currently at 5 CIBU and 3 CIBC lifetime. I normally close after eclipsing a year or before I plan to apply for a new biz card.
3/24: CIBC
7/24: CIBU
10/24: CIBU
3/25: CIBC
6/25: CIBU
Have some expenses coming up.. so will try my luck at another CIBC in the next few days. We’ll see how it goes. Currently 3 cards actively open.
I got ink preferred in 2017, 2021, 2023
Ink unlimited 2024
Ink cash 2025
Applied today, have 2 ink cards, got 7-10 day message on phone call so I’m assuming it’ll be rejected
DP: Instance approval for chase ink preferred. 4/24. opened 2 business credit cards last year. Closed one of them 6 weeks ago to get the AF refunded and make way for a new card.
Forgot to add that my business is a sole prop and is legitimate
do u sock draw any of these cards or do you have high spends on these cards?
Thanks for the DP
DP: Applied for United Biz card for P2. Got denied due to the “usual suspects” reasons. Low usage (true), enough credit limit extended (it is up to them, I guess), and another biz account opened recently (surprised, it was Ink opened in April 2024 – 10 months ago).
Was able to call in, explain low usage and explain why this specific card is needed and will be different, and was able to get it approved with the move of the credit line. Although the recon was successful, it did seem like it was more difficult to do than before (when they easily moved the credit line to approve).
Also was told before we get to the credit limit redistribution the denial on its own has to be overturned, and the UWR was not sure if he can do that. Took him a long time..
I guess, the lesson is – still try to recon if denied, prepare the reasoning.
Good luck.
what was you resason ing for low usage?
I called to close an Ink today and was informed it was “pending closure” anyway due to non-use. I did close it but was not previously notified of the “pending closure” status.
Interesting. How long was it idle,
Inky?
13+ months
2/6/2025 I applied for a Ink Business Preferred (online resales for business). Denied for having too many Chase cards and insufficient business revenue. In Q1 of 2024, I was able to get 3 business cards (Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited) using lower revenue that my recent application.
I currently have 3 business cards (Cash, Unlimited, United) and 2 personal.
After my CIBP decline, I applied for a personal Marriott. Declined for “too many Chase accounts”. I’m under 5/24 total for all banks. Last Chase approval was 04/2024.
I applied yesterday:
Dreadful 7-10 days. called to recon today same thing.
last time applied for CIU 6 months ago. I carry $1500 on 10 k limit.
I am not convinced this tightening on approvals for Ink cards is because of churning. I applied for a CIU earlier this month, four months after opening a CIP. I also have a CIU from March of this year. I lowered the credit limits on both cards to 1k before applying. I’ve had many of these the past few years, only two open at time of most recent app. I was denied and again and again on two recon attempts. But what was interesting to me was the Hyatt personal card I applied for on the same day (to combined pulls). Eventually I was approved for the Hyatt card but they reallocated credit from two of my personal cards. And I always trim those back after approval but historically, Chase has been generous to me on approved credit lines. But when they approved that Hyatt, relatively speaking, I had little exposure to them on available credit, personal and obviously business side. So what I’m trying to say is that it seems to me this is a risk tolerance issue related to economic conditions. Otherwise the ordinary thing to happen would be for me to get maybe $10k or more on a new personal card approval. Definitely not a need to reallocate credit. I could be wrong on all this of course, but the Hyatt app was revealing to me. It could well be uncertainty because of the political transition and the unknown…that they have tightened up the past few months. I don’t think I would read much more into this perceived Ink derailment until well into next year. In the meantime, I would imagine one every six months is doable.