A good source indicates that Chase has imminent plans of changing the 5x category on the Chase INK line cards to earn just 3x.
This change will not affect existing cardholders. Only new card applicants.Â
The new 3x category has been in the planning stages for quite some time, and will probably go into effect sometime within the next few months.
The news is not all bad, though. According to the source, all 5x and 2x categories will become 3x. So gas and hotels, currently earning 2x, will be bumped up to 3x, while office/cell/cable will be bumped down to 3x.
There was also mention of a couple of other categories being added to the bonus 3x category (possibly things like advertising and shipping).
The annual cap will be $100,000 in spend from all categories combined. This setup is similar to the current system where gas/hotel gets $50,000 and office/cell/cable gets another $50,000.
I’m pegging this as a rumor. I’ve gotten good info from this source in the past so I’d suggest jumping on INK now if you can. It sounds like existing INK cardholders will remain with the 5x categories indefinitely.
Of course, most of us are excluded due to the 5/24 rule. You might have more success applying in-branch with a pre-approval.
