We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Reminder: How to use CreditKarma to check account openings & 5/24
The Chase Sapphire Reserve brought a rule that Chase had imposed front and center: 5/24. If you don’t know about this rule, it simply means if you’ve opened more than 5 credit cards, with any bank, in the last 24 months you will be denied by Chase. There were some exceptions to the rule ( namely Private Client, pre-approvals, and targeted offers), but a lot of those have been changed, and not all cards are affected by it. Namely, it is geared at UR earning cards and since Chase is allowing signups in branch for the Reserve 100k offer until March 12th, it’s worth knowing if you’ll be eligible or not. A good indicator if you’ll get approved over 5/24 is if you’re pre-approved for a card in-branch and they give you your APR rates, but if you’ll dip under 5/24 by March 12th, I’d just hold off and apply once you’re under 5/24. Even Chase Private Clients are reportedly not able to work around the 5/24 rule, so the restrictions seem to be getting worse than better. So how do you accurately check when you opened new cards, and when you will dip under 5/24? Here’s a reminder on how to use CreditKarma to check account openings & 5/24 status.
If you don’t have a CreditKarma account…get one, it’s free!
You should be keeping an eye on your credit and this is my go to site to do just that. If you have one already, good on ya. If not…stop reading and sign up.
Log in: Check out the left column – specifically credit reports
You’ll then see your credit scores pop up
Click on either report, I clicked on TransUnion. Organize by Open date
While inquiries won’t show up on individual reports unless pulled, opened accounts will who across the board.
You can now start counting backwards – it doesn’t matter if they’ve been closed. It’s how many cards you’ve opened in the last 24 months regardless of closure.
- If you’ve opened an account and closed it…doesn’t matter you still opened it and it counts against 5/24
- Business accounts other than Chase business accounts don’t show up on your personal credit report so they won’t go against your 5/24
- There is some evidence to support those who show less than 5/24 on their personal reports, but have opened more than 5/24 when including Chase business accounts being approved if it passes the automated approval system. However, if the application goes pending, and a person has to analyze your application – they can see your Chase business cards openings and may count this against your 5/24 and deny you.
- If you’ve applied and been denied it doesn’t count.
I won’t hit 5/24 by March 12, but I’ll be close, and hopefully get pre-approved in-branch. I’ll end up getting a Reserve no matter what, but those extra UR would sure be nice to redeem for EVA Royal Laurel across the Pacific. I loved my intra-Asia flight
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.