Clarifying Chase 5/24 in Relation to Business Cards

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Opening five credit cards within 24 months will render you ineligible for any further Chase credit cards, until that five number has dropped to, at the most, four credit cards within the last 24 months. While not published by the bank, the Chase 5/24 rule is widely accepted as truth by the miles and points community after years of shared and collected experiences.

Business credit cards do not, anecdotally, count in your Chase 5/24 total. Not even those issued by Chase, as most* business cards don’t show up on your personal credit report and that’s what Chase references to total your 5/24 count. But do you need to be under 5/24 in order to be eligible for Chase business cards? Yes.

*Business credit cards issued by Capital One, Discover, and TD Bank do show up on your personal credit report.

The specifics surrounding Chase’s 5/24 rule and how it relates to business credit cards confuse many people, as I get emails and questions from friends that make that clear to me. For example, in correspondence with a reader who filled out our Credit Consultation form, I was asked the following:

“Also, I might be calculating this wrong, based on the fact that many of these are business cards. But I’ve been reading that basically, they all count toward 5/24 now. So I can only choose 5 business OR personal total. Is that correct?”

My response:

“Business cards do no show up on your personal credit report, not even those issued by Chase, therefore they do not count towards your 5/24 total as that is what Chase looks at to make their tally. What I’m guessing you read and are confused by is that all Chase cards now fall under the 5/24 rule, which is true. That means that you have to be under 5/24 in order to be eligible for them. But as long as you’re under, you can add a Chase business card to your wallet and it won’t count towards your 5/24 total. So theoretically if you follow all the other application rules/best practices regarding timing and not asking for too much overall credit from Chase, you should be able to open five business cards followed by five personal cards, if you opened all business cards first. If you choose not to do it that way that’s fine, just remember moving forward that every personal card you apply for counts in your total and every business card does not.”

In regards to the last sentence, I actually do recommend that you prioritize any consumer cards that you want to hold for the long term over cards you are getting primarily for the bonus.

For detailed strategy on how to choose your Chase cards while under 5/24, read:

• The Five Chase Cards You Should Apply For: Combo #1
• The Five Chase Cards You Should Apply For: Combo #2
• The Five Chase Cards You Should Apply For: Combo #3
• The Five Chase Cards to Apply for if You’re a Points Omnivore

Do business cards and the Chase 5/24 rule still confuse you? Feel free to leave questions in the comments.