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May 24 = 5/24. So naturally, we’re covering all things Chase 5/24 on AwardWallet today. Whether you’re under, over, or not sure what 5/24 even means, we’ve got guides, tips, and strategies to help you navigate this card application rule.
When you’re new to travel rewards credit cards, it’s easy to focus on the first exciting offer you see. But a little planning can go a long way, especially when it comes to Chase 5/24 rule.
The unwritten rule plays a major role in crafting a long-term points-earning plan. Understanding how it works can help you decide which cards to prioritize now, which offers to save for later, and how to avoid boxing yourself out of Chase cards.
In this article, we'll show you why starting with Chase cards is the best approach if you're new to points and miles.
Page Contents
How Much Could a Bad Chase Credit Card Strategy Cost You?
In short: a lot. Let's walk through a quick exercise.
Suppose you've just learned how much credit card rewards can reduce the cost of travel. You're excited and want to select some cards to help cut costs on two upcoming trips.
You see an offer for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard® where you could earn 60,000 miles. American is the largest airline at your home airport, so that's a huge appeal. You'll have lots of options to redeem your miles.
Then, after a bit of research, you realize you can use Alaska Airlines miles to book American flights as well, since both are members of the Oneworld alliance. Suddenly, the Atmos™ Rewards Ascent Visa Signature® card has a real appeal. You decide to apply for it soon afterwards, netting you another 50,000 bonus miles + buy one, get one ticket for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23).
Between the two cards, you'll have enough miles to book flights to both London and Mexico City — the two trips you want to take next — with some miles left over. Things are looking up.
Next, you realize you need hotel points for your trips. You identify the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees) and the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card as the best options for your travel plans.
Related: Best Mid-Tier Hotel Card Offer: Hilton Surpass or IHG One Rewards Premier Card?
With the IHG One Rewards Premier Card, you'll earn up to 185,000 bonus points – 150,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening, plus 35,000 bonus points after spending a total of $6,000 in the first 6 months from account opening. And you can earn 130,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first 6 months of Card Membership (offer ends 7/29/26) on the Hilton Surpass.
$99Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
- 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
- Earn up to 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
$0 introductory annual fee, then $150Rates & Fees
(Terms Apply)
- 12X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases charged on your card directly with a hotel or resort within the Hilton portfolio
- 6X bonus points for each dollar of eligible purchases on your card at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations
- 4X bonus points on U.S online retail purchases
- 3X bonus points for all other eligible purchases on your card
Those two offers will cover most of the lodging for your trips. At this point, you’re feeling pretty pumped about your vacation plans.
Lastly, you decide to get an everyday spending card that would also be great to help pay for trip incidentals. The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card seems like a great choice, you'll earn 2 Miles per $1 on every purchase, everywhere. Plus, the card doesn't charge foreign transaction fees.
- Limited-time offer: Earn up to 150,000 bonus miles-75,000 miles once you spend $7,500 in the first 3 months, and an additional 75,000 miles once you spend $30,000 in the first 6 months
- Earn unlimited 2X miles per dollar on every purchase, everywhere, no limits or category restrictions, and miles won't expire for the life of the account
- Receive up to $220 in credits: Receive an annual $50 travel credit for bookings through Capital One Business Travel, up to an annual $50 statement credit for purchases at qualifying advertising or software merchants, plus up to a $120 credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck® every four years. Terms and conditions apply
- Unlimited 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Business Travel
- Transfer your miles to 15+ travel loyalty programs
- Redeem your miles instantly for any travel-related purchases, from flights and hotels to ride-sharing services
- $95 annual fee
- Free employee cards which also earn unlimited 2X miles from their purchases
- Top rated mobile app
- 5X miles per $1 on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked via Capital One Business Travel
- 2X miles per $1 on other eligible purchases
The downside of short-term thinking
You apply for these cards over the span of a few months, starting with the AA Platinum Select and ending with the Capital One Venture several months later. Great news: You're approved for all of them, meet the spending requirements on all of them, and earn the welcome offers.
Here's what you took home with the current welcome offers:
- 60,000 American miles from the AA Platinum Select
- 50,000 bonus miles + buy one, get one ticket for just the taxes and fees ($0 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) from the Atmos Ascent Visa Card
- up to 185,000 bonus points from the IHG One Rewards Premier Card
- 130,000 Hilton Honors points from the Hilton Surpass
- 75,000 from the Capital One Venture
That's an incredible haul of valuable points and miles that will help you cut the cost of the trips you want to take.
However, you've locked yourself out of getting any more Chase cards for the foreseeable future. Of the cards you selected, only one was issued by Chase — the IHG One Rewards Premier Card. And being locked out of Chase cards isn't a good thing and may not be worth the savings for these two trips.
Build Your Chase Credit Card Strategy Around the 5/24 Rule
Based on the hypothetical situation, you now can't get any more Chase cards for 24 more months. Ouch. And that’s assuming you don’t open any additional cards after the ones listed above. If you do, you’ll be locked out even longer.
This is because of the unwritten Chase 5/24 rule, which keeps you from being approved for additional Chase cards if you have five or more new cards in the past 24 months.
If you want a full rundown on the policy, check out our 5/24 guide.
In a nutshell, Chase considers the number of new accounts you’ve opened across all issuers when deciding whether to approve you for a new card. It doesn't matter that you only opened one Chase card in our example. Chase will deny you for additional cards for many months.
Since you've picked up exactly five new personal cards in a few months, Chase will not approve you for another card until these new accounts age on your credit report. This process takes 24 months. Chase offers a great array of travel rewards cards, and 24 months is a long time to forego any new Chase cards — or to forego all personal cards while waiting for your credit report to meet Chase's standards.
The takeaway: If you're under 5/24 (meaning you've opened fewer than five new cards in the past 24 months), every personal credit card you open with another lender is a potential Chase card you just gave up. This has massive implications for your overall credit card strategy.
Related: How To Check Your Chase 5/24 Status for Free
A better Chase credit card strategy
Rather than jumping on the first offers that catch your eye, plan for the long term. This may mean passing on some great card offers, but the goal is to earn more points over time — not grab every bonus available today.
As an alternative scenario, you could have opened:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees): 75,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees): up to 185,000 bonus points – 150,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months from account opening, plus 35,000 bonus points after spending a total of $6,000 in the first 6 months from account opening
- United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees): up to 60,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open.
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (Rates & Fees): Earn 3 Free Night Awards after spending $3,000 on eligible purchases within 3 months of account opening, and an additional 1 Free Night Award after spending $4,000 total on eligible purchases within 4 months of account opening with the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card. Redeem your Free Night Awards for a one-night stay at properties with a redemption level up to 50,000 points per night, a total value of 200,000 points. Certain hotels have resort fees. 2026 Exclusive Offer: Get up to $100 in statement credits after spending $500 on eligible airline purchases. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees) : Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
$95Rates & Fees
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
$99Rates & Fees
- Earn up to 26 points total per $1 spent when you stay at an IHG hotel
- 5X points per $1 spent on purchases on travel, gas stations, and restaurants
- 3X points per $1 spent on all other purchases
The earning for spending at IHG hotels breaks down as follows:
- Earn 10X points for being a IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card member
- Earn up to 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn up to 10X points from IHG® for being an IHG® One Rewards member (Being a cardholder is not required to earn this bonus for participating in the IHG® loyalty program)
$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $150Rates & Fees
- 3X miles per $1 spent on purchases from United®*
- 2X miles per $1 spent on dining and hotel stays when booked with the hotel
- 1X mile per $1 spent on all other purchases
Based on AwardWallet users' average redemption values (and using a conservative value of $200 per free hotel night), the overall value you'd get from these cards is similar to the value in the first example above. However, we need to point out a couple of things:
- You need to space out your applications, as you can't get approved for all five cards around the same time. This means you may not have been able to book the airfare and lodging for your upcoming trips using only points and miles. This is why planning far in advance when you need certain miles and points is another key piece of a good credit card strategy. You could also delay your trip plans until you’ve accumulated the points and miles you need.
- You wouldn't be able to jump on other great card offers that come up. If you see an elevated offer on a non-Chase card, you'd have to pass it up to preserve your Chase strategy.
These are both real downsides. However, after being approved for these five cards, you could then move on to the non-Chase cards you originally wanted. This gives you more points and miles over the long term by eventually picking up the remaining cards from the list above.
By contrast, if you followed the strategy in the first example, you wouldn't be able to circle back and get the Chase cards in the second example, and that's a much bigger trade-off.
Here's the key takeaway: If you're under 5/24, prioritize Chase credit cards.
Related: How Does a Credit Card Signup Bonus Work?
What about small business credit cards?
There is a bright side to how Chase determines your 5/24 count: Many business credit cards with other issuers don't count against your Chase 5/24 total. However, you need to be under 5/24 to apply for Chase business cards — though they won't add to your 5/24 count once approved.
So, this also means that Chase business credit cards should be among the very first you obtain when under 5/24. This is another piece that is important to add into your Chase credit card strategy.
Our full Chase 5/24 guide discusses which business credit cards do and don't count toward this number, so make sure you check it out before applying.
The main thing you need to know is this: If you have a small business, you may be able to pick up business credit cards without affecting your Chase 5/24 status. Given the number of excellent small-business travel credit cards available, you have plenty of options to choose from.
Related: Am I Eligible for a Small-Business Card?
As an example, you could pick up cards like the Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card or the Citi® / AAdvantage Business™ World Elite Mastercard® without reducing the number of Chase cards you can get. These cards don't add to your 5/24 status, so you could still get five Chase cards. Plus, you can select from Chase's great portfolio of business credit cards.
So, let's update our takeaway: If you're under 5/24, prioritize Chase credit cards, especially its business cards. You can also consider business cards from other issuers that don’t report to your personal credit report, since those won’t add to your 5/24 count.
What if I'm Already Over 5/24?
Many of us are in this boat. If you're well over 5/24, you'll need to decide whether waiting for Chase cards is worth passing up other offers. Often, that depends on how long it will take you to drop back under 5/24.
The best long-term approach is to think in phases. If you're under 5/24, prioritize the Chase cards you want. If you're over 5/24 and won't drop under for a while, consider cards from other issuers rather than sitting out valuable offers indefinitely.
But eventually, it’s worth planning a path back under 5/24. Chase cards are too valuable to give up forever, and cycling in and out of 5/24 can be an important part of a smart credit card strategy.
If you're close to dropping back under 5/24, focus on business credit cards that don’t report to your personal credit report.
This is also the time to consider upgrade offers on your current cards. You can time this around the various application rules and restrictions for card issuers to maximize your strategy.
Final Thoughts
I've made some poor decisions with my card application strategy over the years, and ruined my chances of getting Chase cards in the process.
But a few years ago, and with some discipline to lay off new personal applications, I finally managed to drop back under 5/24 — and it paid off. I was able to get three new Chase credit cards I'd wanted for years.
Since then, I've cycled away from and back under 5/24 — which allowed me to get the Sapphire Preferred once more. Now, I'm in the “cooling off” phase, where I'm only opening business cards while I wait to drop back under 5/24.
For the majority of rewards travelers, this cycle — moving above 5/24, cooling off, and eventually dropping back under — can be the best long-term Chase credit card strategy.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees)
![Understanding Rewards Credit Card Application Rules and Restrictions [2026]](https://awardwallet.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/corinne-kutz-using-computer-featured.png)
