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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.
Not knowing the ropes of the credit card rewards hobby can cost you dearly. While even seasoned veterans can make mistakes, it's also crucial that you get things right if you're just getting started with travel rewards credit cards. Key among the things you should understand is the Chase 5/24 rule.
This unwritten rule plays heavily into crafting an overall points-earning plan. You'll want to develop a solid Chase credit card strategy from the beginning. Not doing so could mean leaving hundreds of thousands of points and miles on the table. This is real value you'd be passing up if you make a some early mistakes.
In this article, we'll show you why starting with Chase cards is the best approach for your credit card strategy if you're new to points and miles.
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How Much Could a Bad Chase Credit Card Strategy Cost You?
In short: It could cost you a lot. Let's walk through a short exercise. Suppose you've just heard about credit card rewards and how much they 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 of 70,000 miles on the AAdvantage® Aviator® Red World Elite Mastercard®. Maybe American is the largest airline at your home airport, and the minimum spend of is easy enough. You earn the miles after one purchase. Who wouldn't jump on such an offer?
Then, you notice the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite Mastercard®. Pairing these two offers together makes a lot of sense, at least on the surface. This card currently offers 60,000 bonus miles after spending $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. Between the two, that's a lot of American Airlines miles. You'll be able to book flights to both Europe and to Mexico — the two trips you want to take next. Plus, you'll have some miles left over. Things are looking up.
Now, you realize you need some hotel points for your trips. You identify the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card and the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card as the best options for your travel plans. With the IHG One Rewards Premier Card, you'll earn 5 Free Nights after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. And 130,000 Hilton Honors points after you spend $3,000 in purchases in the first 6 months of Card Membership on the Hilton Surpass.
Those two offers will take care of most of the lodging for your trips. You're feeling great at this point.
Lastly, you decide a cash-back card would be great to help pay for trip incidentals. The Bank of America® Customized Cash Rewards credit card seems like a great choice, you'll earn:
- 6% cash back for the first year in the category of your choice: gas and EV charging stations, online shopping/cable/internet/phone plan/streaming, dining, travel, drug store/pharmacy purchase, or home improvement/furnishing purchases, then 3% after the first year of card membership*
- 2% cash back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs*
- 1% cash back on all other purchases
- * You'll earn 6% and 2% cash back on the first $2,500 in combined choice category/grocery store/wholesale club purchases each quarter, then earn 1%. After the 3% first-year bonus offer ends, you will earn 3% and 2% cash back on these purchases up to the quarterly maximum.
Plus, it doesn't have an annual fee, and you can earn a $200 online cash rewards bonus after you make at least $1,000 in purchases in the first 90 days of account opening, plus earn 6% cash back for the first year in the category of your choice. The card fits your spending patterns well. This seems like a solid deal.
The downside of short-term thinking
You apply for these cards over the span of a few months, starting with the Aviator Red in May 2025 and ending with the Bank of America Customized Cash Card a few months later. Great news! You're approved for all of them and meet the spending requirements on all of these cards to earn the welcome offers. Here's what you took home with the current welcome offers:
- 70,000 American Airlines AAdvantage® miles from the Aviator Red
- 60,000 more American miles from the AA Platinum Select
- 5 Free Nights from the IHG One Rewards Premier Card
- 130,000 Hilton Honors points from the Hilton Surpass
- $200+ in cash back from the Bank of America Customized Cash Card
But there's a catch. Although you've cut the cost of the trips you wanted to take this year, you've locked yourself out of getting any more Chase cards for the foreseeable future. And this isn't good. Of the cards you selected, only one was issued by Chase — the IHG One Rewards Premier Card.
Build Your Credit Card Strategy Around Chase 5/24
You see, based on the hypothetical situation you placed yourself in, you now can't get any more Chase cards until around May 2027. Ouch. And that's assuming you haven't gotten more cards after all those on the above list. 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 limits the number of cards it will approve you for based on the number of new accounts you've opened across all issuers. It doesn't matter that you only opened two Chase cards in our example. Chase will not approve you for additional cards for many months.
Since you've picked up exactly five new personal cards in the past few months, Chase will not approve you for any more 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 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.
What is the takeaway? If you're under 5/24 (i.e. 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 foregoing great card offers. But you're looking for more points later, rather than all of them now.
As an alternative scenario, you could have opened:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees): 60,000 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): 5 Free Nights after spending $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening..
- The New United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees): 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: Earn five bonus Free Night Awards after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of Card Membership. Redemption level up to 50,000 Marriott Bonvoy® points for each bonus Free Night Award, at hotels participating in Marriott Bonvoy®. Certain hotels have resort fees.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®: Intro Offer: Earn a $200 Bonus after you spend $500 on purchases in your first 3 months from account opening
- 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
- Earn 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 6X points from IHG® with Platinum Elite Status, a benefit of having this card
- Earn 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)
- 2X 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 note two things:
- You would need to space out applications more, 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 out far in advance when you need certain miles and points is another key piece of a good credit card strategy.
- You wouldn't be able to jump on any other great card offers that come up.
These are both negatives, for sure. However, after being approved for these five cards, you could then apply for the non-Chase cards you originally wanted. This gives you more points and miles over the long term by getting the remaining cards from the list above. However, if you followed the strategy in the first example, you wouldn't be able to circle back to get the Chase cards in the second example, and that's huge.
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. So, this also means that Chase business credit cards should be among the very first you obtain when under 5/24.
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.
Related: Am I Eligible for a Small Business Card?
This means 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, which means 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 their business cards, and only consider business cards with other issuers that won't report to your personal credit report.
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 it's worth foregoing other offers. Often, it depends on the time you need to wait until you drop back under 5/24. There could be a significant opportunity cost in trying to get back under 5/24 for Chase cards.
The long-term thinking here is to go in phases. If you're under 5/24, pick up the Chase cards you can. If you're over 5/24 and won't drop back under 5/24 for a while, pick up some cards from other issuers. After all, the opportunity cost of holding off on card applications to get back under 5/24 can be huge. But you'll eventually want to plan to drop back under 5/24.
If you're close to dropping back under 5/24, focusing on business credit cards can help you continue to earn some points until you're back under 5/24. 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 poor decisions at times with my card application strategy, ruining my chances of getting Chase cards in the process. It took some discipline for me to lay off new personal applications several years ago, but 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 applied for a few others, dropping under 5/24 once again last year. This allowed me to adjust my card portfolio, and I picked up the Sapphire Preferred once again. Now, satisfied with the Chase cards I currently have, I've moved above 5/24 and plan to target offers from other issuers over the next 12 months.
We cannot emphasize this enough: If you're under 5/24, prioritize Chase credit cards. Ignoring Chase's approval restrictions can be costly, as we've shown. If you plan badly, you'll cost yourself in the long run.
Crafting a long-term credit card strategy is important. It might feel nice to earn a bunch of miles in the short term, but you'll pay for it in the long run.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and The New United℠ Explorer Card (Rates & Fees)
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