5/24

Understanding the 5/24 rule:

The most important rule to consider in collecting points is the “5/24 rule.” The rule is simple: If you get 5 personal credit cards in any 24-month period, you’re automatically prohibited from getting a 6th Chase or Capital One card. You cannot get another card until you’re under the “5-new-cards-in-24-months” threshold.

As an example, consider the following.

You get 5 personal cards in this time frame:

• Card #1 in January 2018
• Card #2 in March 2018
• Card# 3 in December 2018
• Card # 4 in April 2019
• Card #5 in September 2019

Card #5 tripped the 5/24 rule. You won’t be eligible to get a new personal card from Chase until the oldest of these 5 cards is 24 months old. In this example, Card #1 (opened in January 2018) falls out of your 24-month window in January 2020. At that point, you can replace Card#1 with a new card.

You would again be at the 5/24 threshold — until March (2020) when Card #2 would fall out of your 24-month window. This means you’d be eligible to get another personal card from Chase after March.

Two important notes:

1. Capital One business cards also count toward your 5/24 limit.
2. Technically you become eligible on the first day of the month following the expiration of the 24 month timer on your 5th oldest card (we know, it's kind of 5/25)

In most cases, you’re trying to remain at either 4 or 5 personal cards in a rolling 24-month period. That’s the best strategy for maximizing your points.

In other words, you’re always looking at the 24-month anniversary date of your 5th oldest personal card — so that you can add another personal card.

All of this can be confusing and a pain to keep track of. That's why we designed the Point Navigator to keep track of all of it for you.

About Approval Rules

Collecting credit card points is largely driven by understanding and abiding by bank rules regarding approval (or disapproval) of cards.  So here’s what you need to know:

• Approval rules are rarely fully publicized by the banks
• We use our own research and data points from other users in creating the rules listing
• Our goal in sharing/using the rule listings is to provide you guidance to avoid getting declined
• There can sometimes be exceptions to the rules, but we try to take a more cautious approach in advising you.