As most of you probably already know, the Chase 5/24 rule is a rule implemented by Chase awhile back that says that applicants who have applied for 5 or more cards in the past 24 months will likely be denied. Chase 5/24 does not apply to every single Chase card but does apply to most of the “good” ones, including the Chase Sapphire Reserve card
My wife and I are both well over 5/24 so have not bothered even applying for any Chase cards recently. There are a few newer Chase cards such as the Sapphire Reserve and Freedom Unlimited cards that I would prefer to have, but I know I won’t be approved (and I’ve decided not to product change for now in hopes of someday getting a signup bonus)
[I’m over 5/24… but I just applied for a Chase Ink anyways]
But my mom was recently looking to apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve card to get some points for an upcoming trip while the 100,000 point bonus was in play (ended last weekend). I didn’t even think about 5/24 because she is not like me – signing up for every credit card out there.
But when she got her letter in the mail, she was denied for having too many applications in the past 24 months!
Pulling the credit applications
So then it was time to figure out WHAT applications Chase was seeing. I had my mom pull her free credit report from Credit Sesame (affiliate link), which showed the following
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April 2015 – Amex AND Citi – this was the Costco Visa and when it changed from Amex to Citi she apparently got 2 different hits. She said that she canceled the card so who knows what paperwork she may or may not have signed.
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May 2015 – Lowe’s credit card (I know… I know…)
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September 2015 – Chase Southwest Business
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December 2015 – Chase Marriott card
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February 2016 – we think an authorized user card
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August 2016 – BJs store card
So now what?
So the authorized user card I know people have gotten off their reports in relation to 5/24, but that still leaves her a few over. I’m not sure about the Amex / Citi pulls – even though she said that she went into Costco and said she didn’t want the new card.
Obviously this was nearly 2 years ago so who knows exactly what happened.
When she called in with that information, the representatives on the phone didn’t budge. I don’t know if HUCA would make a difference, or if there would be value in trying to call the credit bureaus to get the Amex / Citi pulls removed. Of course she would be under 5/24 after May 2017 but applying again would mean only a 50,000 point bonus.
Readers – any suggestions?
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Son, Really… Did you not teach your mother not to get the Costco, BJ’s, Lowe’s CC……….
I know… I’m a bad son 🙁
I didn’t even realize the Costco card was a pull! No wonder I keep getting denied! I just use it as ID to get in the store! Calling tomorrow!
Very surprised to see Chase Business card on a personal credit report.
Now I’m kinda mad about the Costco Amex Citi pull. I’m going to go check mine 🙁
I thought costco switched in june of 2016 not 2015? Strange
I’m done with Chase and their 5/24. I’m finding other alternatives. They got 391 BILLION DOLLARS from TARP (bank bailout) and they treat us like crap. Boycott Chase and enjoy some revenge.
My husband did not get any pulls from the Costco changeover.
You can tell from the credit reports whether a card is “Individual” meaning the person is the Primary or AU (it says Authorized User).
We followed some advice I saw someplace – in a comment in a blog, I think – to ask for a Reconsideration Supervisor if the first person you get when you try to recon says no.
This is what I posted in a comment last week at TBB; maybe it will help your mom. Hopefully George won’t mind since I am only quoting my own comment:
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Initially app was declined. Called recon from branch, was told that since the app was declined they cannot do recon and cannot tell him why.
Asked for a recon supervisor. Was told they’d connect but that person also could not reopen it and “will tell you the same thing.”
Supervisor says he has many cards. He explains 3 of the last 6 in the past 2 years are AU and he is not financially responsible. She asks multiple times “if you make payments on them?”
Husband is a bit confused with this question but finally says “no” and repeats the magic words “that I am not financially responsible.”
Supervisor confirms income, work, etc. I figured we may be in good shape when she compliments him on being at the same job for 30+ years.
Initially she says she is sending it for recon and it would take a week or two. I signal husband to offer to move credit around. She says well, that’s up to you. She says one needs at least 10K for the CSRes
He offers to move 10K from the vanilla Sapphire (downgraded a while ago from a CSP, lying around gathering dust, might become a Freedom one of these days) to the new card if that would speed things up.
I ask to speak, we go through the usual permissions, and stress that husband is happy to move CLs around from his IHG, Freedom or Sapphire if that will get a faster decision.
She gives away the ending when she says “do you have any other questions before I move the 10K to the new card?”
No – go for it!
She puts us on hold to “do the reconsideration.” We remain still a bit uneasy during the 5-6 min wait, but it came back approved. Meanwhile, the banker is like in awe. She is amazed at how I know exactly what to say and how to say it. I offer to give her the script I made for husband but she is unsure she is allowed to take it and declines. She offers to go over the benefits but then says, “Oh, you probably know them better than me.”
Yeah. Probably!
So, if you are going down the recon road, don’t believe the first person, ask for a recon supervisor, and offer to move CLs around before they do the actual recon or submit it for recon.
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Good luck!
SR — glad it worked out for you. I had recent un-nerving experience calling Chas recon, amid an application for Sapphire Res’d. I was merely calling to confirm and alert them that I really was right at 5/24 (and that a previous authorized user status on my wife’s Discover had been or was being removed — Equifax took forever to get it right, but in the end, they did.)
Rep believed me on that score, BUT then went on a bizarre fishing expedition, not about my income, but he was looking at my past spending patterns across multiple accounts, including Chase Ink…. He was suggesting I was underreporting my income because I had for the past year been running about 2k of ms on Ink… He apparently was clueless about ms and staples….
Really didn’t like his tone….. and I nearly lost my cool. Ended up just hanging up on him, with no resolution…..
Five minutes later, I saw that the card had been approved…. (but I had been prepared to let it go)
I am at 5, which includes one AU. My Chase personal banker told me that the AU would not count against me and I’d be approved for CSR. But no, not the case. I had to wait for the actual turndown letter before calling and getting an explanation. No budging for me. I have too many cards “associated with my name” in the last 24 months. No 100k for me.
Me again. Although it maybe too late for your mom, we did make efforts to remove the AU cards from his credit reports before he applied. It worked easily and relatively quickly – just filed dispute requests following DrofCredit’s directions – and the AUs disappeared from Transunion and Equifax. But Experian will not remove them; claims by law they must stay on the record. Sadly Chase pulled from Experian hence the initial decline.
We also saw two account listings for the same AU, one for a card that had a typo in the name and a second for the card with the correct spelling. We were able to get that one off even with Equifax.
Just so you know, converting a current card to the CSR will not prevent you from getting the bonus on it later. As long as you cancel it before applying for it, you are fine!
Thanks for the tip Charlie!
Indeed, you can just product change CSR to something else at that point. I PCd CF to CSR and could always change it later if under 5/24. Or at that point, the opening bonus for CF could be better, and I could just get that (I never got one initially since I PCd from a generic card).
You can’t teach parents anything these days! HAHA How the tables have turned, when it was us as teenagers and young adults who were frustrating our parents for not listening to their sage advice.
Some of those store cards may be useless, and non-bonus spend is bad, but Lowe’s does offer 5% off all purchases for their cards (and has 10% days as well) – and this includes the co-branded Amex card, which gives you both OPEN benefits and Amex offers (don’t know if this is the one she has), so if you’re going to have one, it’s not really a bad card to carry – though it does seem to have bit her here…
Get a doll that looks like Jamie Dimon and some straight pins…. and some charcoal lighter and some matches …. you know what to do !
P.S. : just burn the feet , not the whole doll .
I had a crazy situation with CHASE, with whom I have a 20 year+ banking relationship. I applied for and was approved for a CHASE Sapphire Reserve card on which I spent some $10,000 within three months. They sent me a letter asking for physical ID – remember I am a 20 year + banking customer and have had CHASE credit cards for most of those years. Anyway I was overseas and didn’t deal with it in time. They closed me down on that card but left the others open. I went into my branch, where the banker knows me well, and gave him the ID requested. He spoke to the credit card people who told him I was too late to have the account re-opened but that I should apply for a new one, implying that was a mere formality. No problem, the banker made the application for me. It was turned down a few days later on the 5/24 rule. I called recon sitting with the same banker who was told a week earlier to just put in a new application and told them the 5th of the 5 was their own card and told her the story. She would not budge for anything. I have over $200,000 credit with CHASE so moving about would not have been a problem. The “original” Reserve card had a $35,000 credit limit. She told me tough luck. The banker was amazed and tried for me but she basically told him to mind his own business. I wasn’t looking for the bonus points, I had already gotten those; I just want the account which is better than anything else out there, at least for me.