I feel like there is a bit too much emphasis on staying under 5/24 that it causes people to miss out on what they actually want out of travel.

What is “5/24”?

In the points and miles hobby, “5/24” is a reference to Chase’s credit card application speed limit in which a credit card applicant cannot have more than 5 applications approved (from any issuing bank) in the prior 24 months. It should be noted that the five approvals includes the application being processed if you’re applying for a new credit card. In other words, if you already had five approvals in the prior 24 months and then you apply for one more card, that card will push you to six approvals and put you at risk of being denied for that card you’re applying for.

Note that this count of credit card approvals only concerns accounts where you are the primary cardholder. If you sign up for a card as an authorized user, that doesn’t count against your five card limit (though it might require you to chat with an agent to remove those cards from the counter).

Also, while both personal and business credit cards are subject to the limit of five approvals, typically only personal credit cards increment the counter. Business cards are unique in that most do not count against you for the purposes of 5/24. Why is that the case? Because generally speaking business credit card accounts do not appear on your personal credit report. There are business cards that appear on your personal credit report (such as Capital One and Discover), and these do increment the count as expected.

Lastly, don’t assume that you can cancel a card to remove a counter. It doesn’t work that way. The only way for the counter to be lowered is for 24 months to pass after you’ve opened your credit cards.

How to count credit applications

Some people use phone apps or websites to track their credit card approval history. Personally, I don’t want too much of my own information out there and as much as I would love to trust other companies, data breaches do occur and I’d rather not let my credit history be out on the dark web.

I do it the “old fashioned way” of just maintaining an Excel spreadsheet containing the card name, issuing bank, if it’s a personal or business card, sign-up date, and closed date. This makes it fairly easy to identify your “X/24” count by looking at those sign-up dates. As I apply for a new card, I will add a new row. I won’t delete rows since even closed cards are important to track.

Sometimes it’s hard to count the exact date when an application gets approved if it goes pending. The fool-proof method is just to request a copy of your personal credit report from the three main credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and Transunion). Your report will show when each account was opened (and closed) but just remember that most business cards won’t appear on that report.

I think it’s important to maintain your own records in this hobby, but don’t feel like you’re forced to follow my methods. If it’s overwhelming especially in the beginning as you’re getting started, go ahead and use tools others have created. I just feel tracking your own history of credit applications and approvals is actually quite simple and a tool isn’t necessary.

Why people tend to care about 5/24

So why is 5/24 such a big deal? Chase has a number of cards with decent bonuses that are “churnable” (where you can get the sign-up bonus more than once). Take for example the Chase Sapphire Preferred, a card where you can earn the sign-up bonus every 48 months if you’re currently not holding that same card. Other cards might have a 24 month period, allowing for a quicker earn rate.

Chase also has quite a few business credit cards that offer both good sign-up bonuses and excellent spending bonuses. Some manipulate these spending bonuses by buying gift cards at those businesses for use elsewhere, since Chase doesn’t seem to mind gift card spend as much as, say, American Express.

What does this all lead to? Potentially swelling balances of Chase Ultimate Rewards points to use towards travel or as cash back. For some people, Ultimate Rewards is their favorite transferable points program. Personally, I think it’s a bit overrated given their lack of unique transfer partners (United and Hyatt) and what feels like at times an over-reliance of spending at office supply stores to then fuel your spend elsewhere.

Other banks have their own speed limits in place

It’s important to note that the 5/24 rule only applies to Chase. Other credit card issuers have their own rules.

• American Express uses a cryptic algorithm to approve or deny your applications based on your overall credit history and your history with American Express.
• Bank of America has a 3/12 rule (if you don’t have a bank account with them) or a 7/12 rule (if you do). The rule is similar to Chase’s rule, except that it’s over 12 months instead of 24. Sometimes it’s enforced and sometimes not.
• Barclays sometimes follows a 6/24 rule similar to Chase and sometimes doesn’t.
• Capital One doesn’t seem to follow consistent rules, but seems to generally like those it deems not to be only in it for the sign-up bonus.
• Citi is a bit liberal, with allowing at most two credit cards every 65 days.

Chase is far from the only one with a rule, but Chase’s rule is perhaps most widely referenced.

Avoiding other cards with good bonuses is good?

Why would I recommend avoiding paying too much attention to Chase’s 5/24 rule? Well for one, it limits your earning potential if you’re solely focusing on Chase’s rule. Paying attention to Chase’s rule really only helps you if you’re applying for Chase credit cards. I’ve seen quite a few people question if a historically-high sign-up bonus from another issuer is worth a 5/24 slot. Frankly, that thought seems ridiculous to me–why short yourself of getting an excellent sign-up bonus to leave open the vague possibility of sometime in the future getting a Chase card with a bonus that may never exist? A sign-up bonus in your hand is worth two in the bush.

It’s not for those focusing purely on personal cards

My own personal feeling is that focusing so hard on Chase’s 5/24 rule helps the most only if you’re applying for business credit cards. Chase generally has lenient rules for applying for business cards, without those 24 or 48 month restrictions on re-applying for the same card. This is where some believe the gold at the end of the rainbow lies. I don’t necessarily disagree that you can get a lot of points from applying for many business cards, but you need to not go too hard down this approach as Chase will also completely shut you down if you’re applying for too much credit.

But if you’re only looking at personal cards? There are already those 24 and 48 month speed limits in place for many of their personal cards. It simply isn’t worth stressing about that limit for their portfolio of personal cards.

Chase doesn’t always follow its own advice

This can roll under the commentary for any of the banks because they all break their own rules at times, but sometimes Chase just doesn’t care about 5/24. They’ve been known to inconsistently approve applicants when they are clearly above the 5/24 limit. If Chase doesn’t follow its own rule, why should you?

It’s best to think of 5/24 as a soft rule rather than a hard rule. Being under 5/24 will best enable you to secure an approval but it’s far from a done deal that you won’t get approved if you apply. If you apply and get turned down, it’s a small temporary hit to your credit, which should be inconsequential over the long run (remember, if your credit isn’t good, fix that first before getting into this hobby).

What is my strategy?

It’s important to note that everyone should have a strategy. Remember, you need to create a goal for yourself and follow it. If you’re just applying for random credit cards, you’re not going to be able to experience the travel you want. That strategy can include both cards that give you sign-up bonuses and those that give you benefits. My strategy is not going to necessarily be the same as yours–and it shouldn’t be the exact same–but the framework of building a strategy is most important.

In the old days, I would apply for many credit cards all at once as a way to give myself a boost of points as I got started. This worked prior to banks developing hard rules on speed limits. However, these days, I just apply for the card that I want and I generally have a high success rate, only getting a denial about once a year on average. I don’t apply for nearly as many cards as I had in the past, and in fact I’m in the process of paring down my cards to reduce on fees, but I’ll still apply for anywhere between five and eight cards in a year (including business cards). As time gets closer for me to worry about churning those Chase cards, I’ll shift my focus from personal cards to business cards to make my 5/24 number appear better, but then I won’t care so much if getting those Chase cards puts me back over the top.

Points from credit cards sign-up bonuses aren’t my only strategy to earn points and they shouldn’t be your only avenue either.