I Now Have 8 Active Chase Cards After This Approval + What’s in My Wallet

It’s been a while since I applied for a new round of credit cards. Over the last few years, I had myself a pretty religious routine of applying for new travel credit cards every 3 months. After all, credit card sign-up bonuses are one of the fastest and easiest ways to earn a boatload of miles and points if you have good credit and are a responsible spender.

I have over a dozen active credit cards now, and believe it or not, my score has actually increased as a result of that simply because I always pay my bills on time and pay my balances in full each month.

However, times are changing now as many of the issuers (especially Chase) are getting more strict with the amount of credit cards you can get approved for within a 24-month period.

Chase “5/24 Rule”

It used to be that if you’ve opened 5 or more credit card accounts (from any bank) in the past 24 months, it was very unlikely that Chase would approve you for some of their Ultimate Rewards earning cards (such as Freedom, Sapphire Preferred, Ink, etc.).

Now recent reports are saying that this 5/24 rule applies to all Chase products, including co-branded cards (such as the Hyatt Credit Card, United MileagePlus Explorer, etc.).

I was bummed that this 5/24 rule trickled down to the co-branded cards because I truly believe Chase has some of the best sign-up bonuses for points and miles credit cards. I had been eying the Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card with it’s limited time offer of a super-high 87,500-point sign-up bonus (80,000 + 7,500 when you add an authorized user). So I figured It was worth a shot to apply…

I applied yesterday and got a pending review…

Instead of waiting 7-10 days for the decision, I called the reconsideration line for an immediate decision. The representative told me I would have to move some credit around from other Chase personal cards for me to be approved. The call was quick, and I now have my 6th active Chase personal card. I personally don’t mind paying annual fees on co-branded hotel credit cards because the annual free-night certificates that come with the card always end-up being useful to me during my travels.

After applying for the Marriott card, I went ahead and applied for another card that has been on my radar for some time – the Citi Prestige. This card comes with a pretty heavy $450 annual fee, but you get a $250 airline credit (that can be used on plane tickets), lounge membership, a 4th-night free hotel benefit, $100 global entry credit, and a sign-up bonus worth at least $800 (when redeeming for 1.6cents per point towards the cost of an American Airlines ticket).

I probably will transfer my Thank You points with travel transfer partners like I did when I flew Singapore Suites from Frankfurt to New York (which is a far more valuable redemption than 1.6 cents per point).

But yikes another pending review…!

I called the reconsideration line immediately, and it was the same deal as it was with Chase: had to move around some lines of credit with Citi to get the approval.

I still might go ahead and apply for one more card today (any ideas?), but for now I am happy with my two latest additions to my wallet.

So… what’s in my wallet now?

American Express

• The Business Platinum Card® from American Express OPEN
• SimplyCash® Business Card from American Express
• Blue Sky from American Express
• Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card

Chase

• Hyatt Credit Card
• IHG® Rewards Club Select credit card
• Chase Freedom
• Chase Sapphire Preferred
• United MileagePlus Explorer
• Marriott Rewards® Premier Credit Card
• Ink Plus
• Ink Cash

Barclays

• JetBlus Plus Card

Citi

• Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard® –
• The Citi Prestige Card

 

What credit cards have you recently been approved for? Are you finding your strategies changing now that it’s getting harder with approvals? Would love to hear from others…