Which Cards Are Affected?
Chase currently offers some of the most attractive rewards cards. The Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve are both very popular. Chase also offers plenty of branded cards that offer rewards with companies like Starbucks, Southwest Airlines, Hyatt Hotels, and Disney. The 5/24 rule is a pretty obvious attempt to keep hardcore rewards junkies from gaming the system.
If you’re planning to stock up on credit card rewards (or have already started), you should double check your credit history. Use a free credit report tool like CreditKarma to check exactly when all of your current credit cards were opened. If you have more than five new accounts in the past two years, you could hit a roadblock. However, if you have credit cards that are much older — even Chase branded ones — you are probably fine.
You might be able to get around the 5/24 rule. For example, if you get a new unsolicited card offer from Chase, either via your online account, via email, or regular old mail, it might include a preapproval offer. Accepting those offers will probably skirt you around the 5/24 rule, if you’ve otherwise reached the limit.
We don’t normally recommend having five credit cards. However, if you have a strong credit score and are able to properly juggle multiple cards in order to max out the rewards, then go right ahead. Just remember to keep careful track of every account. You’ll want to know exactly what you have to do to hit those top tier rewards. It can be worth it, when done properly.
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