Most of us have heard all about the Chase 5/24 rule by now. If you’re new to travel rewards, “5/24” is a term used to describe Chase limiting new card approvals to people who have had more than 5 new credit cards within the last 24 months. Rumor has it, Chase is also counting authorized user cards in this mix, making it especially hard on those who share credit card accounts with their spouses or partners.
This has been a huge buzzkill for many of us, especially since most want the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card – and it’s 100K signup bonus, of course.
How My Husband Got the Chase Sapphire Reserve
Since all hope is lost for me (in terms of getting under 5/24), I went ahead and upgraded my Chase Sapphire Preferred card to the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I didn’t get the signup bonus with this strategy, but I did get 50% off UR travel redemptions and the $300 travel credit (twice in one year if I choose to cancel or downgrade after 12 months), as well as other perks.
My husband, on the other hand, was at 8/24. After checking with Credit Karma and Credit Sesame, I figured he would be at 5/24 by February and 4/24 by March. With only a few months to wait, I decided it was worth it for him to try for the Chase Sapphire Reserve this winter.
In the meantime, I had him check in with Chase a few times to see if he had any pre-approved offers. Due to Flyertalk reports and the master CSR thread on Reddit, rumor said that many people were getting approved for the Chase Sapphire Reserve despite being well over 5/24. The common theme for these outliers appeared to be they all had pre-approved offers in their accounts.
My husband didn’t have any pre-approved offers when we checked in September and October, so we held off. Alas, I had him check his account again a few weeks ago. Finally, he did have the pre-approved offer we had been hoping for. After applying, he got automatic approval for a $20,000 credit limit. And since he was approved, I went ahead and had him apply for the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard online, too. Fortunately, he received an instant approval there as well.
Final Thoughts
The point of this long story? If you want the Chase Sapphire Reserve card, checking your Chase account for pre-approved offers seems to be the way. And if you check once and aren’t pre-approved, don’t be afraid to check again.
And if you want the card bad enough, you can also do what I did provided you have another Chase card that converts. You can do a product change from the Chase Sapphire Preferred, for example, and score all the benefits of the Chase Sapphire Reserve other than the signup bonus. That means getting the $300 travel credit (potentially twice since the credit is based on the calendar year), 50% off travel redemptions through Chase Ultimate Rewards, Priority Pass Membership, etc.
I don’t normally jump through so many hoops to get a signup bonus, but waiting this one out will be worth it. I can’t wait to add another 100K to our UR collection and plan more travel for next year.
Did you qualify for the Chase Sapphire Reserve? Have you checked your account for pre-approved offers?