Credit Card Issuers Rules for Approvals & Bonuses: American Express, Bank of America, Barclaycard, Chase, & Citi

You ever had that eager wait of approval for a new credit card and thought to yourself if you’ll be approved or if you’ll get the bonus? The truth lies in the issuing bank of the credit card’s decision whether or not to approve you. Again, the issuing bank is not the payment network; VISA, MasterCard, or American Express.

The Issuing bank is who gives you the card, collects the interest, provides you with customer service, etc. In regards to rewards credit cards, you can expect the top credit card issuers to be Chase, Citi, American Express, Bank of America, and Barclaycard. In doing so, further evaluation of these major card issuers rules is a total necessary.

Chase’s 5/24 Rule:

• Having 5 or more cards within the last 24 months with Chase is detrimental in their decision in whether you’d be approved or denied. if you have 5 or more, odds are, you’ll be denied. However, if you were targeted for a Chase offer, you can still be approved even with 5 cards under you already. Keep in mind that this also means cards outside of Chase’s card issuing jurisdiction like Citi, etc.
• You will be able to get a bonus on the same Chase Card once every 24 months. The 24 Month’s Clock starts when you got your last bonus.
• You can be approved for multiple cards on the same day.

American Express “Once Per Lifetime” Rule:

• You are limited to getting a bonus on a American Express card once per lifetime. If you’re targeted however, you can still be approved.
• You will be limited to 4 American Credit Cards per hold. Both Personal and Business will count towards this limit.
• You are also limited to holding four American Express charge cards. Both Personal and Business will count towards this limit.

Citi’s 1/24 Per Brand Rule:

• You can be approved for no more than one Citi card in an eight day period. If you’re adamant on two Citi cards, get them on days 1 and 9.
• You can be approved for no more than one Citi card in an eight day period;  If you’re adamant on three Citi cards,  be sure to get them on days 1, 9, and 66.
• You will only be eligible for a sign-up bonus if you haven’t opened or closed a card within the same family, type, brand, or co-brand within the last 24 months. As of August 28, 2016, this will aply to all card families, not just the ThankYou: Citi Prestige, ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Prestige.

Bank of America

• There’s no limit, you can get as many cards as you’d like at one time. However, the Alaska Airlines personal and business is the only card really worth getting. There has been reports of individuals getting multiple at once. I usually wait it out with a 91 day interval prior to applying for another one of each.

Barclaycard

• New Applicants with no prior card with Barclay will be able to get multiple at once.
• Current Applicants who currently holds a Barclay card will not be approved for another within at least 6 months since the last application was made.
• Barclaycard will deny you for:
  • Having too many Barclaycards
  • Not having enough spending on an existing Barclaycard
  • Too much credit with Barclaycard
  • Too many accounts with other banks

Final Analysis:

Major card issuers typically have differing rules on how often you can apply for a specified card or how many times you can get a new bonus off of that specified card. Keep in mind that all major issuers set these precedents to prioritize their deemed more loyal customers who pay their annual fees and so on so forth. Most card issuers by now have changed their rules to something rather strict.

Keep in mind that there’s no favored rule out of these mentioned major credit card issuers, but I can say that the much despised “Once Per Lifetime” from American Express is quite agitating to say the least.  Don’t forget to check out our full list of Credit Card Bonuses if you’re not interested at the moment.