I know this is not a time to talk about travel, but I like to give you relevant content each week that helps you move closer to your travel goals.
At some point, COVID-19 will be over, and we will all be back to normal.
One of the most popular credit card issuers for travel is Chase Bank.
Chase has a rule called “5/24” that will greatly affect not only your approval odds for Chase credit cards but also how many cards you can get.
What is Chase’s “5/24” rule?
Chase’s “5/24” rule unofficially states that if you have opened five or more credit cards within the past 24 months, you will not be approved for any card with Chase.
This rule is not officially written anywhere but understood by everyone in the points and miles community.
What does that mean?
It means that if you have opened five or more cards in the past two years, you will have to wait to get your next Chase credit card.
That could possibly take two years.
That is a long time.
Why are Chase cards so important?
First, Chase cards give you valuable transferable points that can be directly transferred to airlines and hotels.
Second, Chase has a portal where you can exchange points for flights, hotels, etc.
Transferring directly to airlines can get you high value tickets like international first class flights for pennies.
Chase Ultimate rewards are also worth more than your general 1:1 transfer when using the portal.
Most Chase cards are worth between 1.25 -1.5 cents as opposed to 1 cent.
That gets you more for your points.
There are so many airlines and hotels to choose from that it keeps you from current devaluations at single airlines like Delta that are common.
Delta Skymiles could be worth less overnight.
So, if you only had Delta miles, your points would immediately lose value.
Transferable currencies transfer to several airlines protecting you from devaluation which occur frequently again.
They are 3 other credit currencies that are as valuable:
- American Express Membership
- Citi Thank You
- Capital One Miles
If you have Marriott points, you can transfer those to airlines at a good rate too.
Marriott is the only hotel hotel chain that offers a good rate though. Otherwise, transferring hotel points to airlines is a pretty poor redemption
You should prioritize the currencies we discussed above because they get you more value and can be used in countless ways with countless airlines.
What does this mean in practice?
If you are just starting out, this means you need to get Chase cards first.
Two years is a long time to wait for a credit card.
You may also want to get a Capital One card like the Venture card with your Chase card(s) if this is important to you.
Capital One rarely approves people after a certain amount of new applications on your credit file.
Not all Chase cards have this high value redemption though.
To get the real value you must have one of the Chase Ultimate cards.
They are the following:
Personal
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
and/or
- Chase Sapphire Reserve
Business
- Chase Ink Preferred Business Credit Card
You only need one of these cards.
Having these cards means that your other Chase points are more valuable.
For instance, cards like the Freedom or Freedom Unlimited are worth more than one cent if you have one of these three cards.
That is because you can transfer your points from one of those cards to a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Summary
Chase has one of the best and most valuable set of travel credit cards out there.
There are only three other credit currencies that are as valuable again: American Express, Citi, and Capital One.
Every other travel card only gives you one cent per point.
So the reason every travel blog as well as this one suggest that you get one of those three Chase cards first is because of the Chase “5/24” rule.
The other banks that I mentioned that are valuable have rules, but none like this.
Although they each have enough unofficial rules too.
That is why I suggest you keep reading and learning.
Understanding rules at each bank can help you get your next free trip.
