nsx

Unless you prefer to be prepared for the next tightening of the screw.

mhdena

Count them all if you like. Problem solved for you.^

mia

This would not be relevant for verifying the number of accounts opened in the past 24 months. I don't use the Experian app for anything else, there's nothing to check unless Chase has an appealing card offer.

sdsearch

It's not quite that simple. Any new card you applied for may not appear on your credit for up to a month or so, but you can't count on exactly that. So if you did apply for any other cards recently, you may not be able see the exact count that Chase sees if you don't pull your credit report right before doing the application.

Of course, if you just want to be on the safe side, that's fine. But please don't report you're "N/24" in datapoints without explaining that you "guessed" if you use this yellow pad method.

It also doesn't take into account other quirks, like backdated reporting to credit bureaus (though that's all more than 24 months ago for the only case I'm aware of). So like I said it's a good guess, but it's not foolproof, and thus shouldn't be used to claim data points that ask "why did I get approved despite being 6/24" and stuff like that, because these little differences can sometimes make Chase think you're 5/24 or 4/24 when your yellow pad shows you might be bit higher than that.

The yellow pad is perfect for figuring it you're way past 5/24 (but only if you work backwards for the past 24 months to create a starting point, don't just start with 0 today). But IMHO it's not the best for figuring stuff out at the exact margin, tho.

mhdena

You do your way and I'll do mine, its perfect for me.

As they say YMMV.

mhdena

You're a real interesting fellow, Where did I say anything about guessing??

I have been tracking my cards applied for since May 2015, month by month. There's no guesswork involved and I don't have rely or WTH happened if some site goes down.

sdsearch

As I said, it can (but doesn't necessarily) take a month or two for new cards to start reporting to credit bureaus. So any time you've recently opened a new card, by definition you're "guessing" if it counts or not if you haven't looked at a credit report to see if it's reported yet. Now, of course, you can avoid applying in that situation, and then you don't need to evaluate N/24 during that time and then you don't have to "guess". But I meant that if you do want to evaluate during that time without looking at an actual credit report, you would have to "guess".

(Of course, if Chase doesn't pull your credit report immediately, then even having looked at your credit report right before applying might be just a "guess" as to what Chase will see, too.)

Meanwhile, just because it's simple for you doesn't mean it's simple for everyone. There are lots more things to keep track of out there for some people. Things like a late payment on a business card could cause it to report. Or that some banks' (such as Cap One's) business cards do always appear on credit reports. You conveniently made it simply by qualifying "Amex, Chase, Citi" but not everyone restricts themselves to those 3 banks.

And at the very least, once after opening each card you might want to verify if you and the credit report agree on the "opened on" date. If the bank reported that date "wrong", Chase is going to use that date, not the date you came up with. (Until a few months ago, that was especially vital, because until early 2015 Amex backdated the "opened on" dates on credit reports to the date you opened your first Amex card. But now the end of that backdating is "finally" more than 24 months in the past.)

FWIW: My use of "finally" here is from the standpoint of the simplicity of evaluating 5/24. Obviously it was nicer from the actual impact standpoint of 5/24 when the backdating was still happening, but it sure got a lot of people confused about counting their N/24 without using an actual credit report.

Troopers

But there is no foolproof method, right? Unless you know the secret sauce on how Chase determines n/24. The yellow pad is the most conservative approach.

sdsearch

We do know the Chase secret sauce, because it's exceedingly simple:
The unknowns are in a couple small details within the above statement: How exactly do they determine bank cards? (Though that affects only a tiny fraction of people.) How exactly do they count "24 months". (Though that question can be avoided by adding a little padding.) And how are Authorized Users, etc, handled? (That affects more people, but still far from all people.)

OTOH, the yellow pad is only accurate if someone knows all the rules about what does and doesn't appear on their credit report. (Those rules are much more complicated than Chase's secret sauce.) One mistake about those credit report rules, and the yellow pad has just potentially become much more dangerous than taking the time to scour your credit report. (Ie, it's still possible to scour your credit report at Credit Karma, as well as other places, it's just more work than it used to be. But still a lot less work IMHO than maintaining a yellow pad.)

Troopers

Devil is in the unknown details making that secret sauce more than just exceeding simply. After all, the applying for Chase cards wiki is constantly changing and bloggers with 5/24 rule dissertations.


I don't understand why the yellow pad is more complicated than reviewing a credit report. The yellow pad is simply a manual ongoing count of accounts opened and opened date. That count is the maximum n...reduce that count by store cards, business accounts, accounts older than 24 months, etc to arrive at the n Chase will likely use. And why is that more dangerous? It's more conservative...if anything, one will think they are at a greater n than Chase thinks.

mhdena

Its not Rocket Science its Yellow Pad Science!

Happy

Been using the Excel spreadsheet method since 2006. Just a yellowpad on the computer.

Also put pertinent information to each account - date applied/approved, date physical card arrived, statement date, card cancellation date. Conditions to earn bonus. Bonus posting date (no need to point out the importance since this is Chase forum).

Accounts are also sorted by Genre - airline, hotel, general points, and by issuers.

The only key for me is to remember to enter the data as soon as it happens. Ironically during the good old days the maintenance was done very diligently. Now I often got lazy due to there are not that many cards to apply any more.

Happy

Indeed! Someone tends to always make simple things more complicated than it is.

Give it a 2 weeks to 1 month extra room on the "count", there would be no need to be "exact" regarding the current rules Chase is using.

sdsearch

No, it is more dangerous, because you just gave wrong information.

You should only reduce that count by business cards that don't appear on your credit report. You shouldn't reduce that count by business cards that do appear on your credit report. Some business cards do appear on your credit report, for at least two reasons: (1) cards that are not in "good standing", and (2) cards from certain banks. Gosh, I don't know even where to find an exhaustive list of which banks' business cards do vs don't appear on credit reports, I just know that Capital One business cards do (always) appear on credit reports, and Amex, BofA, Citi, Chase, and US Bank business cards don't (normally). So if you reduce by business cards and you don't know for sure that those business cards don't appear on your credit report, that's not more conservative, that's the exact opposite!

So you just proved what i was saying, that the yellow pad approach is dangerous for people who think they know the rules but don't really know the rules of what appears on their credit report.

While, on the other hand, scouring your credit report at Credit Karma is not dangerous, it's just a bit more time consuming than it used to be, that's all.

So that's why I meant by scouring your credit report being simpler. You just need to look for bank cards, and look at "opened on" dates. While the yellow pad, you need to know which banks do what in reporting terms (especially for business cards). And like I said, the information on how to scour your credit report the way Chase does is easy to find, while I have no clue where to find an exhaustive list of which business cards from every bank out there do vs don't report to (the big 3) credit bureaus.

And like I said, you can combine these two methods, but hot "guessing" whether any given card appears on your credit report, but instead looking for that one piece of information at a time (a couple months after you get each credit card). The yellow pad approach gets much less dangerous if it checks the credit report to see which cards reported. It's only dangerous when people think they know which cards report (and thus are "guessing"), but don't really know.

Troopers

Fair point.

Do we really know if Chase counts business cards?


Similarly, the credit report approach is dangerous for people who think they know the rules but don't really know the rule, no?