kyleay

Quick question. I applied for the Ink Plus and then the Sapphire Preferred, both on 3/25. Both went pending with a 7-10 days and 2 weeks message when I call in. I got a decline letter for the Sapphire Preferred. Should I call recon *now* or wait until I hear something about the Ink Plus? Or should it not matter since one is a business and one is personal (and I applied for the business one first)? Would like to get at least one of the cards ASAP though! Thanks!
--Kyle

crimson12

Hi--I have definitely personally applied for more than 5 cards in the past 24 months. But, I got a targeted offer for the Ink Plus BUSINESS card. Will the 5/24 rule ban be from getting this card? I don't think I've had 5 business cards in the past 24 months (though it would be close and I don't have precise enough records to confirm)

Thanks in advance!

sciconf

I closed my chase Ink biz in June 2014 - I would have had this card atleast 6 months (or 11 months).

If I apply again, will I get the bonus points?

Long Islander

The bonus clock starts from the date you last received the bonus, not from when you closed the account. It's considered not to be a good idea to close an account in less than 12 months (when the AF comes up). If you closed the account in June 2014 and you had it 6 months or more, that means you got it in Jan 2014 or earlier, so you last got the bonus more than 2 years ago, so you're now eligible for another bonus on a new card.

kyleay

Well shoot, I called recon (0625 number) for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and it didn't go well. The guy was kind of a jerk and just asked me if I'd like to be reconsidered (didn't ask any questions about why I wanted it, etc.). I said yes. He put me on hold and then said they'd need to review it since they recently extended $55k credit to me (SW Plus & Premier cards). He said it would take 1 - 2 weeks and I'd receive a letter in the mail. Those two cards are all I've applied for in the past couple years, but I applied for the Ink Plus right before the Sapphire Preferred (both on 3/25).

1. Is there any point in calling recon again and hoping for someone more helpful, or am I stuck waiting (in pending again)?
2. Do you think that they did another hard pull?
3. Should I call on the Ink Plus now (it's been in the 2 week pending on the account status line the whole time) or wait on approval? I really want one of these before taxes are due!

Thanks,
--Kyle

sdsearch

We've not yet seen any evidence that 5/24 has been extended yet to the Ink Plus business card. (Of course, all such evidence is always regarding applications in the past, so we can't be sure something didn't change this morning, be have no evidence that 5/24 is yet in effect for Ink Plus.)

5/24 (when it does apply) does not just count business cards. It's the total number of cards that show with "opened on" dates within the past 24 months on your credit report, plus any other cards with Chase that Chase knows it opened for you within the past 24 months. (In fact, any non-Chase business cards that don't show on your personal credit report won't count, simply because of not showing on your personal credit report.)

sdsearch

You should have reduced the CL on those SW cards as soon you got them, to have avoided this situation. (You don't really need $55k combined limit on two cards, do you?) Now I don't know if it's too late.

This is a known Chase trick. They give you mountains of CL on cards, so that they can deny you for "too much CL with us already" on subsequent cards. The way to get around this is to lower CL as soon as possible, and then space out card applications sufficiently for that to be able to factor in.

beltway

Interested parties can also read the section of the wiki How does Chase calculate the number of an applicant's new cards for purposes of the 5/24 rule?, which includes additional detail.

On an unrelated issue, the wiki now says
This once held true, but lately we've seen quite a few data points suggesting that the 7-10 days message is no longer the kiss of death. Unless others have strong feelings, I think I'll update this to say that at present there is no reliable pattern of approval/denial for the 7-10 days message, but that "approximately 2 weeks" remains strongly correlated with success.

Note that Chase has now rolled out a third message, a very subdued "you will be notified within 30 days." My app from last week just changed this morning from that--which seems to be the default initial recording--to "approx. 2 weeks."

jsk1973

Well, it's not really a "trick." Almost without question, the average CC holder would rather have two $25,000 cards than five $5,000 cards.

kyleay

Thank you, sdsearch. I actually did lower the limit on one of the cards by $10k a week before I applied. At any rate, I'm trying to figure out what to do now with regard to these two cards. I probably won't be applying for any more Chase cards for a very long time, if at all, with the 5/24 rule... So...

Should I call again on the Sapphire that is now being reviewed again (asking why not decided then, if I can move some CL around)? Or is that pointless and the rep would just say it's in review?

And should I call on the Ink Plus that is still pending with the 2 week message (to try to get it before 4/15)? Thanks,
--Kyle

jsk1973

Call again and offer to move a substantial part of the CL on one or both of the other cards, so Chase won't be extending you any additional credit. That's probably your only hope, and it still might not do the trick given Chase's attitude toward churners.

sciconf

So when is good time to close?

kyleay

Yay! Thanks, that did it! Card already shows in my online account. But the guy I spoke with gave a lot more information - maybe helpful to others?

1. I called the status line and both of my apps (Ink Plus, Sapphire) had the 2 week message. Before it was 7-10 days on the Sapphire, which had actually already been denied. So perhaps a "2 weeks" message indicates the card is recommended to be approved (see #2 below)?
2. The rep said the previous rep was actually "recommending approval" with a CL of $15k, without moving credit. So even though that call didn't seem to go well, I guess he was trying to get me approved despite the $55k CLs I had just been granted.
3. The rep said he could finalize it for me now with a $10k limit, *but* that would need to be done by moving $10k in credit from one of my SW cards. So perhaps I should have asked the first rep if there was anything else I could do?

Anyway, I took the $10k transfer of credit because I don't plan on keeping the SW Plus card and I wanted to get the Sapphire in time for taxes - and since it sounded like I was "recommended" for approval but could risk not getting it (?).

Now I'm not sure if I should call in on the Ink Plus, or just keep waiting it out...? Thanks all,
--Kyle

jsk1973

That's good.

The status line will never say the app was "declined"; it will remain "7-10 days" until the denial letter is received.

Seems like a smart move going with the credit reallocation. A recommended approval doesn't mean an actual approval; the supervisor can still nix it.

If you don't know for sure that the Ink Plus was denied, don't call. Just wait it out.

kyleay

Thanks, I'll wait it out since I'm no longer in a rush to get that card with the Sapphire on the way.
--Kyle