when to apply after falling under 5/24?

[Anonymous]

I want to apply for the Chase Amazon card. I went on a bit of an app spree two years ago, so I had four accounts opened quite close together. At the start of this month I was 5/24, but three accounts hit the two year mark and now I'm technically at 2/24 as of March 7th. What I'm wondering is if I can apply now or should I wait until April? I know my credit report has the exact dates the accounts were opened, but I'm not sure if Chase goes by that, or if they just consider it as opened March 2019. I don't want to waste a hard pull for a denial over timing. I don't mind waiting until April and I may do that anyway just to make sure, but we are expecting and I plan to get quite a few things via Amazon in the upcoming weeks and it would be nice to have the card to use if it's safe to apply. I do have the store card already to fall back on if need be, but I think Synchrony hates me. They haven't given me a CLI on either of the cards I have with them in three years, despite good FICO scores, low utilization and no baddies as well as good use of their card. I would rather give my business to Chase, who have been good to me (auto CLIs and a pre-approval for a CSP at 13/24).

Thanks!

[Aim_High]

The hard pull on the credit report should show the exact date the account was opened.   I don't recall seeing anyone get turned down in this situation as long as it was a full 2 years.   If it was me, I would probably wait a few weeks to be sure, but I don't think you would have any 5/24 problems, assuming everything else on the application and your report is in order.  Good luck!

[FalconSteve]

If you aren't in a hurry, wait a full month to be safe. They are reall weord about 5/24.

[imaximous]

I'd wait till April if you're not in any rush. 

From previous experience, I knew analysts counted the month and not the exact date a card was opened. 
But, I got the itch and still applied for a card last month and got denied. I called to attempt a recon and analyst told me about their 5/24 rule literally. They used to say "number of cards opened in the last 24 months", but this time, he specifically said Chase has a rule that if you opened 5 or more cards in the last 24 months, they won't reconsider the denial. He had me at 6/24. 
I tried to argue that my 2 cards had been opened in early February, and they were technically over 24 months old. He said he could see that but he had to use the month of account opening and not the specific date. 

I really don't know if all analysts operate the same way, but that wasn't the first time I experienced this and I've read similar stories. 

[Horseshoez]

I'm very much a newbie here so maybe I'm misunderstanding what I've read, but what I *thought* I understood was:

• Hard pulls from credit applications stay on your credit history for 24 months, however,
• only the hard pulls from the last 12 months really count.

If I've misunderstood then I consider myself very lucky as yesterday I fired off my seventh credit card application in the last 13-months; lucky because I was instantly approved for a very nice PenFed card.

Edit: I just read the post above mine from @imaximous and now understand this is a Chase rule.  So, disregard what I wrote above.

[Aim_High]

---

@Horseshoez wrote:

I'm very much a newbie here so maybe I'm misunderstanding what I've read, but what I *thought* I understood was:

• Hard pulls from credit applications stay on your credit history for 24 months, however,
• only the hard pulls from the last 12 months really count.

If I've misunderstood then I consider myself very lucky as yesterday I fired off my seventh credit card application in the last 13-months; lucky because I was instantly approved for a very nice PenFed card.

Edit: I just read the post above mine from @imaximous and now understand this is a Chase rule.  So, disregard what I wrote above.

---

Right, @Horseshoez.  It's an internal Chase rule and it has to do with new revolving credit accounts opened in the previous 24 months, not inquiries in the previous 24 months.  While all lenders probably have their limits, Chase's 5/24 is one of the well-known benchmarks on the forums since they are such a large bank and there are plenty of data points on approvals and denials. 

That said, congrats on your PenFed approval!     Especially with some underwriting having tightened during the pandemic, consider your approval for 7/13 a stroke of good luck and head to the "garden" for awhile.  That's a lot of new accounts in that period, and if you continue to apply you may risk denials or lower limits or higher APRs than you might otherwise qualify for!  

[Horseshoez]

---

@Aim_High wrote:

That said, congrats on your PenFed approval!     Especially with some underwriting having tightened during the pandemic, consider your approval for 7/13 a stroke of good luck and head to the "garden" for awhile.  That's a lot of new accounts in that period, and if you continue to apply you may risk denials or lower limits or higher APRs than you might otherwise qualify for!  

---

Yeah, that's the plan, I had my Chapter 13 discharged a year ago last week and of the 7 credit card applications, three were denied, one was opened and closed six weeks later (a CapOne Secured Card with a $1,000 limit which was more of a pain than it was worth), and the three remaining are the cards in my signature.  The only other activity I'm planning is, once my deposit into a savings account at PenFed ages for 30-days (starting yesterday), I'll initiate a Share Loan for $3,000.

From there, I'm heading straight to the garden where I'll wait out the next 13 months, let the new applications and accounts age out to a year, and to let the Chapter 13 drop off, and then the plan is to apply for a mortgage. 

[SouthJamaica]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I want to apply for the Chase Amazon card. I went on a bit of an app spree two years ago, so I had four accounts opened quite close together. At the start of this month I was 5/24, but three accounts hit the two year mark and now I'm technically at 2/24 as of March 7th. What I'm wondering is if I can apply now or should I wait until April? I know my credit report has the exact dates the accounts were opened, but I'm not sure if Chase goes by that, or if they just consider it as opened March 2019. I don't want to waste a hard pull for a denial over timing. I don't mind waiting until April and I may do that anyway just to make sure, but we are expecting and I plan to get quite a few things via Amazon in the upcoming weeks and it would be nice to have the card to use if it's safe to apply. I do have the store card already to fall back on if need be, but I think Synchrony hates me. They haven't given me a CLI on either of the cards I have with them in three years, despite good FICO scores, low utilization and no baddies as well as good use of their card. I would rather give my business to Chase, who have been good to me (auto CLIs and a pre-approval for a CSP at 13/24).

Thanks!

---

Wait until April.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! I definitely would have waited until April, but think I've decided against applying for the card for now. I decided to give asking Synchrony for a CLI another shot and to my surprise they approved an increase to $5000, which works fine for me. By August my two most recent accounts will be 24+ months old as well, so I will definitely keep a  5/24 slot open for the Chase Amazon just in case I do get caught up in the Synchrony shut down, but as of right now I'm good sticking with the store card. I appreciate the advice!

[FalconSteve]

A CLI will not effect the 5/24 rule