Possible to have Same Card from Two Different Lenders?

[SpringPiston]

Very new to using credit cards, please correct me if I say anything wrong. Current background is Discover IT Cash Back for 6 months, and just got approved for US Bank Cash+ today. 

I understand that for credit cards managed in-house by a company (like Discover), you cannot have two of the same credit card. For example, it is impossible to get the Discover IT Cash Back card twice as a single person.

However, Elan Financial Services does not give their Elon Max Cash card directly. Instead, there are different smaller banks / credit unions that offer it on behalf. From the top of the list of Elan lenders, both Incredible Bank and First Financial Northwest Bank offer the Elan Max Cash card.

Does that mean that I could theoretically get two Elan Max Cash cards, one from each of the above two lenders? Meaning I could have 5% cash back across 4 categories in a quarter (2 from each card)?

If getting the same card from different lenders is disallowed, where is the line drawn? Are the Elan Max Cash card from an Elan lender and US Bank Cash+ from US Bank considered different enough that I could theoretically get both and achieve 4 total 5% categories per quarter that way? Or is that also disallowed, since they are under the same parent subsidary US Bancorp?

I might be overthinking this, but I have 4 5% categories in mind if the above is possible so it inevitably crossed my mind.

[SouthJamaica]

---

@SpringPiston wrote:

Very new to using credit cards, please correct me if I say anything wrong. Current background is Discover IT Cash Back for 6 months, and just got approved for US Bank Cash+ today. 

I understand that for credit cards managed in-house by a company (like Discover), you cannot have two of the same credit card. For example, it is impossible to get the Discover IT Cash Back card twice as a single person.

Not so. In fact I have two Discover IT cash back cards.

However, Elan Financial Services does not give their Elon Max Cash card directly. Instead, there are different smaller banks / credit unions that offer it on behalf. From the top of the list of Elan lenders, both Incredible Bank and First Financial Northwest Bank offer the Elan Max Cash card.

Does that mean that I could theoretically get two Elan Max Cash cards, one from each of the above two lenders? Meaning I could have 5% cash back across 4 categories in a quarter (2 from each card)?

If getting the same card from different lenders is disallowed, where is the line drawn? Are the Elan Max Cash card from an Elan lender and US Bank Cash+ from US Bank considered different enough that I could theoretically get both and achieve 4 total 5% categories per quarter that way? Or is that also disallowed, since they are under the same parent subsidary US Bancorp?

I might be overthinking this, but I have 4 5% categories in mind if the above is possible so it inevitably crossed my mind.

---

[SpringPiston]

Ah my mistake, that's right. But is Discover the exception here, or do most companies allow 2 of the same card?

[Trini88]

---

@SpringPiston wrote:

Ah my mistake, that's right. But is Discover the exception here, or do most companies allow 2 of the same card?

---

My husband has 2 Quicksilver cards from Capital One.

[FinStar]

---

@SpringPiston wrote:

Ah my mistake, that's right. But is Discover the exception here, or do most companies allow 2 of the same card?

---

Yes, plenty of lenders allow it. It just depends on the bank/CU and whether a product is PC'd, downgraded/upgraded from the original. For instance, Chase allows 2 of the same core products, so does AmEx, FNBO, BoA, Citi, TRUIST, PenFed, Capital One, US Bank, etc.

I believe ELAN (not Elon) allows 2 of the same card types through the different affiliates. I can't recall if some members have 2 of the same ELAN MCPs through different banks/CUs, but perhaps they can chime in if so.

[unsungivy]

---

@SpringPiston wrote:

Very new to using credit cards, please correct me if I say anything wrong. Current background is Discover IT Cash Back for 6 months, and just got approved for US Bank Cash+ today. 

I understand that for credit cards managed in-house by a company (like Discover), you cannot have two of the same credit card. For example, it is impossible to get the Discover IT Cash Back card twice as a single person.

However, Elan Financial Services does not give their Elon Max Cash card directly. Instead, there are different smaller banks / credit unions that offer it on behalf. From the top of the list of Elan lenders, both Incredible Bank and First Financial Northwest Bank offer the Elan Max Cash card.

Does that mean that I could theoretically get two Elan Max Cash cards, one from each of the above two lenders? Meaning I could have 5% cash back across 4 categories in a quarter (2 from each card)?

If getting the same card from different lenders is disallowed, where is the line drawn? Are the Elan Max Cash card from an Elan lender and US Bank Cash+ from US Bank considered different enough that I could theoretically get both and achieve 4 total 5% categories per quarter that way? Or is that also disallowed, since they are under the same parent subsidary US Bancorp?

I might be overthinking this, but I have 4 5% categories in mind if the above is possible so it inevitably crossed my mind.

---

Yes, absolutely. I'm one of those with two Elan MCPs from different FIs. Annoyingly however, I have to log into each separately due to the different FIs. Otherwise no problem. Also, I got them back to back (within 10 minutes) on the same hard pull, although they didn't inform me if the second one had been approved until the next morning.

[SunriseEarth]

---

@SpringPiston wrote:

I understand that for credit cards managed in-house by a company (like Discover), you cannot have two of the same credit card. For example, it is impossible to get the Discover IT Cash Back card twice as a single person.

---

Actually, YMMV.  Many people have multiples of one particular card.  Sometimes, you can do this from submitting a new app for the same card, but this often happens if you PC or if a card portfolio was acquired by another lender.  I have had 2 QS cards with Cap One.  I currently have two BBR cards with BOA.  And I have previously had two Cash+ cards because I PCed their discontinued Cash 365 to a second Cash+.   I eventually PCed that to the Altitude Go, but I'm debating PCing back to Cash+.