Issuer rules cheat sheet
Chase's 5/24 gets all the attention, but every issuer has its own gatekeeping. Sequencing your applications around all of these rules, not just Chase's, is most of the skill in churning.
| Issuer | Suggested spacing* | Bonus re-eligibility | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chase | 3 mo personal · 6 mo business | 48-month clocks on some card families | Enforces 5/24: usually auto-denies if you've opened 5+ personal cards anywhere in 24 months. Get Chase cards early in your churning career. |
| Amex | 3 mo personal · 3 mo business | Once per lifetime, per card | One bonus per card, ever (lifetime language sometimes resets after ~7 years). Watch for the pop-up warning at application: it means no bonus, so close the window and don't apply. Limits total cards held (~5 credit cards). |
| Citi | 2 mo personal · 2 mo business | 48 months within a card family | Family rules: earning a bonus in a card family can lock the whole family for 48 months. Velocity: roughly 1 card per 8 days, max 2 per 65 days. |
| Capital One | 3 mo personal · 3 mo business | 48 months on some cards | Pulls all three credit bureaus. Oddly denies people with excellent credit and many accounts; space applications ~6 months. Some business cards DO report to personal credit (counts toward 5/24). |
| Bank of America | 3 mo personal · 3 mo business | Varies by card | Community-observed 3/12 rule: denial with 3+ cards opened in 12 months (looser, ~7/12, if you have a BofA banking relationship). 2 cards per 2 months, 3 per 12, 4 per 24. |
| US Bank | 6 mo personal · 6 mo business | Varies by card | Sensitive to recent inquiries and new accounts; approval odds improve markedly with an existing US Bank relationship. Keep applications to this issuer sparse. |
| Barclays | 6 mo personal · 6 mo business | Varies by card | Community-observed soft 6/24 (like Chase's rule but looser). Values seeing usage on existing Barclays cards. |
| Wells Fargo | 3 mo personal · 3 mo business | Varies by card | Roughly 1 new card per 6 months, and approval odds improve with an existing Wells relationship. |
*Spacing values come from the same engine that powers ChurnLogic's recommendations. All rules are community-observed, unpublished, and subject to change without notice.
How to use this
- • Sequence by strictness.Chase's 5/24 makes Chase cards the ones to get early; Amex's once-per-lifetime rule means never waste an Amex application on a weak offer, because you only get that bonus once.
- • Track your per-issuer clocks. You can be perfectly eligible at one issuer and auto-denied at another on the same day. The denial usually costs you the hard inquiry anyway.
- • Business cards are the pressure valve.Most don't report to personal credit, so they don't consume 5/24 slots or BofA 3/12 slots. See the 5/24 guide for the exceptions.
ChurnLogic tracks every one of these clocks for you.
Add your cards once; the app knows which issuers you're eligible for today and when each window opens.
Get started freeEducational information, not financial advice. Advertiser disclosure. Related: hitting minimum spend.