The Chase Sapphire Reserve is the most anticipated card product of the year. It’s an outstanding product with killer benefits like 3x points on dining + travel, Priority Pass Select, Primary Auto Rental Collision Coverage, and more! However, Chase has this irritating little rule called the 5/24 rule. Basically, if you’ve opened 5 cards in the past 24 months, your request for credit will be denied. The rule does not apply to co-branded credit cards like the Marriott Premier. I totally understand why the rule is there, but there must be exceptions. There aren’t, and in the case of the Sapphire Preferred, the Chase 5-24 rule is unfair.
I know a lot of you are in the same situation and are probably thinking the rules are the rules. Here me out. My personal situation saw a few applications in the past couple of years, one of them being my very first Sapphire Preferred card just a year ago. Had I know then that the Sapphire Reserve was going to come out, I wouldn’t have applied for that card. Why would I want to Sapphire Preferred when this better, but more expensive product is available? Wouldn’t Chase want me to have it too? The card carries a much higher annual fee and gives me more incentive to use it. But no. Chase is choosing to be stubborn and kind of dumb about this. I mean their rules already make it so you can’t really churn their cards. And if I want the Sapphire Reserve to replace my Sapphire Preferred that I use regularly, why wouldn’t they let that go? I explained all this to the Chase reconsideration folks and a retention specialist. But they said there’s nothing we can do.
Now, you’re probably wondering about what the other 4 cards are. Well, according to Chase, those are my Alaska Air Visa, the Amex EveryDay Preferred, the Hyatt Visa, and a PenFed Visa. That last one really ticks me off because I didn’t apply for the card. The card was simply given to me because I have an auto loan with PenFed. The loan was opened in 2013, while the credit cards says Jan 2015. I explained this to the Chase reps too, but it didn’t matter. Even though I didn’t apply for a card, the fact that it’s been opened under my name means I’m still ineligible. The fact that I’ve been a loyal (as loyal as I can be since there are no branches in my state and am thus not eligible for an account) cardholder and have never churned cards didn’t seem to matter either. Stellar credit with zero derogatory marks and a long history of always paying with Chase? Who cares.
And this is why I think the Chase 5-24 rule is unfair in regards to the Sapphire Reserve card. While many of us knew the card was coming, we only knew about a month away from it’s launch. Chase is being extremely customer unfriendly, in my opinion, and often to its best and most loyal customers in this case. I even asked the retention specialist if there’s anyway I could get this product and he flat out said no. Not even an upgrade for my Sapphire Preferred? I’ve always loved Chase and the service they’ve furnished, so this post isn’t coming from someone that harbors animosity towards them. But I also feel that Chase needs to learn something called common sense. Or perhaps they’ve become too popular for their own good? I stated that I thought the situation is unfair given the overall circumstance and they didn’t care.
What I think Chase should have done, and should still do, is provide a one-time exception for the launch of this product, especially if one of the 5-24 accounts is a Sapphire Reserve. We’ll see what a call to the normal customer service line and request to upgrade (without signup bonus) does for the account.