Credit card strategy
6 Business Cards That Help You Stay Under Chase's 5/24 Rule
5/24 is the tightest constraint in the points hobby, and business cards are the standard way around it. This is the mechanic, the six card families worth knowing, and the order that keeps your Chase eligibility intact.
Last verified August 9, 2026 — issuer business-card reporting behaviour and application requirements reviewed against issuer terms pages. Welcome offers, fees and approval rules are set by the issuers and change frequently — confirm current terms on the issuer's own application page before applying.
What 5/24 counts — and what it ignores
The rule that matters is a counting rule. Pull your personal credit reports and count every new account opened in the last 24 months. Five or more, and Chase applications generally get declined regardless of income or credit score.
| Event | Counts? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A new personal credit card from any issuer | Yes | Appears as a new account on your personal reports |
| An authorised-user card someone added you to | Yes, usually | It is reported to your personal file; you can often ask the issuer to remove it |
| A business card from most non-Chase issuers | No, generally | Not reported to personal bureaus, so no new personal account appears |
| A Chase business card | No to the count — but 5/24 still gates approval | Chase applies the rule to the application even though the account is not reported personally |
| A hard inquiry with no approval | No | An inquiry is not an account |
| A mortgage, auto loan or store card | Yes | Any new personal account is an account |
| A product change on an existing card | No | No new account number is opened |
The consequence is the entire strategy: business cards let you keep earning without spending your Chase slots. Your personal-report slots are the scarce resource. Spend them on Chase products, and take everything else on the business side.
The six business cards worth knowing for this
These are the card families we would actually consider, chosen for reporting behaviour and for whether the points they earn are useful for flights. We are not quoting welcome offers or fees: those change monthly, and a stale number in an article is worse than no number. Each row links to the issuer's own page, which is the only place the current figure is authoritative.
| Card | Issuer | Why it fits the 5/24 problem | What the points are good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Business Plus | American Express | No-annual-fee entry point; Amex generally does not report business cards personally | Membership Rewards — transferable to airline partners, so it feeds award flights |
| Business Gold | American Express | Mid-fee card for a business with concentrated category spend | Membership Rewards, same transfer partners |
| Business Platinum | American Express | High-fee premium card; take it only if you will use the travel credits and lounge access | Membership Rewards plus lounge access — see our lounge card guide |
| Spark Miles for Business | Capital One | Simple flat-rate earning; Capital One business cards generally do not report personally | Capital One miles — transferable to a growing airline partner list |
| Business Advantage Travel Rewards | Bank of America | No-annual-fee option; strongest if you already bank with BofA | Fixed-value travel credit rather than transferable points — simpler, less upside |
| Ink family | Chase | The exception: it does not add to your count, but you must already be under 5/24 to get it | Ultimate Rewards — the most useful currency for domestic and partner award flights |
Note the honest caveat that gets left out of most articles: reporting behaviour is issuer policy, not law, and issuers have changed it. Discover and a few smaller banks have reported business accounts personally. Before you apply, check your own reports about 60 days after opening any business card and confirm it did not appear.
The application order that actually protects your slots
Sequencing beats card selection here. A worked plan for someone at 2/24 who wants a Chase premium card, a Chase business card and two Amex business cards:
| Month | Action | 5/24 count after | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Count your accounts from your own credit reports | 2/24 | Never plan from memory |
| 1 | Chase personal card | 3/24 | Spend a personal slot on the issuer that restricts you |
| 4 | Chase Ink business card | 3/24 | Business card does not report personally; still under the line |
| 7 | Amex business card | 3/24 | No personal report impact |
| 10 | Second Amex business card | 3/24 | Same; minimum-spend capacity is now the limiting factor, not 5/24 |
| 12+ | Re-count and decide | 3/24 | Older accounts also age out of the 24-month window over time |
Two constraints that bite before 5/24 does
- Minimum-spend capacity. Stacking four cards in a year means four simultaneous spend requirements. Do not manufacture spending you cannot justify — that is how people carry a balance and lose more to interest than the bonus was worth.
- Per-issuer velocity limits. Separate from 5/24, issuers limit how many approvals they will give you in a rolling window. Spacing applications about 90 days apart is the pattern that holds up.
How to count your own accounts in ten minutes
- Pull all three reports free at AnnualCreditReport.com — the official source, not a lookalike.
- List every account with an open date inside the last 24 months, including store cards and authorised-user entries.
- Ask to be removed as an authorised user on any card that is not yours if you are sitting at 4 or 5 and need a slot back.
- Write the count and the date on which your oldest counted account ages out. That date is your next application window.
Once the points are in hand, the redemption side is where value is won or lost. Our transfer partner cheat sheet covers that, and today's verified cash fares are the benchmark you should always price your points against.
Frequently asked questions
- Is 5/24 an official Chase rule?
- No. Chase has never published it. It is a consistently observed approval pattern reported by applicants over many years: if five or more new accounts have appeared on your personal credit reports in the last 24 months, Chase generally declines new card applications. Treat it as a strong empirical rule, not a documented policy, and never as a guarantee.
- Do business cards count toward 5/24?
- Two different things are being asked. Most issuers do not report business cards to your personal credit reports, so opening one generally does not add to your 5/24 count. But a Chase business card application is still subject to 5/24 — you must already be under the line to be approved for it.
- Do I need an LLC to get a business card?
- No. Issuers routinely approve sole proprietors using a Social Security number and the applicant's legal name as the business name. What you must have is genuine business activity — freelance, consulting, resale, rideshare, rental income — and you must describe it truthfully on the application.
- Does a business card application create a personal credit inquiry?
- Usually yes. Issuers typically pull the owner's personal credit for a small-business card even when the resulting account is not reported to personal bureaus. An inquiry is not a new account, so it does not add to your 5/24 count, but it does show on your report.
- What is the right order if I want a Chase card and a business card?
- Apply for the Chase card first, while you are under 5/24. Non-Chase business cards can follow at any time because they generally do not add to the count. Reversing the order wastes your scarcest resource, which is the Chase-eligible slot.
- Chase — business credit cards and card terms
- American Express — business card terms and pricing
- Capital One — business credit cards
- Bank of America — small business credit cards
- CFPB — how credit reports and inquiries work
- AnnualCreditReport.com — the official free report source used to count accounts
Programs change their rules and pricing without notice. Confirm anything decision-critical on the official page before you book or apply. See our corrections policy.