Written by Jason Foley
Updated on Tue, 03 Feb 2026

Credit card companies have many rules governing how and when you can apply for cards and earn welcome offers. The most important of these rules is the 5/24 rule.

Read an in depth explanation about 5/24 here.

The Importance of Chase Cards

Chase cards, and Chase Ultimate Rewards points, should be at the center of your points-collecting strategy. Because of that, maximizing your approvals under Chase’s rules can make a significant difference in how many points you earn.

After about two years in this hobby, you will almost inevitably find yourself waiting to apply for a card in order to stay under the 5/24 rule. Knowing this in advance can make all the difference.

If you space things out and apply for only five personal cards over a 24-month period, you will open a new card roughly once every four to five months. When your first card falls off after 24 months, you can apply for another, then wait another four to five months. Rinse and repeat.

If you are serious about this hobby and apply our strategy, you can earn double that, and potentially more.

Apply for a Sapphire Card First

The two Chase Sapphire personal cards fall under both the 5/24 rule and the Sapphire lifetime rules. We always suggest starting with one of these cards, since you need a Sapphire card to transfer points to Chase’s valuable hotel and airline partners.

If you are playing two-player mode, one person should apply for the Sapphire Reserve and the other for the Sapphire Preferred.

Apply for More Personal Cards Next

From there, we generally recommend staying within the Chase ecosystem and applying for two to three additional personal cards, bringing you to 3/24 or 4/24. You may also want to include a Capital One card among these early applications. Capital One is one of the strictest issuers once you’ve opened several cards, and they offer some valuable cards, particularly the Venture X. Adding one early helps ensure you’re not shut out of a transferable points system.

If you want more flexibility to jump on an elevated signup bonus, it can make sense to pause at 3/24. If you already have a clear list of cards that fit your strategy, you can continue applying for new personal cards as soon as you meet the minimum spend on the previous one.

This may seem counterintuitive when trying to stay under the 5/24 rule, but the key is starting the 24-month clock on those cards as early as possible.

Then Switch to Business Cards

At that point, you can shift your focus to business cards from any ecosystem. Chase, Amex, and Citi all offer business cards we frequently recommend.

You only need a side hustle of some kind to apply for a business card, and most business cards do not count toward your 5/24 total. Instead of opening just five personal cards over two years, you could open five personal cards and five or more business cards during that same period. This can effectively double the number of signup bonus points you earn.

When your oldest personal card is about 21 months old, you can begin preparing to apply for another personal card. This allows you to start the clock on that card as soon as possible. While you'll briefly be at 5/24, your first card will fall off in 3 months, putting you back under 5/24. And if you followed our advice, you'll have 3 more falling off within the next 6-9 months.

At that point, you can continue with Chase or begin branching out into other transferable points ecosystems such as Citi, Cap One, Amex, or Bilt. This is also a good time to look at co-branded airline and hotel cards.

Sign up for the Points Navigator, and we’ll track your 5/24 status and all other major card rules for you. We’ll alert you when you’re eligible for new cards, warn you if an application would break a rule, and recommend which card to apply for next.