Let’s clear up one of the biggest points of confusion in the points and miles world: a credit inquiry and a 5/24 slot are not the same thing! 

While they often happen at the same time, they impact your credit and your strategy in completely different ways. Before you plan your next application, here’s what you need to know about how inquiries work and how they relate to your 5/24 count. 

 

 

 A Credit Inquiry



A credit inquiry happens when you apply for a new credit card or loan. It shows up on your credit report and may cause a small, temporary dip in your credit score. It’s basically the bank “peeking” at your credit to evaluate whether you are a good candidate for the card you are applying for. They are looking at several factors, including your payment history, credit utilization, the age of your credit, and recent credit activity. 

 

5/24 Rule

The 5/24 rule is an unofficial (but very real!) Chase policy. Chase will typically not approve you for any of their credit cards if you have opened 5 or more cards with ANY bank in a 24-month period—or at least that is how the “unofficial” rule has worked in the past. But from time to time we hear about deviations from this rule and we have even benefitted from surprising approvals when we’ve been over 5/24 recently. 

A few important details:

• Being an authorized user can count toward your 5/24 total
• Most business cards do not count toward 5/24
• Exceptions that do count towards 5/24: Discover Business, TD Bank Business, and some Capital One Business Cards
• Exceptions that do NOT count towards 5/24: Capital One Venture X Business and Capital One Venture Business

(We know, it’s confusing! But that’s why we are here to help you through it all.)


If you want an easy way to track your 5/24 count, we highly recommend Travel Freely. It is a free app with a lot of great information in one place, and it will keep track of your 5/24 count for you and let you know when cards drop off the count after the 2-year/24-month mark.

 

Inquiries and the 5/24
 Rule

Every time you apply for a new credit card, it will result in an inquiry, whether the card is a business card or a personal card, and whether you are approved or denied. 



There is one exception: American Express®. 
Once you are in the Amex ecosystem, most additional applications only result in a soft pull, meaning they don’t show up on your credit report. 

Once you are approved for a card, personal cards (and those few business cards listed above!) will take up a 5/24 spot. 

Personal cards will result in an inquiry and an occupied 5/24 spot. 

Most business cards will result in an inquiry, but not occupy a 5/24 spot. 

 

Bottom Line

Understanding the difference between a credit inquiry and your 5/24 status is an important part of your points and miles strategy and makes it much easier to map out which cards to get and when. Inquiries are a normal part of every application, but only certain approvals will affect your 5/24 count.