A New Business Card Is Launching This Summer, Here’s What You Can Do To Help Your Approval Odds

Never Miss Another Deal - Follow DansDeals on Facebook

Chase Sapphire’s Instagram page is teasing upcoming Sapphire Reserve changes (Expect higher fees and more “coupon book” benefits) and a new Sapphire business card.

Chase’s non-co-brand business cards have all been branded as Ink until now, so a Sapphire Business branding would be novel. While we don’t yet know exactly what the card will be called or what its benefits will be, we do know that it will launch this summer. I’d guess that we’ll see a mega signup bonus for it.

What can you do to improve your odds of approval? Here are some things that can help.

1. Spend regularly on your existing Chase business cards.
   • Chase has been getting much stricter about business card approvals. One major factor they’re looking at is whether you are using your existing Chase business cards regularly. Consider closing unused Chase business cards and shifting spending onto Chase business cards to help your approval odds for the new Sapphire business card.
2. Apply with an LLC instead of a sole proprietorship.
   • If you have any side business or hobby, you can apply for a business card as a sole proprietor. However, Chase has been getting stricter on approvals for sole proprietors. If you have an LLC and apply with a tax ID number, your approval odds will be greater. Don’t have an LLC or tax ID number? You can open one through your state and the IRS, or leave it to a company like LegalZoom to take care of everything for you.
3. Open a Chase business checking account.
   • Having a Chase consumer checking account helps your consumer card approval odds and having a Chase business checking account helps your business card approval odds. If you’re declined, you can also ask a banker to send in a special reconsideration form on your behalf.
4. Check your 5/24 count
   • Some Chase cards are subject to 5/24 restrictions, meaning that you might not be approved if you have been approved for 5 or more consumer credit cards in the past 24 months.
   • You can check your credit report for free at the federally authorized annualcreditreport.com to check how many accounts are shown as being open in the past 24 months.
   • Enforcement of 5/24 has been patchy for the past several years, and the only way to know if you can get approved is by trying to apply. A pattern has developed where Chase often waives 5/24 rules when they launch a new card or a limited time offer, so it can be worth trying, even if you are over 5/24.
   • Typically, the only way to bypass the 5/24 rules is if the system decides to approve you, so if you are over 5/24, do not call for an approval if your application is pending!
   • Note that the Chase system automatically counts cards like authorized user cards and store cards as cards that count towards 5/24, but if you explain to Chase that those cards are merely authorized user cards or store cards they can manually approve you for a new card.
   • While you may need to be under 5/24 to get approved for a business card, opening a business card won’t add to your 5/24 count.

Have other tips? Hit the comments!