It’s quite a big day for Chase news, as we’ve just learned about a refresh of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, plus the introduction of the new Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. In this post, I want to focus on how we’re also seeing changes to the Chase Sapphire Reserve eligibility requirements. I’d say that it’s potentially good news for those who are interested in picking up a card, though maybe not across the board.
In this post:
Chase Sapphire bonus & approval rules changing
For several years now, eligibility for the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred has been mutually exclusive, including for the welcome offer. For example, here’s the current verbiage when you open up the application for either card:
The product is not available to either (i) current cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card, or (ii) previous cardmembers of any Sapphire credit card who received a new cardmember bonus within the last 48 months. If you are an existing Sapphire customer and would like this product, please call the number on the back of your card to see if you are eligible for a product change. You will not receive the new cardmember bonus if you change products.
With the Chase Sapphire Reserve being relaunched on June 23, 2025, we’re also seeing changes to the eligibility requirements, as reported by View from the Wing. Specifically, eligibility for the two cards will no longer be mutually exclusive, meaning it’ll be possible to have both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred:
Beginning June 23, 2025 you will be able to have both the Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Preferred cards. New account bonus offer eligibility for either card will be based on factors including previously earned bonus offers and the number of cards opened and closed, among others.
That means the standard 48-month family card rule will no longer apply:
We are transitioning away from the family of cards every 48 month eligibility to a same product premium eligibility.
However, there’s another interesting reference here, to how eligibility for the welcome offer will be “based on factors including previously earned bonus offers and the number of cards opened and closed, among others.” So it sounds like Chase is moving in the direction of Amex, in deciding on eligibility for the card. As Chase describes this:
Consumers applying through most channels will be notified during the application process if they are not eligible for a bonus offer and given the choice to continue the application or cancel the application with no impact to their credit score.
We’ll mark this as “developing” for now
On the surface, I think it sounds like these changes could be positive, though we’ll have to wait and see. I am happy to see Chase transitioning away from the 48-month family card rule, which basically meant you could only get a welcome offer on either the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred every 48 months, and couldn’t pick up one card if you currently had the other.
Soon, it’ll be possible to get both the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Sapphire Preferred independently, at least in theory.
The big question mark as of now is what will trigger a pop-up making one ineligible for the welcome offer on a card. Amex takes this approach, and at times it can cause frustration, since there’s not much transparency.
Bottom line
As of June 23, 2025, we’re going to see changes to the eligibility requirements for Chase Sapphire products, coinciding with the relaunch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. The good news is that there will no longer be a 48-month family card rule, meaning one can apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve even if they have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, and vice versa.
The bad news is that Chase will use some other unpublished rule to determine eligibility for a welcome offer. The good news, at least, is that most people will be notified of eligibility during the application process, so they can cancel their application with no impact on their credit score.
What do you make of these changes to Chase Sapphire eligibility requirements?
@Lucky am I reading this correctly that if my wife has the preferred and never had the reserve card that we could sign her up for the reserve and qualify for the SUB? If that's the case it seems like a no brainer for us since the credits are easy for us to burn through.
My reserve fee hits in February so I'm just waiting this out until October I guess and perhaps trying for the business version if the SUB is worthwhile.
@ orflyer -- She's potentially eligible, though there's still some mystery surrounding this, given this verbiage: "new account bonus offer eligibility for either card will be based on factors including previously earned bonus offers and the number of cards opened and closed, among others."
So there's a good chance she'll be eligible, but who really knows... we should know more in several days.
Meant to comment this on the other thread, but the fee increase is perfectly timed at targeting the churners of the Chase ecosystem. August would mark many people’s end of a 4 year cycle since CSR was introduced. Now they eliminate the rule but won’t promise a SUB.
As tempted as I am to apply before the fee hike, it’s not worth the ambiguity and hard pull
I love how five minutes after Chase makes an announcement of changes to come, multiple commenters can say things are "obvious" or "I'm sure...". I agree with Ben that this is "developing" and I wouldnt be sure of anything until we get some datapoints on applications/rejections.
I'm generally a fan of the pre-application popup notifications though
It's called having a brain.
If you're incapable of drawing basic conclusions from information, then I don't know how you operate in life, unless you need to have everything spelled out for you and be spoon fed every little detail.
You have no idea what process they will use for SUB decisions yet. Amex Biz platinum/Gold have similiar language and I've gotten ~8 of them in the last two years...
Meet the new Chase, same as the old Amex.
The changes they have announced sound like a big downgrade to me. The annual fee has gone up from $550 to $795. The second card holder fee is up $125. The points are also no longer redeemable at 1.5X for travel.
This will not be a good thing as I'm sure Chase will follow the "lifetime rule" or 7 year rule that amex imposes for welcome offers. Every 4 years seems a whole heck of lot better then what Amex is now doing.
How can you read this as getting better?
"eligibility for either card will be based on factors including previously earned bonus offers and the number of cards opened and closed, among others."
This obviously means they won't let you get multiple SUBs, especially not for any churners. Now it's purely discretionary if you're eligible. At least before, all you had to do was wait out the 4 years.