Chase is reportedly denying sole proprietors for business cards at three new cards in 24 months, while registered businesses mostly clear the same bar.
Chase has not confirmed any such rule, according to every outlet that has covered it. Still, if you run your store under your own name and Social Security number, the data matters. At Ecommerce Paradise the pattern is familiar: high-ticket operators float ad spend, supplier deposits and inventory on business cards, and a denial costs you the card, the points and a hard inquiry.
Below: what the newest survey numbers show, how Chase’s old 5/24 rule turned into a reported 3/24, what I think it means for a store built on the high-ticket dropshipping model, and five moves to make before your next application.
The cleanest answer to the sole-proprietor problem is forming your LLC, and Northwest Registered Agent is the LLC formation service I’d pick for an ecommerce owner. Northwest forwards your physical mail wherever you actually operate, which matters when your store runs from a laptop outside the formation state or country. Form your LLC with Northwest →
Chase 3/24 Survey: 6 of 45 Sole Props Approved for Ink Cards
The freshest numbers come from Katie’s Travel Tricks, a points blog that surveyed readers and updated its tally on Oct. 26. Per that update, the author received 200 survey responses and analyzed 152 applications, 127 from sole proprietors and 25 from registered businesses. Six more were still pending. The analysis excludes anything filed before Sept. 15, when the pattern first showed up.
Among sole proprietors with three or more new cards in the past 24 months, 6 of 45 Chase Ink applications were approved, about 13%. Co-branded United business applications fared better at 5 of 16, roughly 31%. A few Southwest approvals were reported without a count. If Southwest co-brand cards are on your list, read my note on Southwest ending card bonus credit for Companion Pass on Jan. 1 first.
Registered businesses, meaning LLCs, corporations and nonprofits, showed strong approval rates even at 3+/24, according to the same analysis. The author also found that approved sole proprietors at that level tended to have zero or one Chase card opened in the past 12 months and personal income between $100,001 and $200,000. The author calls both patterns tentative and notes denials happened even with few recent Chase cards.
A separate poll from 10xTravel, published Oct. 7 and modified Oct. 14, points the same direction with a much smaller sample. Of 83 self-selected responses, 60 applied as sole proprietors with an SSN and 21 applied with an EIN. Denials hit 41 of 60 SSN applicants (68.3%) against 9 of 21 EIN applicants (42.9%).
Narrow it to applicants at 3/24 or 4/24 and the gap holds: 34 of 49 sole proprietors were denied (69.4%) against 8 of 16 EIN applicants (50%). The author calls the poll not scientific, says the EIN group at that range is too small to confirm the gap, and says the original question mixed up tax ID type with business structure. The author is running a corrected poll.
Chase has said nothing publicly. Every account comes from applicants and from front-line reps on reconsideration calls. Stephen Pepper at Frequent Miler wrote on Sept. 23 that he first suspected a single rogue rep, then changed his mind after more data points, including reports of underwriting staff describing the same cutoff.
How Chase’s 5/24 Became an Unconfirmed 3/24 for Sole Proprietors
The baseline is the 5/24 rule. Per The Points Guy’s guide, updated Oct. 2, Chase generally won’t approve most of its cards if you have opened five or more personal cards from any bank in the past 24 months. Chase business cards are subject to it. Business cards from most other issuers don’t count toward your total, with exceptions: Discover and TD Bank business cards do, and so do most Capital One small-business cards other than Venture X Business and Spark Cash Plus.
The first public sign of a tighter line came on Sept. 17, when Doctor of Credit reported that reps on reconsideration calls were telling sole proprietors they would be denied after opening more than three cards in 24 months. Reader reports in that thread were mixed. One applicant at 3/24 was denied on reconsideration on Sept. 16, another at 3/24 was approved on reconsideration the same day, and two applicants at 4/24 were denied with the 3/24 rule cited.
The author, William Charles, called it too early to be official. He added that the 5/24 rule has been declared dead or changed roughly every six months.
InsideFlyer ran its own report on Sept. 23 and described the restriction as affecting Ink cards, noting that non-Ink approvals such as World of Hyatt Business suggested a narrow target. CardRight followed on Sept. 24, calling the rule not 100% confirmed and advising applicants to wait. By Sept. 29 the Katie’s Travel Tricks author had started collecting data, and the sample grew through October.
Where the sources disagree
Which cards. InsideFlyer’s Sept. 23 report pointed at Ink cards only. The Oct. 26 Katie’s Travel Tricks tally says the pattern holds for both Ink and co-branded cards, with United and Southwest approvals showing up as exceptions rather than a reliable path.
What counts. Katie’s author defines 3/24 as three new cards on your personal credit report in the past 24 months and doesn’t believe Chase business cards count, although some reps have said they do. A single forum poster on the MyFICO boards claimed on Oct. 1 that Chase runs a parallel check against business credit reports and requires 2/24 or fewer on that side. That claim is secondhand, from one user, and unsupported by any published source, so treat it as noise until someone replicates it.
Sample quality. Both datasets are self-selected. People who get denied post more than people who get approved, and enthusiasts who track Chase rules are not a random slice of small business owners. The approvals at 3/24 and above show whatever Chase is doing is not applied uniformly.
The precedent matters here. Issuers change underwriting quietly and then never announce it. I covered Amex’s pooling change on new cards the same way: the policy surfaced through customer reports first.
What a Sole Prop Denial Costs a High-Ticket Store Owner
My read is that the entity gap is real enough to act on and unproven enough that you shouldn’t panic. Two independent datasets show registered businesses and EIN applicants doing better than SSN sole proprietors. Neither proves Chase is checking entity type. Chase could be weighing business revenue, credit file depth or how established the applicant looks, and those traits correlate with owning an LLC.
Here is the money side, and the numbers are hypothetical. Say your store spends $30,000 a month on Google and Meta ads and you hold a card that pays 3 points per dollar on advertising. That is 90,000 points a month, or about 1.08 million a year. Valued at one cent each, that is roughly $10,800 a year. Rates and valuations vary by card, but it shows why an Ink denial is not a rounding error for a store at that spend.
Cards with strong ad categories are exactly what high-ticket operators want. I broke down Amex Business Gold’s 4x ad category and its merchant cuts and the lesson there matches this one: the best earning rates keep getting narrower, so the application you can get approved for matters as much as the card you want.
There is also a selection problem nobody can fix from the outside. A reader who gets approved at 3/24 usually doesn’t write in; a reader who gets denied after a rep cites a rule does. That pushes every survey toward more denials than Chase is actually issuing. Even allowing for that skew, 6 approvals out of 45 Ink applications is a thin result, and the 5/24 rule alone would not have produced it for applicants who sat under five cards.
What would change my read: a Chase statement, a larger EIN-only sample at 3/24 and above, or a stretch of weeks where sole-proprietor approvals at that level recover. Until one of those shows up, I’d plan around the cutoff without treating it as law.
Scenarios by your 24-month count
At 0 to 2 new personal cards in 24 months, nothing in the reported data suggests trouble. Apply as normal.
At 3 or 4, you are in the zone where sole proprietors report friction. Registered businesses report far less. If you are a sole proprietor here, waiting or applying elsewhere is the cautious move, as crazy4points and CardRight both suggested in September.
At 5 or more, the old 5/24 rule blocks Chase regardless of entity type. An LLC does not reset your personal count. Other issuers are the answer. Capital One’s Venture X Business 300K-mile offer is one option. Amex’s Blue Business 50,000-point offer is another.
Why I wouldn’t form an LLC just for a card
An LLC is not a trick to dodge a credit rule. If a card application asks for the legal business name and EIN, those must be the real ones, and the business should exist and earn revenue. You will almost certainly still personally guarantee the card. Chase can still look at your personal credit. I’m not a lawyer or a financial advisor, and you should confirm the details with your own CPA or attorney before relying on any of this.
The better reason to form is the one that was already there: liability separation, cleaner books and a business address that isn’t your home. If your store sells furniture, mobility gear or powersports equipment at $3,000 a unit, your name is on every dispute and every warranty claim. The card benefit is a side effect, and I’d treat it that way. My guide to protecting store finances in a legal emergency covers the separation side.
If you are starting from zero, this is the sequencing problem my team solves in the turnkey done-for-you build: entity, bank account, cards, store, in the right order, so you don’t burn hard inquiries on applications you could have waited on. My lean first-year budget for a high-ticket store shows where entity and banking costs fit.
Chase’s line may be moving, so pick the business card that fits your ad spend before you apply anywhere. See my credit card picks →
Five Moves to Make Before Your Next Chase Business Application
Do these in order. Each one takes under an hour.
- Count your own x/24. Pull your personal credit reports and list every personal card opened in the past 24 months from any issuer, including closed ones. Note which business cards report to your personal file, since the sources disagree on whether those count.
- Decide your entity. If you sell under your own name and SSN, price an LLC today. Bizee is the first alternative I’d quote against Northwest. ZenBusiness is the second. Compare renewal price and mail handling, not just year one.
- Get the EIN and a business bank account in the LLC’s name. My walkthrough of opening a Mercury account shows the application step by step. If you pay suppliers or contractors abroad, Airwallex is worth a look.
- Start a business credit file before you need it. Check what Nav shows for your business, and register with Dun & Bradstreet if you haven’t. A thin file is the first thing an underwriter sees on an LLC with no history.
- Apply in a sensible order. A denial doesn’t add to your 5/24 count because no account opens, but it still costs a hard pull, per crazy4points. If you are at 3/24 or above as a sole proprietor, try an Amex or Capital One card first and revisit Chase once more data comes in. Bring documented revenue to any reconsideration call, since the reps in these reports are the ones citing the cutoff. Review the Turnkey service details and email me with questions before ordering.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Chase officially announced a 3/24 rule?
No. As of Oct. 27, no outlet has quoted a Chase statement. Every report relies on applicant accounts and reconsideration reps. Frequent Miler’s author now thinks it is real, while Doctor of Credit’s author called it too early to be official.
Does forming an LLC fix a 3/24 denial?
Not by itself. The surveys show registered businesses doing better, but nobody knows whether Chase is checking entity type or something correlated with it. An LLC also does not erase the personal cards that count toward 5/24.
Do business cards count toward Chase’s 5/24?
Chase business cards are subject to the rule. Most other issuers’ business cards don’t count toward your total, with exceptions such as Discover, TD Bank and most Capital One small-business cards, per The Points Guy.
What if I’m already at 4/24 as a sole proprietor?
Reader reports show both approvals and denials at that level, so expect inconsistent outcomes. Waiting, or applying with another issuer first, is the lower-risk path. Compare Citi’s premium business card plans if you want a non-Chase option.
Will a denied application hurt my 5/24 count?
No, since no account opens. It can still cost you a hard inquiry, so don’t spray applications while the rule is unsettled.
Should I use a virtual address on the LLC filing?
If you don’t want your home address on public records, yes. I compared options in my guide to the best virtual business address for an LLC. iPostal1 is one of the services I’d price.
I don’t have a niche yet. Where do I start?
Start with the free high-ticket niches list, then come back to entity and cards once you know what you are selling.
Want the entity, tax and banking setup done right before your next card application? See how to form your business →
I’ll update this if Chase confirms anything or the survey numbers move. Subscribe to the YouTube channel for daily breakdowns. More breaking news coming through the day.
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Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
