The New Chase 3/24 Rule and Your Companion Pass
In mid-September 2026, Chase seems to have abruptly rolled out a new 3/24 rule for people who are applying for business cards as sole proprietors.
We already knew Chase had made approval odds a lot lower for sole proprietors on Chase Ink cards — but this was the first time we could see a specific guideline that it seems like reps were told to follow.
This is not the first time we’ve seen Chase make it harder for sole proprietors to get business cards. We saw this in spring 2020 (it is normal for banks to become risk averse during economic uncertainty). It started reversing in September 2020, so just because something gets tightened doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever.
First of all: don’t panic — we regularly see new guidelines roll out and also sometimes see them later rolled back. There are no crises in points but sometimes we have to adjust our strategies.
What does 3/24 mean?
I am defining this as having 3 new cards show up on your credit report in the past 24 months. This usually only includes personal credit cards but can include some business cards from some banks that report business cards to your personal credit reports.
This is the same format as 5/24 which you can read about here.
Some reps seem to be telling some people this includes Chase business and personal cards. I don’t currently believe this to be true (yes, even if reps are saying it). In the past ten years, Chase business cards have been excluded from x/24 calculations since they don’t show on personal credit reports.
Many reps seem to be saying they don’t have authorization to initiate reconsideration for sole proprietors at 3/24 or above.
This means we believe you’d have to be at 2/24 or below to have your best chance to get approved.
Who this affects
Registered businesses
If you’re a registered business — carry on with business as normal. In fact, I think it’s easier than ever for you to get approved for Chase cards. We don’t believe even “once in a lifetime” rules apply to you.
Sole proprietors
If you’re a sole proprietor — it’s going to be more difficult, at least for the time being.
Overall we have seen very few approvals for sole proprietorships for people who are at 3/24 or above.
For sole proprietors who are at 3+/24 we have seen a few approvals for United business cards. We have not yet seen any for Southwest business cards but have very few data points so far.
You can see all the data points in this post.
What this means for your Companion Pass for Sole Proprietors
The very easiest way to earn a Southwest Companion Pass is to open one business and one personal card. If you were planning to apply as a sole proprietor and are at 3/24 or above, it may be hard to get approved.
Option 1: Wait for an elevated personal card offer
We have seen an elevated personal offer every year in the late fall for many years, so I'd expect to see one soon.
It's hard to get all the way to 135,000 with one offer so if you only open one personal card, you’ll need to top off the rest of your points. Here are some ways to earn more points for a Companion Pass.
Want an email when the Southwest personal card offers go up? Sign up here:
Option 2: Wait until you’re at 2/24 or below
If you'll be at 2/24 soon, it makes sense to wait until you drop down to apply.
Option 3: Apply near the end of an elevated business offer
We’ve also anecdotally seen Chase adjust the 5/24 guidelines in the past, often this seems to coincide with an increased offer. One theory is that near an offer end, if they haven’t met their sign-up targets, they might decide to relax application guidelines for a period. This is just a theory and hasn’t been proven in data yet.
It might be easier to get approved when an elevated offer is ending.
Option 4: Open other business cards while you wait
Focus on business cards from other banks until you drop to 2/24. This is what we had to do back in 2016 when Chase first came out with the 5/24 rule. Here are some business cards to get while you wait (affiliate link, these are cards I can’t link directly on card names for affiliate rules). You can also look at business cards from US Bank, Barclays, and American Express!
Option 5: Wait and see!
This is still early so it's possible we will have more data that gives us a better idea of what Chase is looking for in applications from sole proprietors.
I've wondered if Southwest will put any pressure on Chase to loosen approval guidelines for their credit cards if they are seeing a lot fewer approvals. Southwest made $2.6 billion in 2025 revenue from marketing, advertising and travel benefits associated with loyalty partner cash flows, primarily Chase (h/t View from the Wing).
Keep checking back
I will update the article every time we get another 100 data points, or sooner if we find a new pattern. Keep checking back for more data points here.
Please add your data points if you submit any Chase business application!
