Chase Sapphire Card Eligibility Rules Changing… For The Better?

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.

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?