Chase has slowly but surely been protecting their cards from churners, people who get a card for the bonus and try to do it again and again (we don’t know anyone like that, do we?!). They have put this protection in place for their own cards (Chase Sapphire family) and they have now moved it to the Chase Southwest family of cards – but only the personal ones for now.
New Chase Restrictions on Southwest Personal Cards
Before, the great and easy way to get the Southwest Companion Pass was to apply for the two personal cards – Premier and Plus – and time it around the start of the following year. This way, if done right, a customer could get both cards and meet the spending just after January 1 and have the Southwest Companion Pass for all of that year and all of the next year.
By the time the Southwest Companion Pass would expire, it would be time to close the Southwest credit cards and then do it again shortly after that. The Chase restrictive language on those cards for a while was that you could not get the bonus if you have the card at the time of the application and if you had received the bonus within the previous 24 months on that card.
Well, now there are new Chase restrictions on Southwest personal cards and the restrictions read like this:
“This product is available to you if you do not have a current Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.”
So, this means that if you get the Southwest Premier credit card, you would not be eligible to get the Southwest Plus credit card for 24 months after you received the bonus on the Premier credit card. This is a huge change for people that used the two personal cards to get the Southwest Companion Pass in the past as it means they cannot get their on the personal cards alone.
Fortunately, the Southwest Premier Business card is still considered a totally separate product in the family. So, you could get either one of the personal Southwest cards and a Southwest business card and you are good to go. Just remember that they are under the Chase 5/24 rule so plan accordingly.
Any Personal Card Links Left with Old Language?
Doctor of Credit posted two links for the Premier and Plus that do not specify the new language on the landing page. However, on the application pages, it does have the new language. So, this is definitely YMMV though if Chase approves you, they have a history of honoring the bonus when the card is approved. But, know going in that you may have an issue. Here are the links in case you want to try:
The language on the application page (not the landing page – that still shows the old language):
“This product is available to you if you do not have a current Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card and have not received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months.”
HT: Doctor of Credit
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