Once you’ve opened five credit cards from any bank in the last 24 months (not counting most business cards), Chase will likely deny you for all of their travel rewards credit cards.

Yesterday Chase made it harder to get repeat bonuses on the Chase Sapphire Reserve® and the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card by changing the terms and conditions of the card offers. Previously, you were only eligible to earn the bonus on a Sapphire family card 24 months after you earned the bonus on a previous one.

You now have to wait four years instead of two between Sapphire cards to get a new member bonus.

If you're just starting to collect miles and points, possibly the single best piece of advice is to sign up for five Chase cards before moving on to any other bank's rewards cards. This post is going to talk about which five cards you should choose, depending on a few factors, and why.

The fact of the matter is that Chase will cut you off from eligibility for their travel rewards credit cards once you've opened five credit cards from any bank whatsoever in the last 24 months (not counting most business cards).

The Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card, which will be the latest addition to the Marriott family credit card portfolio, is actually scheduled to launch August 23, 2018.

Despite the fact that Marriott and the Starwood Preferred Guest programs are merging into one unified loyalty program on August 18, both Marriott and SPG credit cards will continue to be issued for the time being, by Chase and Amex respectively. Both banks have published new terms for all current (and future) Marriott-family credit cards that define who is and isn't eligible for sign up bonuses, as of August 26.
Why These New Rules are Different
Sign up bonus rules are not new to the miles and points community.

We have been watching the merger of Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott unfold for a long time now.

If you have a Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card, you should have already gotten a notice in the mail about a few changes to your benefits effective August 26, 2018. But let's get real. I'm sure many of you throw that mail away without even looking at it. Here are the changes it went over.
1.

Chase has come out with new sign up bonus eligibility rules that make earning a  Southwest Companion Pass more complicated.

As of April 5, if you already have a personal Southwest credit card open (the Personal Plus or the Premier Plus), you are no longer eligible for the other personal Southwest credit card.

Update: Chase is now responding to people complaining on Twitter that IHG credit card accounts opened from January 1, 2018 through April 5, 2018 (that's tomorrow) will be able to use their Free Night Certificate once with the old terms (meaning at ANY IHG property, not capped at a 40k point property).

When you're shut out from the majority of Chase cards, you loose access to tons of rewards and reward earning opportunities due to what everyone calls the Chase 5/24 rule. If you've opened more than five credit cards from any bank (with the exception of most business cards) in the last 24 months, then Chase will deny you for almost all of their cards (with the exception of these).