In the past, a common practice among miles enthusiasts was to apply for cards, cancelling them after a certain period of time, and after a short period reapply to receive lucrative sign up bonuses again.
Over the past two years, banks have been taken notice and as a result these days the rules on who’s eligible for a sign up bonus have tightened up significantly.
The following are the current sign up bonus rules for each of the major three card providers:
Citi
Applicants are only eligible for a sign up bonus in each product category every 24 months from your last open or closed account. Effectively this means if you opened any one of the Citi American AAdvantage card products, you’re ineligible for a sign up bonus for all other Citi AAdvantage cards.
The same rule applies for the Citi Thank You Preferred cards.
Chase
Applicants who have opened 5 or more cards in the past 24 months will not be approved for most Chase credit cards. The good news is business cards with Amex and Citi do not count towards this rule. The jury is still out there whether Chase business cards do count. Also, there are a few cards that this rule does not apply to including the Chase IHG, Hyatt, and British Airways card.
American Express
Applicants are only eligible for a sign up bonus once per card product. This means if you decide to cancel your American Express card and reapply, you will not be eligible to receive a sign up bonus.
Bank of America
Applicants are only eligible for a sign up bonus once every 90 days per card product.
