Chase Is Adding Once-Per-Lifetime Restrictions to Southwest Business Cards

There’s a great new offer out on the Southwest Premier Business card today, but it may be overshadowed by some new restrictions on approvals.

This is bad, bad news for those who were in the habit of getting a new Southwest Companion Pass every few years via credit card welcome bonus offers.

New 80,000-Point Southwest Premier Business Offer

Today, Chase launched a new offer on the Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card for 20,000 more Southwest Rapid Rewards points than ever before on an offer requiring $3,000 in minimum spend.

Limited Time Offer: Earn 80,000 Rapid Rewards® bonus points after spending $3,000 within the first 3 months from account opening.

That’s actually a better offer than the more expensive (annual fee) Performance card!

But with that, comes some new restrictions and there’s some nuance here.

Chase Starts Showing Once-Per-Lifetime Language on Southwest Business Cards

First, the really bad news.

In looking at the new offer today, I noticed something startling. If you go to apply for either Southwest business card directly on Chase.com today, you’ll see these ominous notes:

As of today, Chase is showing this new language when applying directly for either Southwest business card, while affiliate application links still show the old 24-month restriction. That’s why I’m calling this something Chase is “starting” to do rather than saying the old rule is gone everywhere.

Yes, they appear to be limiting you to one per card per lifetime now.

Note: this is not currently showing on Southwest personal credit cards.

What Does “Once Per Lifetime” Mean With Chase?

Is that once per ~7 years like Amex lifetime rules mean? We have no idea as this just happened. But we already know that you can only get one of the two no-annual fee Ink business cards per lifetime now. And you can only get one lifetime bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred®, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, and Chase Ink Business Preferred®.

The language does say “may not be available” so perhaps they will have some underwriting formula that bypasses it.

For now, we simply don’t know how Chase will define “lifetime” in practice or whether that “may not be available” wording will leave room for exceptions.

Chase’s New 3/24 Rule for Sole Proprietors

And while it’s been a rumor for about a week now, I think it’s safe to say that the 3/24 rule for sole proprietors on Chase Ink cards is real. See the Doctor of Credit post for more info. I have no official confirmation on it, but I’ve seen more than enough data points around the Internet.

Affiliate Links and Referral Links Still Show the Old 24-Month Language

The short term solution?

It’s actually using affiliate links if you have had the card before. While I expect this won’t last forever, you can currently go through an affiliate link like ours…

• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Premier Business Credit Card (Limited Time Offer)
• Southwest® Rapid Rewards® Performance Business Credit Card

…or through a Refer a Friend link.

These links, for now, have the old 24 month language.

It’s getting bleak out there folks.

If I’m missing any other new restrictions, please let me know.

Thoughts?

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