Credit Card Rules: How Often Can You Apply?

Credit card welcome bonuses are the easiest way to earn rewards quickly. You might be eager to apply for as many new cards as you can, as fast as possible, but that might not be the best idea.

If you take that approach, you’ll likely run into resistance before you know it. Banks may decide not to award you a welcome bonus if you’ve already received one recently, even if they approve your application.

Each bank has its own policies in place. Some rules are more strict, and some are more strictly enforced. Many are laid out in the credit cards’ terms and conditions, while others are patterns we’ve identified.

Here are some rules you should follow to avoid being deemed ineligible for welcome bonuses.

TD: 12-Month Rule

Let’s begin with TD, with one of the more complex and easily-misunderstood rules.

TD doesn’t have any firm rules around credit approval, but their terms and conditions do “reserve the right to limit the number of accounts opened by one person, and the number of [points] awarded to any one person”.

Basically, TD outright tells you that they might be draconian for any arbitrary reason. In practice, though, their credit cards clearly state the rewards you should expect to receive. I’ve never seen them be less generous than these specified limits.

Here’s the wording of the fine print on the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card:

If you have opened an Account in the last 12 months, you will not be eligible for this offer.

On the surface, this still seems quite restrictive. It sounds like you can only get one welcome bonus from TD every 12 months.

TD® Aeroplan® Visa Infinite* Card

Welcome Bonus

Up to 50,000 Aeroplan points^†

Annual Fee

First Year Free

First-Year Value

$683

Apply Now Learn More

However, notice that “Account” is capitalized as a proper noun. Elsewhere in the very same terms and conditions, the “Account” is defined as the TD Aeroplan Visa Infinite Card.

This means that if you’ve opened this particular product, the Aeroplan Visa Infinite, in the last 12 months, you’re not eligible for the welcome bonus. But it’s not a problem if you’ve opened a different credit card product, such as a different Aeroplan card or a card that earns another type of rewards.

Therefore, you could conceivably earn a welcome bonus on every TD product within 12 months, as long as they keep approving you for more credit.

Complicating matters, the TD First Class Travel Visa Infinite Card follows a six-month rule instead:

This offer is not available customers who have activated and/or closed a TD First Class Travel^® Visa Infinite* Account in the last 6 months.

Frustratingly, the First Class Travel card considers the date you last closed the card as the start of the cool-down period. Luckily, the Aeroplan cards use the date you last opened the card, so you can continue to enjoy the card’s benefits until it’s time to reapply.

Ultimately, one product won’t affect another, so it’s just a matter of keeping the subtle differences straight between them.

RBC: 1/90 Rule

On the other hand, RBC’s rule is not officially stated, but it’s very simple.

RBC will only approve one credit card application every 90 days. You’ll be automatically rejected if you try any sooner, and this is almost always very firmly enforced.

RBC® Avion Visa Infinite^†

Welcome Bonus

55,000 RBC Avion points†

Annual Fee

$120

First-Year Value

$1,080

Apply Now Learn More

Some people have had limited success by calling to push the second application through. If you try this, I’d suggest applying for two cards that earn different rewards, like one Avion card and one WestJet card, so you can make a compelling case if they ask you why you want both.

It’s possible that RBC uses a different approval process for online, phone, and in-person applications. Furthermore, their business lending team operates independently from their consumer credit division.

However, I’ve never felt compelled to push the boundaries here. The online application is quick and painless, and you’ll likely be approved as long as your credit profile is in good order.

Besides, applying via different methods would trigger multiple credit inquiries, defeating one of the major benefits of blitzing the same financial institution for several new cards in a short span of time. Fortunately, this rule is only for new credit applications, and it doesn’t govern rewards at all.

Other Big 5 Banks

CIBC, Scotiabank, and BMO don’t have any firm rules around credit card applications.

Scotiabank Gold American Express® Card

Welcome Bonus

45,000 Scene+ points

Annual Fee

$120

First-Year Value

$525

Apply Now Learn More

Scotiabank’s terms and conditions say that you’re not eligible for a welcome bonus if you’ve had any Scotiabank retail credit card in the past two years.

In practice, I’ve found this to be partially enforced: you’ll get the points, but you might not get an annual fee waiver – and because you’re not entitled to one as a repeat cardholder, you don’t have much ground to stand on if you escalate to a human to sort out your incomplete welcome bonus.

CIBC also doesn’t have an official exclusion period. In fact, if you’re approved for a high credit limit, you can often open multiple new cards with the same credit inquiry. 

This bodes well for anyone looking to take advantage of the offers on the CIBC Aventura Visa Infinite Card and CIBC Aventura Gold Visa Card. 

Overall, I’d say that CIBC is more picky about credit approval than they are about points being awarded.

While BMO doesn’t have cards that inspire an aggressive approach, I know some Air Miles collectors who are looking for one last hurrah as the program spirals downward. Again, the terms are partially enforced here:

BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard applications must be received between May 1, 2020 and July 31, 2023 (the “Offer Period”) to be eligible for the AIR MILES Bonus Miles and Annual Fee Refund offers … Bonus Offers are limited to new accounts. Existing BMO AIR MILES World Elite Mastercard customers who cancel their card during the Offer Period, and existing BMO Mastercard customers who transfer into this product during the Offer Period are not eligible for the Offers.

American Express: Once-in-a-Lifetime Rule

In their terms and conditions for almost every product, Amex clearly states that they won’t award repeat welcome bonuses:

These offers are only available to new Platinum Card® Cardmembers (‘Cardmembers’). For current or former Platinum® Cardmembers, we may approve your application, but you will not be eligible for these offers. If you receive points in error, we reserve the right to deduct them from your points balance.

For many years after this clause was introduced, it wasn’t enforced, but more recently Amex has been cracking down on repeat welcome bonuses. Indeed, many cardholders who had applied for and received repeat welcome bonuses have seen their relationships with Amex turn sour.

Thankfully, the once-in-a-lifetime rule applies separately for each product. You’ll receive the welcome bonus if you’re approved for a new Amex product that you’ve never had before, even if you currently or previously had many other cards and welcome bonuses.

You can even apply for these as fast as you want, with one notable exception…

American Express Business Cards: 90-Day Rule

You’ll be automatically rejected if you apply for the Business Platinum and Business Gold cards, Amex’s two MR-earning business charge cards, within 90 days.

Business Platinum Card from American Express

Welcome Bonus

150,000 MR points

Annual Fee

$799

First-Year Value

$2,234

Apply Now Learn More

In some respects, Amex treats these two cards as variants of the same product on the back-end. Somewhere in the system, your second application will be flagged as a duplicate.

I’d say this isn’t a huge inconvenience, though. It doesn’t affect any other Amex cards, so you could do, say, a Business Platinum together with literally anything else except for a Business Gold.

The appeal of the Business Gold has dipped with the loss of the preferred suppliers program, while the lower-fee Business Edge has remained competitive ever since switching to MR points from MR Select points. Even if you’re blowing through the Amex Flowchart at light speed, there are more than enough other personal and business Amex cards to keep you busy until you can get the Business Gold.

MBNA: 5/6 Rule

This is perhaps Canada’s most well-known credit card application rule. We’ve written a full post on the 5/6 Rule, so I’ll briefly recap here.

This rule is a bit different, in that it has nothing to do with new accounts or applications at MBNA. Instead, MBNA will reject your application based on credit-seeking behaviour with other institutions.

Basically, if you have five or more TransUnion inquiries in the past six months, including the inquiry they do for the card you’re presently applying for, MBNA will reject your application.

There is a way around this, however. If you’re an existing MBNA cardholder, you can push the application forward by splitting credit from another card. Once you do so, you can expect to receive the welcome bonus. Like many other issuers, MBNA is more concerned about credit risk than they are about repeat rewards.

Note that unlike its namesake, the Chase 5/24 Rule in the US, this rule refers to credit inquiries in the past six months, rather than new credit cards opened successfully. Therefore, a failed application would be a knock against you in MBNA’s eyes – all the more reason to follow these rules with other banks to ensure the greatest chance of success.

Aeroplan Limits Welcome Bonuses

While Aeroplan isn’t a bank, the loyalty program partners with banks to offer co-branded credit cards. Aeroplan has recently updated its general terms and conditions, and part of the update placed clear language on limiting repeat welcome bonuses.

Aeroplan may, in its sole discretion, choose to limit the number of Welcome Bonuses or similar bonuses or incentives a Member may receive in any period, and, in addition to the other remedies set forth in these Terms and Conditions, reserves the right to suspend, revoke or terminate the Account of any person who engages in a behaviour of excessive use of the Welcome Bonus offers.  Such behaviours include but are not limited to: (i) applying for multiple Aeroplan Credit Cards across one or more product types or across one or more financial institutions that issue an Aeroplan Credit Card; (ii) a pattern of cancelling, or disengaging in, an Aeroplan Credit Card shortly after receiving a Welcome Bonus or similar bonus or incentive; and (iii) a pattern of purchasing and then cancelling or returning any product or service for which Aeroplan Points were issued.

While it’s usually up to banks to limit the number of times a cardholder can receive a welcome bonus, Aeroplan has clearly stated that it can and will take sweeping measures against anyone who appears to be abusing its own terms and conditions. 

This means that Aeroplan has identified that they don’t want members to open multiple cards at the same tier from different banks, or multiple cards at different tiers from the same bank, at least in quick succession. If this was part of your game plan, it may be best to adopt a longer-term strategy and find ways to maximize your earn with your cards to avoid any disciplinary action from Aeroplan.

Conclusion

Each bank uses a slightly different policy to limit how frequently you can earn welcome bonuses on new credit cards. This list is far from comprehensive, but by observing what the banks tell us with their words and actions, we can develop our own strategy as consumers to avoid making any missteps as we seek to maximize our rewards.

Sometimes the terms and conditions will explicitly say if you’re entitled to another bonus. Alternatively, some banks use their algorithms for detecting risky credit-seeking behaviour to de facto throttle your rewards by simply rejecting you for new credit cards.

Either way, I encourage you to go as fast as you can without overclocking your credit engine on your way to supercharging your travel rewards.