Chase Warns People of Closures If they Abuse Referrals

Acquiring new credit card users is a huge expense that credit card companies have to pay. It comes in the form of sign up bonuses and advertising, but those can be big expenses. A lower cost way for a credit card issuer to get new credit card users is through referrals. The credit card issuer will give an existing cardholder a bonus for referring someone, typically friends or family, to their cards, and both people get a bonus. 

Chase and others love when people refer others to their cards, and actively encourages it through pop ups during login and even emails. Typically, card issuers will give the existing cardholder a little bonus each time they successfully refer someone, with a cap on the bonus to 5 referrals per year.  

The Issue

When an existing card holder gets 5 referral bonuses per year, they can still refer people, but they will no longer receive a bonus for doing so until the year has passed, and the referral bonus clock has reset. However, it looks like some people were able to raise the cap past 5, and still get a bonus.

For these people, Chase issued warnings letting them know that if they continue to abuse the 5 referral cap, Chase will close all of their existing cards.

Final Thoughts

With anything credit related, it’s important to be aware and read the terms many times to be absolutely sure that you are staying within the rules. If you are caught abusing a policy, it’s very possible that you will be shutdown for doing so. That’s why here at creditalacarte we advocate doing things safely and deliberately. I wont help you abuse policies like this as I don’t want your account shutdown. 

Be careful out there! If you did go above the 5 cap, this is your formal warning from Chase to stop. If you continue hen obviously they will close your accounts. On a side note, keep in mind that for any referrals you will probably receive a 1099 form at the end of the year for each credit card you have successfully referred.  

Have you abused this policy or gotten shutdown from Chase before? Let us know below! (I wont snitch, I promise).