Understanding Marriott Credit Card Eligibility Rules

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Credit cards with welcome bonuses have restrictions that can be difficult to understand. Marriott's co- brand card portfolio is next level when it comes to understanding eligibility restrictions.

It can be difficult to understand if you are eligible for the bonus on a particular card based on which other cards you have. I wanted to talk more about it in this post because of the amazing limited time welcome bonuses on the co- branded Chase cards.

Marriott has a lot of restrictions on who can receive card bonuses. Eligibility for a Marriott credit card is based on a number of factors, including whether you have applied for other cards in the past 30 or 90 days, and whether you have had a Marriott credit card in the past.

The restrictions come down to a few reasons.

• In general credit card issuers add restrictions regarding welcome bonuses to encourage profitable consumer behavior; they don’t want you to get all of these cards just for the bonuses
• Marriott has co-branded credit cards issued by both American Express and Chase (there are a total of four — two from each issuer), and eligibility for some Chase cards is even based on whether you have Amex cards, and vice versa
• The Marriott Bonvoy program was only launched in 2019, after the merger between Marriott and Starwood; previously both Marriott and Starwood had different cards, and whether or not you’ve had one of those cards plays into the eligibility requirements for the bonuses on current cards

Each card issuer has different rules for approving Marriott's cards, so before we discuss eligibility requirements for specific card welcome bonuses, let's talk about the rules of being approved for Marriott's cards more broadly.

Marriott Amex Card requirements

American Express issues Marriott credit cards.

Keep that in mind if you want to get approved for an Amex card.

• Amex limits consumers to having at most five Amex credit cards at any time (this excludes hybrid cards), and it doesn’t matter whether these are personal or business cards
• Amex will typically approve people for at most two credit cards in a 90 day period
• Anecdotally I find that Amex cards are much easier to be approved for than Chase cards, especially with instant approvals; however, I’d still recommend having a credit score of at least 700

Marriott Chase card requirements

Two Marriott credit cards are issued by Chase.

Keep that in mind if you want to get approved for a Chase card.

• Chase has the 5/24 rule, whereby you typically won’t be approved if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (with any issuer)
• Chase doesn’t have a strict limit on how many cards each person can have, but rather the limit seems to be the overall amount of credit you can be issued
• Chase will typically approve people for at most two personal credit cards in a 30 days period
• I’d only apply if you have a very good credit score, ideally at least 700

Let's talk about the restrictions on earning the welcome bonuses on these cards You can apply for a Marriott credit card. Did you say two? Do you think about three? Is it important which ones? I have seen some websites try to create charts to make it easier, but I have found that to create more confusion.

The ideal situation would be that you have never had a card from Marriott or any of its predecessors. You can get any one of the four cards if that is the case, and you can also get the welcome bonuses.

This is where it gets more difficult. If you want to get two Marriott credit cards but don't want them to be more than two years apart, there's one combination of cards you can get.

• You can apply for the two American Express cards — the Marriott Bonvoy Business and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant
• You’d be eligible for both bonuses, and you don’t even need to wait between the applications
• I’d argue that this is the ideal strategy anyway — the cards are arguably the best complements to one another

What other Marriott card combinations can you have?

There are other combinations of the four cards that you can get over time, but you would have to wait. The welcome bonuses are restricted by the current four cards.

The Marriott Bonvoy Business and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant don't have a welcome bonus.

If you want the welcome bonus on the Marriott BonvoyBold, you have to do something else.

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless doesn't offer a welcome bonus.

I would recommend looking at the restrictions on the application pages to see if you have any Marriott or Starwood cards from that time period.

• For Amex cards, go to the “offer & benefit terms” section of the card application
• For Chase cards, go to the “offer details” section of the card application

The reality is that each card has many different scenarios about eligibility for welcome bonuses, depending on which card you have, or have had in the past. When the application terms list them as easily as they can possibly be listed, I am doing a disservice by listing it all out.

All of Marriott's credit cards have great benefits. Some people are confused about who is eligible for the bonuses.

When it comes to getting approved for Amex and Chase cards in general, and when it comes to eligibility for each of these products, hopefully the above sheds some light on that.

If you are new to Marriott credit cards, the moral of the story is that you can either get any of the four cards, or if you want to get two cards, the only combination you can get is the Marriott Bonvoy Business and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant. Those are great cards for a lot of people.

Marriott Bonvoy credit card eligibility rules, what have you experienced?