This whole thing started when I downgraded my Sapphire Preferred to a Freedom Flex with the anticipation to get the Sapphire Reserve. Little background on my chase set up:

Ink Unlimited: CL $58,800

Ink Preferred: CL $25,000

Freedom Unlimited: $5,000

Freedom Flex: $10,000 (CL I had with the Sapphire Preferred)

No checking or savings with Chase.

I’m at 2/24, and it’s been more than 48 months since my last Sapphire SUB. After downgrading my Sapphire Preferred, I waited three billing cycles for it to be officially removed from my Chase account.

In August, I applied for the Reserve. My stats: 780 credit score, $400k-$600k annual income. I got the message that my application needed manual review. When I called the recon line, they didn’t tell me much. A few days later, I received a notice stating I’d been denied because “You already have the maximum amount of credit we can offer you.”

I called again, asking if this was because of my business cards and if lowering those credit limits (CL) would help. They said no, they don’t consider business CL for this. I was confused since I only have $15k in personal CL, and I knew the Reserve requires a minimum of $10k CL. I figured $25k total in personal CL shouldn’t be an issue, especially since I know people with $30k CL on their Reserve alone.

When I asked if there’s a set CL cap, they avoided answering directly and suggested I visit a branch for more help. At the branch, the banker I spoke with faced similar challenges when communicating with the recon line—no one provided a straightforward reason for the denial. The banker offered to look into it and promised to get back to me.

Couple days later, I finally got clarity: Chase has a $100k total CL cap across personal and business cards. Applying for the Reserve would have put me over this limit, leading to the denial. The banker helped me lower my Ink Unlimited CL to $40k, and we reapplied in-branch. I was approved!

It was frustrating that this information wasn’t available upfront, especially since even the banker didn’t initially know about the rule. But after all that, I finally got the card at the end of October!

TLDR: Chase only gives you a max of $100k in total CL across both personal and business cards.

I have 3 chase credit cards currently, the oldest one is 19 years old the newest is about 10 years old. They are a CFF 8,700 limit CF 6,000 limit Chase Amazon 6,500 limit for a total of $21,200 in available credit from them. If I applied for the CFU what limit or limit range would they likely give me? My income is about 85K a year and my credit score is in the 800s. Back when I applied for the last one my income was significantly lower if that matters. My utilization is at about 1% overall FYI I do have several credit cards with other banks as well.