Chase Sapphire Reserve’s headline 150,000-point welcome offer is drawing new applicants—only for some to hit an eligibility pop-up that stops them from earning the bonus, including people who once held the card years earlier.
The moment the application screen showed a warning, Nick Ewen’s wife knew the plan she’d been lining up had just fallen apart.
Chase Sapphire Reserve was offering what it calls the best welcome bonus in the card’s history: earn 150. 000 bonus points after spending $6. 000 on purchases in the first three months from account opening. In May 2026 valuations. those 150. 000 points are worth $3. 075—an amount that can feel like a lifeline to anyone who’s been waiting to apply. Instead. her application ended immediately with a Chase Sapphire Reserve pop-up telling her she wasn’t eligible for the welcome bonus.
Her timing was the type credit-card applicants dream about: she held the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card since 2021 and wanted to add the other personal Sapphire product to take advantage of the 150. 000-point offer. She completed the application process, and the pop-up appeared right away indicating she wasn’t eligible.
What made the warning sting wasn’t just the rejection—it was the reason behind it. Nick said his wife had actually opened the Sapphire Reserve back in 2017. around the time the card featured a 100. 000-point launch offer that is no longer available. After a year, she downgraded it to a Chase Freedom Unlimited®.
Nick picked up his own Sapphire Reserve after he fell under 5/24. but he said his long tenure with the Sapphire Reserve made him forget that his wife had held the card as well. The result was clear: because she’d been a cardholder nearly a decade ago. she wasn’t eligible for the current 150. 000-point bonus.
The pop-up isn’t a one-off glitch, either. Multiple reports have described applicants being stopped by Chase’s Sapphire Reserve pop-up during the application process, with the message appearing during the sign-up flow.
So what does the pop-up mean for someone standing at that same screen? Chase lets applicants cancel the application with no impact on their credit score if they see the eligibility pop-up and realize they won’t qualify for the bonus.
That matters because the financial trade-off can be painful. The card carries a $795 annual fee, and the article frames the question bluntly: with more than $3,000 on the table in the form of a $3,075 welcome-bonus value, there’s little incentive to proceed without the offer.
What Chase’s eligibility rules require, in plain terms, are tight:
You must be under 5/24, meaning you haven’t opened five or more new credit cards in the past 24 months (Chase typically doesn’t include business cards in its 5/24 equation).
You can’t currently have a Sapphire Reserve card open.
If you previously earned a bonus on the Sapphire Reserve, you more than likely will not be eligible to earn another.
And if you previously had a Sapphire Reserve, you may not be eligible for this offer, even if you didn’t earn a bonus on that Sapphire Reserve.
Approval also hinges on basic creditworthiness: you likely won’t be approved if you have a poor credit score, low income, or a negative relationship with Chase.
Put together. the message hits people where it hurts most: many applicants who see the Sapphire Reserve pop-up aren’t remembering every time they held the card. Even when no bonus was earned, the once-per-lifetime style of policy around the Sapphire Reserve welcome offer can still apply. The result is that the 150. 000-point promotion can be off-limits to applicants who held the card at any point in its history.
The one clear path forward, if the pop-up appears, is cancellation without credit-score impact. The offer may be gone for that applicant—but the damage can stop before it starts.
To learn more, the piece points readers to its full review of the Sapphire Reserve, and notes an apply link for the card: Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Chase Sapphire Reserve welcome bonus 150 000 points Chase pop-up warning bonus eligibility 5/24 annual fee $795 credit card application