Chase To Massively Restrict Referral Bonuses on Business Credit Cards

Starting in October, earning bonus points or cash-back by referring someone to a Chase small business credit cards will be much more difficult.

That’s because Chase will only give you a referral bonus if the person you refer doesn’t have any Chase small business cards already. That’s a much tighter rule than what’s in place right now, and it comes on the heels of Chase already limiting the number of referral bonuses cardholders can earn this year.

Here’s what you need to know about the upcoming change.

Understanding Chase’s Referral Bonus System

Chase has a refer-a-friend system in which you can refer friends to apply for Chase credit cards and get a bonus. These bonuses come in the form of bonus points or cash-back, and they can be quite lucrative.

There’s also a refer-a-business option, and you can use this to refer other small business owners to apply for Chase’s business credit cards. If the applicant uses your code and is approved for a credit card, you’ll receive the bonus that was mentioned in your offer.

New Restrictions on Referring Chase’s Small Business Cards

In 2024, you could earn up to 200,000 bonus points annually from referrals on Chase’s small business cards. However, that was halved for 2025, now providing an annual maximum of 100,000 bonus points.

Now, there’s a message about additional restrictions coming on October 7, 2025. You’ll see if you generate a referral link after logging in to your account and navigating to the referrals page.

The message says that Chase will institute a new restriction on October 7, 2025. After that date, you won’t earn a referral bonus if the person you refer already has a Chase business credit card.

No exceptions are listed here, meaning this rule seems to apply broadly. It doesn’t say “if the person you refer already has the same card they apply for.” It simply says “existing Chae business card accounts,” so referring anyone with any Chase small business credit card won’t provide a bonus.

Final Thoughts

This is an unfortunate turn of events. At the beginning of this year, Chase halved the number of bonus points you could earn on referrals for small business credit cards, dropping from 200,000 to 100,000 annually. Beginning October 7, we’ll see further restrictions.

Going forward, referring someone who already has a Chase business credit card won’t yield any referral bonus. That’s a bummer.

At least we have 3 months before the change takes place.