The Card Applicants JPMorgan Turns Down Could Get a Second Look — Funded by Private Credit
The biggest U.S. card issuer by purchase volume has explored a second-look channel for applicants it rejects. If it happens, private credit moves another step from the boardroom toward the checkout line.
By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Friday, September 25, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, September 24, 2026 edition, whose market figures are the Wednesday, September 23 close
Key Points
JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the biggest U.S. card issuer by purchase volume, sent requests to more than a dozen entities about second-look applications, which would let outside funders take the risk of approving applicants the bank denies, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.
Some of those intermediaries approached private-credit firms; executives at Blue Owl Capital (OWL), Blackstone (BX), KKR (KKR) and Sixth Street are among those contacted, and documents were shared with at least some of them.
The pressure comes from co-brand partners that want more approvals: JPMorgan’s rejection rates have strained its relationship with United Airlines (UAL), one of its biggest cards. About 85% of JPMorgan’s card balances are tied to borrowers with FICO scores of at least 660.
How it would work isn’t settled, including whether cardholders would know they’d landed in a private-credit channel, which lender’s name the card would carry, and whether the loans would be kept or packaged and sold as securities.
A JPMorgan spokesman said the bank has no plan to launch a second-look program, and people familiar said the query was early and might not proceed. Even if it did, second-look cards would be a small share of the bank’s own approvals, the Journal notes.
>12
entities JPMorgan asked about second-look applications
85%
JPMorgan card balances tied to FICO scores of 660+
4
private-credit firms named as approached
0
second-look programs JPMorgan says it plans to launch
Second-look programs often approve only a sliver of applicants, many with blemished credit histories or none at all.
In one line: When the biggest card issuer explores handing its rejects to private lenders, private credit edges closer to everyday borrowers — and whoever funds it should know exactly what they own.
Every co-brand credit card has a tug-of-war built into it. The airline or retailer on the front wants more applicants approved, because cards mean loyalty and revenue; the bank carrying the default risk wants the ones who’ll pay. Thursday’s Journal reports that JPMorgan Chase (JPM), the country’s biggest card issuer by purchase volume, has explored a way to split the difference — let somebody else say yes to some of the applicants it turns down.
The bank asked more than a dozen firms that assemble card programs outside the big-bank world whether they’d take on these second-look applications, people familiar with the matter said. Some of those firms then sounded out private-credit lenders — Blue Owl Capital (OWL), Blackstone (BX), KKR (KKR) and Sixth Street among them — and documents were shared with at least some of them. Private credit — investor money lent directly, mostly to companies below investment grade — has been pushing further into what consumers owe: fintech credit cards, buy-now-pay-later loans, even motorcycle loans written at the dealership.
The pressure point is the partner. JPMorgan’s rejection rates have strained its relationship with United Airlines (UAL), one of its biggest cards, though the two have worked on the issue, a person familiar with United’s program said. The industry’s history shows what happens when a partner wins that argument outright: Apple (AAPL) wanted Goldman Sachs (GS) to say yes to almost everyone who applied for the Apple Card, which helped leave the card with an unusually large share of subprime borrowers before the two split — and JPMorgan has agreed to take that program over. For now, a spokesman says there’s no plan to launch a second-look program.
Our read
Nothing has happened yet, and it may never, but the direction is the story. Private credit grew up taking the loans banks backed away from after the 2008-09 crisis; now it’s being shown the consumers a bank declines — and second-look pools skew toward applicants with blemished credit histories or none at all. Nobody yet knows whether a cardholder would even be told which lender they’d landed with, whose name would be on the card, or whether the loans would be kept or packaged and sold. In fixed income (IN02), a yield is always payment for a risk. The only question is whether you chose it.
For the cardholder (M11), those open questions are the right ones to ask of any credit offer: who’s the lender of record, whose name is on the card, and what happens if the account gets sold? For the investor, the checklist is shorter. If you own an income fund, an interval fund or a business development company, find out whether it holds private credit — and whether that could someday include loans a bank said no to. It’s a fifteen-minute question. Bring the fund’s latest holdings report, not just its yield.
What It Means For Your Portfolio
Watch — know whether your income fund is the lender
No portfolio action, and nothing new was bought this week. Watch the channel, not the headline: private credit reaching from corporate loans toward declined card applicants could change what an income fund quietly holds.
General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular. Private credit isn’t good or bad by nature; it’s largely lending that banks chose not to do or not to keep, offered to investors at a higher yield. Own it deliberately, sized as the credit risk it is, or not at all — never by accident inside a fund bought for its payout.
For borrowers, the older rule still holds: read the cardholder agreement before the rewards page. The rate, the lender of record and what happens if the account is sold decide what you’ve really signed up for, and a second-look approval is still a loan with terms worth reading.
