Negative Consequences to churning Amex?

[Open123]

Speaking of negative consequences, I always make it a point to take added caution with Amex and Chase, since they have far and away the best valued travel rewards programs, at least for my purposes.

If you're going to churn Amex, space them at least 12 - 16 months.

[Ailee92]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

No one in our family travels, so American Express isn't important to us. I don't usually take an inquiry  or new account unless the bonus is $300 or the no interest period is long.

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

[navigatethis12]

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@Ailee92 wrote:

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

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I personally don't like being around people or trying new things lol, so that's why I don't want to travel. My mom is afraid to fly, so my dad isn't going to go without her. My siblings may, so I'll try to get them into this kind of stuff. I actually just recently learned what the value of miles are. I thought if you had 50,000 miles it meant you could fly 50,000 miles lol.

[100down0monthly]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@Ailee92 wrote:

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

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I personally don't like being around people or trying new things lol, so that's why I don't want to travel. My mom is afraid to fly, so my dad isn't going to go without her. My siblings may, so I'll try to get them into this kind of stuff. I actually just recently learned what the value of miles are. I thought if you had 50,000 miles it meant you could fly 50,000 miles lol.

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Some of the best experiences in my life have been "being around people and trying new things" while living in Europe and Asia.

[Open123]

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@100down0monthly wrote:

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@Ailee92 wrote:

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

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I personally don't like being around people or trying new things lol, so that's why I don't want to travel. My mom is afraid to fly, so my dad isn't going to go without her. My siblings may, so I'll try to get them into this kind of stuff. I actually just recently learned what the value of miles are. I thought if you had 50,000 miles it meant you could fly 50,000 miles lol.

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Some of the best experiences in my life have been "being around people and trying new things" while living in Europe and Asia.

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+1

Trying new things are a blast!  You may not enjoy travelling now, but try a vacation on business class.  You might be surprised how fun it is to travel to new places.

[adavis425]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@LS2982 wrote:

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Do you think a lot of this happening will eventually hurt everyone by mediocre sign up bonuses in the future?

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I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but this was the first and most likely only time that we will do this. Their sign up bonuses are already mediocre and those offers were for a limited time only. Unlike others, my experiences with American Express have been terrible, so I am not concerned about them losing money on me. Most people on here suggest people doing the same with the Sapphire Preferred.

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Most? I don't think I would agree with that. Additionally, no matter the situation, there will be those who take advantage. AmEx knows that.

[Ailee92]

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@Ailee92 wrote:

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

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I personally don't like being around people or trying new things lol, so that's why I don't want to travel. My mom is afraid to fly, so my dad isn't going to go without her. My siblings may, so I'll try to get them into this kind of stuff. I actually just recently learned what the value of miles are. I thought if you had 50,000 miles it meant you could fly 50,000 miles lol.

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@Ailee92 wrote:

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No one in your family travels but if they understand they can travel around the world for virtually free they might be more interested. I always wanted to travel around the world but never had the funds to do so. I plan on doing a stop over + open jow next year to backpack around Europe and Asia next year mostly on points alone. Mostly earned from churning. I obtained more than 200k points just from churning for UA based flights in the last 2 years. This is enough to travel the world if you do things correctly. Although it all depends on how much time you can afford to get. Countries like China and Thailand you can eat and travel for around $10-20 a day and the experience is quite lovely.

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I personally don't like being around people or trying new things lol, so that's why I don't want to travel. My mom is afraid to fly, so my dad isn't going to go without her. My siblings may, so I'll try to get them into this kind of stuff. I actually just recently learned what the value of miles are. I thought if you had 50,000 miles it meant you could fly 50,000 miles lol.

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lol i thought the same in the past, regardless never know til you try! why not just save the miles on a churn and go for it, even if it's only for 2 weeks to go to Europe or Asia even Africa would be fun.

[longtimelurker]

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@100down0monthly wrote:

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Some of the best experiences in my life have been "being around people and trying new things" while living in Europe and Asia.

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While I agree in general, we need to remember the people sadly unable to post here because they tried new things (walking through minefields, just how quickly can I drink the bottle of vodka etc) with less good results!

[longtimelurker]

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@adavis425 wrote:

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@navigatethis12 wrote:

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@LS2982 wrote:

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Do you think a lot of this happening will eventually hurt everyone by mediocre sign up bonuses in the future?

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I'm not exactly sure what you mean, but this was the first and most likely only time that we will do this. Their sign up bonuses are already mediocre and those offers were for a limited time only. Unlike others, my experiences with American Express have been terrible, so I am not concerned about them losing money on me. Most people on here suggest people doing the same with the Sapphire Preferred.

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Most? I don't think I would agree with that. Additionally, no matter the situation, there will be those who take advantage. AmEx knows that.

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I don't know about most, but there have been lots of posts pointing out the HUGE signup bonus for the CSP, and noting that it is free money that you really do need to have a good reason to ignore.  And, part of that is cancelling before the AF becomes due.

Obviously Chase expects some portion to do this, and they set the bonus, so they must also make enough money from people retaining the card long term.  

I think as enharu said, you can do this every few years or so.   After all, it is perfectly natural to find that a card you tried (especially something like CSP) didn't quite fit your needs and to cancel.  A little harder to be believed if you keep doing this every month or so!