What is your take on Churning Credit Cards?

[Anonymous]

For as long as you want or need!  For many people, this is a good way (and perhaps the only way) of getting international flights in premium cabins for a family (although getting several such seats on the same flight can be hard).   Sign up bonuses are usually much greater than what you can achieve by spending on the card, and so getting several bonuses via churning is the way to go.

So some people might do it to get the "trip of a life-time", and maybe stop, or, they like it so much that they continue, to do it again.  Others stop when the miles/points are no longer useful because they cannot take the trips (or give the points to others).

The work involved isn't necessarily that great.  Really just a set of credit card applications, timed carefully, followed by (usually) manufactured spend to meet the spending needed to get the bonus.  You do however need to read something like Flyer Talk to see the changing rules, e.g. how long you have to wait between applications to a particular bank, or how long do you have to close a card before applying for the same one again.   Banks change policies from time to time, and you want others to find this out first!

A beginners mistake is to apply for lots of cards from several different programs.  You do end up with lots of miles, but spread over incompatible programs, and so really can't get a decent award.

[enharu]

---

@JMills wrote:

So how long do someone keep up with this? For the rest of there life? up to five years? As long as they have rewards out there? I wouldnt mind doing it, once I am in the path to do it.

---

until the bank isn't okay with it and bans you.

Like longtimelurker said, let others be the guinea pig. Regardless, you should do it within "reasonable" means. Similar to manufactured spending, going overboard will result in a lot of negative consequences.

[CreditScholar]

I don't churn cards, never have and likely never will. I only apply for cards when it fills a need and there's a strong possibility of keeping it for several years (3 years+).

I prefer not having to worry about constantly adding new cards, managing pulls on my reports, rotating the cards in my wallet, etc. I'm happy to trade off the financial benefits gained by card churning in exchange for the added simplicity in my life.

[Bay_Area_Joe]

I read a lot about this and thought I could be a churner.

I made a great app spree in March of 2013, and now I am having a really hard time thinking I will close an account.

I am more on a quest to break 200k in CL's.

The whole thought of closing lines, and getting new ones, and taking to AAoA hits just don't sit well with me.

J

[OptimalCS]

I couldn't stand the idea of sacrificing my AAoA.

[DaveSignal]

I would probably churn a few signup bonuses if I wasn't rebuilding.  But, there are other ways to make a lot of poitns quickly without manufactured spend.

In the few days that I have had my no-AF arrival card (with smaller signup bonus), I have used the points mall to pay for some plane tickets and soon will be using the same mall for hotel bookings, quickly giving massive bonuses to the 2-point travel spend.  After the bonuses hit my account, I will probably have earned close to 22,000 points, just on about $4500 of spending.

And I can keep this card forever with no annual fee, continuing my rebuild with on-going histories of many positive accounts.

[Anonymous]

---

@Bay_Area_Joe wrote:

I read a lot about this and thought I could be a churner.

I made a great app spree in March of 2013, and now I am having a really hard time thinking I will close an account.

I am more on a quest to break 200k in CL's.

The whole thought of closing lines, and getting new ones, and taking to AAoA hits just don't sit well with me.

J

---

Yes, not for everyone.   But concerns about total CL and score, to me, miss a little of the point.   In general, great scores and CLs are not ends in themselves, except when you need all of your CL or have a major app like a mortgage coming out (in which case certainly don't churn!).   Otherwise, the whole point is that scores allow you take advantage of opportunities, such as the  bonuses for churning, without lasting damage, so it is repeatable.

[Anonymous]

---

@DaveSignal wrote:

I would probably churn a few signup bonuses if I wasn't rebuilding.  But, there are other ways to make a lot of poitns quickly without manufactured spend.

In the few days that I have had my no-AF arrival card (with smaller signup bonus), I have used the points mall to pay for some plane tickets and soon will be using the same mall for hotel bookings, quickly giving massive bonuses to the 2-point travel spend.  After the bonuses hit my account, I will probably have earned close to 22,000 points, just on about $4500 of spending.

And I can keep this card forever with no annual fee, continuing my rebuild with on-going histories of many positive accounts.

---

If you are rebuilding, obviously not the time for churn or manufactured spend.  And while you can "make lots of points quickly", it really doesn't compare.  I can buy 9 VRs for that $4,500, get 22.5K points, and then get all but $36 back so I can do it all again.

[DaveSignal]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@DaveSignal wrote:

I would probably churn a few signup bonuses if I wasn't rebuilding.  But, there are other ways to make a lot of poitns quickly without manufactured spend.

In the few days that I have had my no-AF arrival card (with smaller signup bonus), I have used the points mall to pay for some plane tickets and soon will be using the same mall for hotel bookings, quickly giving massive bonuses to the 2-point travel spend.  After the bonuses hit my account, I will probably have earned close to 22,000 points, just on about $4500 of spending.

And I can keep this card forever with no annual fee, continuing my rebuild with on-going histories of many positive accounts.

---

If you are rebuilding, obviously not the time for churn or manufactured spend.  And while you can "make lots of points quickly", it really doesn't compare.  I can buy 9 VRs for that $4,500, get 22.5K points, and then get all but $36 back so I can do it all again.

---

Yes, but you are doing something that many creditors frown upon and close accounts for, since you aren't really buying anything to aquire those points.   I am buying real things using encouraged methods.  I am not saying that I haven't thought about bluebird and VRs.  I might try it if I wasn't currently in a country where pre-paid debit visas and VR-like cards were a lot harder to come by... it is risky though.

[jenn_bar]

---

@DaveSignal wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@DaveSignal wrote:

I would probably churn a few signup bonuses if I wasn't rebuilding.  But, there are other ways to make a lot of poitns quickly without manufactured spend.

In the few days that I have had my no-AF arrival card (with smaller signup bonus), I have used the points mall to pay for some plane tickets and soon will be using the same mall for hotel bookings, quickly giving massive bonuses to the 2-point travel spend.  After the bonuses hit my account, I will probably have earned close to 22,000 points, just on about $4500 of spending.

And I can keep this card forever with no annual fee, continuing my rebuild with on-going histories of many positive accounts.

---

If you are rebuilding, obviously not the time for churn or manufactured spend.  And while you can "make lots of points quickly", it really doesn't compare.  I can buy 9 VRs for that $4,500, get 22.5K points, and then get all but $36 back so I can do it all again.

---

Yes, but you are doing something that many creditors frown upon and close accounts for, since you aren't really buying anything to aquire those points.   I am buying real things using encouraged methods.  I am not saying that I haven't thought about bluebird and VRs.  I might try it if I wasn't currently in a country where pre-paid debit visas and VR-like cards were a lot harder to come by... it is risky though.

---

I don't think that they frown upon it if you keep it reasonable. For example, Chase has now kept their online gift cards (which easily deposit to Bluebird) for FREE for almost 5 months! They are aware of their benefits and after it's been available for so long, I don't seem them charging the activation fee anytime in the near future. FlyerTalk has found that for those cards, the "reasonable" amount is about $2,600/Chase card. My parents do $6,000/month across 3 cards to cover expenses and I do about $1,200/month over one card to cover my expenses.

If they really frowned about it, they would take them away. This goes for Vanilla Reloads as well. CVS can barely keep them in stock around me, it's a money-maker all around, and like anything, if you don't get too carried away, you should be great!

I am too buying real things with my VR and Chase gift cards, AS WELL as my typical spending. I'm paying for rent, utilities, and other odds and ends that don't allow for a credit card (my hair stylist). If a bank every wanted to check up on me, they would and I could show them my Bluebird account and who the funds have previously been made to.

I don't mean to rant, but there are a lot of risks in life, and this is one I consider a low risk. Now, if I were transferring everything from BB to my bank account, we've probably got an issue, but now they have made that even easier through linking bank accounts (AMEX knows what they are doing)! Just do what you feel comfortable with, but I do think this is a brilliant way to get miles out of things you ideally can't without manufactured spending.