Ever thought about credit card churning?

[GoodSteward]

I know most here are big on credit card rewards, but has anybody tried to go a step further and really take advantage of it by opening cards over and over to get the sign-up bonus?

bloomberg article on credit cardchurning

Issues are covered in the article, but I don't see how this could last long term. That many open accounts would leave a major negative impact on your credit for years, and the stress of trying to keep up seems to be pretty high.

[GoodSteward]

Another thought I had. Isn't it interesting how people will go so far out of their way to "work" or "cheat" the system to have more money, yet they can't find the time or effort needed to budget or plan retirement. :/

[kork13]

Yeah, I'm too cautious to go for that... I absolutely take advantage of CC bonuses when they're available, but only from cards that I actually have some intention of using/keeping. I'm sure that I could potentially keep up with it, but it just gets too complex too quickly. Also, the "manufactured spending" feels dishonest to me, so I'm hesitant to do that sort of thing, beyond focusing purchases I already had planned anyway on to that new card. I focus on finding cards with good rewards programs, and go for them. The sign-up bonuses are gravy.

[MonkeyMama]

Yes, we do this. Since both my spouse and I do this, we double the rewards.

This does nothing to our (excellent) credit. As per the article, we close the cards when we are done. So there is nothing to keep track of. I only do one bonus at a time. Keep it as simple as possible.

For us, it's just *easy* money. I always say that we make about $1,000 per hour, as to time and effort. $3,000 - $4,000 income the last several years.

All of that said, the cash churning days are over. We aren't "travel" people so I don't follow travel rewards. Maybe you can still churn those. But I can't say we are churning much on the cash side any more. Those have dried up.

[rennigade]

Nope...I never would dream of churning credit cards

Ive discussed this multiple times over the years. Couple minutes of your time to make/save a lot of money.

My first real attempt at working the credit card reward system was when we went on our honeymoon to hawaii in 2009. At that time is cost us $150 round trip from the east coast. I though that was a good deal. Since then we've traveled multiple times per year, been back to hawaii 3 times...in total we've flow about 14 flights since our honeymoon and we havent paid more than $15/person round trip for any flight (you have to pay fees...not possible to get out of those.) Combine that with redemption for gift cards and selling points to brokers....we've made north of $20k over 7 years. Time spent: however long it takes to fill out the online application + booking flights or redeeming for gift cards.

We recently started signing up for checking account bonuses. 2016 I was able to get $400 through citi...my wife also got $400 through citi and $500 through chase checking. Thats $1300 just for 3 checking accounts...combined with flights/other bonuses we had a good year with rewards.

Also...from what we've experienced it hasnt affected our credit. We're both around 790.

Things to consider...if you do not pay your balance in full do not start churning. If you cant meet the spending requirements from things you would normally buy do not start churning. If you suck with keeping track of what credit cards you have do not start churning. Its almost always beneficial to cancel the card before the first year is up to avoid the annual fee (unless your card gives you a reward worth more than annual fee...like Marriott card, gives you a free hotel night.)

Sadly chase started cracking down...now you can only sign up for 5 chase cards in a 24 month span. Not the end of the world but it put the brakes on some of us.

[MonkeyMama]

P.S. I am one of the bigger churners in the SA blogs. I always tell them that I am SMALL BEANS. I am all about the most reward for the least effort, when it comes to anything. Reading that article thoroughly after I posted, yeah, most of that sounds quite extreme. To the point that putting that time towards a job or a degree would probably pay off more substantially. In the more middle realm, I know most churners juggle more cards than I do, so I consider myself a small churner.

I've personally never manufactured any expenses.

[greenskeeper]

nope. One and only card the same since I turned 18.

[Nutria]

Things to consider...if you do not pay your balance in full do not start churning. If you cant meet the spending requirements from things you would normally buy do not start churning. If you suck with keeping track of what credit cards you have do not start churning.

Telling my wife to use this card, now that card and then another... just ain't gonna work.

I gave her a gift card to buy groceries with (so that I could get the cash ) and she still uses the CC. Goes to Jo Ann Fabric for a knitting class: used the CC.

Our marriage would collapse within the month.

[GoodSteward]

I looked up those 400$ checking account bonuses, and apparently you have to fork over a butt load of cash to do it to the tune of 15k$. That's a lot of money to play churning.

I might be interested in getting into this, but not sure. It would have to be a substantial amount more than my normal yearly rewards amount to.

[GoodSteward]

Telling my wife to use this card, now that card and then another... just ain't gonna work.

I gave her a gift card to buy groceries with (so that I could get the cash ) and she still uses the CC. Goes to Jo Ann Fabric for a knitting class: used the CC.

Our marriage would collapse within the month.

This is very true. I've had the same experience with my wife. I told her which card was for medical so I could keep up with it better. Put ALL medical on this card (we only have 2). She still used the main card. lol She would shoot me if I tried to get her to swap cards here and there.

[rennigade]

I looked up those 400$ checking account bonuses, and apparently you have to fork over a butt load of cash to do it to the tune of 15k$. That's a lot of money to play churning.

I might be interested in getting into this, but not sure. It would have to be a substantial amount more than my normal yearly rewards amount to.

The chase checking was for $50k...get $500 bonus. The citi $15k seemed like a bargain.

[scfr]

Telling my wife to use this card, now that card and then another... just ain't gonna work.

Have a label maker? Stick labels on the cards. Nothing to remember. Can be peeled off and changed as circumstances change. Easy peasy.

These are the labels on ours:
Grocery 6%
Costco 2%
All Except Grocery & Costco 2%

The Target GCs and Red Card is a different category, but DH doesn't usually shop at Target so I don't have to worry about helping him keep track of that one. Also the grocery store gift card bought with the 6% cash back that I use to buy gas - I'm usually the one buying gas so, again, nothing for DH to track or remember. And if he happened to fill up one day with the 2% "All Except . . ." card the world would not spin off its axis and we'd still get 2% which wouldn't be as good as 6% but still better than nothing.

[rennigade]

Telling my wife to use this card, now that card and then another... just ain't gonna work.

I gave her a gift card to buy groceries with (so that I could get the cash ) and she still uses the CC. Goes to Jo Ann Fabric for a knitting class: used the CC.

Our marriage would collapse within the month.

We never have multiple cards in hand at the same time. We always have our regular discover cards and one other each...but we only do 1 rewards card at a time each. It makes things easier. If we spent a lot more money I would do more at a time but it would make it too difficult to hit the requirements.

When the rewards card is met and reward used...we cancel almost immediately. Jot it down on a spreadsheet for tracking then on to the next.

[scfr]

We don't do extreme credit card churning, but we do open a couple a year for bonuses, sometimes for cash and sometimes travel related (miles or hotel). And I stay informed about which cards offer the best rewards. So yes, we open & close credit cards. The impact on our credit score is small enough that for us it doesn't matter. We have no need for a top-tier credit score (no mortgage or other loans and no plans to apply for one), and it's good enough. I also pursue bank bonuses. Between bank and credit card bonuses I'd say we get about 6 per year.

[MonkeyMama]

I looked up those 400$ checking account bonuses, and apparently you have to fork over a butt load of cash to do it to the tune of 15k$. That's a lot of money to play churning.

It makes sense if you have the cash. You only have to tie up the money for 6 months, which would be a 5.33% rate of return. Sure beats anything you would get at a bank these days. Plus, I only recall tying up $1,500 for a $300 bonus. You wait for the better offers to come along (or seek them out).