MilesBuzz! - still worth it to churn Citibank&Chase CC's?

20,000 & 25,000 mile bonuses respectfully...

And I am giving them plenty of Credit Card business, like charging my real estate taxes, etc...

i think i read on this forum that chase has ended it by only allowing the miles bonus once.

if it works, it's worth it, if it doesn't, it's not. seems simple to me since nothing else has changed.

For the most part Chase isn't allowing churning for bonus miles with the UA-branded cards, as I understand it.

But I haven't actually read reports of whether their other products can still be churned (eg Marriott, BA, Southwest, Priority Club).

I haven't seen reports of any change in policy or practice over at Citibank, so it should still work fine with the AA cards, no?

Chase has definitely shut down the churning within a single program. You can still cycle through different products - for example, I have a Marriott, United, Southwest, and Freedom card from chase - and all of the signup bonuses from each posted correctly (including the $250 cash on first purchase from the Freedom card). What you can't do now is pick up 10 United Visas and collect 250,000 miles for doing it. That's the loophole that Chase closed last year.

I don't know about Citi. The only card I currently hold from them is a Home Depot card. That thing is a piece of junk - but they dangled about $230 cashback while I was standing there in the store getting ready to drop a bunch of cash on an appliance, so I bit. I'm such a sucker... :o

I wonder if I can call Citi and have them convert the HD card into a PP Elite card. I know Chase has no problem with me moving credit limits around between products, but I've never asked to completely rebrand an existing account - keeping the longevity and not requiring new activity on my credit report.

I said this somewhere else but i recently got 2 targeted promos in the mail for the chase united platinum business and signed up for them both and recieved both cards

I said this somewhere else but i recently got 2 targeted promos in the mail for the chase united platinum business and signed up for them both and recieved both cards

Receiving two targeted promotions and getting the cards doesn't necessarily mean that you will get the bonus twice as many has learned.

Let me just say I think FTers are doing themselves a major disfavor discussing this here.

The UA churn possibility was more publicized both in Milesbuzz and UA forum on FT than any other good oppurtunity. Guess what? It is now gone. Does that prove anything? No, but is does support a hypothesis airlines and credit card companies shut loopholes down after reading how many people are doing them on popular boards like FT.

The best coarse of action now is to not post about churning, but actively discuss at FT events. Never been to one? Go to the Community section of FT - you might be amazed how much fun and how many amazing people await you. Lets share in person and via PMs. I am only posting to this thread because it is already at the top; can we let this thread die?
Yes, churning works. Lets do it; not kill it.

Amen, wanaflyforless. And thanks for the Community idea. ^ I am going to give it a shot. :)

Receiving two targeted promotions and getting the cards doesn't necessarily mean that you will get the bonus twice as many has learned.
I'll find out soon enough...

have a citi MC and have earned many a AA miles on it.

Was booking AA flights with miles just yesterday and at the end, the res agent tried to sell me on getting their new 25k bonus CC. I said, Well, I already have one of your CCs! She said, you can get another one sir and then get more miles from this new high-sign on bonus. Why not do it now?

;)MM

I guess citi churns still

sorry a dumb question, i know.
I have personal AA citi MC now. Can I open another person AA MC to get bonus? or I have to open Business AA MC?

sorry a dumb question, i know.
I have personal AA citi MC now. Can I open another person AA MC to get bonus? or I have to open Business AA MC?

I think my post above means yes you can

Can anyone confirm that Chase has actually shut down the ability to churn products other than UA?

Can anyone confirm that Chase has actually shut down the ability to churn products other than UA?

well, effective in feb of this year they abruptly ended the ability to gain miles from PIN use on a debit card banking product that you could have tied to CO.

I wonder if I can call Citi and have them convert the HD card into a PP Elite card. I know Chase has no problem with me moving credit limits around between products, but I've never asked to completely rebrand an existing account - keeping the longevity and not requiring new activity on my credit report.I got a Chase card last year, and a Chase MP this year. Are you saying they will move the credit limit from one to another? I wouldn't mind doing that and closing the older card. I keep my 10 year old Citi card as a backuip.

I got a Chase card last year, and a Chase MP this year. Are you saying they will move the credit limit from one to another? I wouldn't mind doing that and closing the older card. I keep my 10 year old Citi card as a backuip.
Even it's a little OT, I'll try to answer it. Yes, you can call up Chase and request to move/transfer your credit limit among cards. If you want to close one of them, be sure to ask Chase to transfer the credit limit to the kept one before the closure. Or you would lose the CL on that card.

Now back to the topic. From reading the board, it seems getting multiple bonuses from Citi is still doable. No more with Chase MP visa. The title of the thread is kind of misleading.

On top of that, the question of worth it or not is a judgement call also. Some don't mind some dings to the credit scores. Some prefer not to play the game.

On top of that, the question of worth it or not is a judgement call also. Some don't mind some dings to the credit scores. Some prefer not to play the game.

True. I don't mind closing the occassional account I've only had for a short while, since what matters the most is maintaining several core accounts that have been open for many years.

As noted every time this comes up - be sure to check your credit score first.

Churning won't impact your personal finances if you have a high score (and we always get lots of posters who feel it necessary to brag about how high their score is and how many cards they have). But if your score is borderline for a home loan or car loan, a new account or even an inquiry might ding you into a much higher interest rate, which will cost you a lot more than those 20k miles are worth.

Of course, it won't matter if you aren't buying a car or your score is this low then you may be declined anyway.

I got a Chase card last year, and a Chase MP this year. Are you saying they will move the credit limit from one to another? I wouldn't mind doing that and closing the older card. I keep my 10 year old Citi card as a backuip.

Yes. IME, Chase will move credit limits from one card to another without pulling another credit report. Only thing I don't know is if there is an upperbound on any one card. Chase likes to sling around a lot of credit - if I combined all of my Chase cards into one, it'd be a little out of hand. I imagine they'd say no at some point.

As noted every time this comes up - be sure to check your credit score first.

Churning won't impact your personal finances if you have a high score (and we always get lots of posters who feel it necessary to brag about how high their score is and how many cards they have). But if your score is borderline for a home loan or car loan, a new account or even an inquiry might ding you into a much higher interest rate, which will cost you a lot more than those 20k miles are worth.

Of course, it won't matter if you aren't buying a car or your score is this low then you may be declined anyway.

I've seen a lot of the discussion about churning- how quickly some will cancel and card and re-apply in 60 or 90 days. I recently got 3 cards for me and my wife for 65,000 miles. (Citi AA Amex for her, Citi World AA Plat Mastercard for me, Citi AA Business Visa for me).

I am not interested in staying in churning cycle (that is, cancelling these 3 and re-applying, and repeating the cycle). However, I'm also not interested in keeping all three of these cards. I already had a well-established Citi World AA Gold Mastercard that has built my credit and will probably roll the platinum card back into the gold account (this is the best way to close the Platinum account, right?). But I would like to get rid of the Citi Amex and Citi Visa Business before the one year anniversary.

If I want to get rid of the two cards before the one year anniversary, when is a good time to do this? I have seen others who churn a lot say that they cancel their cards after 6 months. Is there a reason for waiting 6 months? Is there any reason I shouldn't cancel after 3 months? I'm thinking the worst thing I could do is cancel the card after 11 months because I would be cancelling an account that has been more established and this would be more of a ding on my credit. After reading discussion on these boards, I figure cancelling after 3 or 4 months is ideal because i am closing an account that has only been established a short time and will be less of a ding on my credit. Is this a good assumption?

Just wondering if any of you would share your thoughts on when is a good time to cancel...

i have discovered that cancelling any CC within an timeframe does little to one's credit. maybe a 1-2 point hit at best.

I would maybe keep a card for a 2-4 month period to be sure all bonuses, etc post and then cancel it. who cares. thats business.

I agree with Marathon Man that there is very little, if any, hit to your credit score from closing a credit card account. However, there are many on FT who disagree and will no doubt provide their welcome, differing, views as they have on many other threads.

As has been discussed many times before, pay all your bills on time and you are likely to have a very high credit score, even if you cancel cards left and right. Lord knows I do. :) (not bragging--as far as I am concerned Fair Issacs can go to ... Gary, Indiana! :))

By the way, I keep my cards for at least six months. When I call up to cancel, I am amazed at how many times I am offered a bonus to keep the card.

I agree with Marathon Man that there is very little, if any, hit to your credit score from closing a credit card account. However, there are many on FT who disagree and will no doubt provide their welcome, differing, views as they have on many other threads.

As has been discussed many times before, pay all your bills on time and you are likely to have a very high credit score, even if you cancel cards left and right. Lord knows I do. :) (not bragging--as far as I am concerned Fair Issacs can go to ... Gary, Indiana! :))

By the way, I keep my cards for at least six months. When I call up to cancel, I am amazed at how many times I am offered a bonus to keep the card.

Yeah, I always pay cards off every month and have good credit. Just don't want to keep these new cards past a year and get hit with yearly fees. Citi Gold has waived the $50 yearly fee for me in the past, but I doubt the new cards would do the same since my spending is now spread out over 4 cards instead of 1. From your post, I guess most people commonly cancel after 6 months because that is when they are more likely to be offered incentives for keeping the cards...

I think it depends. It has never hurt my score enough to matter. On the other hand both my daughter and son in law got whacked over 100 points after applying for and receiving 4 MP cards in a short period. They found out the hard way while applying for an auto loan. The good news is they got the best available rate anyway. They had done business with this credit union before. The loan officer at the credit union shared the credit report with them and there was no question that the applications are what caused the score to drop. She also cautioned them not to cancel multiple cards at one time. I believe that the difference between their experience and mine is that I have a long credit history while their’s is short.

On the other hand both my daughter and son in law got whacked over 100 points after applying for and receiving 4 MP cards in a short period. May I ask what was deemed a short period?

Six months plus, one every 60 days.

does "churning citi" include my just having recieved the new Premier pass ty rewards CC? I get miles on my AA MC and now I also have this card too. I guess I could keep signing up for other citi products, get the bonuses and whatever other miles, and then cancel and do more later.

I know citi is willing to keep giving me cards because back in the winter I had big bills and high balances and they would not give me nuthin. But now I have no bills and low balances that will soon be 0, and they are chompin at the bit to get me to sign up for everything. Maybe I will and then we shall do the back and forth dance once again. It churns me, why cant I churn it?

Six months plus, one every 60 days. Thanks, this info is helpful.

Bayou, were you able to get the platinum card while still having the gold? I currently have gold and am going to apply for platinum and then cancel gold and see if I can combine credit lines if I can open plat while I still have it. Thanks for the info.

I agree with Marathon Man that there is very little, if any, hit to your credit score from closing a credit card account. However, there are many on FT who disagree and will no doubt provide their welcome, differing, views as they have on many other threads.


With all due respect that is a very broad statement and inaccurate. Closing an account can affect several key FICO factors: (1) Total Available Credit (e.g. closing a MC with a 10k line might greatly impact your score if you only have 20k total credit avail on all your cards (2) Credit Utilization (e.g. similar to above - if you have a 5k balance on 20k total credit, and 10k dispappear, your utilization will shoot up to 50%) (3) Length of credit - not a big deal if your report shows many credit lines over many years, but maybe some impact if you are just out of college (4) Inquiries - probably the smallest factor, but might hurt particularly in combination with the other 3.

In sum - as I noted above - opening and closing accounts will have little effect on FICO scores for many FTers with well-established credit and high scores. But to suggest this is true for everyone who reads FT (which includes college students on up) is a disservice. :td:

... were you able to get the platinum card while still having the gold? I currently have gold and am going to apply for platinum and then cancel gold....
I once had both Gold and Platinum Citi MC at the same time. It shouldn't be an issue if you think they will approve your new Platinum MC application.

I do know Citi, Amex and Chase, they all allow you to relocate your CL to a different account before closing out the old one.

..In sum - as I noted above - opening and closing accounts will have little effect on FICO scores formany FTers with well-established credit and high scores. But to suggest this is true for everyone who reads FT (which includes college students on up) is a disservice. :td:
I can't agree you more. ^ ^

Credit score...does it matters if you are not looking forward to buy house/borrow money within next couple of years?

always keep iit high, but nope, it also does not matter as much if your mortgage is completely paid off or if you have many assets, etc.

BTW does anyone here know an answer to this?

Say you run into an opportunity where you could pay off your whole mortgage. Should you leave like say 10-20k as a mortgage to somehow save on taxes? (for example, I know you get a tax break of some sorts if you have a mortgage, as most people do) If you pay it off dont you get hit more than if you have one?

Would love to find that out, thanks.

[QUOTE=Marathon Man;7653870]
Say you run into an opportunity where you could pay off your whole mortgage. Should you leave like say 10-20k as a mortgage to somehow save on taxes? (for example, I know you get a tax break of some sorts if you have a mortgage, as most people do) /QUOTE]
If one itemizes, one can deduct the amount of interest paid on a mortgage. Paying down your mortgage will, by definition, reduce the amount of interest you pay.

[QUOTE=Marathon Man;7653870]
Say you run into an opportunity where you could pay off your whole mortgage. Should you leave like say 10-20k as a mortgage to somehow save on taxes? (for example, I know you get a tax break of some sorts if you have a mortgage, as most people do) /QUOTE]
If one itemizes, one can deduct the amount of interest paid on a mortgage. Paying down your mortgage will, by definition, reduce the amount of interest you pay.

A deduction is not a credit however, you are still paying interest and would be better off not paying interest. Of course, the exception is that if you put your money in an investment that returns a better yield, after tax considerations, than the loan on your house does.

It isn't hard to find a investment vehicle that outperforms recent low interest mortgages.

[QUOTE=Marathon Man;7653870]
Say you run into an opportunity where you could pay off your whole mortgage. Should you leave like say 10-20k as a mortgage to somehow save on taxes? (for example, I know you get a tax break of some sorts if you have a mortgage, as most people do) /QUOTE]
If one itemizes, one can deduct the amount of interest paid on a mortgage. Paying down your mortgage will, by definition, reduce the amount of interest you pay.

which means if you have very little interest left then the deduction is less anyway. I figured there was some lump sum amount you get off your taxes for HAVING a mortgage. (BTW, I get my taxes done by someone and can't figure that stuff out but yes, I know I should more. But since I have known her for 15 years I really never check, but I am getting money back and it's correct so I am happy.)

[QUOTE=soitgoes;7654411]

A deduction is not a credit however, you are still paying interest and would be better off not paying interest. Of course, the exception is that if you put your money in an investment that returns a better yield, after tax considerations, than the loan on your house does.

It isn't hard to find a investment vehicle that outperforms recent low interest mortgages.


true, and that's basically what we'd be doing. TO invest money otherwise spent on paying it off, whereas the interest we gain from said investment is higher than that which we pay on the loan. Again, the loan would be significantly paid down anyway, but I was asked to check this out by my financial advisor, who said it would be a tax question. The tax person has not yet gotten back to me and it's possible there is no real answer unless one considers all the specifics.

Either way, I probably wont need to try and get miles from home loans and equity lines, but will still want to set aside some money to "play" these FT games with if my wife lets me. hehehe

as mentioned above, a tax write off is NOT a tax credit. example...
you have a tax bill of $1000, if you have a tax credit of $100, your final bill would be $900 . If you have a "interest deduction of $100" it would only reduce your tax bill by whatever your TAX BRACKET is...example $100 deduction w/30% tax bracket= $30 which would make your tax bill $970. The short answer is "write offs are never as good as money in pocket!

Hey! No more hijacking! :) Let's get back to the original intent of this thread.

Hey! No more hijacking! :) Let's get back to the original intent of this thread.

ok ok :D

well that TAX ramifications of churning a credit card...

heheheh just kidding.

oh wait I forgot what we were talking about in here.
Um, yes it is always worth it to churn CCs. I think so because it really does not affect your credit and here's another wild new idea: Maybe it throws off the ID theives. I mean firstly, by nature of constantly doing such things, you are in a way "monitoring" your own credit. As well, you have the helm and they dont know where you are going to turn next.

On the other hand, you are opening yourself up as you get mail, calls, emails, and such on a constant basis.

I dunno. Do it just to get the miles!
:DMM

I want to apply citi aadvantage business MC. Can someone tell me are they usually instant approval or not? Are there any special offer right now?