dtm122380

Could someone please explain the process of credit card churning or link me to a thread that does explain it? I was curious what the process is and how quickly people go through the card application/receipt/activation/use/cancel of the card. Thanks for the help.

skofarrell

On the upper right hand corner of the page you'll see an option called "search this forum" if you select it and plug in the keyword "churn" you'll find a number of theads on the subject.

Here's the most relevent one:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...ighlight=churn

Welcome to FT

dtm122380

I was more looking into what the timeframes were. I have applied for and gotten the HH plat amex card and the CO chase mastercard. I haven't activated those yet. I already have a Citi AA card that Ive had for a couple years. I was wondering what the time frames should be regarding activating/using/canceling these cards and also the timeframes on getting more of them to max my miles/HH points. Thanks for the help.

CMHFlyerOH

The time you would have to wait all depends on the credit card. From my experience (and from reading other posts on this topic, per the search function, as the previous poster recommends) these are the time frames you must wait before being able to apply for a new card.

American Express (Delta, Starwood, etc.): Can't churn these cards. Only one signup bonus allowed.

Citibank (AA): 8 weeks

Chase (CO, BA, UA): 6 weeks

US Bank (NW): Can't churn these cards. Only one signup bonus allowed.

Bank of America (US): ??

Juniper Bank (US, Midwest, etc.): Can't churn these cards. Some people have posted that they have received multiple signup bonuses but if you read the terms and conditions they state that you can only receive a bonus once, and if you do, they reserve the right to charge you for the cost of the miles or revoke them.

Most card issuers don't make you wait a certain amount of time before applying for a new account after you cancel an existing one, but they do limit how often they will consider offering you credit (i.e. every 6 weeks, 8 weeks, etc.). In theory (and based on my experience: in practice) you can cancel a card and re-apply for very next day, or even later that same day.

If you don't already have too many cards with a given issuer (usually the limit is 3-4 (or more) depending on credit history, income, etc.) you can usually have two or more ACTIVE cards of a certain type (i.e. two Chase United MasterCards) from a given bank.

tokatya

Does anyone know if you can "churn" the Citi Premier Pass Elite credit card?

BrianBSL

Why would you? Just for the 15k TY point bonus? I guess since the 15k TY points count for flight points matching...

AFAIK, they don't waive the annual fee for the first year on Premier Pass Elite, so I think for simplicity sake I would keep my PP and churn another TY card - its pretty easy to find TY cards that give you 10k bonus (Professional, Diamond, etc), but you can't use these for flight point matching. You can, however, throw them in the same TY account so you can use them as points to get flights with. The CitiBusiness TY card gives you 15k bonus points of you apply through the right link, but unless you really have a business I wouldn't churn this as it may look suspicious if you apply as a sole propitiator every time.

Note that Citi only allows you to apply for 2 cards within a 90 day period, and I've read they are strict on allowing you to get too many of their cards (3-5 max, but this isn't an exact limit, some people have gotten higher). Citi Personal and Citi Business are separate though.

anaggie

Actually citi usually makes you wait 60 days before applying for another card.....

BrianBSL

Your right...I just checked my records and that is what their letter says. For some reason I was thinking 90.

LAXRuss

Just curious-- will churning credit cards ultimately lower one's credit score and create havoc on one's credit report? This is the assumption I have made that has always kept me from applying for new accounts just to collect points and miles.

anaggie

this depends on your financial well being....if you have a high credit score -- say over 750...then this will hardly place a dent as long as you do not go crazy...also, this depends on your debt to asset ratio....if it is very low, then no problem...

also, do not recommend this to people who are in the market to buy a house within 6 months.,..

johnep1

I'm pretty sure it is possible to get more than one signup bonus with the above card.

srallen

Not so for me, I cancelled one and opened another the next day. I even told them what I was doing and they didn't care.

BrianBSL

We were refering to a delay between applications - you can only do 2 applications every 60 days. I think that is specifically for Mastercards (Visa's and Business cards don't count from what I've seen), but since those are the majority of Citi's cards with bonusoffers it essientally applies.

ftweb

I don't fully understand this yet, but it sounds like you can only pool the points from various cards when you actually spend the points. So if you close the account before spending the points, you will probably lose them. And you probably don't want to spend them until getting at least 10-15K flight points to match.

So maybe you can get the card, fly two transcontinental round trips, then get a free domestic ticket, then close the card and try again.

BrianBSL

Your points pool into a seperate TY account which you add sponsor accounts to. Canceling a sponsor account shouldn't forfeit any points, unless it is the only sponsor account.

Flight points on the PP cards (and drive points on Drivers edge), however, are only transfered to actual TY points once they are matched by purchase points.

Therfore, you can churn the PP elite, but it would only be worthwhile doing so after you flew 15k miles and your flight points got transfered over. Otherwise your wasting the $75 annual fee (unless its the business card, which the first year fee is waived) to get 5k extra bonus points (as a 10k bonus on a normal card is very easy to come by, and 15k on TY Business if you apply through the right link).