Before I put in my two cents. I think the thread title General Guidlines are important to remember. Now having said that...

It is a very good question. I don't think the date of cancel matters, it is about when you applied. As an extra caution I would still cancel my card several months out from when I wanted to churn.

I have read people having success churning Citi cards usually 12-18 months after. I read that a cpl of FT'ers who were approved for the Citi AAdvantage Visa or AmEx 8-9 months after having been approved for the Citi AA MasterCard (they also canceled the MasterCard a cpl months before). However I only saw that once or twice.

I also have a CC App Helper that has some phone numbers, general application waiting periods for each CC and CC Bonus History. Maybe you could add some of them to your list? Check it out.

Datapoint update; 866-606-2961 worked perfectly today.

Citi Hilton personal card application on line yesterday, pending, no email yet. Called today. First called 866-606-2787 (Maryland), was told declined due to too many inquires in past 6 months, usual long explanation to rep with no joy, asked for supervisor, repeat story, again no joy, offered address for executive resolution. Immediately called 800-763-9795 (South Dakota) asked rep if she had the ability and authority to review and override, rep said no, asked for supervisor, none available, one would call me back in 24-48 hours. Immediately called 866-606-2961 (South Dakota), rep said he could look into it, explained things, he asked about single letter typo in address, hold for 3 minutes, �congratulations, approved with a $25,000 credit limit� (said that�s what the system generated automatically).

Gotta love it. From declined to 25K in a moment (after 10-15 minutes on the phone). Their �rules� must be written by politicians! Some things make no sense!

(No comment regarding 3 females saying �no� and one male saying �yes�.)

(BTW, Citi 18 month personal card policy may only apply to AA cards as I still have 3 Citi AA cards with the most recent prior approval about 6 months ago. In all 3 calls I offered to shift credit limits and/or close an existing account which ended up being unnecessary.)

Did you go for the 40K or 50K app? I did the 40K, and I got an email before the card arrived for the 50K. Called, faxed the email, and I was told I'll get 50K.

here is a link to useful numbers: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Cred...rs/td-p/408066

I can't say I like the topic one bit though. It sounds like your trying to make a churning guidebook, which no doubt would be repeated by countless bloggers and once it makes it to the greedy fools at slickdeals and fatwallet, "churning" what little is left of it, would come to an end.

You don't need a sticky or a guidebook, if you have concerns about churning a card look into the discussions about that....having to read and research a churn will eliminate thousands of lazy newbees who want something for nothing, and easy instructions.
I'm not against sharing info, like the fact that you cant "churn" Chase cards. but if one was churnable, and the fact was broadcast with easy rinse and repeat instructions, how long until the card company kills it?
I think all the old threads on FT talking about churning citi cards, probably contributed to them finally closing the loophole, and this was a few years ago when you didnt have dozens of travel bloggers talking about CC bonuses.
All the info for any card you can think about is out there already, if your too lazy to search for it, then you probably don't need to know.
Another good reason to not do a thread like this, there is no set in stone formula.....each card company has many variables and there is no guarantee that what works for 1 or even 10 people will work for you, there is no published time limit between applications...approval depends on the applicant.
getting bonus points twice for a card is not allowed according to the fine print in most all applications today, from every company. Do you really want to point out in headline print which companies have unwritten time limits, and what they are?....might as well send a letter to their legal and promotions departments, screaming "look at your loopholes"
Bottom line is, people who want to find out, can do so with very little work.
Dont spoonfeed the lazy bottom feeders, they will come out of the woodwork enmasse and ruin the deal.

I agree with this...even tho I am a newbee and have a ton to learn, I don't want the easy way. It can ruin it for the people willing to put in the time.

I used the 50K link but the application page doesn�t indicate anything about bonuses, it�s one of those �take it on faith� pages which seems common for Citi (as per all the old AA 75K and 100K application pages). I�ll confirm the bonus when I activate the account. Of course, the value of 10,000 HHonors Points is only about 18 cents so it�s not a big deal one way or the other.

Thanks for the list of backdoor #s. The number that worked for me today is not on that list. I�ll pass on the virtues of how much information to share other than to write that the line between �just enough� and �too much� is very thin and undoubtedly somewhat variable. This forum has been very helpful for me. Prior to FT I was happy with accumulating 300K miles a year; in the year and a half since I found FT I accumulated almost 2 million miles. I�m just trying to give a little back to the community. I�m sorry you see it as being excessively informative.

Should have kept the 2nd post just in case for a wiki, however:

Chase & AmEx- 2yrs.
Citi- 18 months
BofA- 90 days
Barclays- 90 days

I tend to agree that it will do more harm than good. This readership is almost always on top of this topic, and for a good external source that emphasizes basics without overemphasizing churning, I find The Points Guy to be very good

To check the status of your Barclaycard application check this link:

https://www.barclaycardus.com/app/japply/retrieve.do

I agree too... we're only asking for trouble by waving red flags as to which ones work and don't, officially or otherwise. There aren't that many left and the ones that are, don't need to be called out any more than necessary. Usually you can pick up tidbits about one issuer or another elsewhere in FT. The info about what issuers/cards definitely cannot be churned is pretty easily available...a little deductive reasoning will lead to the most likely candidates that are.

Besides if in doubt about getting another bonus, take a chance and apply - worst case you don't get the second or third bonus, and wasted a pull (hopefully only one among several in your app-o-rama) and a couple of points on your credit score. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

Maybe, but I think the CC companies are well aware of their guideliness, this posting them on FT or elsewhere probably doesn't alert them anymore than they already have been. The FIDO thread might be one to watch, but the big bonus in that one expires in a couple days anyway.

+1 As a newbie who has been reading many threads for the last nine months I agree if we make it too easy for everyone we will kill the Goose that lays the Golden Eggs

I must add that a very aggressive forum that I won't mention ,keeps their methodology for slaughtering these deals fairly secretive .

Let's not give away the entire store in one day !

When plastic recycling moves from being a dark art to a paint by numbers game it becomes bad for business. Who wants to risk their 500-1,000k of annual plastic recycling income? That simply would not be the green thing to do!

lol at calling it a 'Dark Art' which I guess it is. I agree with many here that posting small internal secrets for everyone to exploit just kills the game.