General Churning Guidelines?
 

The special credit card offers master thread is a terrific thread. Thank you UA Fan. And UA Fan, I’m sure we all hope you have a wonderful vacation. I’m not sure if that thread is “Closed” due to your vacation or on a permanent basis, hence this new thread.

One comment/question about the listings . An important part of the application decision process is to know if there is an annual fee and if that fee is waived the first year. A few of the listings in post #1 of that thread indicate “first year fee waived” or “fee waived”. Perhaps it would be possible to include that information for all listings in the future.

It would also be very helpful, in addition having one post and thread to see Credit Card offers, if we had something similar for Credit Card Churning theories and procedures for each respective bank and/or card.

There are lots of anecdotal reports around the forum along these lines. Barclay’s USAir will apparently allow more than one identical account, Citi will apparently not approve a new AA application within 16 or 18 months of a previous approval. Some banks will approve a card, send the card, activate the card, gladly accept usage of the card and then decline the bonus due to “not first time”.

One bank is good about rearranging credit from one card to another, another bank is not. Some banks have apparent limits on total number of accounts. Some banks have easily accessible Reconsideration departments, some do not.

Which other banks allow (having and also receiving the bonus) for more than one identical account? How long to wait before applying for a repeat of a card? From last approval or last cancellation? It would be excellent if we could read, in one location/thread, what is considered to be the situation for each bank and card.

It would also be helpful if that thread included the best application and reconsideration phone numbers.

Perhaps another sticky: “Churning Guidelines by Bank and/or Card”?

For whatever its worth, the following is a list of Credit Card Issuers phone numbers that I’ve compiled from several sources over the past year or so. It’s been very helpful for me, perhaps it might help others as well.

Thanks.

great idea, and thanks for the consolidated list of numbers. That's a great start!

Thank you Captain. It's always nice when the first reply to a post (especially when it's a new thread) is pleasant and complementary as opposed to a big flame! :)

yeah I would love something like this..but probably needs someone more knowledgable about churning then me to create it..

Excellent idea for a sticky! I'm not certain exactly how it would be organized. For instance, how would various folks' experiences with a given card brand (e.g., Citi AA) be consolidated? Would someone keep adding new data points to a given post? But that's a detail that I'm sure wiser FTers than me could figure out.

FYI: 866-606-2961 isn't working anymore.

I agree that we need all this information in one place, but who's going to continuously update the information?

great idea
 

Sounds like a full time job....thanks for compiling the list, very useful.

Thank you for the list. Maybe the moderator can sticky this, and someone can update it?

Perhaps when this launches it will solve some of the issues you mention.

http://www.cardchurner.com/

I'm sure the place has great intentions...but I don't think I like where is going.

> 888-201-4523 (? Business New App Approval Status)
> 800-645-7240, 800-288-4653, 800-750-7453 (App Status)

I believe you swapped those numbers around. I just called, the last three numbers are for Citi business. The first one is not.

Thanks. Bookmarking this.

I just tried this number. Worked fine, relatively short musical interlude, was told it is for status and reconsideration of both business and personal.

Just called the first (4523), long musical interlude, told it was for personal reconsideration but she could also look at a business application.

I’m far from an expert on this but I get the idea there is some overlap between personal and business.

Along the lines of “general churning guidelines”, curious how people view preparing for a churn fairly far off in terms of canceling existing accounts. I currently have all 3 Citi AA personal cards, two of them for about 2 years, one for about 6 months. In thinking about applying for one (or more) of them in the future, according to common wisdom, 18 months from last approval seems to be the best current theory. The question is when to cancel the existing accounts?

Don’t need to cancel to avoid annual fees, they are more than happy to credit them. Don’t need to cancel to transfer credit limits. So, cancel now, cancel a month prior to applications in a year, cancel sometime in-between? Might canceling sooner make one more likely to receive targeted offers? Thanks.