My own case: I got the BCP with a $250 sign up bonus (through cardmatch.com) in June. We will put 6K on it this year and again during the first 5 months of next year before I cash out the remaining rewards and cancel the card. Add some gas purchases and I am ahead by about $1000.

By then it will be more than 12 months since my wife held the card, so she can get it along with whatever bonus is available and repeat the process. As long as there is a signup bonus that covers the initial fee, it's a no-brainer for me.

Cancel & Re-open:
AAdvantage
SPG
AMEX PRG: I'm waiting for the next big bonus
United Explorer: All the same benefits of Sapphire minus the free bag or lounge pass.

Keep:
Delta Platinum: Provides yearly companion pass certificate
Sapphire: Keep Chase UR benefits, plus the card is too thick to cut up.
Ink: 5X at office supply stores that I buy gift cards with.
Club Carlson: Just got this one, but It comes with free hotel nights plus gold each year.

Actually, I just called to cancel the Delta Gold AMEX card because they got rid of the companion ticket benefit. They upgraded me to the Platinum card and as a perk gave me another companion ticket upon completion of the next billing cycle plus another one in February when my annual fee is due. I took that deal.. I live in Hawaii, so this perk is quite valuable.

This might be my favorite thing I've seen all day.

Annual Fees for card churners
 

When signing up for multiple cards on an ongoing basis, how do you handle the pile-up of all the annual fees?

I see some bloggers sign up for 6+ cards every few months. As they do not mention canceling their previous cards, it seems that they would rack up substantial annual fees for all those cards.

For instance, if they sign up for 10 cards in one year, each having an annual fee of $100 (give-or-take), that $1000 annual fee seems hard to justify. [Take it one step further; if that same person signs up for 10 cards, three years in a row, they now have a $3000 annual fee].

Are the sign-up points worth the on-going annual fees of having so many cards? Or, is there a strategy of cancellation when doing so many on-going sign-ups?

Thanks!

I would say most are cancelling before the anniversary date. My personal goal is to get 200k in AA miles every year for 2 J seats to Europe; these are worth to me around $8,000. You probably cannot buy a Business class round trip for $4000 for summer travel but that is all I would personally pay for it. With a combination of AA Citi Visa (50k), AA Citi Bus (40k) plus some Starwood AX and a decent monthly spend we always seem to get there and rarely pay the renewal fee. It really helps to have each spouse on a 2 year cycle.

1) Lots of AFs are waived for the first year.

2) A good amount of AFs are $95 or less.

3) Lots of people do AoRs, but a good amount of people stagger their apps so they don't have 10+ fees due at once (I stagger; most on FT, it seems, do AoRs).

4) Most cancel their cards before the AF hits.

5) If they don't cancel, they call to "cancel" and the CSR waives the fee.

6) In the end, some fees are just worth paying! (CSP; SPG; IHG; Hyatt; Mariott; AMEX Platium; etc).

What's AoR?

App-O-Rama = Simultaneously applying for several credit cards

Churning = Apply, Earn new account bonus, Cancel, Re-apply for the same card.

I don't think you are correct on this.

https://creditcards.chase.com/no-ann...jp_ltg=leftnav

It's not advertised, you have to ask about it when downgrading.

Good to know. Thank you.

BTW, does the no-fee version have a different name?
And do you earn one mile per dollar spent on it?

I don't remember the name, but I think its 1 mile/$2.

Another question: Does it have no foreign transaction fees? (I'm guessing that it would not have this feature, being a downgraded card...but I'm wondering if anyone would know for sure.)

I have been churning cards a pretty good clip ( but nothing compared to soem on here ) since 2006.

Make an excel spreadsheet with the card number , signup date, bonus and a column for date closed

Get the card, meet the spend , get the points, put the card away and cancel at about the 9 month mark , 3 months before annual fee is due. You can cancel VIA SM and save the phone call if you would like.

My goal is 6 domestic R/T airline tickets per year and 10 hotel nights at a CAT 7 Hilton or the equivalant Sheraton, Marriott, etc

With Northwest, Continental and soon to be USAIR gone it is getting harder but can still be done

I have never paid an annual fee as I can always cancel the card and move on to another brand then come back.

I may break that rule and pay $49 AF for the IHG card as it's a free night in any category IHG hotel.

Marriott has the level hotel you can stay at capped (IMO) too low to pay an annual fee of $85 for a category 1 - 4 hotel

Same for the Hyatt