elBulli

This is FT. No one *needs* anything. It's an interesting question. This was a pretty lame attempt at avoiding the question. Did you really think people would just say, "Well, I don't need to know. He's right. I'll drop it." ?

elBulli

I'll look around and see what I can find.

I have spoken with people who were told by the bank that they could not be extended a mortgage loan because they had inquiries within the past six months. Makes sense in a way, not sure I as a lender would want to give a $500k loan to someone who has been looking around for revolving credit recently.

ingy

They are promoted so heavily because there are so many bloggers and they are the two best cards on the market. The SPG has been for years and the INK has certainly come on strong as we all know.

BTW I tried to find you an answer on Ask.com without success. I am prevented from saying, but so surprised that the info has not come out from some source somewhere .It should go without saying, it is a profitable venture as evidenced by the large number in the game now, many of which have gone full time.

In regards to the mortgage question, although my experience is in the past, as a mortgage banker and underwriter that made the actual decision on FNMA, FHA and VA mortgages, one or two credit card inquiries would not scare me away from approval with a decent credit score and payment history offsetting. But my experience is not with inhouse portfolio lending. Each institution makes their own set of quidelines for portfolio lending.

As a blogger that is promoting credit card churning, as a source of free travel, my standard response has been and will continue to be the very conservative route. I don't recommend churning cards if you have a major purchase upcoming within the next two years. I would much rather be too conservative on this matter than seen as too liberal.

mnscout

A diversion? I'm just wondering why you guys want to know how much money somebody else is making, that's all. Is it just the curiosity or any practical reasons? You don't have to answer of course, but then neither do the bloggers.

mnscout

Again with "this is FT". What does it even mean "this is FT"? I don't "attempt to avoid" anything because I don't know the exact answer to this question (and I doubt there is a universal answer for everyone), but the ball park figures have been posted here before. I'm just curious why you, guys, want to know and why you find it so strange that bloggers are reluctant to answer. Let's forget all those non-disclosure agreements for the moment. Would you enjoy it if I asked you how much money you make? What makes you think it's OK to point this question to other people?

tjbrooks

Remember your argument is over someone with stellar credit, which means they have a very low credit-to-debt ratio. Another card should only be a drop in the bucket, recent activity is dismissed as routine consumer behavior IMEs.
What bank was this?

Tiki

I actually think it's a fair question. If I was contemplating getting a credit card or not and which one to get and I saw certain cards being VERY heavily pushed, I would want to know what's in it for the pusher.

If Chase, Citi and banks other than Amex want quality referrals for people who will stick around instead of meeting the spend and putting it in a sock drawer, they would get much better results from us than from the bloggers. The bloggers basically stab their referral banks in the back by getting them minimum spend customers, then discussing at great length when to cancel the card, how to squeeze a retention bonus, etc. I have family and friends who might be interested in the cards who are not in the miles and points game and would actually use the cards. They have choices. Give ME a reason to recommend your cards!

FlyerChrisK

Google can get you numbers in the approximate ballpark, but it's entirely believable that the larger blogging operations have better rates (that they may be contractually obligated to not disclose).

gregorygrady

For those of you who have similar negative feelings as I do regarding giving bloggers your referral kickbacks, which I believe pushes them to expose and ruin more and more deals, I have just been made aware of a great solution for everybody (except the bloggers ).

If you apply for your credit cards via the website below, 50% of all application kickbacks for the next 2 months will be donated to support Hurricane Sandy relief efforts:

http://hotelmagician.com/sandy/

So not only will your hundreds of dollars in application kickbacks go to a good cause, but in addition you will also NOT be further egging these bloggers on in their race to the bottom. So basically 2 wins in one by applying for your next CC thru the link above. I briefly looked at the CCs offered. Not sure if they are the best offers available or not, hopefully they are. If you want to post back here comparing if these are as good as the offers given from the normal crew of knucklehead bloggers, feel free to. Obviously if there are better offers available out there via another avenue, I'd suggest you go that route. BTW, here is more info on the above website and this Hurricane Sandy donation effort:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19612942-post2.html

Disclaimer: I don't know the FTer who is running this nor do I get anything from this, but if it keeps the referral money out of bloggers pockets, I'm happy as a clam to do anything I can to help!!!

TravelerMSY

The fact that so many bloggers have entered the space means the compensation is non-trivial. I can think of several who have quit decent full-time jobs to do so.

MilesTalk

Thanks so much for posting this. Just to be concise - no affiliate is allowed to do anything with commissions, givebacks, etc. And I'm not.

However, I'm giving 50% of ALL revenue sitewide, so that includes this as it's all going to be lumped into one pool. Easy way to do some good. (And much easier than the physical kind of support effort I participated in today!)

Please PM is anyone has any questions - or post in the thread GG linked to where discussion of Community efforts is appropriate. Thanks!

Boondr

I suppose we're supposed to take this is good faith that the money goes where it supposed to?

yerffej201

What an awesome way to get web traffic!

QL_714

^^^^^

Marathon Man

The fact that someone asks WHY is reason enough. I always wanna know WHY. But I also always wanna know WHAT. Of course the fact that you have just challenged peoples' reason for asking is going to make them need to know even more! But hey if I were a blogger and I told you, are you going to now put your cards on the table for me to see too?

I can say that I would want to know about kickbacks so I can:

~Maybe make my own blog one day if it seems like a money making idea

~So I can know first if doing that will be profitable and if I quit my job or lose it, can I survive on writing about what I happen to like already anyway, but now make a bit of money at it.

I actually don't need to know exact amounts any given blogger may make... but ranges would help. If, for example, I were to learn that a mid-level blogger could pull in enough to support a family of 4 in a middle class situation, I could see myself trying it out!

But if it's a lot more work for the money being made, then maybe it's not practical. I mean think about it... it's like a miles or points deal: It has to be somewhat 'in your path' to make sense. Like, when MMS made it look so easy to JUST get a bluebird and JUST go do the Vanilla reload thing or JUST stand in line at Walmart to do bill pays through it, etc... well that may work out for some of the people with brains who are somewhat creative and willing to try all the steps, and who also have money to float when errors occur, but it makes little sense to someone with no Walmart or Office Depot nearby, or who wish to keep their AMEX Serve cards. It has to be in your path. So would a need/ability/desire to make a blog and be good at it and figure out how to get any kickbacks.

So for me, I would want to know what makes sense for bloggers and their relative needs before I got into it full time. But getting into it slowly may work (OMG did MM just say he'd go slow on a potential scheme?)

I suppose one could start off with some small blog, get it known, make it somewhat unique and be able to keep up with it as it grows. Then get noticed by those who determine what qualifies one for any levels or referral instances, and apply for those as the blog continues to grow onward... ie, I need hits to get the CC companies to notice me and give me bling, but I need them to give me the bling to pass onto my readers so I can get hits. It's most likely a dance that over time pays off if you stick with it. Then you one day get offers and voila! You are rollin' if you so desire... and then the only way to KEEP rolling is to be like MMS and plaster the deals out there for even the totally unsavvy to wreck. But hey you gotta stay alive to keep feeding the need, eh?

And yet, this is supposed to be not about other bloggers as much as it is about how to do what they do... I keep reading these posts but circling back to the main question in general:

How do WE get CC referral kick back (maybe without a blog) for ourselves?

MM