CRNA

I am a full time college student and I make roughly over 10k/year while attending school. I am new to chruning/MS and I don't want to be shut down. I have a USbank Flexperks AMEX card. When applying for this card they asked for my household income (Me + one parent) and reported ~55k.

How much is too much? I don't want to be flagged. If I spend 2k/month or 24k/year is that suspuscious? What about double that?

nivekious

It varies at lot depending on your bank and how much you're spending at once. Remember that with business cards especially it is normal to spend much more than your personal income, since they expect you to be putting expenses on the card (if you buy something for $200 and sell it for $220, you only made a $20 profit but you'd be putting the whole $200 on the card).

xSTRIKEx6864

$2,000/month is not going to get you flagged

DeaconY

Doesn't mean you should....

If you are really making $11K per year as a student why would you risk your financial security and future by trying to MS now?

If you MS 1-2K per month what happens if funds get frozen or delayed and you are stuck floating for two or three months (not uncommon). Do you have enough in savings to cover your float for those 2-3 months without having to pay interest on the MS charges plus whatever living expenses you have during that same time period? If you don't and you have to pay interest on your MS charges while getting the situation fixed you very quickly eliminate any gains you might have hoped to make by MS in the first place.

While this seems like a lucrative 'game' that anyone can play, you really need to consider the possible negative outcomes. One lost deposit or frozen account could send you into a financial spiral that could effect your financial life for years to come.

Big4Flyer

Just to second what DeaconY said, I don't recommend getting into this game while a student. About 2 years ago I discovered FT while a grad student making about as much as yourself, got into the churning game and was terrified when suddenly one of the MSing opportunities fell through leaving me to hold on to about $2000 in gift cards that couldn't be liquidated easily. Long story short, I was able to liquidate about $1500 of it within a week but because of an issue with the reload card ended up floating about $500 for about 3 months until I contacted the BBB and finally had it returned.

Suffice to say, it was extremely stressful and at times I wasn't sure that I was ever going to get that $500 back. After that experience I dropped MSing completely while in school, and even now do it only very lightly to hit minimum spend.

On these forums it can often seem like everything is a piece of cake and nothing can go wrong, but just be aware that even after you've researched and started slow, things can, and do, go wrong. Don't gamble with anything you can't afford to lose.

Mamibear

if you have to ask this question, you must not be comfortable with the amount you're doing now. something inside you is already giving you a warning and it's up to you to heed it or ignore. If you think you have the means to float funds just in case you get flagged and your funds are frozen for 180 days, you can choose to ignore and continue with what you're doing.

if you're interested to read others' experiences getting flagged by CCCs for lying in their applications, go to myfico. After reading, make your decision on how to proceed. I don't think any MSer can give you guarantees on what is a safe amount; there's a lot of financial risks involved in this game, you have to be prepared with several options for whatever happens.

canyoncar

Relax dude. You might get a fraud alert your first month with USB (I did), just call and confirm that you made the charge.

But as others have said, don't get in above your head if you're broke or don't have much money in case something goes wrong.

johns5985

My 10 year old son has watched my MS activities for over one year, he started to asking me how to make money from CC. Why I need to stop by Walmart, Target, CVS, Rite Aid, & Kroger so often? I always smiles and tell him not to worry about everything about it until he grow up. Not sure how long I can hold his curiosity. He is very persistence.

To answer your question, it all depends on your financial situation and how much stress you can handle. Early this year I overspent my OBC 7K and up for 2-3 months and I got an email (with a hyperlink) from AMEX to ask for my current income and asset. I thought I was ready to get a financial review form Amex. Instead, after I entered my current income and financial asset online, Amex increased my credit limit by another 12K within 30 minutes.
All I want to say is that everything in MS is changing rapidly, you can go for it if you can handle MS without scarifying your degree. If not, take it easy.

CRNA

Thank you for all the responses thus far! Floating money for me is not too big of a deal because I usually have other sources of income and a pretty decent amount in the bank to cover me.

I am asking the question not because I am uncomfortable with the amount I am MS'ing now because I only do $500 transactions and I won't buy another VGC until I liquidate it which has been pretty successful for me so far thankfully. The reason I am concerned so much is because I am new so I don't know what limits to expect.

nwflyboy

Well, here's the dirty little secret that the blogs never tell you and that usually gets completely overlooked here:

You are not going to get free trips to anyplace special by churning a few gift cards. It simply does not generate enough miles, unless you really scale it way up, and most people have neither the time nor patience to do that (or are smart enough to know it's not a good use of their time/money). "Buying" enough points for that trip to Bora Bora by churning gift cards is a sucker's play - do the math, you will see that "free" ticket costs a lot.

The way to get enough points to actually do something worthwhile is by getting a bunch of new credit cards. Given your life situation, that's probably not a wise option (or an option at all).

A little churning here or there, fine. Meeting minimum spend on a bunch of new credit cards, absolutely. But cranking through bricks of GCs is not a very smart way to fund adventures.