Are gift cards ever denied as counting toward the sign up bonus?
 

I'm new here, and though not new to churning, would like to now start applying for several CC's in one day (to not destroy my credit score... so far I've been applying for one a time, meeting the minimum, signing up for the next, etc), buying GCs to meet the minimum spending, and then using those GCs to pay for my normal expenses. I'm not interested in getting into true MS quite yet (in the sense of trying to covert GCs back to cash... I will actually be using the GCs to pay for my usual living expenses.)

Questions, if you don't mind:
-Do CC companies ever not count GC toward sign up bonuses? In other words, would it look fishy to them if I charged 3k worth of gift cards in the first week of getting the card and then never bought anything else? Would I still collect the sign up bonus?
-Assuming CC companies don't care that the sign up bonus is met exclusively buying gift cards, the most versatile GC to buy would be Visa gift cards, right?

Thank you!! Perhaps after a few months of this I will graduate to true MS techniques.

1. Never happened to me with 10+ different cards from various issuers. I do recall Discover not giving 10% cashback on GCs during their Apple Pay promo though.

2. Yes, found Visa GCs to be the most versatile.

^ This. Never had It not count.

I believe doing multiple applications at once will still have the same effect on your credit score. The only exception is if you do multiple apps with the same issuer. i.e applying dor 2 chase products at once. A benefit of doing multiple on the same day is that the banks don't see that you applied for multiple credit cards on the same day and wont use the other apps as a reason to decline you.

Yes, they can see that you've applied for multiple credit cards on the same day. Yes, they can use the other apps as a reason to decline you.

I thought Amex was looking closely at purchases on some of the recent offers.

I saved the offer get $10 back wyb $100 or more of AGCs x7/31. This is enough proof they do not disallow buying of VGCs to meet minimum spend requirements.

Thanks everyone. My score is in the 770s, dropped down from low 800s since I started churning about 10 months ago. My spending is low so organically I can only go through 1 card every 2 to 3 months. After spending a few more hours reading the forums here I'm actually thinking about just continuing with one at a time - it'll save me the headache and fees of the gift cards.

I'm not planning on applying for a loan any time soon but will need to rent an apartment, though I've read that anything over a 720 is considered "excellent" so it's silly trying to preserve a score higher than that.

Any thoughts?

So basically the whole strategy of applying for lots of credit cards in one day so your score only takes hit once (a hit that equals applying for just one card) is a myth?

Found an article that may be of interest: http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.c...dit-cards-day/

This puts my fears to rest. I may as well continue with one at at a time - so much more convenient, no GCs to worry about.

I have only paid attention once, and my hard pull from Comenity showed up within an hour. It was likely sooner than that, I just happened to check an hour after applying and it was already there.

But the original AOR idea centered around basically clicking the "submit" buttons on multiple application pages in rapid succession. With only seconds in between the apps, there's likely a good chance that the apps won't know about each another.

Not necessarily a complete myth. Just out-dated info that is no longer valid (if it ever was).

Interesting. I'd not thought of that. That could possibly make sense as a viable strategy.

If you are buying a bunch of VGCs to make your spend threshold, but are only spending minimally on a regular basis, then their cost is sitting around accruing interest - which defeats the point of all this unless you are paying off their bill with your own $$$.