PatMike

I do this a few times a year. Lots of cancelled cards (3 folders at least 7 inches wide in file cabinet of cancelled cards - I leave them on the original sheet). Millions of points and miles from churning. Credit scores in the mid-high 700s for both of us. Pay all our cards off in full monthly. No intention to get any sort of loan ever, so it works for us.

Going to apply for a few more Chase cards in January (Southwest personal and biz for me, Priority Club for hubby to keep Plat for another year).

You never know when the churning door will close and I want to be inside when it does ...

dc333

Good to know, it would be interesting to see if the OP also sees zero need for loans in his near future.

Being under 30 still, that plays a role in the hesitation, even though I don't think it will come into play soon.

greek2me

PatMike- would love if you'd be willing to share any info you have learned from doing this over the years. Seems like "The Man" you have some great insight others could really benefit from in order to optimize their credit card apps.

Some questions that come to mind off the top of my head:
What is the avg (and max) number of cards you apply for each time, and how many days do you wait in between app-o-ramas?
Any of the conventional wisdom on churning limits (ie FTG's great info re x pers and x biz cards in x days, etc) that you have found can be exceeded?
What have you found is the limit to the number of cards you can have open at any one time from any one card issuer (esp Chase and Amex)?
What is your cancellation strategy for each card, and how long do you wait before reapplying for a cancelled card?
Thanks for any additional insight!

PatMike

I am an emotional churner. I always "intend" to wait, but I just can't pass up a current deal.
Current cards..........
Amex Pat 2 personal 5 business
Amex Mike 2 personal 2 business
Chase Pat 5 personal 1 business
Chase Mike 2 personal 1 business
Citi AA - 1 each
B of A - 2 each
Bank of Hawaii - 1 each

I have no strategy, per se, but seem to apply and cancel when I feel it's right. I used to keep track of my inquiries and have a spreadsheet, but now I'm comfortable to just fly by the seat of my pants.

The only cards that we get declined for is the Citi AA cards (have had 43 in the past), but just applied for and received the latest 50K one and Mike got a 75K one a few months ago. So now we're up to 45 !

dbh1

So I am a fairly big player in this game as well and have kept my score in the 760's. I'm in the process of doing a refi right now and looks like it should go through. This certainly creates some extra paperwork since they will want you to explain away each of your recent cards, but my bank at least seems fairly content with "I do it for the points" (we will see). If you are going for a loan though, consider mid month payoffs and the like to keep your balances as low as possible. They will count your credit card debt in your ratios even if you pay it off in full each month. Also, if your credit profile gets complicated you may have trouble with the minimum wage processors and need to get a real manager involved to make it go through.

I would say that if you know you will be doing an important loan in the next year or your score starts to fall below, say, 720, pause the game. For me, the refi wasn't so vital so was worth the risk. I would be more careful if I was buying a house with a hard closing date or the like.

stupidzbu

my god that's a lot of AA cards!

sunnyjl

Or a mortgage...

I just don't see a positive risk/benefit ratio here. Banks are already uber-stingy with their loans these days...not a risk I would be willing to take with my credit score. I have two Marriott cards, one Chase with cash rewards, plus my FF accounts. These earn me more points than I can typically use in a year anyway.

PatMike

I consider miles and points like a secondary retirement account. I want to gather as many as possible. Sure, they will devalue, but my IRA didn't exactly hold up like I thought it would either.

As long as people are conservative and/or squeamish about things like credit card churning, the coin deal, etc... the better it is for those of us that participate.

brasov02

And thus we have the philosophy that gets deals like the mint shut down. If the "conservative" (or what some might call "responsible") philosophy had held sway with the mint deal, it would most likely still be around for everyone to take advantage of (responsibly). But that's life...

robertw477

You churn these accounts every three months and it works? I thought that providers like Chase/Boa etc will not like to see you holding so many different
of their cards. I have no problem meeting the min spend requirements because I have a business.

Rob

robertw477

I had no idea you could keep getting those Cit AA bonus points. I thought you can the bonus only one time even if you close the acct. I assume you wait before trying again if this worked for you.

michael_v

Not unless you pay it off before statement closes and you end up with a zero statement balance. For Citi and other issuers who do not let you make a payment on their website if you have zero statement balance, you can push the payment through your bank's bill pay system.

fstop75

45...just wow...

slider34

That's my biggest worry. I have done 2 AA citi cards for the 75,000 miles and the Southest 2 flights deal so have 2 inquires. I am building a house now and worry a "little" about just the 2 inquiries over a year ago. My credit scores are almost 800 or at 800 so I'm sure I will be approved, I take that back I am.

And after the house is done, I do plan on going on a churn but to keep doing 10+ apps a year, that's a lot. What if I want a new car but already have 10 or more inquiries? Will I still get that car loan? What if I need to buy a house again for some reason? Not likely but who knows.

While I'm addicted to churning I still can't make myself go too crazy as I worry about all those hits. Hopefully I can plan for a new car, etc then not worry as much.

chemist661

About 16 months ago, we bought a new car. We did some churning of CC's. (about 5-6/year). The only question the underwriter had was about my mortgages. I have 5 on my report. I told him I own 4 rental houses and one of the houses have a small 1st & 2nd on it. I brought documentation but the underwriter said it wasn't necessary since he was satisfied with my response.

We did have a decent downpayment (40%) and decent FICO's. (747 & 787). We got a very low interest rate (at the time), shopped us to only 3 lenders and beat the lowest rate we had.