Opinions will vary, but for Amex I'll personally try to adhere to the 6 months guideline.
I don't know an upper limit on churning, as I'm relatively new to this too.

I don't know how deep the creditors will look into your file...you would think that with online instant approvals, the number of opened accounts isn't being considered. But I don't know. I just hope that they aren't keeling over when they see how many I have opened and cancelled. ;)

JJJ's advice is good. Here's what has worked for our family for years:

1. Apply for a different Amex card every 3+ months.

2. After 6+ months, close the card.

3. After 6+ months, re-apply for the same card.

I hope it works for you as well as it has worked for us!

6 months sounds good with Amex, I think. I waited 8 months the first time..

My pattern is currently off, but yours does sound the best. ^

What you have to understand is that Preacher7 has everyone in the family carrying Amex cards, including the pet dog and orangutan. This makes it easy to follow the schedule he outlined.

But, if you are a single person, or even if you are a paired couple but with ONLY one good card to churn, it's impossible/hard to do the conga referrals to keep the points within the family. You'll have to adjust to suit.

JJJ, passing the bananas along.

True. And man, was it tough to get the orangutan an SIN!

it seems that they have updated the spg referral http://i60.tinypic.com/1zcjz0k.png

Edit: weird. the biz version of the card is still 5k ref and 10k signup. except via ref-trick its 10k ;)... still only 10k for the person signing up though

Marriott 50K Sign-up Bonus
 

Came across this promo again while booking a recent stay at a Marriott.
FYF and bonus points trigger after first purchase plus Cat 4 cert.

https://lp34.marriottpremier.ca/?JOBNUM=VMR1407020

Edit: Looks like its targeted for Elite members. I'm only a Silver and it triggered for me.

Interesting, since the general/public link is still active, at http://www.marriottrewards.com/cdnelitedm (=https://lp12.marriottpremier.ca/?JOBNUM=VMR1207059)

See this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/marri...l#post24198294

Great offer. Thanks for sharing it, Cruban. My wife and I signed up for that one a couple of years ago and got excellent value from it.

Nice to see the pot sweetened a bit by SPG and Marriott Rewards :)

Platinum and I can't access it!! The irony - already have the CC though

With the huge dive of the US dollar due to yesterday's rate cut, (and the expected decline to continue) travel for us Canadians is getting so much more expensive. It's going to cost close to $2 for a UK pound, $1.50 for a Euro. A lot of us have plenty of points, or are constantly accumulating them, and need to go somewhere.

While I think we should all be exploring our great country more, as we know, it ain't cheap either (although the low gas prices will certainly help with a road trip). Any suggestions of destinations that will allow us a reasonable bang for our buck?

+1 Just spent 3 weeks in NZ and even though it is beautiful I would argue for the hours of plane you would be better off in the Rockies. Saying that SQ F in Canada doesn't exist so......

Japan springs to mind.

What is the cheapest way to keep a Via Preference (Viarail) account alive?

Is there any other program where I can exchange points for Via Preference points?

Has anyone heard if the GreatCanadian Rebates offer for the MBNA Alaska Air Mastercard is coming back... I read somewhere a while back that it was going to come back in December, but that still hasn't happened.