Credit Card Churning

The Sandbox Finance/Investments
1

Any interest in communally churning referral bonuses for credit cards? This would of course require us to share (privately) real names and maybe some more information. For example, I have one that will give me $150 for referral and I believe it gives $300 once $2000 is spent.

I reviewed the rules and believe this is fine to post, let me know if it is not (@Lucy?)

Even if we can’t refer each other, I’m here for good deals like the above cashback reward. I like to open a card anytime I am considering a large purchase, get it something like 5-15% off.

2

I’m going to bump this up to @Serena and @SpaceLobster

3

I doubt they’d want to take up the liability if someone gets scammed down the road

4

I don’t see how a referral to a legitimate company could be a scam. It’s not like I’m asking you to sign up for www.TotallyRealCard.ru

Honestly I think all I’d need is an email and you could make a temporary one if wanted. In which case, for a non-temporary email I’d learn your full name, and you could get mine. My professional ethical requirements would prevent me from scamming you - my job is more important than a few hundred dollars.

5

Not you, per se. But like, some scammer bots in the future.

6

We don’t need to be involved. If folks want to do stuff amongst themselves, go right ahead. We aren’t here to protect you from the internet😁

2 Likes
7

PS.

I’d be down for this. But don’t they wreck your credit every time you open/close a credit card?

8

Mmmmmm butter

1 Like
9

I used to open about 6 per year so, eventually I got declined for 1 and I let it cool off for a few months. I probably average 3 per year and my credit score is in the 800s.

10

Do you even bother closing the cards? Or just let them sit there

11

What’s the best for just simply cash back?

I switched from the chase one I had to a citibank card because I think it gives 3% back or something, except for at Target where we use the Target card because it gives you 5% off Target purchases.

12

One thing that I would suggest is to not post a link to an external website for things like this in a publicly visible post. This is one of our keys for deleting posts/threads from spammers (we also ban such posters w/o warning). Please help the mods by not creating something that gives the appearance of “preferential” treatment. :slight_smile:

1 Like
13

So I take this, if I say “I have a $150 referral for each of us for card X with bonuses Y” and somebody wants to DM me, this is acceptable? Just being clear, obviously I don’t want to be banned.

14

I close the churning cards. I don’t need 18 credit card bills per month with 15 of them being $0.

Strictly it slightly lowers my credit score, but after I believe 24 months, the closed account falls out of my average age of accounts.

I have 3 that I keep long-term for various things. The Chase Freedom has a rotating 5% cashback - a bit annoying but I try to keep on top of it. I have another that’s 3% on gas and the third is 2% on everything, so I default to it if I don’t remember what the rotating Chase category was. There’s a fourth that I pay for Amazon Prime 1x/year and do nothing else with.

Just checked my credit score again, it’s hovering around 830/832 depending on the vendor.

15

fyi on good reference list.

I dont go in order, since I have different values for points, but most of the cards I get I find on that list.

Im open to referrals if anyone wants to swap them.

1 Like
16

Pretty great list, looks like I’ll be doing some more churning. It’s been a year or so and I could throw a few big purchases on a couple of these for sure.

17

No problem there.

It’s when you post something like “Go to this (linked) website” when there’s financial incentives for the one making the post.

To clarify, we’re very supportive of fundraising (IIRC, @vjvj has done St. Baldrick’s for several years) and we won’t generally act on these.

And linking back to an GoA post that has details is acceptable as well. :beers:

18

I have a card for “spend $500 get $200 cashback”. It’s the easiest reward-for-purchase card I’ve ever seen. Sending you a link to it, it only gives me money for the referral but I recommend it for the ease of free money.

19

I also am interested in exchanging referral links.

20

I’ve opened 12 credit cards in the last four years; I am constantly accumulating airline frequent flyer miles when the banks will let me. It has a pretty low impact on my credit score, I don’t believe it has gone south of 800 the whole time. Some issuers are starting to limit how often you can get the cards. In other instances the points have been good for gift cards which I use at fine dining like Applebees and Olive Garden.

— — — — —
8/27/2018 U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa Signature Card Earn $150 after purchasing $500, get 5% back on certain categories. CLOSED
10/15/2018 Barclays Make 1 purchase (done) get miles CLOSED
1/2/2019 AmEx Business Earn 75K points after spending $3,000 in 3 months $95 annual fee waived initially CLOSED
7/20/2019 Citi Thank You Earn 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in 3 months $95 annual fee CLOSED
9/12/2019 AmEx Delta Gold CLOSED
8/13/2020 Citi Aadvantage 50,000 miles after $2,500 of purchases in 3 months $95 annual fee waived initially CLOSED
12/22/2020 Chase Sapphire Reserve 4,000 $95 annual fee CLOSED
7/6/2021 Barclays Earn 75K points after spending $3,000 in 6 months no annual fee!
8/10/2021 AmEx Delta Gold Earn 70K points after spending $2,000 in 3 months $99 annual fee waived initially CLOSED
12/21/2021 United Chase Credit Card Earn 60K points after spending $3,000 in 3 months $99 annual fee waived initially
3/5/2022 US Bank Altitude Connect Earn 50K points after spending $2,000 in 4 months $95 annual fee waived initially
5/16/2022 Barclays Aadvantage Aviator Business Earn 80K points after spending $2,000 in 3 months $95 annual fee
??? Barclays Choice Priviliges

I’m open to swapping referrals too, never done it before.

1 Like