Australian Credit / Debit Card churning / rewards

[Trouble]

Whilst our banks don't seem to throw money at consumers like over in the US, I'm sure a good deal comes up every now and then where you can make some money or reward points for signing up for a credit card.

Please add any you find to this thread so we can all play along and enjoy free money!

I'll start off:
Commonwealth Bank currently has an offer for their Low Rate Credit Card where you spend $500 (in eligible purchases) and get $250 into your account. Apply by 31 Jan 2016, spend by 26 Feb 2016 and 30 days after that... voila! Free money.
Annual fee is $59 which gets charged with the first bill, so your $250 is really $191.

ING Direct has fee free banking, and with $1,000 deposited into your account monthly you receive a refund on all ATM fees and 2% instant cash back on all PayWave purchases under $100.

[bigchrisb]

I dabble with credit card balance transfers, but try to keep it to one high limit card at a time.  Currently have about $50k at 0% from Citi with about 18 months to run. 

[Rustycage]

I had some interest in doing this for rewards, but was concerned about the impact on credit scores?

From what I understand (hopefully someone corrects me if I'm wrong), churning is beneficial in the USA because having credit cards assists in building a credit history etc, but in Australia multiple applications and opening/closing credit card accounts is detrimental to your credit file?

[syednaeemul]

Hello! I got into churning thanks to Ozbargain. I took advantage of the Commbank  offer you wrote of; spent the $500 on things I would have bought anyway, and the $250 was back within a week. I've kept the card open in the hopes that I can also win the lunch with the Aus cricket team (part of the promotion is this draw), and once cancelled, I'll have a cool credit card with the test team celebrating.

The other one I signed up for was MEBank, who was doing a December promo of 'Open a check account, spend at least $10 three times, get $50 cash back". I've done the spending, now waiting for the $50.

With respect to credit scores I don't think it's that big a deal in Australia simply because unlike the US, where your score can dictate your loan interest rates, Australian loans seem to depend more on the actual amount being borrowed.

[Trouble]

I had some interest in doing this for rewards, but was concerned about the impact on credit scores?

From what I understand (hopefully someone corrects me if I'm wrong), churning is beneficial in the USA because having credit cards assists in building a credit history etc, but in Australia multiple applications and opening/closing credit card accounts is detrimental to your credit file?

From what i understand (and I am really really no expert on this), multiple requests in a short period of time for credit can raise your risk profile to future lenders. So no churning in the 1-2 year lead up to getting a mortgage perhaps?

[andystkilda]

Yes in essence if lender's see multiple recent credit card enquiries they will worry that perhaps you're having issues paying your bills or trying to consolidate previous debts.

Also as bigchrisb mentioned - you can potentially gain a lot more by limiting credit card churning to only the highest 1 or 2 offers each year, and going for a big hit with Citibank's cheque to self - the Citibank hack can potentially save/earn you several thousand dollars over the interest free period.