Score From Last CC Churn

[2Birds1Stone]

Churned an Amex Gold Card.

Had to cancel it before the annual fee and tried to get the max $ per point.

This is what I ended up with.

[renata ricotta]

Churned an Amex Gold Card.

Had to cancel it before the annual fee and tried to get the max $ per point.

This is what I ended up with.

Interesting, I've never redeemed for GCs before. Are you limited to a certain # of GCs to certain retailers? If it were me, I probably wouldn't have cashed out for restaurants (because otherwise, I'd be eating at home, so it's not really saving me $ - YMMV). But I probably will spend $500 each at REI and Home Depot over the next few months just in the normal course, so GCs are real savings. Is it possible to get multiple GCs from the retailers?

[2Birds1Stone]

Churned an Amex Gold Card.

Had to cancel it before the annual fee and tried to get the max $ per point.

This is what I ended up with.

Interesting, I've never redeemed for GCs before. Are you limited to a certain # of GCs to certain retailers? If it were me, I probably wouldn't have cashed out for restaurants (because otherwise, I'd be eating at home, so it's not really saving me $ - YMMV). But I probably will spend $500 each at REI and Home Depot over the next few months just in the normal course, so GCs are real savings. Is it possible to get multiple GCs from the retailers?

Yup, I could have gotten $500 to HD or REI. I wanted some more variety. Some of those restaurant ones I'll use for a happy hour or get together with friends on a special occasion, a few I will gift. The VS one will be for my SO :)

[Mr. Green]

That's pretty sweet. Would they have cut you a check for $500 in cash or was the cash equivalent a lesser amount?

[JZinCO]

That's pretty sweet. Would they have cut you a check for $500 in cash or was the cash equivalent a lesser amount?

Way less for cash.

An alternative is to redeem for miles and then sell to a miles broker. There is a thread on that and it appears the ratio ranges from $1.00-1.25 per 100th point.

[andy85]

nice bro...just started my first with the chase sapphire, but i will probably use the points for travel at some point.

[2Birds1Stone]

That's pretty sweet. Would they have cut you a check for $500 in cash or was the cash equivalent a lesser amount?

They would cut a check for essentially $250, I figured the $200 to REI and Home Depot is as good as cash since I shop there enough as is.

The restaurant GC's are all places within 5 minutes of me. Many have good happy hours, which is when I would likely use them. The VS will be a gift for my SO. 

That's pretty sweet. Would they have cut you a check for $500 in cash or was the cash equivalent a lesser amount?

Way less for cash.

An alternative is to redeem for miles and then sell to a miles broker. There is a thread on that and it appears the ratio ranges from $1.00-1.25 per 1/100th point.

Correct! I didn't want to deal with the hassle of selling the miles. Happy with the easy GC score.

nice bro...just started my first with the chase sapphire, but i will probably use the points for travel at some point.

Very cool! The Chase Sapphire Preferred ended up being used for a $600 flex statement credit for me, same with the Capital One Venture.....great cards! I still have the Barclay Arrival card to open.

[ender]

Churned an Amex Gold Card.

Had to cancel it before the annual fee and tried to get the max $ per point.

This is what I ended up with.

What card was this?

That's pretty awesome and enough benefit to make me actually interested in this :)

[SomedayStache]

Chase points are so much easier to redeem than amex.  But I do both!

[Vanguards and Lentils]

Nice! How did you meet your spend requirement?

[Turnbull]

We did this exact thing with the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card. My wife got the targeted offer for 50k points for only a $1k spend. We got $500 in REI cards for spending $1000 and haven't used it since. Doesn't get much better than that.

[rgregory]

I'm new to CC churning, but I don't see how I could get a better deal with gift cards using Chase. I have a Chase Freedom card which currently has 16,200 points on it. These points convert to $162 in cash. Since 100 points equals $1 dollar I have to do better than that with gift cards if I'm going to redeem it for those. I don't have a Amex card so maybe the points work differently on there, but on Chase I get the same deal for gift cards. I haven't looked at every single one, but so far all of them give me the same ratio of 100 points for $1. Anyone with a Chase card care to let me know if I'm missing something?

[BikeFanatic]

The only thing you are missing is that he had 50,000 points! Many apply for a credit card just for the bonus, so Chase or someone else should offer you 50,000 points for opening a new card and  for a certain amount of spending in the first 3 months.
After you reach your bonus, and they are usually worth about $500 in Travel or gift cards, then it becomes much harder to earn points. So at this point many people put the card in a drawer and apply for another one. 

[JZinCO]

I'm new to CC churning, but I don't see how I could get a better deal with gift cards using Chase. I have a Chase Freedom card which currently has 16,200 points on it. These points convert to $162 in cash. Since 100 points equals $1 dollar I have to do better than that with gift cards if I'm going to redeem it for those. I don't have a Amex card so maybe the points work differently on there, but on Chase I get the same deal for gift cards. I haven't looked at every single one, but so far all of them give me the same ratio of 100 points for $1. Anyone with a Chase card care to let me know if I'm missing something?

You got the jist.

I don't recall Chase ever offer a point conversion rate for cash that is different than for GCs.

Amex does offer different conversion rates as described earlier in the thread.
I think that is why Amex can offer more lucrative sign on bonuses. Cash has less restrictions so it has less value ($/pt). GCs have more restrictions (because they are essentially advanced spending) so they have more value ($/pt).

[kudy]

I used the same 50k offer for 6 nights hotel stay in Costa Rica (after transferring points to SPG), and a $25 restaurant gift card. Also received the annual airline fee reimbursement twice (2 x $100) - for my "airline fee" of buying two $100 Amazon gift cards through the United Mileage app! Awesome card - tons of value.

P.S. what are you all spending all this money at REI on?!?

[redcedar]

Lost of chase sapphire fans here. I loved that card/bonus as well. Question for you all, what card(s) did you move onto next?

[Stashaholic]

Lost of chase sapphire fans here. I loved that card/bonus as well. Question for you all, what card(s) did you move onto next?

I took advantage of the Sapphire over a year ago then closed it so I can get the bonus again in the future. I recently opened the BOA MLB card that was offering $200 for spending $500. Then Southwest credit cards for the companion pass, and also the Amex SPG card for the hotel points. Planning to do several almost free trips next year.

[Jaguar Paw]

So I am totally intrigued by this whole credit card churning thing as it seems like a good way to legally (from what I've read) get money from companies that usually screw people (even if they are financially challenged).
My wife just signed up for the Chase Sapphire so we can get the 50k points and she added me as an authorized user to get another 5K (i think).
Can I go and sign up for a Chase Sapphire card as well to get the 50 K points even if I'm already an authorized user?

I have been searching the internet all day for countless articles and just wanted to ask everyone in here: Do you just cancel the card after you get the bonus if it has an annual fee? My wifes main concern is that doing this will screw our credit.

We are interested in hopping on the churning train, but a bit nervous.

[renata ricotta]

So I am totally intrigued by this whole credit card churning thing as it seems like a good way to legally (from what I've read) get money from companies that usually screw people (even if they are financially challenged).
My wife just signed up for the Chase Sapphire so we can get the 50k points and she added me as an authorized user to get another 5K (i think).
Can I go and sign up for a Chase Sapphire card as well to get the 50 K points even if I'm already an authorized user?

I have been searching the internet all day for countless articles and just wanted to ask everyone in here: Do you just cancel the card after you get the bonus if it has an annual fee? My wifes main concern is that doing this will screw our credit.

We are interested in hopping on the churning train, but a bit nervous.

The answer to your question is yes - my husband and I both signed up for CSP on the same day, added each other as authorized users, for a total point payout of 118k (50k each for minimum spend, 5k each for authorized user, and the 1 point per dollar on our minimum spend of $4k each).

This hasn't affected our credit, but we only apply for a new card every 3-6 months, keep our credit utilization really low, and have a card that has been open for 16 years (which pulls our average age of credit down). We're both in the 790-810 range.

ETA: Yes, most people cancel the card right before the annual fee kicks in. You can sometimes get them to waive the fee for another year (in which case, go ahead and keep it open; it'll be better for your credit, even though I don't think closing it is a huge problem). Some people also successfully "downgrade" the card to a no-fee card available from the same company at that time, which keeps the same account "open."

Also, generally people advise that you not do any cc churning (or applying for credit in general) for 6-12 months before you actually NEED credit, like if you will be applying for a mortgage. I'm several years away from applying for a mortgage, and I figure what's good credit for, if I can't use it to get credit to my advantage? So, I sign up for cc offers.

[kpd905]

We did this exact thing with the Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card. My wife got the targeted offer for 50k points for only a $1k spend. We got $500 in REI cards for spending $1000 and haven't used it since. Doesn't get much better than that.

Do you still have the card open?  Because it can get better than that.  The card will reimburse $100 per calendar year in airline fees.

Go to your Amex account and choose to link an airline, choose United.  Then download the MileagePlus X app.  You can buy a $100 Amazon gift card and it will code as a United purchase, and you'll get reimbursed that $100 as a statement credit.  You can do this in each calendar year, so if you opened the card this year you can get $200 Amazon credit.  If you opened it last year, oh well, you can still get $100.

I went through the process in this thread here: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/amex-premier-rewards-gold-get-up-to-$825-after-spending-$1-000-in-3-months/

[Telecaster]

I have been searching the internet all day for countless articles and just wanted to ask everyone in here: Do you just cancel the card after you get the bonus if it has an annual fee? My wifes main concern is that doing this will screw our credit.

We are interested in hopping on the churning train, but a bit nervous.

Many (most) credit card companies will now let you check your FICO score for free, whenever you want.  I'm not a big churner, but I typically sign up for 1-3 new cards a year.  The effect on your credit is very slight.   

[Stashaholic]

I have been searching the internet all day for countless articles and just wanted to ask everyone in here: Do you just cancel the card after you get the bonus if it has an annual fee? My wifes main concern is that doing this will screw our credit.

We are interested in hopping on the churning train, but a bit nervous.

Many (most) credit card companies will now let you check your FICO score for free, whenever you want.  I'm not a big churner, but I typically sign up for 1-3 new cards a year.  The effect on your credit is very slight.

If you're worried about your credit score, don't open too many cards at once. Especially ones that have high minimum spend to get the bonus. It can drop 3-5 pts per new account from what I've noticed. I opened 7 cards (14 total with my wife) in the last 4 months and both our score has dropped after each account (I checked creditkarma weekly to learn the effects). The biggest impact is the hard inquiry, then I believe a few pts were due to increased credit usage from trying to hit the minimum spend requirement. I pay the balance in full, and once it's reported, the score goes up a bit.

Note, don't go over your ability to churn. If you can only spend 2-3k/mo. on a card, open 1-2 cards. I went crazy and had 14 cards needing almost 30k in 3 months. That's probably the last time I will attempt that... and I didn't even mention all the bank accounts I opened for the bonuses and the cash transfers I had to do, whew! In the end though it was all worth it.