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On Tuesday, I earned 240K miles the old fashioned way: credit card churning.
I love dreaming up creative new ways to earning points and miles other than signing up for credit cards. For some examples, please see “How I earned over 1 million points and miles in 6 months”. That doesn’t mean, though, that I’m against credit card churning! It is still one of the best perpetual point machines out there. It’s been a while since I’ve signed up for any cards, so I finally decided it was time…
Choosing cards
I started with my “Best credit card offers” page. My approach is to simply pick one or two cards from each table on that page: Chase, Amex, Citi, and Other. Usually, if I want two cards from one bank I would pick one personal card and one business card (yes you can get business cards even if you don’t have a business). With Citibank, though, you can get two personal cards at once (and I did so). Here’s what I chose from each section:
Chase: British Airways Visa
This was, by far, the toughest decision to make. Chase has so many great offers and so many great cards that I really just want them all! The decision came down to two things: 1) July 18th is the last day to get in on the publicly available British Airways 100K offer; and 2) I’ll be in Europe next month and again in November so I’d really like to have a smart-chip card.
I applied online and received a pending decision, so I called the reconsideration line. The agent wanted to move credit from my other Chase cards in order to setup a credit line for this one. He was very accommodating: based on my suggestions, he moved bits of credit from 3 different cards in order to setup a $15K line on the BA card. Result: SUCCESS! 50K BA points after first purchase and another 50K after $20K spend.
American Express: None
I already have both personal and business SPG cards and Delta cards. And, I have the Amex Business Platinum card. At some point I’ll get the Premier Rewards Gold and the Hilton Surpass, but I’m not in a hurry to get either (I’m flush with MR and Hilton points right now). Instead, I’ll wait to see if Amex sends me any more great targeted offers.
Citi: Aadvantage Two Browser Trick
When booking award flights, I tend to look mostly to United and Delta because I have ready access to miles in both programs. Sometimes, though, the best availability is through American Airlines and their One World partners. Sadly I have only 13000 AA miles (queue the sad violins). Luckily there’s an easy way to get lots of AA miles quickly: the famous two browser trick. There are two 50K AA bonus offers available from Citibank, but you’re only supposed to be able to get one of them. With the two-browser trick, you can apply for both at the same time (in two separate browsers) and qualify for the 50K bonus for each card.
I did the two browser trick using Chrome and Firefox. I wasn’t instantly approved, but one browser popped up a chat window and the other gave me a number to call. So, I chatted in an on-screen window while I talked on the phone and answered the same simple questions in each. Result: SUCCESS! 100K AA miles are mine once I spend $3K on each card in 4 months.
Other: Barclay’s US Airways MasterCard
This one was an easy choice. The card offers a 40K sign-up bonus after first purchase, 10K bonus miles each anniversary, $99 companion passes, and more. I don’t currently have many US Airways miles to build from, but I’m hoping the Grand Slam promotion comes back this fall. This card will provide an easy Grand Slam “hit” and the sign-up bonus will give me a great start towards racking up valuable US Airways miles.
When I applied, I received instant approval (yay!). Result: SUCCESS! 40k US Airways miles are mine after first purchase!
Totals
I was approved for all 4 cards. Once I meet the minimum spend requirements, I’ll earn 240K miles. That’s a respectable 60K per card average.
Have you churned lately? How did you do?
Terminology
It used to be the case that the term “credit card churning” referred to signing up for the same cards over and over and receiving the sign-up bonus each time. This has become more and more difficult to pull off as banks have learned how to stop that practice. Many people now use the term “credit card churning” to refer to the act of signing up for a bunch of (mostly different) cards every 3 months or so. It is the latter definition that I use in this post.
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sil: It is generally considered better to do all of the apps in one day (or 1 week), but since you were approved for all of them it clearly didn’t really matter in your case.
Did a quasi churn this past 3 weeks. 2 Citi HH and Amex HH in late June. Beginning of July, the B of A virgin Atlantic HH and then yesterday the Priority Club 80k card.
All instant approval except for Chase which I had to call in. Would it have been better if I applied for all 5 the same day?
Hi, I did the citi 2 browser trick wasn’t instantly approve for the visa card. I chatted in the window chat box and was approved for the visa. While On the other browser I finished applying for the mx and I thought I was instantly approved, I received my citi visa card this past Monday, but I still haven’t received my mx citi. I havent’t called yet…but do you think I’m pretty much out of luck for getting the mx with the 50k points? I seriously thought I was approved for the mx, so I didn’t really do a follow up. Should I call them? Will I now not be qualify for the 50k since I have the visa card?
I applied for 6 cards in one day and I thought I got approved for all 6. I have received 5 cards in the mail, but I never received the citi mx. I am a total newbie. Thanks
DC: it can’t hurt to call them to get the status of your application. As long as your application was submitted successfully, you should still qualify for the Amex 50k.
Got a letter in the mail saturday 6/14 from citi mx stating that I was approved for the citi mx. It should be arriving in 7-10 business days. I hope I still get the points since my citi visa arrived last monday 6/9 and I have used it to make purchase.- Thanks for you replied.
Signed up with US Airways, via your link.
Looking forward for the Grandslam.
Mow: Thanks! Sadly (for me) the US Airways links don’t mean any money for me, but it is definitely a great card. I try to publish the best links I can find regardless of whether I get anything out of it.
i wish there was a trick to remove some of the hard inquiries cos even if everything is right with very high school, too many inquiries destroys any chance
I read about it in a forum 🙂 I try to stay on top of these things. The citi TY premier 50k bonus dropped to 25k today, so I’m trying to find a good replacement for it.
@Steve: Thanks for the link! Hoping that offer holds out until my next AOR in October!
https://www.applyonlinenow.com/USCCapp/Ctl/entry?sc=VABJAY&cm_mmc=US%20Email-_-Cheetah%20Mail%20US-_-USCCACQ-_-0712#b
robin: Make sure your previous applications were more than 90 days ago and you should be fine as long as you have a good credit score and history
russell: You’re probably right, but it’s a definite nice to have
Steve: Thanks! Where did you find that link?
For travel in Europe you really don’t need chip and pin (or even chip and signature. It is helpful, but all you need to do at any point of payment is just tell the person yours is a signature card. (even the little portable hand units they use widely actually have a swipe and sign option).
The except is automated machines, such as in the London underground. French toll booths however work fine. A 2 week tour (France, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium) in June for me was a pretty good test. I paid for virtually everything with a standard US signature card. Only the London Tube screwed me (and you can bypass that by using the ticket counters).
my last apps were in mid april 2012 for chase IB, chase united & citi AA visa biz. i already have chase SP and freedom. canceled 2 amex cards last month= premier reward & gold biz due to annual fee and I only have the amex simply cash card. Might I get approved from an amex card from amex?
my wife applied in april 2012 for chase PC card, boa virgin atlantic, citi thank you & citi AA visa biz card.
too early or time for her to apply for IB and something from amex?
we both have the personal citi AA visa and citi AA amex from last year and cancelling soon due to annual fee very near.
thanks
@Steve: Where can you see the 65k (50+15) offer? Virgins cite is only showing 20+15, and I haven’t seen any of the bloggers promo links promote the 65k version.
Virgin Atlanta 65k offer is live now (15k after 1 year anniversary tho)
Just did my 2nd AOR this month, a reasonable 4 cards. Got 2xCiti Premier 50k(one Visa, on MC), BOA Alaska and Chase United Explorer 55+10k. I didn’t throw an Amex in the mix either, I did 6 cards from Jan-Feb so I wanted to cool my heels a bit. With this AOR I’m at 400k+ miles and points for the year–not a bad start for a noob.
I went with those cards because I like that I only have to worry about spend for the Citi Premiers(one Visa and MC)because the United card is on first spend and the Alaska is on approval, and also that the Citi’s have no ForEx fee as I plan some Asia travel.On my activation call for the Citi MC I also requested the Chip and Pin version be sent out, so it’ll be good to have one of those. The google doc on chip and pin cards on Flyertalk tells me that it will actually be chip and signature, but close enough I guess.
I’ll probably snag an Amex in the fall when I’m done with Citi spend, maybe the Virgin Atlantic if they bring back the 65k offer that ended in June, otherwise Amex’s offers aren’t doing much for me.
That’s what I meant to say Mike. Thanks!
Just wondering why I only got 30k instead of 50k.
And probably won’t get the Amex either.