A couple of years ago, I wrote about how I was hesitant to call myself a credit card churner until I actually churned a credit card. As I’m sure you’re familiar, credit card churning refers to opening and closing the same card to get the sign-up bonus more than once. The rules keep changing and it gets more and more difficult to churn cards as a result. But that’s not to say that churning is still going strong. Here’s an updated list of credit cards I’ve churned and what rules affect churning these cards.
A Recap of Credit Cards I’ve Churned
Up until 2018, I had only churned two cards:
- Barclays Arrival Plus
- Bank of America Alaska Airlines
I was previously able to churn the Arrival Plus card within three months. Unfortunately, there is now a 6/24 rule on the Barclays Arrival Plus such that you can’t get the bonus if you opened six cards at any bank in the past 24 months.
The Bank of America Alaska Airlines card is also more difficult to churn. Not only are there limitations on how frequently you can open Bank of America cards, but you can’t get the Alaska Airlines card if you have or had it in the past 24 months.
My husband has had success churning the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus card, which is subject to the Chase 5/24 rule. Unfortunately, you can no longer get a second Southwest personal card if you are a current cardholder of a different personal card or received the bonus on a personal card in the past 24 months (see here for details).
Additional Credit Cards I’ve Churned
Since my last post, here are the other cards we’ve churned.
- Chase World of Hyatt: Both my husband and I opened the original Chase Hyatt card in 2016. We re-opened it a few years later after it was re-branded as Chase World of Hyatt. This card is subject to 5/24.
- Chase Ink Preferred: Like all Chase cards, you can re-open the Chase Ink Preferred every two years.
- Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Card: I’ve opened this card three times now. Bank of America Business cards are not subjected to the same rules as personal cards.
- Barclays AAdvantage Aviator Business Card: With the exception of the Arrival Plus, there are no hard rules on churning cards from Barclays. I recommend waiting a year before re-opening the same card.
- Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select Business Card: I opened this card three times in the past few years thanks to Citi mailers. This method is no longer advisable due to recent American Airlines account shutdowns. When applying with a public link, there’s a rule that you can only get the bonus once every 48 months
Final Thoughts
Despite all of the rules, churning credit cards can be easy if you are in it for the long game. As an extreme example, you could take it very slow and keep re-opening the same Chase cards every two years. If you are new to churning credit cards, remember to take it slow and follow these tips.
