Credit "hacking" and life
I saw an ad on YouTube where this 20 years old opened up over 200 credit cards (including a Black Card) and has accumulated over $3MM in credit and basically flies around the world in private jets and stays at fancy hotels for free.
Obviously, that's pretty far-fetched for most people, but how important is your credit score in life? How many cards do you all have - and do you do any of these "credit hacking" strategies to get free rewards?
I highly doubt that video ad tells the whole story, seems to good to be true. Also, what a waste of time. Just pay your bills on time, don't use all of your limits each month, slowly raise your limits overtime and get cards with low/no fee and either a decent cashback or air miles. Yes, a good credit score is very important. If you have a shit credit score life gets tough really fast.
That person is manufacturing spend and blogging. You aren’t getting those benefits just using points accrued.
Plenty of sites that talk about it. I have more points than I know what to do with and I don’t have that many cards. If you travel for work you’ll choke on the points and miles you’ll earn.
Did you hear the game is being crippled? Banks are sending out 1099s for credit card rewards now.
Always need new toilet paper.
Those 1099's are for referral bonuses. Either way, their valuation is bullshit and below what you can get. I've yet to get a 1099 and most of my points are through spend.
Reality is if you travel for work, make good money and spend good money, you'll drown in points. I travel extensively for work and personally and can't dent my balances. I suppose if you have a family you need to hit the bonuses and shit, but a single person or with a woman you should be fine.
This and this again. If you travel for work it's ridiculous how quickly they can add up, even with minimal levels of travel.
I never felt this way. Of course when you fly International Business class you can rack up some miles very quickly, but moderate domestic travel would be slow going.
Given that domestic flights for 2 can be 50-100k points and Int'l Business are 150k+ you use your points QUICK if you travel. I have kids now and want to start traveling with them in a few years.......it's ridiculous.
rocking
Get credit cards that will maximize points/cashback based on how you already spend today. So if you spend a lot on travel, get a Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum. If you spend a lot on dining/bars, get a CSR or Amex Gold. If what you spent the last 3 months = the 3 month minimum spend to earn the sign-up bonus, then get the card.
But don't change your spending in order to earn points/signup bonuses. That's how you end up recklessly sending more. Some 1st year analyst at work got 6 different cards for the sign-up bonuses at the same time and they all required a 3 month minimum spend of $5k... and he actually hit the spend for all 6. Don't be that guy.
Spent a good chunk of 2015-2017 "churning" credit cards, i.e. signing up for cards, hitting minimum spend requirements, and getting the bonuses. Got about 20 cards, plus more for my SO, and between us earned probably 1.5 million miles and points, not including points earned through regular purchases and referrals. Pretty much traveled for free to international destinations for 3+ years, including in business class and at 900 euro per night hotels in Paris, etc. (one trip was valued at well over $25k but only spent $2k out of pocket), save for food and miscellaneous expenses. Many thought I was crazy and killing my credit score but it went up over time since my available credit increased but credit utilization percentage decreased since how much I was spending on credit never really changed.
Have since taken a break from the hobby as the returns continue to diminish as banks make it harder to sign up for multiple cards or multiples of the same card (see Chase's 5/24 rule). Still pick up new cards from time to time or just referrals, but the market for info has become saturated, making the hobby more popular and thus causing banks to crack down on loopholes. If anyone is interested in learning more about it definitely check out the /r/Churning subreddit on Reddit.
This is honestly impressive. Feel like it takes a lot of discipline to make sure your system is working as intended though. +1SB.
+1 to this here. I've gone through a similar process but wouldn't consider myself a "churner" by any means. If you have a decent credit score to begin with, the process is easy to get into but it does take a decent amount of work to manage. Several of my friends are knee deep in churning and there are some great benefits.
AMEX now has a group call RAT (Reward Abuse Team) which is killing the hobby. Chase will blacklist you if you're a churner now.
I still churn where I can. So long as you're disciplined to not spend more than you otherwise would; it's a great way to get free stuff. I too have taken trips for points/miles with the SO.
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