My Current Credit Card Lineup
My name is Dan and I’m a credit card churning addict…
A part of my collection from a picture taken a little while ago.
It has now been 10 years since I turned 18 (and 8 years since I started blogging) and I’ve opened over 300 cards building a nest egg of over 10 million miles and points so that I can always hop on a plane, fly in first class somewhere, and stay in a 5 star resort without having to pay for it. Now that was easier before Rafi came along, but he’s logged tens of thousands of air miles under the doting eye of his incredible mom. It really is an addiction, from earning top-tier airline (United 1K) hotel (SPG Platinum and Hyatt Diamond), and car rental status (Avis Chairman), when I travel, I travel like a king and get to drive fancy cars and fly in first class suites for pennies. And yet I still enjoy nothing more than coming back home to good ole’ unpretentious Cleveland where my wife and I share a single Nissan Altima and we can sleep in our own (W) bed. At least until I start planning the next trip.
I’m not here to brag about what I’ve done. My point is that anyone can do this. Just be careful not to use cards to buy things you can’t afford and fall into a vicious cycle of debt. Otherwise it’s all fun and games
Over time I’ve perfected my churning methods. While I started with a simple Gap card I discovered by accident some 9 years ago in a method that’s since spread across the web that I was able to get 2, 3, or even 4 cards at the same time with just 1 credit pull by applying for multiple cards in different web browsers or computers at he same time. 2BM/3BM/4BMs are often talked about on DDF these days. The truth is that as long as the apps are submitted the same day it also generally counts as 1 pull, though nothing is ever guaranteed and it can take multiple attempts to call reconsideration to get your apps approved.
I became proficient at never paying an annual fee without either getting a retention bonus to keep the card or using the card as leverage to get approved for more cards. American Express and Chase reconsideration departments are only all too happy to allow you to move around credit lines to get new cards approved or close down old cards to get a new card approved so as you build your portfolio of cards it becomes a virtuous cycle as you keep getting more and more leverage to get new cards.. And I’ve gotten better at understanding how to properly churn cards and get matched to better offers, though companies have attempted to clamp down on that as well.
Over the years bonuses have gotten bigger, though spend thresholds have as well. Luckily there are many options these days to meet those spend thresholds. Travelers checks and dollar coins may be kaput but these days we have Amazon Payments, Vanilla Reload purchases via credit card and using Bluebird to cash out, and free cash advances from Vanilla Debit cards which can be funded via credit card or Vanilla Reloads. And you can always just buy gift cards to use in the future (particularly lucrative on Chase Ink cards as those earn 5 times the points) in order to meet spend thresholds on time as well.
As for my credit score, it’s still top-notch!
Here are the cards I currently have that are active and that I am the primary cardholder of:
(An * is listed next to the 7 cards I have in my wallet for use every day)
AMEX (9 active cards)
AMEX Consumer (6):
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