Churning Starter Guide: How to Churn Your Way to an (Almost) Free Vacation

If you're reading this I'm going to assume you've gone through the introduction to churning post already which is mostly just a warning about the dangers of churning and some reasons why it may or may not be for you. So now I'd like to talk about how to actually get you started churning credit cards and which cards you should open first.

Theres a few prerequisites for churning. For one thing you need to have a solid credit score. In my opinion that means anything 720 or above. If your score is lower than this then there is a solid chance you will get denied for some of the cards you apply for. There are quite a few ways to find out your score, some of them free and some of them paid. I got lucky and opened a card (Discover) before I found out about churning and they include my FICO score on each monthly bill. So if you don't know your credit score then you need to find that out before you proceed any further. Below are two possible scenarios:

Your credit score is 720 or greater:
Great! You're ready to start churning!

Your credit score is less than 720:
The good news is that you can still give churning a shot.
The bad news is that there is a chance you will be denied when applying for some of the best credit cards. To remedy this, you can work on building up your credit score. You can do this by opening a credit card that is geared towards people with less than stellar credit. If your score is really low (i.e. 500's or below) then your only option might be a Secured Credit Card. These usually require a deposit. I recommend the Discover It Secured Credit Card. This card will allow you to build credit and Discover also throws in a monthly FICO score that allows you to monitor your progress.
If your score is less than 720 but greater than 550 you can probably qualify for cards that don't require a cash deposit.
To build your credit score up, simply make purchases on your new card AND pay off the balance in full each and every month. There is no better way to destroy your credit score than by missing payments. Its also very expensive in the long run because you will incur late payment fees as well as interest on the balance. So I cannot emphasize this enough: PAY OFF YOUR BALANCES IN FULL EACH AND EVERY MONTH.

Which Cards First?
So you're ready to start churning and you're wondering which cards to open first? Well unlike many things, the answer to this is pretty much universal: you'll want to open up Chase credit cards first. There are two reasons for this: For one thing, Chase happens to offer some of the best rewards of any credit card company. But secondly, and more importantly, Chase has a rule that they will only accept your credit applications if you have less than 5 credit cards opened in the last 24 months. This is known as the 5/24 rule. So if you've opened zero credit cards in the last two years, you should have no issue opening five new Chase cards. If you've opened three cards in the last two years, Chase will likely only allow you to open two credit cards.
With this in mind, you also need to figure out how much you normally spend in a three month period. I say this because, in order to earn the signup bonuses for your Chase credit cards (and any other credit cards), it is absolutely imperative that you meet the minimum spend within the allotted time period. This will vary from card to card (usually, but not always 90 days). Missing the minimum spend by even a single dollar will disqualify you for the signup bonus.
So at this stage, there are two cards I recommend. And the one that you choose first should be entirely based upon your ability to meet the minimum spend:
Chase Freedom: This is a good starter card for people who don't have very high spending habits. You only have to spend $500 in the first three months to earn $150 cash back. Most people can probably spend $500 on gas and groceries alone. This card also offers 5% cash back on rotating categories. So depending on the time of the year, you can earn 5% cash back on whatever the category is at the time. Sometimes its restaurants, sometimes its gas, sometimes its wholesale clubs like Costco. All other purchases are 1% cash back. So all told its a decent starter credit card. The signup bonus isn't huge but it's $150 you wouldn't have had otherwise.
Chase Sapphire Preferred: This is my favorite credit card at the moment and you'll probably hear that same sentiment echoed by many churners. However, the minimum spend can be quite intimidating: Spend $4,000 in the first three months and get 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points (redeemable for $625 because the points are valued 1.25x). Again, if you don't think you can meet the minimum spend then don't apply for this card. If you can though, this card has a whole host of benefits, most of which are travel related (and as someone who churns to pay for traveling I haven't yet found a better card). You'll earn 2% cash back on travel and restaurant purchases so the cash back isn't crazy high but its decent. It includes zero foreign transaction fees (this is very rare) and travel interruption insurance (also very rare). It does however carry a $95 yearly fee starting in the second year. So if you decide you don't like the card you can cancel it before the fee kicks in (though I don't recommend doing this). One more thing is that you'll receive 5,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points if you add an Authorized User (this costs you nothing). So after meeting the minimum spend you'd walk away with at least 59,000 Ultimate Rewards points.
If you have the means to meet the minimum spend on the Chase Sapphire then you should elect to open this card instead of the Chase Freedom. From here on out, most of the Chase Cards I will recommend have similarly high minimum spends as the Chase Sapphire.
Chase Sapphire Reserve: This is one of Chase's newest credit cards and has churners everywhere going wild including myself. Why? Well for starters it has a 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards bonus for spending $4,000 in the first three months. With this card, the value of all points you earn is multiplied by 1.5x so the points can be redeemed for $1,500 in travel rewards. Transfer your points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred and you're sitting on at least $2,250 worth of travel rewards. There's also a $300 yearly travel credit applied automatically on travel-related purchases. Chase has a broad definition of travel compared to other card companies so this can be used on anything from flights to Uber rides to subway passes. You'll get 3x points on travel and dining which makes this the go-to card for those types of purchases. There is a $450 annual fee, but if you subtract the $300 travel credit, its more like a $150 annual fee. This is arguably the best publicly available credit card offer available. If you're just getting into the churning game, make absolutely sure that you can get this as one of your first five credit cards.

What Next?
Where you go from here depends on your priorities. I recommend your next cards all be from Chase (assuming you can get approval) because of the 5/24 rule. The best ones and the order I recommend are as follows:
Chase Ink+: This is a business card but you'd be surprised about what qualifies as a business. If you're making money outside of your full-time employer, you could file it as income The minimum spend is $5,000 and the current signup bonus is 60,000 Chase Ultimate Reward points. If you got this card following the Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Sapphire Reserve, you are looking at 65,000 + 59,000 + 104,000 = 228,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That's worth about $3,420 when redeemed through the Sapphire Reserve Portal. The Ink Plus also has a year-round 5% cash back on Office Stores such as Staples and Office Depot. So if you find yourself shopping at either of those stores often you'll want to use your Ink Plus to maximize your cash back. (This also makes the card extremely useful for manufactured spending which is a more advanced topic we will discuss later). This card does carry a $95 annual fee but its more than covered by the signup bonus.

Following the Chase Ink, I recommend you pick 2 of the following 5 cards:
Chase IHG Rewards Club Select Card: I would argue this card is a no brainer. If you check the Chase website, the current offer is for 60,000 IHG points after spending $1,000, but they have an 80,000 point bonus offer every once in a while. This is usually good for two nights in IHG hotels. The card also carry's an annual free night. All this for only a $49 yearly fee. The free night alone is worth more than the fee so its a good idea to grab this card and hold onto it forever.
Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Card: Earn 50,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points (so these are not the Chase Ultimate Rewards) after spending $2,000 in three months. These points are worth at least $500 assuming you spend them responsibly and should be enough points for a roundtrip flight within the United States. This card does carry an annual fee of $99 so take that into consideration.
Chase Marriot Rewards Premier Card: Earn 80,000 Marriot Rewards points after spending $3,000 in three months. Marriot Rewards points have a slightly worse conversion rate than other cards but this should be enough points for roughly two nights in a decent hotel. This card does carry an $85 annual fee but it is offset by the annual free night.
Chase Ritz Carleton Premier Rewards Card: This card has an awesome signup bonus of three free nights in any Tier 1-4 Ritz-Carleton hotel after you meet the minimum spend of $5,000 in three months. The annual fee is quite high at $450, but if you have never stayed in a Ritz-Carleton, this is the cheapest way to do it.
Chase Hyatt Card: 2 free nights in a Hyatt hotel after spending $1,000 in the first three months. And the annual fee of $75 is waived for the first year. Like the IHG card, you'll earn a free night every year.

My ideal scenario would be Chase Sapphire Preferred > Chase Sapphire Reserve > Chase Ink+ > Chase IHG Rewards Club Select > Chase Marriot Rewards Premier. Depending on where you want to travel, the last two cards are interchangeable with the others on the above list. For this reason, its worth it to figure out ahead of time what airlines and hotels are available in your desired destination.

So how long will this take you? Well if we assume you are opening a card every 3 months, then this process will take you just over a year. And you'll have earned enough rewards points and free hotel stays for two people to travel anywhere in the continental United States for five days or more. If you live on the west coast, you can probably make it down to Hawaii.

If you're even more ambitious, stay tuned for our later posts. We'll talk about ways you can meet minimum spends even quicker than you normally would through your day to day purchases alone. Its not uncommon for experienced churners to travel first class to Asia or Europe once a year on credit card rewards alone.

Thanks for reading,
Rybos

Intro to Credit Card Churning

I could talk about credit card churning for hours, literally. So I'm going to divide this topic into a few different posts. Consider this the introduction. Lets start with the What, Why and Who.

What is Credit Card Churning?:

Credit Card Churning is the process of repeatedly applying for credit cards to harvest the sign-up bonuses.

Why do people Churn?:

It depends on the individual but the main reason someone would churn credit cards is for the sign-up bonuses. For instance, the Chase Sapphire Preferred card offers (at the time of this post) $625 back after you spend $4,000 in 3 months. Depending upon your goals, you might churn for cash back, airline miles, or even just to build your credit score. 

Who?:

Okay so, realistically, it is not a good idea for just anyone to churn credit cards. For one thing, there is the inherent risk that you won't be able to pay off your bill each and every month. In some cases the interest and late payment fees can wipe out the sign-up bonus, or even cost you more than the sign-up bonus was worth. If there is one single golden rule to credit card churning it is this: PAY OFF YOUR ENTIRE BALANCE. EVERY. SINGLE. MONTH.

Other reasons that credit card churning might not be for you:

1. You're credit score is too low: You can't get approved for the cards with the best bonuses if your credit score is too low. For anyone with a credit score below 720, getting consistently approved can be difficult.
2. You are planning on applying for a home loan within the next two years: If you are planning to buy a home soon and will need a mortgage, churning credit cards is not a good idea. This is because the banks will see that you have recently opened a large number of credit cards and deem you to be a risky borrower. This can possibly lead to two bad outcomes:
1. You get outright denied for your loan, or
2. You pay a higher interest rate on your loan.
3. You already have a lot of debt: If you have lots of debt already (student loans, car payments, etc.) then it is a good idea to focus on paying those off first. As mentioned before, even one missed payment can wipe out the benefits of churning and since you already have lots of debt, it may be even more likely you will miss a payment.

So if you've read this far and still think churning is for you, we'll briefly go over the basics. On the surface, there is a very simple formula to churning:

Step 1: Apply for a card with a large sign-up bonus.

Step 2: Meet the minimum spend within the time limit (usually 3 months) by buying things you normally would. (Think groceries, gas, eating out at restaurants, etc.)

Step 3: Once the minimum spend is met, repeat steps 1 & 2.

Step 2 is particularly important. If you find yourself spending more than you normally would then STOP, churning is not yet for you. You should be 100% certain that you can meet the minimum spend on a credit card by purchasing things you were already going to purchase anyways. You absolutely do not want to be in a position where you are frivolously spending on things you don't need or wouldn't normally purchase. 

So at this point, you probably fall into one of two buckets: 

In bucket A are those who are not ready to churn. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this. When I first heard about churning, I too realized I was not ready. I had other expenses that needed to be taken care of first. Now that I am financially stable I can churn safely without having to worry about getting stuck in a credit card debt cycle. If it sounds like this describes you, I highly recommend starting out with one of the other money-making methods on this blog and eventually coming back to churning down the road.

In bucket B are those who are ready to churn. You are financially stable, have a good credit score, and aren't planning to apply for a home loan within the foreseeable future. If this describes you, then I extend an invitation to our more in-depth posts about churning. There we will discuss the strategies for maximizing your potential gains from churning. 

Thanks for reading,

Rybos

Additional Income Streams

Hello and welcome to ExtraBucks!

I'd like to preface this visit by saying that what you read here are NOT get rich quick schemes. I've invested a lot of time into researching how to make some additional income. We'll talk about some potentially great opportunities for you to make more money but like I said, you won't get rich off these ideas. For most people, these methods will probably just pad your wallet with a couple extra hundred bucks a month. I hope this post can get you started on what our site hopes to offer our readers. So lets jump right in!


Credit Card Churning: Some of you have probably heard of this one already. Its my favorite income earning method on this list but also the most high risk. I say that because it is only profitable IF you pay off your credit card bill in full each and every month. Missing even a single payment can wreak havoc on your gains. That being said, this method is relatively simple and is something you can start in less than a week or so. The basic idea is as follows:

1) Open a Credit Card with a large signup bonus.
2) Use the card for things you were going to purchase anyways, such as groceries, gas, and even rent and utilities in order to meet the minimum spending requirements (e.g. spend $3,000 in the first 3 months, get $500 back).
3) Payoff the Credit Card balance in FULL each month. After you meet the minimum spending requirements, the rewards will be automatically added to your account!
4) Open a new Credit Card and rinse and repeat.

There are some credit cards with very large sign-up bonuses, my favorite of which is the Chase Sapphire Preferred (CSP for short). At the time of this post, this card will reward you with $625 for meeting the minimum spend requirements of $4,000 in the first 3 months. In addition it has a myriad of other benefits such as special deals on flights and hotels. It has no annual fee in the first year, but in the second year there is a fee of $95. This can be avoided by canceling the card before the second year. The link above will take you to the application page.

The goal of many churners is to be able to vacation around the world completely for free. And I kid you not, this is actually possible. It does take a fair bit of time to build up to that point though (probably about six months to a year). Check out our churning post for more details on how to churn your way to a free vacation.


Bing Microsoft Rewards: Bing.com is Microsoft's answer to Google.com. They've had difficulty getting people to use their search engine and so they are actually rewarding users with gift cards! I have personally used Bing Microsoft Rewards to earn more than $50 in Amazon gift cards and will probably earn over $100 in total before the end of the year.

The idea is really simple. Go to Bing.com and sign-up for Microsoft Rewards (this is not a referral link). You can then complete a few daily tasks to earn credits. Once you've earned enough credits you can trade them in for gift cards to popular retailers including Amazon, Starbucks, and the Microsoft store. The tasks are extremely simple and include making 30 bing searches each day (worth 15 credits), daily quizzes (worth 3 credits each) and 20 mobile phone searches (worth 10 credits).


Swagbucks: Swagbucks.com is another rewards program that allows you to redeem their points for gift cards. This one has a much higher earning potential than Bing Rewards for a few reasons:

• The first is that there are simply more ways to earn. You can complete surveys, watch videos, and participate in special deals. 
• The second reason is that by answering the surveys truthfully, you can often gain access to studies that will pay you for your time. There have been instances where I completed a survey and based on the information I provided I was asked to participate in a study that takes some of my time in exchange for paid compensation (best I've gotten so far was $100 for one hour). The surveys themselves don't have huge payouts (usually ~$1 or so) but when you factor in the potential for being invited to studies, you can make a fair amount of extra cash. 
• The third reason is the referral program (the link I provided above is actually to my referral page. If you prefer to join Swagbucks and wish to avoid my referral page you can click this link instead: Swagbucks.com). Through the referral program, for every Swagbucks your friends earn, you will earn an additional 10%!

Bitcoin: You've probably heard of Bitcoin before - it's the most well known crypto-currency and also the most well established. I consider it an extremely volatile investment and for that reason I don't recommend anyone put in more money than they can afford to lose. That being said, we can both make $10 (denominated in Bitcoin) when you register for a Coinbase.com account and buy $100 worth. After that, it is up to you whether you sell and walk away with the $110, or hold onto it as a speculative investment. The offer is only available through the referral program. If you wish to buy Bitcoins from Coinbase without going through my referral link, you can instead click this link: Coinbase.com. 

Uber: By now most people are familiar with the ride-sharing service Uber. It works like this, you download the app, enter in your current location and where you'd like to go, and within a few minutes a driver picks you up (for a fee of course). You probably also know that you can make a decent side income by signing up to be an Uber driver. In fact, some people make a living just by being an Uber driver.

If you own a car then Uber is a great way to earn some additional income (and the best part is you choose your own hours!). The real secret to maximizing your Uber income is to drive during peak hours of certain days. On a Friday night for instance, Uber charges higher fees meaning that you as the driver will make more money for each trip you complete. If you factor in holidays such as Halloween and New Years Eve, you might be making anywhere from 2 to 8 times the normal fee! That's some serious money.

Uber also has a referral program in place so if you are a driver and know friends who are looking to earn some side income, you can refer them and earn an extra $80!


Lyft: Like Uber, Lyft is a ride-sharing service. It works almost identical to Uber but from what I can tell, the payouts to drivers are a little higher. They also do bonuses for their drivers from time to time. If you click the on the link above to sign-up as a driver, we will both earn $100 after you complete 75 rides within 30 days (on top of the money you make from driving). According to the website, you can make up to 35/hr, but in my experience this number is closer to $28/hr.

Motif: Motif.com currently has a deal where you fund an account within $1,000 and make a single trade and they will give you $100. This can be a high-risk method because it requires you to make an investment trade. However, it is possible to earn this $100 with absolutely zero risk if you invest your $1,000 in U.S. Treasury bills. They also have a refer-a-friend program in place so that for each friend you refer, you both earn $100.

Now Motif also has a deal in place where you create what they call a 'Motif' (hence the website name) which is essentially just a basket of stocks or bonds with a common theme. If you create a Motif and lots of people invest into it, you will receive $1 for each investor. Some of the most popular Motif's on the site have thousands of investors (meaning the creator got $1 for each of those investors). So if you think you have what it takes to create a popular Motif then this is one avenue for making a fair amount of passive income.


Checking Account Bonuses: This method requires that you have a few thousand dollars sitting around that you know you won't need in the next 3 months or so. It works like this: Many banks are offering people one-time sign-up bonuses to open a checking account. A common one is to fund a checking account with $2,000 and leave it there for 90 days, at which point you receive a reward of anywhere from $50 to $300 (depending on the bank). This is my least favorite method on the list because it requires you to park a lot of cash for a fair amount of time. If something comes up during those 90 days and you need the money, then you'll end up forfeiting the bonus.

So before we end this post, I'm going to break down my earnings from all of these methods just to show your how much you could potentially earn (your experience will vary depending on how much time and effort you're willing to put into these).
Churning: My earnings from churning are pretty inconsistent. It really depends on the signup bonus of the card I'm using at the time. That being said, I think a fair estimate of my average monthly earnings from Churning alone is about $600. This is huge for me because I'm really not spending any extra time doing this. The only time investment required is the credit card application and that takes maybe 10 minutes to complete once a month.
Bing: I'll earn about $5 a month from Bing. Not a ton of money obviously, but it doesn't really take any extra time for me. I'll hit the daily search bonus just from jumping around between news articles I was going to read anyways.
Swagbucks: I'm not a huge fan of Swagbucks because it does require a time investment. The surveys typically takes about twenty minutes and you'll only earn ~$1. But if you get lucky and qualify for a study, you can earn anywhere from $30-100. I generally complete two to three surveys a day and qualify for one study a month on average. Total monthly earnings is around $110 from surveys and studies alone. Occasionally they have a really good deal on something I was going to signup for or buy anyways (for instance, you get $87 for signing up for Uber through Swagbucks) so some months you'll earn close to $200 if you're smart about it. Swagbucks can be combined with Churning but this is an advanced topic we will get to later on.
Bitcoin: You can only qualify for the Coinbase.com $10 signup bonus once. But if you know people who are interested in Bitcoin but aren't sure how to purchase it, you can make $10 for referring them. I only get about two referrals a month at the moment so average monthly earnings for me are about $20.
Uber: I have a full time job so I don't drive Uber very often (maybe 5 hours a week max). But since I drive on Weekend nights, I earn more per hour than most other Uber drivers (~$30/hr). I would say most months I earn about $500.
Lyft: I prefer driving Lyft over Uber because they generally pay the drivers a little more. The only issue I've encountered with Lyft is not as many people use the app (Uber is more popular). So I often switch between Lyft and Uber when I'm driving on Friday and Saturday nights. I probably earn about $500 a month from Lyft as well.
Motif: Like with Coinbase, you can only earn the Motif signup bonus once. But you can refer friends and you'll both get $100. I've had much less success referring people to Motif. I think this is due to the $1,000 deposit they require to earn the bonus is a little high for most people. I've only had one successful referral so far so I won't add this one to my monthly earnings.
Checking Account Bonuses: My least favorite ExtraBucks method on the list. As previously mentioned you have to park your cash for months at a time to earn relatively small bonuses. But at the end of the day its free money so I can't complain too much. I'd say I earn another $10 a month by harvesting checking account bonuses.
When we add these up, we get a rough average of $1,835 per month. For me, this is a game changing amount of money. I have much more financial freedom and I'm less stressed than I used to be. Plus, I'm always looking for new opportunities so I fully expect this number to increase over time. Combined with my full time employment, I can safely say I live a comfortable lifestyle.

With all that said, I hope you've learned a thing or two and are willing to learn more.

Thanks for reading,
Rybos