Explainer

What is churning?

Churning is opening credit cards and bank accounts for their sign-up bonuses: you meet what each bonus asks for, collect it, and move on to the next one.

How a bonus works

Credit cards

A card offers a bonus in points, miles or cash back if you spend a set amount in the first few months. That target is the minimum spend. Spend $4,000 in three months, for example, and the bonus usually lands within a statement or two.

Bank accounts

Banks pay cash for opening a checking or savings account and meeting their terms. Usually that means one or more direct deposits of a set size, or keeping a balance in the account for a few months.

What you have to keep track of

Minimum spend: How much you've put on each card so far, and how many days are left.
Direct deposits: Which accounts still need one, how big it has to be, and by when.
Annual fees: When each one posts, so you can keep, downgrade or close the card before it does.
Issuer rules: Banks limit how often you can earn a bonus. Chase, for example, usually turns down people who opened five or more personal cards in the past 24 months (the “5/24 rule”).
Points: What you've earned, and which program it sits in.

Most churners keep all of this in a spreadsheet.

The ground rules

Pay every statement in full. Interest wipes out a bonus fast.
Only put spending on a card that you'd do anyway.
Each application is usually a hard credit inquiry, and new accounts lower the average age of your credit. Hold off before a big loan like a mortgage.
Read each offer's terms. Amounts, deadlines and who qualifies differ from one offer to the next.
Bank bonuses are usually reported as interest income, so they're taxable.

Amplify Churning · Private testing

Where Amplify Churning fits

Instead of a spreadsheet, it reads all of this from your actual transactions. You link your accounts read-only, and it tracks how close you are to each minimum spend or direct deposit, along with your points and upcoming annual fees.

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