Credit card churning.

In plain English

Credit card churning is the practice of opening cards to capture their sign-up bonuses, then moving on to the next, sometimes closing or downgrading the old ones. Done carefully by people who always pay in full, it can generate large rewards. It also carries real risks: each application is a hard inquiry, many new accounts lower your average account age and can ding your score, issuers enforce rules like the 5/24 limit and can claw back bonuses, and it demands meticulous tracking of spending requirements and annual fees. It is an advanced, high-effort game, not a strategy for someone who carries a balance.

01Why it matters

Churning can earn thousands in rewards but stacks up hard inquiries, new accounts, and issuer rules, so understanding the risks is essential before treating it as a strategy.

02The math, step by step

Someone opens four cards in a year to collect roughly 2,000 dollars in bonuses, meeting each spending requirement with normal spending and paying every balance in full. The tradeoff is several hard inquiries and a lower average account age.

03What this is NOT

04Receipts

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