Any Churners here?

[BraidedPony]

Just reading about this and I need a nap!

 

[Butterfly88]

As a literal aspie, I too thought of churning butter. Just be careful with this kind of churning.

 

[Bolletje]

As a literal aspie, I too thought of churning butter. Just be careful with this kind of churning.

Same!

 

[asperagus]

I'll shed some insight on financial product sign up bonuses/churning since this is now a featured thread. All my examples will be Canadian and in Canadian dollars, unless noted otherwise.

Bank accounts

• Big bank chequing accounts: $300-600 welcome bonus. Best to churn since these have monthly fee (often waived with $3-6k minimum balance)
• No fee banking accounts: $25-200. Usually $25-100 for savings only accounts. $100-200 for chequing and savings accounts and signing up through referral and/or affiliate links. This also includes credit unions.
• Line of credit: at most I've seen $20, or an intro promo interest rate offer

Credit Cards

• Cashback cards: often annual fee of $99-120 waived first year, signup bonus of $200-300 for minimum spend of $2-6k, but these cards usually have a decent earn rate so most people cancel or downgrade a little before annual fee would kick in
• Travel cards: $150-400 in travel $$, some (especially AmEx) have options to transfer to Frequent Flyer Programs (FFP), minimum spend usually $1k. Sometimes inflate signup bonus through affiliate offers
• Balance transfers: currently best intro offer is 0%/10 months with 1% fee (used to be 12 months). We envy Americans for their 0%/15 months intro offers with $0 fee, but I hear it's hard to get a big credit limit with those issuers. The funny thing is, can borrow money on the cheap, stuff a savings account, and profit off the interest earned

In contrast...for US products...

• There are many cashback cards with $100-300 welcome bonus on $500 spend, and no annual fee and probably better extended warranty coverage. Should issuers bring those to Canada, they'd be printing plastics at the speed of light
• Bank accounts signup bonuses for $100-500 but for overall less effort.
• Only major downside is churning is somewhat harder in the US where more issuers only give welcome bonus "once in a lifetime" (it's been less enforced in Canada), or will deny cards to those whose credit history reflect churning

 

[Clueless in Canada]

Maybe churning is more appealing to extroverted aspies. To me it is definitely too exhausting and a good example of the kind of basic adulting/exec functioning skills I'm having difficulties with despite a university degree that should indicate I am intelligent enough.

 

[Clueless in Canada]

Same!

Me too about the butter!

 

[Fino]

Ohh, I have heard of this! Thanks, Autistimatic! A friend's parents do this, switching phone companies being the only one I remember.

 

[SusanLR]

Literal thinking, yes.
Same here, I thought butter.

Never heard of the term used for what the thread is really about.
When I first started with credit cards I was doing this and didn't know it was called anything.
I just started seeing the advantages of credit card "churning" as offers poured in after my first card.
Started playing around with it and it paid off.
Eventually I stopped after I had churned my way to the top of the cards since I eventually
got tired of it and couldn't repeat.
So now I have just a few cards that give good rewards, cash back and zero interest for a year or more offers.
My credit score went sky high after I stopped with all the card playing and settled down on just a few.

 

[Progster]

Maybe churning is more appealing to extroverted aspies. To me it is definitely too exhausting and a good example of the kind of basic adulting/exec functioning skills I'm having difficulties with despite a university degree that should indicate I am intelligent enough.

Agree with this as far as credit cards and anything involving paperwork is concerned - I have an aversion to paperwork and using the phone and dealing with customer services at all, so I like to keep things like that as simple and straightforward as possible, though I still manage these things to my maximum benefit. Supermarket surfing is different as it's about being vigilent, observant and aware with no paperwork or customer services involved.

 

[Mary Terry]

I use grocery store coupons that are mailed to me or I download digitally to my Kroger membership card. I also get a significant discount on gasoline at Kroger's gas stations adjacent to their stores. I am brand conscious about a lot of products but it's based on taste and consistent quality rather than cheap prices. A real money saver is to shop the manager's specials in the meat department. I always look there first for good bargains on meat and then look at the meat display cases to see what else I want.

Another thing I do is to buy ingredients the day after a holiday when they go on sale and freeze them. I buy turkey, ham, duck, etc. the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I'm sure I'll buy a corned beef brisket on sale tomorrow. I'm cooking two corned beef briskets in the crockpot right now for St. Patrick's Day. (I cooking them in Guiness beer and it smells heavenly in here!)

Just the other day I spent a good 15 minutes on the phone with an argumentative, aggressive representative of Sirius satellite radio who was determined that I would not cancel my subscription for my car. I had finally had to virtually yell at him that I NO LONGER WANT A SUBSCRIPTION TO YOUR SERVICE.

I don't churn credit cards but about a year ago I found a no annual fee Visa card with the best cash-back awards in the credit card market which I switched to.

In legal circles, the term "churning" means attorneys spending too much time working on clients' cases in order to get paid more money for more hours, i.e., churning files. I guess that is something underemployed attorneys might do - Heck, I was always struggling just to keep up with existing clients' cases and couldn't imagine doing that to a client.

 

[Bronzelincolns]

I've actually done this with credit cards but couldn't anymore as my living situation changed.

nothing illegal about it. I still get credit card offers in the mail. you spend the amount you need to spend to get the bonus and then you never use the card again.

 

[Tom]

I seriously thought at first you meant people into using old-fashioned butter churners and that the repetitive stirring was a satisfactory stim.

 

[Shiblom]

Credit card churning, my story. Back in 2011 being freshly retired & discovering I was an Aspie, I inadvertently became a credit card churner. I had medical issues that resulted in surgery, recovery, treatment & managing. I had got myself into a financial mess, mostly my fault. I trashed my FiCO scores, defaulted on some of my accounts & sank into the abyss of financial dismay. My scores reached new lows, I finally realized what I had done, almost ended up divorced, broke & the target of many forms of abuse. Verbal & otherwise. I buckled down started my umpteenth financial budget & focused all my attention on recovery. It's been a long hard road with many curves & restarts. But now presently I have achieved what I consider a victory. I am out of debt completely still married, going into our 51st year & focused.

My scores have improved to the point I thought was unattainable. But it was a bumpy ride. Now, my churning story. After resolving my debt issues, defaults & personal embarrassments I was ready to once again attempt a little debt, not much but some. I applied for a credit card, approved with a low credit limit. I felt I had reached adulthood financially at 68 years old. I held that card with it's annual fee eating away at my rewards. I was offered another card no annual fee, this also had a bonus, must spend $500 within a few months, no problem watched my balance closely paying the card off each month until I got the bonus, I decided to close my first card, because of the annual fee. I turned around applied for a 2nd card with bonus, no annual fee & was approved. Then the gotcha happened I applied for a retail card through an online bank, approved with a low limit, no fee & had a 5% cash back if used at the retail outlet.

Watching my scores improving a little each time I thought I could apply for another card, it had no fee, no bonus but why not? Approved 3 cards plus 1 retail card. Then applied for a 2nd retail card same deal as the first but at another outlet. Now I was going to make some money. I soon realized the retail cards were a mine field, low limits, seemed like daily reporting so when I charged something it dinged my score because of the debt load even though I was paying them off, the damage was being done. I closed the no rewards card, and both the retail cards, down my score went. I then applied for & was approved for a 3rd no fee, bonus card with a higher limit. 3 cards was my limit, felt confident but my scores went south - too many inquiries. I had 6 in a short period. NO NO said the 'free' FICO sites, they then advised me to get at least 3 more cards. I was in trouble with poor scores, not much chance for approvals & back in what appeared to be financial problems. No debt but low scores.

Guidelines have not changed much, I still don't like or do much flying (travel cards avoided) I shop a little, drive & focus on rewards for those endeavors. The 'free' sites still advise me I need more debt - cards, auto loans &/or massive mortgage. I will stick with my 3 cards, paying them off monthly & leave the churning to those more brave than myself. I got all my bonuses on time & try to maintain a < 3% balance at statement closing, zero balance is detrimental to your scores??? My system works for me.​