Reply to Why do people w/ free airfare/hotels with miles/points always reply critically to the "is 20K good for a trip posts?"

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Reply to "Why do people w/ free airfare/hotels with miles/points always reply critically to the "is 20K good for a trip posts?""

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Listen, it's all about the sign up bonuses.  After that, whatever points you are getting-- cash back, airline points, hotel, whatever-- really don't add up that much no matter what type of card you use.

Neither of us travels much for work. We simply cycle in and out of cards.  It's not that hard or much effort.  Keep one for a year or two, cancel it, sign up for a different one.  Get the 70-100k bonus points.  My husband and I both do this and we do at least one international trip per year for our family of 4 with free plane tickets.[/quote]

PP above.  Ok.  This is really helpful.  So basically you need to keep opening new accounts.  The cards aren't useful on an ongoing basis.  That makes sense.  However then the value of the cash back you gave up during your qualification period does need to be subtracted from the value of the tickets you earned.

I feel better informed now.  Thanks for sharing your experience![/quote]

Fellow churner PP here. Yes, hence the word "churning"- as in rotating through credit cards consistently. It takes some organization and discipline, and a spreadsheet to track the various things you need to keep track of.

But you don't really have anything you give up for the spending, because you also earn the regular points on the spending in addition to the bonuses. For an example, right now I am working on a 90k point Chase bonus, requiring $6k in spending. But the card also earns 1.5x points for every dollar. So I will earn about 9k points (1.5 x 6k spend) plus the 90k bonus points. So my total for the one card is almost 100k actually. Those points are worth between $1500-2000 depending on how they are used (and figuring out how to maximize that takes a lot of time to learn). As opposed to the $120 I would have gotten from a 2% cash back card.

It's not for everyone because of the tracking/discipline/learning curve. Many people understandably see it as too much work/hassle. Those who stick with it tend to like the process, see it as a game or a puzzle.[/quote]

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