‘The Churn’ Series: Part 3 – Dos and Don’ts
In this series, ‘The Churn’, I will examine the multifaceted aspects of churning credit cards, probably the quickest and most used way to get free flights and other travel credits fast.
Credit Cards
‘The Churn’ Series: Part 2 – Impact on Credit
In this series, ‘The Churn’, I will examine the multifaceted aspects of churning credit cards, probably the quickest and most used way to get free flights and other travel credits fast.
Can Canadians get US credit cards?
Though Canadian credit card offers are great, they’re not as great as American offers. They often have 100,000 point sign up bonuses (sometimes even 150,000!), something that just doesn’t happen in Canada.
‘The Churn’ Series: Part 1 – Churning 101
What is churning? Churning is the process of acquiring a credit card, meeting the requirements for any associated bonus, cancelling the card, and restarting the process anew. That is, it's getting the card, cancelling, wash and repeat.
Applying to credit cards without hurting your score: BUMPAGE (B*)
Everytime you apply for a credit product, like a credit card, the creditor will submit a “hard” check onto your credit bureau. In Canada, we use Equifax and Transunion. Sometimes creditors will only pull from one of the bureaus, or sometimes both.
Using the Mint to Meet Minimum Spend
Some credit cards have a “minimum spend,” that is, to get the sign-up bonus, or to reach a bonus tier, you have to spend X amount of $ in Y time to get the bonus. For example, to get the 60,000 MR points offered with the AMEX Platinum card (this is a referral), you have to spend $1000 in 3 months. Business cards typically have much higher minimum spends, and occasionally, we have seen minimum spends reaching $10,000 (was an offer from the RBC Avion Visa).
