Is it worth opening a credit card for the bonus?

[patbutcher]

I'm considering opening up a no fee/first year free credit card just for the opening bonus points and then closing it before any fee is due at the one year mark.

I know there would be a hit to my credit but I haven't opened up anything for a few years so not too concerned with that.

Does anyone do this? Any negatives that I haven't thought of?

[gt7301b]

Aug 29, 2015 18:38:05 GMT -5 v said:

I do it sometimes and with some cards I think it can be REALLY worth it.  $600 in rewards for spending I'd do anyway over the next few months?  Sign me up!

There can be a small hit to your credit card account if you open a new card, but not much of a hit really. I got a new card maybe 2 months ago, and my FICO score is still very high. After you've had the card open for a year and the annual fee hits you can call to negotiate for a waiver of the fee or bonus points that will make up for the fee (see my other post about that today). If they can't help you there, you can often be switched to a no annual fee card by the same issuer (that will stay under the same account history -- so you won't be opening a new card) and you can just stick the new card into a drawer if you don't care to use this. But if you rarely do this I wouldn't worry about the credit hit from opening or closing.

Flyertalk is (probably) the site that starry is talking about, and there are a bunch of blogs about this (of varying degrees of objectivity because some make a lot of money off of referral links for certain cards they recommend). But unless you're looking to really do a lot of rewards maximization they're probably beyond the scope of what you need

Which forums do you use on flyer talk?  I am looking for a Barclay card replacement and am overwhelmed by all the options.  I am leaning towards a points card (maybe the Citi Thank You or Chase Sapphire) cause I'd like to try and get enough points to go to Asia (I keep seeing all these crazy business class for $5 points posts, but I find thinking about the execution exhausting.  I don't really want an Amex or Hotel card, cause I feel like those are both more trouble than they are worth.  Any thoughts?

[scout8]

We have done this more than once. It has worked for us. We have flown several international routes on points--twice in business class. Opening the cards for the bonus really helps to accrue points fast.

[Deleted]

I've done this a few times. I got a flight for something like $150 to Cancun once, and I paid about $300 for my BF and I to fly to Seattle this past summer. Both were because of bonus points! I think my savings on those two trips was probably at least $1000.

I just got the Chase Sapphire preferred yesterday. It currently comes with $400 worth of flights if you spend 4k in the first 3 months, and another $100 is tacked on if you add an authorized user (or something like that - it works out to $500 in flight points). I'm planning to fly to Europe next year so I'm hoping between that and regular use of the card my flight will be free or cheap.

I have not found a downside.

[gt7301b]

Aug 30, 2015 7:59:45 GMT -5 v said:

Aug 29, 2015 19:01:50 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Which forums do you use on flyer talk?  I am looking for a Barclay card replacement and am overwhelmed by all the options.  I am leaning towards a points card (maybe the Citi Thank You or Chase Sapphire) cause I'd like to try and get enough points to go to Asia (I keep seeing all these crazy business class for $5 points posts, but I find thinking about the execution exhausting.  I don't really want an Amex or Hotel card, cause I feel like those are both more trouble than they are worth.  Any thoughts?

I skim the Credit Card Programs board and also look at the Citi board (I have 3 Citi CCs).  I'm not a huge Flyertalk user -- I look more when I have a question about something or to make sure I'm not missing out on benefits.  I'm not a churner/manufactured spender so I don't do the crazy stuff that some of them do

If you spend a decent amount on travel and want to redeem for flights that aren't ridiculously expensive, I'd look into the Citi Prestige or Citi Premier.  Their points redemption scheme is based on the flight's retail price (although if you have the Prestige you can transfer points over to some frequent flyer programs, so you could do well on business class that way).   (Note: if AA is your airline of choice, the Citi Prestige is way more valuable, as you'll get lounge access on all flights on AA metal and will get a way better points redemption rate when you redeem for AA flights).

If you're looking at a business class flight to Asia that retails for many thousands of dollars, you may do better with a card that accrues miles so I'd look for a card issued by a carrier that goes where you want to go that has a huge opening bonus.

Thanks for the feedback!!  I think the Citi Premier is probably the way to go, I may have never actually flown AA so it looks more appealing than the Citi Prestige. When I run the credit card spending simulators it comes out as the second best option for us.  (Behind the Starwood Amex, but that doesn't appeal to me at all) 

Yes, I am looking for a business class ticket to Asia, I feel like we could get a stowage economy class ticket for cheap, without much work, but for that long of a flight I want to go in business class.

[my3bears]

Definitely! And depending on the card, they may continue to waive the annual fee in the future. DH just called to cancel one that we opened for miles. They said they would credit our account with $95 (same amount as the annual fee) if we spend $1,000 in 3 months or something like that.

[sent]

It's called credit card churning. When you open several of these cards on the same day to minimize the hit to your credit score, it's called an app-o-rama. It's definitely done. Some cards won't allow you to "churn" again forever, some will let you rinse and repeat as soon as 90 days. Sometimes the banks that issue these cards have certain rules regarding when and how you can open multiple cards offered by that bank that affect churnability. Whatever card you select to open, google it first to make sure there isn't a better offer out there for it. Like for example, the United Airlines card is usually a 30K signup bonus, but many times it is a 50K bonus if you use a certain link or wait until a certain time.