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I want to start with some facts. Here they are:
1) I have been asked by readers for this post and to save it in Q&A.
2) If you have a moral objection or gripe about bloggers & credit cards please stop reading right now and simply come back tomorrow to resume the “regularly scheduled blog posts”.
3) I follow the below directions myself.
OK, now that that is out of the way here is some information. Per AMEX reps, including supervisors in charge of Delta Amex card promotions, you can get the NEW CARD sign up bonus for ANY Delta Amex card every 24 months (EDIT: The NEW RULE is you must NOT have the SAME card for the past 12 months or 365 days. It is the CLOSE date of the card that matters NOW). There are caveats and I will try to cover them.
Here is the ideal Delta Churn.
Year 1 you get any Delta Amex personal card and then your wife/other goes for Biz card
Year 2 you get any Delta Amex biz card (pick biz after 1st click) & your wife/other goes for personal card. Once you have Year 2 cards you CANCEL Year 1 cards
Year 3 rinse and repeat the above, forever (be sure to wait 366 days after close date to reapply)!
Now you naturally always want to have some sort of Delta Amex card to get free bags and all the other nice perks the cards give you when you fly. Also please note you DO NOT need to have a business to get the business cards!
Some generic info about “churning” and what is churning? My wife and I get a total of almost 20 credit cards each and every year. My credit score pre-churn date is always over 750 fico and vantage over 900! We have hundreds of thousands of dollars of available (not used!) credit on cards. So every 90 days or so we both get 2-5 cards. Most of the time we get instant approvals, sometimes I have to call and move around credit lines to get approvals. Last year we both had 100% approvals on all cards and earned literally millions of miles.
So why do we do this? I learned from Rick the “Frugal Travel Guy“. He knows this game very well. You may have seen him on Nightline and may have had the privilege to hear him speak at the Chicago or other DO’s. I know him and he is a brilliant man. So, if you do 3 or 4 or 5 applications all on the same day for different banks, your odds for approval on them all goes way up! Also keep in mind it is good to have a long credit history. So keep what ever card you really love, ideally one with no annual fee, forever and charge something to it each and every year!
So what would be an idea for a Delta churn today? Look at this:
- You get Delta Amex GOLD or PLAT or Reserve card
- Your other gets Delta BIZ GOLD BIZ or PLAT or Reserve
- (you must click biz button on the 1st page of the app)
- You get the Chase Freedom card
- Your other gets Chase Sapphire card
- OR go for the INK BOLD biz or INK PLUS biz cards
- You both get Citibank HHonors card
(above are my links & I get referral credit -thanks for supporting the blog)
This 3 card Churn will net you two over ¼ MILLION points in ONE DAY (once min spend is met for each card that is). Now, over the next 90 days, meeting the spend is the challenge for you to work on your way. But at a conservative 1 cent per point you have gained $2500 in free travel. Do this 4 times and you have 1 Million points! – René
▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information
I thought the 24 months start counting when you close the account, not when you opened it?
Hi Ted. Nope the clock starts from the day you got the card! – Rene ( but also why IMO you should cancel it at some point before round 2) – Rene
How do you keep track of all these cards, what’s spent, what needs to be spent, how many points you are supposed to get, and the other benefits of the cards (companion tickets, rental car points on hotel cards, etc.) so you remember to use and fulfill them all?
What happens to a companion certificate if unused when canceling a card?
Why not get the personal and business cards at the same time and churn them simultaneously in 24 months? Or is the answer that they won’t award miles for both cards at teh same time? If that’s the case, then don’t you mean you should wait for year 3 (and not year 2) to reapply as you believe you need wait 2 full years?
There have been reports of people trying to apply after more than 2 years and getting the “you already have a Delta Amex card” from the online application. Have you seen or heard this yourself?
Hi Rene – Timely post, as I’m trying to get my cc house in order for 2012. I’m a small biz owner and have availed of numerous offers over last year or two, met the spend/racked up the miles, and now have between my wife and myself –
AMEX — Centurion Business; SPG Business; Delta Skymiles Business; Platinum (wife)
VISA — BA Chase*; Chase Ink Business x 2; VISA AAdvantage Citi
MASTERCARD — OnePass Chase
Other than the Centurion, BA Chase and one of the Chase Ink cards, I could live without the rest, and paying the fees. I was told cancelling cards affects your credit rating negatively. You say it does not. If you’re right, what’s best way to extricate yourself or cancel, by email or phone call? Any other advise? Thanks.
I started churning as a senior in college (last year), and have gotten a good number of cards now. I tried to churn again back in October and was only partly successful. Chase I’m 3 for 3, but Citi scared me a bit.
I applied for a bus card and was denied after not showing proof of business (I used SS # and followed the steps by you, FTG, and TPG), and on a Citi Premier I got denied due to “no or low revolving credit” (I applied after paying my bills so my fault), I re-evaluated and they said my credit obligations were higher than my income.
So I’m a litle nervous to apply for some more, even though I’m 750+ on all 3 bureaus and pay my balances in full. Thoughts to get me over my nerves?
Ok, let’s see if I understand this. My husband and I each have our own Platinum Delta Business card. We have each had the personal cards in the past but closed them more than two years ago. I can apply for the personal card without closing the business card and get the new card sign up bonus again? Will the benefits of my Platinum card override the Gold when I fly? I don’t know if my question really makes sense? I hesitated to apply for another Amex. I have had my Amex card for many years. Thanks for all the information. Love your blog.
Hi Kathy. Yes you can get the new card bonus again. Yes the plat will trump the gold. Thanks – Rene
Thank you. Instantly approved. I recently considered the higher signup bonus offer but did not want the burden of the significantly higher spend requirement.
Your readers might also be interested to learn that after the instant online approval AMEX offered me the option of seeing my account number immediately to use for up to $1000 of Delta purchases only. This is until the actual card arrives in a week or so. I thought that was a nice feature. Never given the option of an instantly usable account number ever before.
@Rapid Travel Chai It becomes slightly more worthless than it already was.
FYI. Couple of years ago there were targeted Delta AMEX offers of 75K and I heard even 100K (were able to see/unlock some of them by playing around the http codes). Not sure they will come back this year.
OK, you say “Also please note you DO NOT need to have a business to get the business cards!” Can you please provide a link on how this is exactly done?
@erik- when it asks for biz number on app leave blank. next screen will ask for ss# – rene
Does anyone know if I have the ability to direct miles earned with the Gold Skymiles Amex to an additional card holder’s Skymiles account? In other words, can miles be accrued by me as the primary card holder in my account and then the secondary card holder would accrue miles in another Delta account. Essentially a 2 for 1 strategy.
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[...] questions about churning and AMEX 365+ day cancel new card bonus rule. Chase will let you move lines of credit around just about any way [...]
Hi:
Could you tell me if the Hilton points can be used towards Delta tickets or are they only redeemable for Hilton stays?
Also, can my spouse and I each sign up for a Delta gold personal or do we have to do one personal and one business?
Thanks.
@Michelle – you will loose all value going Hilton to Delta. Both you and husband can both each have a personal and biz delta amex if you want.
So glad I found this blog. I have been unofficially churning for a while, and never had anything other than an instant credit approval. I’m not concerned long term with my credit score, but why do the companies take time to review. How would you advise?
Hi. The Chase, Ink, and Citibank cards listed above are good deals, but I don’t see how they contribute to the 1/4 million Delta points. BTW, I really like your regular emails and blog posts… so much good stuff to read!. -Carlton, T.R. (The Rookie)
Augusta, GA
[...] circumstances, just I have Delta AMEX cards (my wife is waiting time period). I suggest for most to churn the cards, that is, hold the personal and then next year, hold the business and so on and so on. Now you can [...]
bonjour Rene
Great blog Rene and thank you! Question-if I add a biz AMEX Reserve to get new card bonus spend MQMS, then close my personal AMEX reserve, will my annual spend total transfer to the new card for the $30k and $60k spend MQM bonuses? Or do I need to wait until the end of the calendar year to churn my AMEX Reserve? No spousal card involvement fyi. Thank you!
@Howard – Each card is it’s own for MQM spend. Now, the difference is NEXT YEAR for MQD that is medallion qualifying dollars, on that BOTH count towards that spend. Clear?
@Rene – Yes, clear for this year and for MQD spend next year. Will only keep 1 AMEX Reserve at a time, so for 2014, I could open a Biz AMEX Reserve, get 10k signup MQMs, then 30k more MQM (for $60k spending) = 40k MQM possible. Will close my Personal AMEX Reserve after opening Biz card, then flip-flop again in early ’15. Sound strategy? Thank you!
@Howard – yes. There may be even one step more and keep following my fellow blogger Frequent Miler as he has even one more idea cooking soon (we had a fun conversation at Freddie I must keep PVT for now but no rush)! – Rene
@Rene – I’ll keep an eye out for another idea coming soon, and thanks again!