# Credit Card Churning?



## hal0hal0 (Sep 1, 2012)

So my end-game financial goal is (tentatively) to own rental properties that provide me with passive income, so my current short-term goals are saving up and building my credit score. Nothing set in stone, but I figured I'd build my nest egg while researching the ins and outs.

*Has anyone engaged in credit card churning and have any tips or potential pitfalls? *

I don't travel, so I don't think most of the upper-tier cards like the Sapphire Reserve or the Amex Plat apply to me. I like the cashback cards since I'm pretty neurotic about paying things off. Multiple cards do increase your overall limit which lowers utilization.

edit: thinking it over, I guess I answered my own question, insofar as the points don't really apply to me, but just fun to think about I guess.

Looking at my score, it seems the weak points are *1)* I don't have a lot of accounts (i.e., 2 cards to my name, student loans which are all paid off [due to much sacrifice, OUCH, but yay to no brutal interest rates] and *2)* the general age of my accounts... I was actually really late to the credit game so my oldest card is about 2 years old. A family member has me as an authorized user so I'm piggybacking off their score, so it's probably way more robust than it should be.






I guess my concern with having too many cards is forgetting a minor balance on one (but auto-pay should help) but also that the CC company might close it if it's not actually used after a period of time (i.e., renewal at exp date)?.

But it would be kinda cool just b/c it's kinda like a game. I know most of it is just time, patience, and paying shit off on time, but it's really interesting to think about to me for some reason.


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## Suntide (Dec 22, 2018)

What about opening accounts that aren't necessarily more credit cards? Perhaps you could take out a small personal loan of some sort and pay it off in a timely manner to help build credit. When you eventually buy properties, a mortage(s) will count as additional accounts. Next time you're in the market for a car, an auto loan will count too. Mixture of credit types is just as important for one's credit score as the number of open credit cards, but you also don't want a bunch of hard inquiries on your account from applying to a bunch of cards at the same time, as having too many looks bad on your report and they take a number of months to go away.

As for worries about late payments and such if you have too many accounts open, I got into the habit of taking 10 minutes every time I get paid (twice a month) and manually checking all of my accounts to make sure everything is still in order. And since it's twice a month, I've never had to worry about a late payment. Personally I've found that having things on autopay still makes me nervous and I feel better checking haha.

I have 3 credit cards. I use them for different things, that way they all get used. I use one for bills, one for dumb crap like fast food and movie tickets, and the other essential purchases besides bills (groceries, medical expenses, etc). I also make sure to pay them off in full every month and not spend more than I know I'm going to be able to pay off with my next check (insofar as one can). I have the one my bills are connected to on the card I get 2% cashback on.

Obviously your account age you can't control and it will grow with time. I was kind of late to the credit game too. I didn't get my first card until I was a year or two into college. But don't worry, if everything else is looking good then you're in a good spot.

If you have access to a free credit report through your credit card such as Experian, they also usually have a page that recommends other credit cards to you that you qualify for. That's how I found this card I have that gives me 2% cash back.

Also, be sure to call your credit card company(s) every few months to request a credit increase if you have been paying your cards off regularly. It doesn't count as a hard inquiry against your credit and as long as you don't have any collections and have been paying your balances off on time, they'll usually do it. Having all that extra credit for the revolving utilization really helps. Sometimes they just give you random increases without even asking (I got a bunch recently) but some of them won't unless you ask.

And no shame in credit piggybacking tbh.  I wouldn't have gotten this mortgage without my stepmom, and it gave a HUGE boost to both of our credit scores.

Anyway, if you have any questions about any of this jargon I'd be happy to clarify. Good luck!


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## Lucan1010 (Jul 23, 2018)

I feel like you'd have to spend TONS of money for that to even be worth it, and that it could potentially even hurt your credit score.


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## barmaley (Aug 30, 2020)

I totally agree with Suntide! I mean, there is no point in getting that many credit cards anymore. You have to open more accounts, and that's all. And once again, just like he said above, you could actually do with a small personal loan. It would really help you achieve your goal. If you are not going to do it all in the right way, you'll have to spend all of your funds. That's why taking the best small online loans is the best solution, at least that's my own opinion. However, I must admit you have a good plan.


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