Credit card churning is a popular strategy for maximizing rewards and enjoying exclusive perks. However, like any financial tactic, it comes with its fair share of myths and misconceptions. In this blog post, I aim to debunk the top three credit card churning myths, shedding light on the realities of this approach to help you make informed decisions.
Myth 1: Credit card churning will always give you a bad credit score
This is the most common myth that scares most people away from the world of credit card churning. One of the prevailing misconceptions about credit card churning is that it inevitably harms your credit score. While it's true that each credit card application triggers a hard inquiry, the impact on your credit score is often temporary. Moreover, responsible churning—such as paying bills on time and managing credit wisely—can contribute positively to your credit history over the long term. The key is to strike a balance and be mindful of your overall credit utilization. Just like any financial strategy, the irresponsible application of too many credit cards too often because of greed or lack of knowledge will most likely lead to a negative credit score. This behavior usually represents the minority but unfortunately are the ones that are spoken about the most.
To understand why this is the case, read my previous blog post "Why churning credit cards may not give you a low credit score." and you will quickly discover that for the majority of responsible people who know how to use credit cards wisely, this is only a myth.
Myth 2: Credit card churning is a scam or must be illegal
In today's world, we are highly attuned to scams. We are surrounded by them, from the cold calling to the Nigerian prince scam. However, this myth is probably the one which most people sit on the fence with, when it comes to starting credit card churning. It comes from a place of, "This is too good to be true" so must be a scam or have some hidden pitfalls. Some people assume it is illegal or dodgy. They think to themselves, how can a credit card company just give away 100k worth of rewards points for just using a credit card? These are all reasonable assumptions but are grounded in fear. This is something "haters," will say as they are usually too scared to try it themselves.
The truth is, there is nothing illegal or shady about credit card churning. As long as people are abiding by the rules of the credit card terms and conditions they are able to access the rewards that they provide. The big banks do however look downwards upon this practice but sometimes it's good to get something from the banks as they are usually always taking.
So to summarise, the reward points are not free. They are earned by meeting the minimum spend, holding the credit card for a predetermined time, paying an annual fee, and abiding by the credit card's terms of use.
Myth 3: Credit card churners must be in a lot of debt
When people see that I go on holidays, flying first class or going into lounges they assume either I'm really rich (which they know I'm not) or they assume I'm in a lot of debt. This is because they don't understand the upside of credit card churning. The sheer amount of frequent flyer points and rewards points that I can accumulate quickly can be overwhelming for some. These points can then be used to buy rewards seats on flights that would normally cost a hefty premium.
I however have no debt! I use my credit cards for daily purchases just like I would use my debit cards and pay my credit cards off in full every month to avoid any interest charges. As long as I have good financial literacy and can budget well and understand that a credit card is not free money but just another tool in my financial plan, then I can reap the rewards that credit cards offer without falling into debt.
Conclusion
I hope that this post will have debunked some of the common myths out there about credit card churning. There are many others such as "it's too hard" or "takes too much effort." however the ones covered here are the ones I hear most often.
Like always, if you have any questions, please comment below or contact me. If you don't want to miss out on any new content, then follow me on Instagram or Reddit for more information about everything to do with credit card churning and point collecting.
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