Churning
Churning is the practice of repeatedly opening credit cards to collect welcome bonuses, sometimes canceling and reapplying for the same card. Issuers now block most of it: Chase enforces the 5/24 rule and once-per-lifetime Sapphire bonuses (since January 2026), while Amex restricts most bonuses to once per lifetime per card.
Classic churning — open, earn the bonus, cancel, reapply, repeat — largely died as issuers built rules against it. What survives is slower and more strategic: sequencing different cards over years.
The rule landscape in 2026. Chase: 5/24 plus, since January 25, 2026, once-per-lifetime bonuses on each Sapphire card (CSP and CSR tracked separately). Amex: once per lifetime per card, with occasional "no lifetime language" offers. Capital One: limits on approvals and inventory of its own. Citi: 48-month timers on some families.
What responsible sequencing looks like. One new card every 3-4 months, Chase cards prioritized while under 5/24, business cards interleaved (they don't add to 5/24), every bonus met with organic spend, and balances paid in full — interest wipes out any bonus math.
Example. A two-player household alternating applications can clear 400,000-600,000 points in a year from 4-6 well-chosen bonuses without breaking any issuer rule.
Common mistakes: cancelling cards within the first year (issuers may claw back bonuses and it burns goodwill), gaming the same issuer aggressively enough to trigger shutdowns, and carrying balances — churning only works at zero interest paid.