Last week I wrote about credit card churning. This week I want to go over the credit cards we use for cash back and how we optimize their usage to get the most discount. By stacking these with cash back portals and discounted giftcards, we’ve been able to get almost 25-30% discounts on our recent purchases.
I occasionally churn credit cards. Mostly for the sign-up bonuses, but also for the ongoing cash back deals. These sign-up bonuses are not taxable as they’re seen as rebates by the IRS. Last year, we got $750 in sign-up bonuses. It supplemented our meager income during gradschool, and even earned us some free trips.
Here I’ll go over what it is, who should and should NOT be churning credit cards, how to find good deals, and how to analyze if it’s worth it to keep the credit card open, especially if it has an annual fee.
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