EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a special guest post from irieriley, a churner who went from crawling to marathon long sprints in a short time.
In the world of manufactured spend and churning, it’s implied that there is a rigid structure of clearly defined rules that govern what you can and can’t do. Chase 5/24. Amex pop up jail. Don’t cycle Citi. Don’t cycle Synchrony*, etc. etc. etc.
A lot of this collective knowledge is sourced from smart folks that were willing to be the guinea pigs and push limits to understand exactly what those limits are.
But in the spirit of probing, you shouldn’t consider any of these rules as completely impossible to circumvent. I once cycled a Citi Double Cash 9 times back when I didn’t know it was an issue, and a large Citi balance was a prerequisite for a long, tedious afternoon of liquidation. I’m still alive years later, continued shenanigans and all.
Now, I’m not saying to go throw in an application for the absolutely incredible Chase Sapphire Reserve Business™® if you’re way over 5/24, because it will be a waste of a hard pull. I’m just saying that historically, there’s been ways to get around these obstacles.
CoD streamers credit card bloggers ready to share the incredible CSR Biz news
Here are some common “rules” I’ve seen over the years that I wouldn’t hesitate to spend 5 seconds testing if I came across them:
- No business cards
- No Amex
- Debit cards only
- One deposit per day
- Max $ deposit
Best case scenario, the rule doesn’t apply, and you make more money. Worst case scenario, the transaction doesn’t go through, and you proceed with your day. Medium case scenario, the rule doesn’t apply, but you get a terse email and need to get creative to keep your account open. The underlying systems and platforms that power our favorite banks, CUs and fintechs are just so finicky that you’ll never know until you try.
While we’re on the subject of things not being what they seem, here’s some advice: In a lot of online communities, getting zero answers to a question you pose is likely a sign you asked a dumb question. But in this one, if your question is thoughtful and researched and nobody responds (or in my case, you are DMed to delete the question), you may be on to something. In this case, silence is deafening.
– irieriley
*Ok, I will concede that not cycling Synchrony does seem to be sound advice.
A MSer continuing to enjoy the spoils of breaking the rules after realizing “debit cards only” did not apply in practice at his latest target