As the title says - if you are going to ‘churn’ a few cards to get their sign up bonuses, what do you do with those points? Do you end up choosing one airline to transfer all the points to before you close the card and apply for another (defeating the point of having flexibility)? Or do you hold multiple cards at once?
Hi @mavmitch
Interesting question!
My primary flexible points programme is AmEx Membership Rewards, and I don’t churn my AmEx cards.
I do have one non-AmEx (A CommBank Smart Awards Mastercard), with the lowest possible credit limit – so it doesn’t impact my ability to take out other cards – which I primarily keep for overseas spending, since it does not have international transaction fees. I don’t churn that card but, especially since CommBank Awards is about to be gutted, I’m willing to close it if something better comes along.
Other cards I churn and, because I get them for the sign-up bonuses, it doesn’t bother me whether their points are flexible or not.
But everyone’s circumstances, travel habits, income, priorities etc are different. There’s no right or wrong way to go about things and everyone needs to make their own choices and decisions.
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Hi @mavmitch,
I focus on Qantas points… for Qantas/OneWorld redemptions, along with Emirates. I keep a Qantas Mastercard as my main permanant card - so I can always keep earning points between churning cards. I churn any and all Qantas Points earning cards, tracking the blackout periods in a spreadsheet so I know when I can apply again (usually 18months - but 24months is becoming more common now sadly). I also churn AMEX cards and convert/transfer all the points to my Qantas FF account.
I look to churn as fast as possible, so will sacrifice any additional bonus points on offer if you keep a card open for more than 12 months - which seems to be a new “carrot” of late. I’d rather hit the spend limit asap and then cancel as soon as the points hit my FF account. Plus, I can use that 2nd years annual fee for a new card to churn with a healthy bucket of bonus points vs the usual 20K-30K they offer.
I will generally not have more than 2 cards on the go at a time in addition to my long term card. I’ll always go for the lowest credit limit possible, so it limits any impact on other cards or my other financial committments.
Which program you use is really a personal choice. Some people aim to earn points on multiple programs to have maximum flexibility. I prefer to put all my eggs in the one basket. So far it’s served me well. That could change in the future though, especially given the constant changing landscape and general devaluation of the various points/rewards programs of late.
Best of luck! 
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