So I have been churning credit cards (QFF and rewards points) since around 2020. Looking at my records it was like 24 cards churns in the last past 4 yeas, and at one point I did maximum 8 credit cards churn in 2022.
Also I've done the home loan churn 2 times in the same period.
Now I realised I can do the electricity bonus credit churn as well as the NBN's which I didn't think I can do.
Is there any other financial produce that you can recommend to churn for extra cash?
How does that work with cooling off periods etc
Somehow I think I liked it better when you only said unrelated conspiracy nonsense like "Albo wants you to send emojis to China for next generation social credit scores!!!!!"
All the big ones let you continue your service if you've done the cooling off period with extras. When I churned from Australian Unity to Bupa, anything that I had from AU did not need to reserve waiting periods (they also had a promo that waived 2 months waiting period which was nice).
You want to focus on the ones that you can get rewards for within the 6 months.
Most health insurance will have a reset period of either 1st Jan or 1st July. For example, AHM resets on 1st July, and Bupa is 1st Jan. You can use your AHM extras cover that just reset such as buy new prescription glasses, or max out your cap on physio/massage. Then churn to Bupa in December, and you can do it all again when it resets on 1st Jan.
@easternculture does
Every 10 to 12 weeks (depending on free week period)
do you have any issues with such frequent changes to your PHI
Wow sounds like a lot of work.
@dust: They talk to your old health insurance for you and cancel it. The old one even sends you a refund and passes over all waiting periods automatically
The hardest part is probably tax time if they don't automatically populate it for you
Also its important to keep up with bank accounts with the best benefits and highest interest
Has OP checked out the Macquarie Platinum Transaction Account?
Its an everyday/transaction account that pays 4.75% interest with no conditions.
Also comes with fabulous Platinum mastercard debit card
So one account does everything!
uBank pays better interest on its savie account (5.5% up to $100K)n but must be linked to their Spend transaction account so you need to split your money and move it around all the time - painful!
But if OP has an 100% offset account linked to thier loan thats by far the best way to do it.
true ozbargainer keeps all money on loan or save acc and use Credit Cards for everyday payments and to collect points. So, no need for transactions acc :)
Re Ubank: Can I ask what you've discovered there? I've been looking at UBank and I could see you had to have "spend" and "bills" accounts as well as the "save" account, but the only obligation was to deposit at least $500 per month into the save account. Is there something else I've not spotted? Thanks.
what he was referencing was that if you want to make external payments/transfers you have to do it from the spend or bills account and not the save account. as opposed to an 'all-in-one' account where you can do everything and earn the high interest rate.
@value hunter: Thank you, that's what I was hoping. I've had some spare $$$ in a Macquarie account for a few months but 5.5% is hard to resist. Shouldn't be too hard to move $500 a month out of UBank and then put it back again!
One single person?
Someone needs to find him/her and stop them! If they end up hospitalised at least they are insured.
Internet providers
Gas if you still use that
Prime, Onepass, Woolworths premium.
What woolworths premium did you refer to?
Everyday Rewards Extra, got it for $35 a year, normal price being $70. 10% off shop once a month for big W & woolworths.
how do you churn prime..?
I mean its a much sketchier practice that could get your address banned and you blacklisted but… free trials for everyone! Also Im not sure if you can use a parcel locker as a regular address….
Have multiple accounts and sign up for free prime.
Spouses
Life hack 101
Came here to suggest same
Surely the hidden costs of this is astronomical.
Depends which side of the equation you're on…
Costs aren't that hidden!
Too expensive. Avoid churning.
If it wasn't expensive, would you do
Ask Jeff Bezos.
Can home insurance
This is interesting. I am with the Qantas insurance for the bonus QFF, and now half way through.
Any good deal to switch to?
NBN providers
milk
milk
That makes sense. Cheese.
I literally googled it with milk nbn provider 🥲
Interested to know… what redemption yields have you achieved?
more than 2%
I'd donate a kidney for 2%
@askbargain: I ran a pub test on that card, everyone looked at me like I was an idiot. Clearly I'm not the target demographic…
@sumyungguy: If I understand "pub test" correctly, then my question is, out of all places in australia, why would you think pub is the place where the financial literate people congregate?
@sumyungguy: I stand corrected then. I don't really go to the pub, so my imagination of pub is very stereotyped by what I see on the screen.
@dongltron: pub test (plural pub tests) A hypothetical test of the social acceptability of something (e.g. a government policy, a certain behaviour) as though by asking the opinions of people drinking in a pub.
Credit cards are by far the highest.
Spend $3k on stuff you would have bought anyway and get $600 in Coles vouchers etc
are you using QF points to get these or are some offering Coles/ Woolies vouchers?
Assuming Coles Voucher, this would be the NAB, ANZ, or Citi Credit cards. Also, once you earn QF points, I believe you cant change it to giftcards.
@clayaa: you can exchange QF for giftcards on QF marketplace website. Also has bunch of other products that aren't flights but not great value.
I do both, depending on my objectives.
I don't fly very often so tend to opt for the GC's
For those saying you can exchange QFF for GC's, I don't think the rate is the same? Might end up with less, the QFF store is really bad value. The best value is biz class upgrades.
You can get 60,000 QFF for spending $3000 and sell for 1.3c pp so you'l get $780. Minus $99 anual fee. Pretty similar at the end of the day.
Butter.
Does the connection cost matter with electricity or gas?
Nope. No connection cost
Home loan
Another part of your strategy to perhaps consider… most service providers don't reward loyalty but some do. Sure, churn and win with products where the provider doesn't rate retention but stick with the rare few who actually reward loyalty. I get some great free stuff but regret I'm not gonna post it in a public forum.
There's zero chance that any loyalty bonus is higher than churning
I'm confident OP won't be able to churn forever, not taking anything away from the exceptional churn rate until now
Churn till you burn.
Girlfriends with rich parents.
ice cream
Anything with free initial trial period. Streaming services, watch for 7 days then quit.
Amazon prime trials. They offer me a free trial every 6 months or so (on the same account). I have never gotten prime except for with the free trials.
Here is the list:
1. Credit Card
2. Personal Loan / Home Loan / Investment Loan
3. Saving/Transaction account promo
4. NBN
5. Private Health Insurance
6. Electricity & Gas
7. AIA Vitality
8. Fitness Passport for gym/hot shower
9. Tax refund on travel
10. Churn with other countries credit card
11. Doordash/Uber/Food accounts for cheap food
Would you be able to elaborate on 10 please? Is this if you're a citizen of another country?
Turkish home loan: Their RBA rate gone to 50% !
Worse than borrowing money from a Mexican cartel
Yes. Let's say you are interested in US credit card. You can start by getting ITIN number and then open a bank in US. It lets you have a bank account in US and you can start applying for low credit score credit card. After few years, you should be able to start applying for high value travel credit card or high cash back credit card.
Interested in UK credit card? You can start by subscribing to those mail forwarding services. Start by opening a bank account, slowly move toward low score credit card, and travel/cashback credit card.
Interested in Singaporean credit card? same loop as above.
If you have a permanent resident or working holiday visa coming up in another country? Apply for credit card there and same loop as above.
Of course the caveat is that you have to make sure you have a mail forwarding service so you can actually get those cards….
Are you able to get Singapore credit cards with just Aussie passport?
@T-man: The trick with these is to have work holiday visa or work visa. Once you can stay there for 6 - 12 months, there are few path. I only know two so far
1 - Amex Global Card transfer so you can start getting credit card and building credit files.
2 - Open a bank and apply for low credit score card
After 6-12 months, you leave country - try to get a mail forwarding service. After that, you can keep building your credit score and start applying for higher award credit cards.
Of course, these are easier said than done. It took me 2 years to actually get my US churning going with all those crappy credit cards and then moved to Chase and Capital One. I have reached an age where I'm too lazy to manage other countries mail and credit score. It is a long game when you are young.
@Jetkuma: I particularly want to apply for some Singapore cards but am not going to work or stay there.
I am working between Australia and the US, so I am good with US cards. I have some Chase, Cap1, Citi, and, of course, Amex cards.
Me too, I am too lazy to manage all these cards and have to maintain the phone numbers and emails for me and the Mrs., as I am doing 2 players to maximize the SUBs and referral bonuses.
UK have monthly fees on nearly all bank accounts , similar to south Africa and a few other western countries. Not that ideal
diff between 5 and 7?
7 - I actually subscribe to AIA Vitality through a cheap AIA Life/TPD insurance inside super. In my opinion, it charges the premium via my super but I get 50% off on Virgin flights and $260 + $500, albeit it costs ~125 (outside super) a year but you also get up to 20% premium discount on life/tpd insurance.
Hell…my returns and income from super are more than enough to cover my cheap Life/TPD premium so I'm okay with paying that premium.
do you know the minimum cover needed to get AIA vitality and not starter?
@askbargain: I am not sure on the minimum, I have 500k Life/TPD (Any occupation) and it costs me $400 a year. That's inside super so technically only $340 (after 15% tax).
@Jetkuma: Which superannutation accounts/comapnies allow you to choose AIA Life/TPD as an option? Or is this only a pathway for SMSF?
@flylin: You can obtain AIA Life/TPD via AIA directly. They will create a mastertrust superfund ( Super Scheme No2) that its main purpose is to hold Life/TPD for you. That way, you don't pay any fees for it and it will automatically rollover annual premium each year to pay for your insurance premium.
https://www.aia.com.au/en/products/life-insurance/priority-p…
Customise your cover
Life Cover can also be offered through your superannuation (either through a Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) or the AIA Insurance Super Scheme No2).
@Jetkuma: Interesting, thank for you letting me know. Didn't know about the Master Trust / wrapper system.
In order to get AIA Vitality via health insurance, it limits my options to only a few providers. However,.this approach with life insurance might workout better
+1 for ftiness passport for gym
Tax refund on travel? what?
yeh wth?
He's probably referring to TRS.
Do you need multiple mobile phone numbers for #10?
That's easily solved by getting all those Amaysim/Boost cash back deal :)
I know someone who churns jobs - new job around every 12-15 months
In America most banks have stopped credit card churning by only offering a welcome bonus once per lifetime (rather than 12-18 months like we have here).
wtf no, no person who is actually “rich” gives a shit about churning. The churners are just middle class battlers with decent credit.
Not correct. The US is most the credit card friendly churning jurisdiction on the planet.
What is a churn ?
Open for the bonus and close after.
Then rince and repeat with different companies offering bonus's
Someone on this site churns health insurance.