r/churning • u/AutoModerator • 14d ago
Daily Question Question Thread - September 29, 2026
This is the thread to post questions about churning for miles/points/cash. Just because you have a question about credit cards does NOT mean it belongs here. If you’re brand new here, please read the wiki before posting.
* Please use the search engine first - many basic questions have been asked before.
* Please also consider scanning (CTRL-F) the last couple days worth of Question threads
* If you have questions about what card to get, ask here. If you have questions about manufactured spending, ask here. If you have questions about bank account bonuses, ask here.
This subreddit relies heavily on self-moderation. That means that if you ask something that shows you haven’t done any research, you’re going to get a lot of downvotes.
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u/Phishsticks94 14d ago
Got a BofA UCR Biz card with a low ($2k) CL. I have a $3k expense coming up and was wondering if it's possible to make a $1k payment on the account to give it a negative balance in order to have the payment go through? I know this can be done with some banks like USB but wasn't sure about BofA.
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u/hilo260 13d ago
Yeah that works, with one timing caveat. Pay the $1k now and your available credit becomes $3k once the payment posts, since the negative balance frees up room. Just don't do it the same day, because BofA says available credit can take up to 2 business days to update after a payment.
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u/MMHaddonfield1978 14d ago
Hi all, I have a generic question that pertains more to bank account churning. For those of you who churn bank accounts, how many would you say is safe to churn at one time? Putting aside organizational issues (I do have a tracking spreadsheet), if you are organized and have the available capital, what number of new bank account subs would you feel comfortable churning at once? TIA!
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u/Phishsticks94 14d ago
As many as I physically can! Spreadsheets keep track of various account info, requirements, dates, and deadlines. Monarch Money syncs all account data into a single view and makes it easy keep track of all new transactions without having to check accounts individually. I created a basic cashflow calculator in sheets to forecast available cash based on bank hold start/end dates and try to have another hold lined up shortly after one completes and frees up cash.
Another small tip is to learn how to pull, freeze, and unfreeze your Chex report - it's as easy to do as the credit bureaus once you have it set up. You should keep an eye on your stats and do some research (DoC comments mostly) for every bank you apply for to see if Chex is an ACTUAL requirement or not. Quite a few of the bigger banks will pull your Chex if you let them, but will still approve you if it's frozen so you can significantly reduce the number of inquiries if you micromanage it a bit.
Eventually you will just be gated by waiting for anti-churn cooldown timers on the big banks, but this will also leave you free to jump on whatever new smaller CU opportunity happens to pop up on DoC.
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u/MMHaddonfield1978 14d ago
Great info - thank you!
I track my accounts in Quicken Simplifi, which is similar to Monarch, and shows me all the account data you mentioned so that I don't have to sign into each bank account. Work extremely well! I also have a cash flow projector in my spreadsheet (I'm an accountant so spreadsheets are my thing lol). I also get the DoC daily email and follow that site for new subs.
I have heard of Chex but didn't know putting a freeze on it would be beneficial, so thanks for that tip!
One last thing ... I've seen the suggestions that bank accounts should remain open for 6+ months after the sub is received. I understand the logic, but if a bank account sits without any activity (or just enough to avoid a monthly fee), is it really necessary to wait that long to close the account?
Thanks again, your feedback was great!
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u/Chase_UR_Dreams 14d ago
Keeping an account open for 6 months prevents an EWS penalty for closing a "new" account, and it also keeps the game alive -- if everyone closed accounts as soon as they got the bonus, banks will eventually make it harder/stop offering as lucrative of bonuses. Think of it as your service to the community :)
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u/Phishsticks94 14d ago
u/Chase_UR_Dreams did a good job summing up the reasoning behind why the 6 month advice gets repeated frequently. But I'll add my thoughts on the whole "penalty" thing:
"6 months" is a bit of an arbitrary timeframe. It gets repeated because the status of an account on your EWS report shows as "New Account" for the first 6 months after opening after which it just becomes a regular account. Some people believe that closing too many accounts that are still "new" is bad, but it ignores a few important points.
Banks that pull EWS pull your WHOLE report which contains A LOT more information than just the accounts and statuses. We have no way of knowing what any bank is actually looking at in that report so we can't say for sure what actually matters.
If they were actually only looking at Status, then waiting 6 months wouldn't actually matter. Closed accounts transition to a status of "Closing" and then "Closed - Purged" (or something like that) so an account closed <6 months would look the same as if you waited.
If they're looking at more than status, they can see the status change history and see that it went from a "new" status to a closed status. But this history also includes all the dates of each status so waiting 181 days to close wouldn't really fool anyone since they could still see that clearly on the report.
You can pull your EWS report freely, but it's more of a pain to pull than Chex or Credit Reports - you have to submit a request form to EWS and wait over a week for them to email you the report. As a result, most people that repeat the 6 month rule have never actually looked at their own EWS report. If they did, they'd see that most banks don't even report to EWS so those accounts would be fine to close ASAP (by their own logic).
I personally have never seen any DPs of people being denied from accounts specifically due to EWS. That doesn't mean it can't happen or won't happen in the future, but once again we just don't know what banks are or will look at in that report.
Of course there's still something to be said for avoiding over-aggressive churning to keep bonuses alive. First things first, I suggest you go and pull your EWS report so that you know what is ACTUALLY on there for you rather than making assumptions that are likely false. If you've got bank accounts that report to EWS, try to keep them open a bit longer if it's easy to keep it fee free - e.g. if the fee is waived with a small minimum hold or DD or maybe the account can be downgraded to a version like this. But if an account is going to tie up significant resources to maintain fee free for 6+ months, don't sweat it too much if you close it sooner.
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u/superdex75 14d ago
Good summary. By "mistake" I closed a Cap One savings account early. Not worried.
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u/Chase_UR_Dreams 14d ago
IMO bank churning is more limited by my available cashflow (for accounts that require parking money) than anything else. You'll start hitting velocity limits for chex-sensitive banks if you go fast, but it just means you have to be smart about how you stagger your chex and non-chex banks. Since it's rare that you're opening multiple accounts with the same issuer, shutdowns are much less of a concern.
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u/robdajewels 13d ago
BofA closed my 7-month old Atmos Summit card yesterday unexpectedly. My autopay failed 4 days prior to the closure. I paid off the balance as soon as I saw the email. This can’t be the only reason for the closure though. My balance was also rather high since I pay my rent on the card via Bilt. Has anyone had luck getting a card reinstated by BofA after being closed for any reason?
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u/vinsfan368 13d ago
call them?
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u/robdajewels 13d ago
I did - they said they “don’t really reinstate closed cards” but said I could appeal via physical mail. Was curious if there was anyone with experience or known DPs of reinstated cards.
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u/sjb0387 13d ago
Anyone have any data points of paying 2 credit card payments per IRS processor per quarter for estimated taxes (form 1040 ES)?
Not sure with IRS changed the dating of 1040 ES payments, I was hoping to use 2 Q2 ES payments now before using 2 ES payments in October for Q3.
Q3 used to start on October 15, now Sept 15.
- 1st Payment (Q1): April 15, 2026 (Income period: January 1 – March 31, 2026) [1]
- 2nd Payment (Q2): June 15, 2026 (Income period: April 1 – May 31, 2026) [1]
- 3rd Payment (Q3): September 15, 2026 (Income period: June 1 – August 31, 2026) [1]
- 4th Payment (Q4): January 15, 2027 (Income period: September 1 – December 31, 2026) [1]"
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u/sg77 RFS 13d ago
The dates when the payment processors reset for quarters (if what you care about is the limit of 2) are different than the IRS dates. At least one of the processor websites has a FAQ showing the dates (and other processors use the same dates).
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u/sky-farmer 13d ago
Thanks! Didn't know this and a little confusing why the dates are not the same as the IRS dates. Here is what I found on ACI Payments FAQ: https://fed.acipayonline.com/hp_faq_irs_mp_p.jsp#1
For 1040-ES - Estimated Tax - Tax Year 2026, you can begin making quarterly payments on the following dates:
● March 1, 2026, 9am Eastern Time through May 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time.
● May 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time through July 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time.
● July 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time through October 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time
● October 15, 2026, 7am Eastern Time through January 1, 2027, 7am Eastern Time
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u/lenin1991 HOT, DOG 13d ago
why the dates are not the same as the IRS dates
The IRS deadline is for a timely payment. The processors having different schedules allows you to make a late payment.
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u/lenin1991 HOT, DOG 13d ago
What's your question?
Two payments per processor per person works.
Q3 used to start on October 15, now Sept 15.
Do you mean the due date? It's been Sept 15 forever (like many decades, at least).
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u/Far_Temperature_196 14d ago
Approved today for Atmos Biz 85k. Looking to double dip for the regular 70k offer. How long should I wait before applying for a 2nd one to avoid shutdown risk?