[0:00] all right so you've just clicked on this
[0:01] video that I'm confident will change
[0:03] your life for the better by following a
[0:05] simple four-step process this credit
[0:08] card can affect whether you sit in the
[0:10] back of the plane in cattle class
[0:12] cramped and uncomfortable to sitting in
[0:15] the front of the plane all completely
[0:17] for free in business class being served
[0:20] food and drinks this video is going to
[0:22] be completely free and is made up of my
[0:24] near decades worth of experience
[0:27] learning this process doing it and still
[0:30] practicing what I'll be talking about in
[0:32] this video to this very day by the end
[0:35] of this video you're going to know
[0:37] everything that you need to know about
[0:38] this process which is otherwise known as
[0:41] credit card churning hacking or Point
[0:44] hacking so what is credit card Journey
[0:47] well put simply it's a process where
[0:50] someone uses a credit card to take
[0:52] advantage of sign up bonuses to
[0:54] accumulate as many frequent flyer points
[0:57] and other Reward Points as possible now
[0:59] credit card companies will always offer
[1:01] large sign up bonuses in order to entice
[1:04] new customers to sign up to their cards
[1:07] now you might be wondering what's in it
[1:09] for these companies are they just doing
[1:11] it out of the goodness of their own
[1:13] Hearts well not exactly what these
[1:16] credit card companies are hoping will
[1:17] happen is that you'll sign up for these
[1:19] cards overspend with your new credit
[1:22] card and then not pay off the balance in
[1:25] full every single month and as a result
[1:28] will'll make money off the interest that
[1:30] they'll charge you credit card churning
[1:32] is a process that attempts to avoid this
[1:34] scenario happening and instead to
[1:36] collect points and profit from the value
[1:39] of the signup bonus you can essentially
[1:41] think of it as a way of using credit
[1:43] cards to actually make you money the
[1:46] process follows a very simple four-step
[1:49] process first you research which card to
[1:52] sign up for next you apply for the card
[1:55] and then you make the minimum spend
[1:57] required to receive your sign up bonus
[2:00] and then once you receive it you cancel
[2:02] the card once you've gone through each
[2:04] of these steps it's essentially a
[2:06] process that can be rinsed and repeated
[2:09] we'll go over each of these steps in
[2:10] detail and at the end I'll also talk
[2:13] through some frequently asked questions
[2:15] that are always receive like how this
[2:17] impacts your credit score so make sure
[2:19] you stick around to the end to find out
[2:22] the answer so the first step is
[2:24] obviously going to be choosing the
[2:25] credit card that you're going to be
[2:27] signing up but with so many out there on
[2:30] the market which one do you choose and
[2:32] don't worry I'll share with you a list
[2:34] later of my favorite credit cards to
[2:36] sign up for now whenever I'm deciding
[2:39] which credit card to sign up for next
[2:41] there's always four factors that I take
[2:43] into consideration first and foremost
[2:46] probably the most important factor is
[2:48] the actual rewards and benefits now
[2:51] benefits can be split into two
[2:53] categories firstly the sign up bonus
[2:55] that you'll receive as a new customer
[2:58] and then extra benefits that come along
[3:00] with the card itself what type of signup
[3:02] bonus you receive will depend on the
[3:04] credit card program sometimes it's
[3:06] Frequent Flyer points like quantis or
[3:09] velocity or other times it's Bank
[3:11] specific membership points which can
[3:13] then be redeemed for flights hotels and
[3:15] gift cards and other times it's just
[3:18] cash back directly into your pocket
[3:20] other benefits that come along with the
[3:22] card can include things like Lounge
[3:24] passes at the airport complimentary
[3:26] insurances and reduced Annual fees I
[3:29] always recommend to look through what
[3:31] each card offers and decide what's
[3:34] important to you and your goals if
[3:36] you're looking to travel overseas next
[3:38] year then you might want to focus on a
[3:40] credit card that rewards you with
[3:42] Frequent Flyer points if you're someone
[3:44] who doesn't like to travel then perhaps
[3:46] just focus on credit cards that give you
[3:48] cash back or gift cards that you can
[3:50] then redeem when you do your next
[3:52] grocery shop when going through the
[3:54] benefits I also recommend to try to
[3:56] determine the dollar value that you'll
[3:58] be receiving from this card and this
[4:00] will become extremely important when we
[4:02] talk about the next factor that we
[4:04] should be considering now sometimes the
[4:06] dollar value is straightforward to
[4:08] calculate but other times it might be a
[4:10] little bit harder for example the azed
[4:13] frequent fly black card has a sign up
[4:15] bonus of 90,000 quantis points plus $200
[4:19] cash back now the $200 cash back is
[4:22] obviously straightforward to Value but
[4:24] how do we know how much those Quantus
[4:26] points are worth now with frequent fly
[4:29] points there there are multiple ways
[4:31] that you can use your points so to give
[4:33] you a rough estimate of what each
[4:35] frequent flyer point is worth based on
[4:37] what you redeem here's a rough breakdown
[4:41] by far the worst Redemption value is
[4:43] going to be redeeming your points from
[4:45] gift cards or purchasing products at
[4:47] just 50 cents per Point booking hotel
[4:50] rooms usually gives you around 80 cents
[4:52] in value whilst booking reward flights
[4:54] will vary between 1.5 cents when booking
[4:58] economy flights or all the way up to 5
[5:00] cents when booking first class flights
[5:03] so those 90,000 quantis coins could be
[5:06] worth as little as
[5:08] $450 or as much as
[5:11] $4,500 now I like to be a little bit
[5:13] more conservative when valuing my
[5:15] frequent fly points so I typically value
[5:18] it at 1.5 per point because whilst it
[5:22] can be worth a lot more it's a lot
[5:24] harder to find business class reward
[5:26] seats let alone first class reward seats
[5:29] so in total when we add in the $200
[5:32] cashback offer the total value that we
[5:34] receive from the a andz frequent fly
[5:37] black card is approximately
[5:40] $1,550 the second factor to consider is
[5:43] the annual fee of the credit card every
[5:46] credit card that offers any type of
[5:48] rewards will typically have an annual
[5:50] fee that will need to be paid and
[5:52] generally speaking the higher the credit
[5:54] card sign up bonus the greater the
[5:56] annual fee the a andz black card for
[5:58] example has a an annual fee of
[6:01] $425 which can seem quite high if we
[6:04] look at that in isolation but when we
[6:07] look at how much value we'd be receiving
[6:09] from the sign up bonus you still end up
[6:12] ahead over
[6:13] $1,000 the third factor to consider is
[6:16] the minimum spend required to receive
[6:18] the sign up bonus every credit card has
[6:21] a minimum spend amount that you need to
[6:23] achieve usually within 90 days from
[6:26] activating your card ideally we want the
[6:29] minimum spend to be as low as possible
[6:32] this way we can meet that minimum spend
[6:34] easily within the 3 months or quicker
[6:37] remember the goal is to rinse and repeat
[6:39] with credit card churning so the quicker
[6:42] the better my word of advice when it
[6:44] comes to credit card churning is to not
[6:46] spend on things that you don't need just
[6:48] to meet the minimum spend criteria this
[6:51] is the Trap that Banks want you to fall
[6:53] into and this will actually negate the
[6:55] value that you receive from that sign up
[6:58] bonus later on in the video I'll share
[7:00] with you some tips that I've picked up
[7:02] along the way that make meeting your
[7:04] spend criteria really easy the last
[7:07] factor to consider is the waiting period
[7:10] nearly all banking institutions will
[7:12] have a policy where you can only receive
[7:14] the credit card signup bonus if you
[7:16] haven't held a similar card in the
[7:18] previous 12 months these policies can
[7:21] change between Banks so it's always
[7:23] important to read the terms and
[7:25] conditions and product disclosure
[7:27] statements a lot of banks whilst they
[7:29] operate operate under different names
[7:31] fall under the same parent company for
[7:33] example with the St George Platinum Card
[7:36] the policy states that if you're an
[7:37] existing customer who's held credit
[7:40] cards with St George Bank of Melbourne
[7:42] or Bank of South Australia you aren't
[7:45] eligible now I know sifting through all
[7:47] of this information can be a lot of work
[7:50] so here's a list of my favorite cards to
[7:52] sign up for which in my opinion are good
[7:55] options I've separated them all out
[7:58] based on the different typ types of sign
[8:00] up bonuses that you might be interested
[8:02] in so there should be something for
[8:04] everyone now it's important to note that
[8:06] sign up offers from credit card
[8:08] companies change all the time so in
[8:11] order to stay up to date with the latest
[8:13] credit card deals and offers I
[8:15] personally like using comparison sites
[8:17] like rewards.com which easily which
[8:20] summarizes all the points that we just
[8:22] went through alternatively you can use
[8:25] sites like finder.com or point.com or
[8:28] just watch some of the videos that I
[8:30] post regularly alternatively you can
[8:32] also sign up to my free Weekly
[8:34] Newsletter where I share the latest
[8:36] credit card updates and offers to my
[8:38] readers the next step in the process is
[8:41] to actually apply for the credit card
[8:43] now the application process is pretty
[8:45] straightforward and usually takes around
[8:47] 10 minutes you'll need some form of
[8:50] identification to verify your identity
[8:53] online which can come in the form of
[8:55] your driver's license and your Medicare
[8:57] card and proof of in income documents as
[9:00] well like your pay slips if everything
[9:02] is fine you'll usually be preapproved
[9:05] instantly with final approval coming
[9:07] between 1 to 5 business days after that
[9:10] the actual credit card usually arrives
[9:12] in the mail within five business days
[9:15] the third step is to actually begin
[9:17] using a credit card to meet the spend
[9:19] criteria remember I aim to meet my
[9:22] minimum spend criteria as quickly as
[9:24] possible if you can reach it within the
[9:27] first month of activating your card with
[9:29] just your usual spending habits then
[9:32] great but this isn't always achievable
[9:34] as more premium credit cards will
[9:36] typically have higher spend criterias
[9:39] attached to them and can be as high as
[9:42] $6,000 or more now $6,000 is a lot of
[9:46] money especially if you're single and
[9:48] trying to be frugal and not spend on
[9:51] unnecessary things now aside from doing
[9:53] the obvious and paying for everything
[9:55] using your credit card here are three
[9:58] tips that I've picked up along the way
[10:00] that help me meet my spend criteria and
[10:03] the last one is my favorite pay for your
[10:06] family's bills whenever my family have
[10:09] any bills due like their quarterly water
[10:11] bills electricity bills I always offer
[10:14] to pay for them now obviously my family
[10:16] members will always pay me back via bank
[10:19] transfer but by doing this method you
[10:21] can immediately slash off several $100
[10:25] of your minimum spend criteria for
[10:27] example my partner just recently paid
[10:29] off her mother's annual home insurance
[10:32] bill which is over
[10:34] $1,000 the great thing about these large
[10:37] quarterly bills is that most of the time
[10:39] I've also found that they don't actually
[10:41] charge any additional fees to pay them
[10:44] using a credit card as well now
[10:46] unfortunately sometimes not all bills
[10:48] and payments always accept credit card
[10:51] as a form of payments on top of this
[10:53] credit card companies often don't count
[10:56] specific payments toward your minimum
[10:58] spend criteria
[11:00] these typically will include payments to
[11:02] the ATO and bpay payments however you
[11:05] can get around this by using my second
[11:07] tip which is to leverage a thirdparty
[11:10] payment solution these are payment
[11:12] platforms like snip or rent pay which
[11:15] allows you to make payments for bills
[11:17] that typically don't accept credit cards
[11:19] as a form of payment all that might not
[11:22] typically be counted towards your
[11:24] minimum spend criteria using these
[11:26] Services essentially still allows you to
[11:28] use your credit card and have that
[11:30] payment count towards your minimum spend
[11:33] criteria however it is important to note
[11:35] that a lot of these third party payment
[11:37] platforms will typically have added fees
[11:40] on top so you'll need to weigh up in
[11:42] your own situation whether or not it's
[11:45] worth it to pay those additional fees if
[11:48] it's the difference between you actually
[11:50] meeting your spending criteria then I
[11:52] think it definitely might be worth
[11:54] considering and lastly my personal
[11:56] favorite is buying gift cards this this
[11:59] is the method that I always use to meet
[12:01] my spend criteria essentially the
[12:03] strategy is to pre purchase gift cards
[12:06] at places where you know you'll be
[12:08] shopping in the future for example you
[12:10] can pre purchase gift cards to use at
[12:13] Kohl's and WW worths you're going to be
[12:15] buying groceries in the future anyway so
[12:18] it's not like you're spending money on
[12:20] something that you otherwise wouldn't
[12:22] these gift cards can even be purchased
[12:24] at a slight discount through sites like
[12:26] shopback cash rewards and mcari Market
[12:29] Place alternatively another great method
[12:32] is to actually buy Vanilla Visa or
[12:34] MasterCard gift cards from warw worths
[12:37] or calls when they're running promotions
[12:40] during these promotional periods you can
[12:42] earn bonus everyday reward points or
[12:45] flyby points these points can then be
[12:47] redeemed as everyday or fly by dollars
[12:50] and used to offset your next grocery
[12:52] shop or actually be transferred to
[12:55] Velocity or the quantis frequent flyer
[12:57] program at a rate of 2 one for example
[13:00] assuming ww worths or KES is running a
[13:03] promotion for 10x points per dollar
[13:05] spend on Vanilla gift cards by
[13:08] purchasing a $500 gift card you would
[13:11] earn 5,000 everyday reward points or fly
[13:15] byy points this is worth $25 to spend in
[13:18] store at Kohl's or Woolworths or can be
[13:21] transferred for $2,500 quantis or
[13:25] velocity points now remember what we
[13:27] talked about before early earlier in the
[13:29] video each Quantas point is worth
[13:32] approximately at least 1.5 per point
[13:36] which gives you an approximate value of
[13:39] $37.50 now in order to charge the card
[13:42] there is a $7 loading fee that you'll
[13:44] need to pay but regardless whether or
[13:47] not you choose to use those points to
[13:49] offset your next shop or transfer them
[13:51] across to a frequent fly program you're
[13:54] always going to end up ahead a good side
[13:57] to check to know when these promot ions
[13:59] are running are freep points.com auu
[14:02] these preloaded gift cards essentially
[14:04] act as debit cards so you can use them
[14:07] anywhere you can use a debit card I
[14:09] personally use these cards to make my
[14:11] tax payments towards the ATO the final
[14:14] step in the process is to receive your
[14:17] sign up bonus and then cancel your card
[14:19] once you've met the minimum spend
[14:21] criteria it can take between 10 to 15
[14:24] business days for those bonus points to
[14:26] land in your account once you've
[14:29] received your bonus points then go ahead
[14:31] and make sure you pay off your credit
[14:33] card in full making sure that there's no
[14:35] remaining balance and then call up your
[14:38] bank over the phone and then request to
[14:40] cancel the card at the same time whilst
[14:42] you're on the phone I always ask for a
[14:45] pro Rider refund on my annual fee since
[14:48] I've only used the credit card for 2 to
[14:50] 3 months and the annual fee is meant to
[14:53] cover the full year I try and make a
[14:56] case to get a pro Rider refund this
[14:58] method method isn't always guaranteed to
[15:00] work as a lot of the banks are now
[15:03] getting stter on refunds but here's an
[15:06] example of me getting a full refund on
[15:08] my A&Z freaken fly Black Card of
[15:12] $375 if you are successful in getting a
[15:15] refund then you'll typically receive a
[15:18] check or a bank deposit in your
[15:20] nominated bank account which may take up
[15:22] to 2 weeks to arrive or be processed
[15:25] once you've successfully canceled your
[15:27] card then You' basically completed the
[15:30] process and now you can go back to step
[15:32] one and start the process all over again
[15:35] and that's basically the credit card
[15:37] training process in a nutshell all right
[15:39] so next let's go into some frequently
[15:42] asked questions that I always receive
[15:44] whenever I talk about this topic does
[15:46] opening and closing too many credit
[15:48] cards hurt your credit score I always
[15:51] get this question in my comments and the
[15:54] short answer to this is no I've been
[15:57] credit card tring for nearly a decade
[15:59] now and my current credit score with
[16:01] Equifax is 980 and with Experian it's
[16:05] 830 which both puts me in the excellent
[16:09] category most people who ask this
[16:11] question tend to not understand how
[16:13] credit scores even work so let me share
[16:16] with you some insights based on my own
[16:18] personal experiences from opening and
[16:21] closing credit cards for the better part
[16:23] of 10 years how your credit score is
[16:26] determined is based on three main
[16:28] factors your repayment history credit
[16:31] inquiries and credit history with each
[16:33] of them having different weightings
[16:35] towards your credit score making your
[16:37] monthly repayments on time and in full
[16:40] will help boost your credit score whilst
[16:43] missed payments decreases it a strong
[16:46] repayment history is crucial to
[16:48] achieving a high credit score because it
[16:51] makes up roughly 60% of your total
[16:54] credit score secondly your inquiry
[16:56] frequency or the recentness of your
[16:59] credit inquiries can have an impact on
[17:01] your overall credit score as well every
[17:04] time you apply for a loan or credit the
[17:07] financial institution will pull up your
[17:09] credit report to evaluate their risk
[17:12] profile to lend you money this is what
[17:14] is called a hard inquiry each hard
[17:17] inquiry will negatively impact your
[17:20] credit score whilst on the other hand
[17:22] closing your credit card will actually
[17:24] increase your credit score which is why
[17:27] I always close down my credit card
[17:29] before applying for a new one because it
[17:32] helps offset the decrease that I'll
[17:34] receive from that hard inquiry the good
[17:37] thing is that inquiries only make up
[17:39] around 30% of your overall credit score
[17:42] lastly with your credit history having
[17:45] an extended credit history with one
[17:47] credit card can look favorable for the
[17:50] bank this shows them that you can
[17:52] properly manage your debts and so I
[17:54] always like to have one credit card open
[17:56] at all times which I call for my keeper
[17:59] card this is a card that I essentially
[18:02] never close and this essentially shows
[18:04] lenders that I have a good track record
[18:06] of staying with one provider for a long
[18:09] period of time and as an added benefit I
[18:12] can use this credit card as a fallback
[18:14] when I'm in between Ching credit cards
[18:17] any negative history like defaults or
[18:19] overdue payments will negatively impact
[18:22] your credit score here but overall this
[18:24] component only makes up around 10% of
[18:27] your credit score how how long should
[18:29] you wait to close a credit card after
[18:32] receiving your sign up bonus another
[18:34] very common question that I get asked is
[18:36] when should you cancel your card once
[18:38] you have received your sign up bonus do
[18:41] you cancel it straight away wait another
[18:44] month and should you apply for another
[18:46] card before you cancel this one the
[18:49] general rule of thumb that I always have
[18:51] is that you should always cancel your
[18:53] card before signing up for another card
[18:56] and the sooner a credit card is
[18:57] cancelled the sooner another application
[19:00] can be made for another credit card
[19:03] which ultimately allows you to turn a
[19:05] greater number of credit cards
[19:06] throughout the year if you're just
[19:08] starting out with credit card churning
[19:10] then I would recommend to churn between
[19:13] 3 to four credit cards a year so say you
[19:16] opened a new credit card in January
[19:18] you'd want to wait a total of 3 months
[19:21] before opening your second card in April
[19:24] and then another 3 months before opening
[19:26] another card in July and then finally
[19:29] open your last card in November this way
[19:32] you have the full 3 months to meet your
[19:34] spend criteria so you don't have to
[19:36] overstretch yourself from a spending
[19:39] perspective and once you receive your
[19:41] signup bonus feel free to cancel the
[19:43] card immediately does the sign up bonus
[19:46] expire if you close your credit card now
[19:49] this depends on the sign up bonus that
[19:51] you receive if you're earning frequent
[19:53] fly points like quantis or velocity then
[19:56] no the bonus points will not expire
[19:59] however it is important to knowe that
[20:01] your contest and velocity points do
[20:04] expire if your account has been inactive
[20:07] for more than 3 years and you haven't
[20:09] earned any points in that period of time
[20:12] now when it comes to sign up bonuses
[20:14] that award you with bank specific reward
[20:17] programs like American Express or City
[20:19] bank then yes these points can expire
[20:23] for example with American Express once
[20:25] you close your credit card and you don't
[20:28] have any remaining credit cards with
[20:30] American Express then you have 30
[20:32] business days to use your reward points
[20:35] or they'll expire each bank will have
[20:38] different terms but generally they will
[20:40] allow you a period of time to actually
[20:42] spend your points before they expire
[20:45] after canceling your credit card but my
[20:47] advice is to always spend all of your
[20:50] bank specific Reward Points before you
[20:52] cancel the card and that guys is
[20:55] everything that I had to share with you
[20:57] in today's video if you've made it this
[20:59] far in the video then thank you so much
[21:02] drop me a comment with the word travel
[21:04] down below so I know you've made it this
[21:07] far and if you've enjoyed the video or
[21:09] learned anything new then make sure to
[21:11] hit that like button down below because
[21:14] it really does help out the channel and
[21:16] consider subscribing for more for more
[21:18] credit card related content in the
[21:20] future next if you're interested in how
[21:22] you can actually book business class
[21:24] reward flights using credit card points
[21:27] then you might want to check out this
[21:29] video right here