Ever since the Synchrony Cathay Pacific card launched one thing that has always been asked in the comments is if the sign up bonus is churnable or not. We now have at least two data points of people getting the bonus multiple times: 1, 2, 3, It’s not 100% clear if you need to wait a set time between bonuses to get the bonus a second time but I do think you need to have closed your existing card before being eligible for a second card. If anybody has any other data points I’d love to see them in the comments below.
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How many Asia Miles are they offering now for a new sign up? Can someone please point me to a link for signing up? Thanks
Opened August 2017, closed July 2018. Just now applied again with instant approval for $7600cl.
P2 same but with an $8000cl.
Just when we were getting within sight of 5/24.
How did you guys close the account? Did you use the “Chat Now” feature? Or, secured message? Thanks!
When I closed mine I think it was an option on a drop down menu from the main page. “Close account”. I clicked and probably had to confirm and that was it. By far the easiest closure ever.
After doing that I decided that Synchrony is one of the best banks to do business with ever. It almost made me feel bad to close the account. Almost.
I can confirm another instance of churn. Cancelled card mid-Nov 2018. Applied for new card late Feb 2019, hoping to get 90k miles offer. No joy on 90k, but approved for a 40k mile offer.
So I currently have Asia Miles account. I plan to apply for the card again. My question is, would my new application create a new Asia Miles account? Wondering about this.
I am tempted but , I feel like I need a plan to acquire enough miles for redemption before starting since the miles expire in two or three years similar to Krisflyer miles . Knowing the card can be churned makes it more likely that I could accumulate enough miles before they start expiring . SEA-HKG-BKK round trip in Biz in our future now! As always , thanks again DOC!
another dp: i got approved again within 5 months of closing previous card https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv-cathay-pacific-synchrony-credit-card-90000-mile-bonus/#comment-718649
did you end up getting the bonus for the 2nd card
havent quite met spend yet, i’ll update on that post when i do
Did you end up getting the bonus?
Hey Dan, we’re all curious here: did you get the bonus?! 😀
Well, it was before this was posted…
I don’t know if it’s 100% true, with only a couple data points, but I’ll take one for the team on this. I got the card back in 2017, closed it out before the start of 2018. So it has been a minimum of 13 months since I had the card. I just applied and was instantly approved. Another data point on this, I’m at 21 inquiries in the past 24mo, and they did pull TransUnion (my TU shows 21/24). I have at 7 new cards from the last 3 months as well, so if they’re inquiry sensitive it doesn’t really seem like it. And if they’re new account sensitive, I guess they’re fine with 7 in the past 90 days.
40k bonus isn’t great when there’s a $95AF, but I need some flights between asian countries for next year and at 7500 miles each, it gets my whole family from point A to point B for $95 on Cathay Pacific in economy, so that’s worth $95 to me.
Once I meet the minimum spend, if I ever get the 40k bonus, I will update/reply to this comment I’m leaving. Please note that if I never respond to this comment, it means I never got the bonus. Wishing myself luck.
I just got my card in the mail today, nothing in the paperwork explicitly states a bonus. I activated the card and used the Live Chat to ask what bonus offer was attached to my account and they stated 40k after $2k spend in 90 days, which is what it should be. Now, whether I get the bonus is the last part of the story. I will try to remember to update this one way or the other, but again if I don’t, it means I never got the bonus.
UPDATE 4/4/19 — The 40k bonus has posted, so this card is indeed churnable. Whether there is a time-frame you have to wait, and how long the wait may be, is up for debate – I waited a little over 13 months after closing, before applying again. So if there IS a time frame, 13 months meets the requirements thus it’s either <=13 months or there isn't one.
Was recently denied the card for two many recent inquiries. I was 20/24 with 740 score.
Good data point. But, you know you can get rid of the inquiries, right? There’s less risk disputing inquiries than there is churning cards, that’s for sure. If you’re going to play the game, might as well play it to the hilt.
I never knew you can dispute inquires
It used to be easy to just call and dispute, but not anymore. Now it typically requires placing a fraud alert on the report, and then disputing the inquiries as fraud. Once deleted, you can then remove the fraud alert, and resume normal activity.
Keep in mind that some people consider this to be unethical. Also, there’s a chance that a lender that you otherwise still do business with could get suspicious, and overreact. But, that’s only ever happened to me with Chex inquiries. Some small banks or CU’s will get miffed and have you re-verify if you mess with their inquiry.
Conversely, with credit inquires… it seems like companies cannot be bothered to keep the left hand and the right hand in unison. So, the inquiry dispute is basically just something that no real person ever actually looks at, particularly if it’s a big bank.
The point is that I’ve never had any issues, although I’m over 5/24 by some amount. But, if I was going to start gaming really hard, I could certainly obtain a lot more cards. I just don’t want to deal with the inevitable fallout, of potential adverse action — from having too many new accounts, debt pyramiding, or just having the score drop from reducing the average age of accounts.
So, I keep my reports clean just to keep my score up, so that, when I actually do need something, I’m not the least bit worried about getting approved.
speaking of unethical, this is actually fraud.
Obtaining credit in someone else’s name is fraud. Fraud is doing something negative using someone else’s credentials.
Conversely, credit repair alone is not fraud. Merely using loopholes within the statutes to the fullest extent — is just the kind of thing that well-educated people do.
It’s very rational to take charge of one’s own credit file… since it’s technically yours. The banks and credit bureaus would like to own people, but they don’t own people that are smart enough to take ownership of their own financial dissemination.
Just because someone else wants to report something about you – doesn’t mean you have to allow it, particularly if it’s not considered negative. Do you report to the credit bureau when you loan money to a friend? Why not? Perhaps because it’s not required.
Do utilities report to credit bureaus? Why not? There are a lot of things wrong and missing with credit reporting. But, taking control of your own credit is not one of them.
Fraud is “wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain”. You seem disconnected from reality.