What Card Should You Apply for Next?

I get this question all the time. So please read.

Let's assume you have a couple of cards and you have a credit score over 700+, now you can look into churning.

Step 1: Make sure your under 5/24. That means approved for under 5 cards in the past 24 months. (How to check? Go into Credit Karma and see card open date for every card you have)

Step 2: Decide if you want Travel or Statement Credit.

Step 3: If you decide travel think which airline or air alliance.

Only then you look at the cards. Otherwise it's just overwhelming with the amount of cards available.

Some ideal* examples for travel: If you're living in Denver, Houston think: United Explorer

If you're Dallas, Charlotte think: AA Card

Ideal means its nice to have. I have had a lot of luck still with all 3 alliances.

So let's assume you start you churning journey in Jan 2025, here's what your next 5 years should look like assuming SUB and card fees stay the same. This is assuming you value travel more than getting statement credit.

Year	Month	Card Name	Issuer	SUB	AF	x/24
2025	Jan	Chase United Explorer Card	Chase	60K miles	$95	1/24
2025	May	Chase Sapphire Preferred	Chase	80–100K UR points	$95	2/24
2025	Jul	Citi® / AAdvantage Platinum Select	Citi	60K miles	$99	3/24
2026	May	Capital One Venture Rewards	Capital One	75K miles	$95	4/24
2026	Jul	Marriott Bonvoy Boundless	Chase	100K points + FN certs	$95	5/24
2026	Oct	Amex Marriott Business	Amex	3 FN (150K points)	$125	5/24
2027	Jan	Chase United℠ Explorer Card (repeat)	Chase	60K miles	$95	5/24
2027	Mar	American Express® Platinum	Amex	150+K MR points	$695	5/24
2027	Jul	Hyatt® (World of Hyatt Card)	Chase	60K miles + FN certs	$95	4/24
2027	Oct	Citi Aadvantage Business	Citi	60K miles	$99	4/24
2028	Mar	Chase Freedom Unlimited	Chase	30K miles	$0	5/24
2028	May	American Airlines AAdvantage® Aviator® Red	Barclays	60K miles	$99	5/24
2028	Aug	Amex Hilton Business	Amex	175K points	$195	5/24
2029	Jan	Chase United℠ Explorer Card (repeat)	Chase	60K miles	$95	5/24
2029	Mar	Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Amex	Amex	75K miles	$250	6/24
2029	May	Chase Sapphire Preferred (repeat)	Chase	80–100K UR points	$95	5/24
2029	Jul	Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select (repeat)	Citi	60K miles	$99	5/24
2030	Jul	Capital One Venture Rewards (repeat)	Capital One	75K miles	$95	4/25

This incorporates the best strategy at this time for churning. It does include business credit cards as well. It's not hard to open an LLC just for sign up bonuses (SUB). It's also a very inexpensive and quick process. As long as you just stick to getting SUB with miles and points and NOT cash, you should be fine when it comes to taxes. As far as I can find: IRS Notice 2008-64, which states that "bonus miles or points" could be considered taxable as income if they are provided without any associated spending requirement.

So any credit card that has a minimum spend requirement for the SUB qualifies. I could be wrong so you do your own research.

As you can see - we hit repeated bonuses. THIS is the way to maximise rewards. I've made another post on why SUB is the way to go than the what card to use for what purchase strategy.