Deals Seeker: Which Credit Cards Should I sign Up For? Step By Step Instructions

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This blog post was inspired by Yisroel's question on the Dansdeals facebook group. Here is his question:

"What would you recommend to someone opening their first credit cards? They already have excellent credit and are primarily looking for the best rewarding cards or best bonuses for signing up."

Rule of thumb: Chose 1 personal and 1 business card from each bank. You can "churn" every three months. But make sure to watch your credit score, which you can do for free with CreditSesame or CreditKarma. (my referral links).

The term "churn" used to mean that one would reapply for the same credit card (after having cancelled it) to receive the bonus again. Today, the word "churn" is used more loosely and is now also understood to mean signing up for lots of credit cards at the same time (the same day). Here, I will use it in its latter meaning.

When churning, make sure to sign up for the credit cards on the same day. This way, the banks won't see all the requests you are making to all of the other banks. If they do see them, you will look like a risk to them, needing so much credit and might be denied. Wait 3 months, check your credit score and sign up again. Rinse and repeat.
Don't have a business, but would like a business card? No problem, as long as you sell items or are considering selling items on eBay, you can use your social security number. Be honest when revealing how much your business makes, if it's zero, then write zero.
If you already have a frequent flier number with the bank, you can chose to add the miles/points to that frequent flier account, by entering that number on the application. If you don't, they will assign you a new frequent flier number.
New credit cards are made available all the time and new offers pop up. If an amazing offer is made available for a limited amount of time, check your credit score and if all is well, jump at it! In the miles and points game, you snooze, you lose!

These are my recommendations for some great churns:

1st Churn:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa Signature - 40k sign up bonus after spending $3,000 within the first three months. This card earns you 2 points per dollar on dining and travel and has no foreign transaction fees. After 1 year, get rid of this card and place your dining expenditures on the Chase Ink Cash Business Card and hotel expenditures on the Chase Ink Bold or the Chase Ink℠ Classic Business.
Chase Ink Bold - 50k bonus points, 25k after first purchase and the remainder 25k after you spend $10,000 within the first three months. You will pay the $95 annual fee on this business card every year, since you will need to be able to gather all of your Chase points in one place and transfer them to Chase's transfer partners. The transfer partners are United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Korean Air, British Airways, Amtrak, Marriott Rewards, Hyatt, Ritz Carlton Rewards and Priority Club. You will place your hotel and gas spend on this card for the 2 points per dollar it earns. Earn 5 points per dollar at Office Supplies Stores and communications. This card has no foreign transaction fees, so use it worldwide.
US Airways Barclay's Premier World MasterCard - 60k sign up, 40k after first purchase or balance transfer, 10k on every anniversary, up to 10k bonus miles on balance transfers in the first 90 days of account opening. Annual fee is $89 which is waived the first year. Receive up to two $99 companion tickets annually and one complimentary US Airways Club day pass annually. Will receive 2 companion tickets every year for $99 plus taxes, each. Receive One complimentary US Airways Club® day pass every year, awards start at 20,000 miles instead of 25,000 miles, giving you reduced mileage awards. You also can get a hit with the US Airways Grand Slam by using this card (ignore me if this is Chinese to you, it's not important!)

Required Spending: 13,000 within first 3 months Go to an Office Depot with your Chase Ink Bold in hand (one time every month) and spend a third of the required $10,000 on vanilla reload cards. Load your American Express prepaid card(s) with the Vanilla Reloads. For each purchase, throw in a small item, ensuring that all the purchases look different to Chase. If you place the entire $10,000 all at once, this might look suspicious to Chase and they could close down your account. These cards are not in every Office Depot and are difficult to find in the NY/NJ area. I finally found some at the Office Depot, south of Monsey, NY. Then once loaded, use your American Express Prepaid Card for all your spend. I will soon be writing a step by step tutorial on how to do this, but in the meantime read FrequentMiler's post, "One Card To Rule Them All" on the subject.

Homework: Before your next credit card sign up: open a Chase Checking Account and earn $150-$200. This will prepare you for when you sign up for the Chase Freedom.

2nd Churn:

Use the 3 browser trick for these three Citibank credit cards. This is for new cardholders. Open 3 different browsers (ie Chrome, FireFox & Internet Explorer) with the links provided, fill in the forms (I use Lastpass for all my form filling) and click on Apply Now, one right after the other. Hopefully, you will get instant approvals for all three. You can call the reconsideration line if you didn't get instant approvals at 1-888-201-4523. According to commentators on the points guy's blog, these links still work.

Citi Platinum Select AAdvantage Visa Signature - earn 50k American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles and $100 statement credit, 40k after spending $2,000 within 4 months of card membership. Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $5,000 during the first 12 months of card membership.
Citi AAdvantage Select American Express Card - earn 50k American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles and $100 statement credit, 40k after spending $2,000 within 4 months of card membership. Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $5,000 during the first 12 months of card membership.
Citibusiness Aadvantage Visa Card - earn 50k American Airlines AAdvantage® bonus miles and $100 statement credit, 40k after spending $2,000 within 4 months of card membership. Earn an additional 10,000 AAdvantage® bonus miles after spending $5,000 during the first 12 months of card membership.
Chase Freedom - Sign Up Bonus is either $100 cash back or 10,000 points when you spend $500 within the first three months. You will be able to transfer the points to your Chase Ink Bold or Chase Sapphire Preferred Card account. You will get this card to earn points for purchases in the US under $11 and for the 5x rotating categories per quarter up to $1,500 (earning you 7,500 miles); with Chase Checking one gets Chase Exclusives where one earns 10 bonus points per transaction and 10% of bonus points when using the Freedom card. Use only in the US since this card has foreign transaction fees.
Chase Ink Cash℠ Business Card - 25k sign up bonus for $5,000 spend in 3 months Use this card for when you no longer have the Chase Sapphire Preferred and place the dining expenditures and gas expenditures on this card to earn 2 points per dollar. Earn 5 points per dollar at Office Supplies Stores and communications. No annual fee.

Required Spending: $11,500 within 4 months, and an additional $9,000 (from my understanding) within the first 12 months.

3rd Churn:

Chase Sapphire Preferred World MasterCard - 40k sign up bonus after spending $3,000 within the first three months. This card earns you 2 points per dollar on dining and travel and has no foreign transaction fees. After 1 year, get rid of this card and place your dining expenditures on the Chase Ink Cash Business Card and hotel expenditures on the Chase Ink Bold or the Chase Ink℠ Classic Business. If you are questioned as to why you need another Sapphire Preferred Card, mention the great World MasterCard benefits you would like.
Chase Ink℠ Classic Business - 25k sign up bonus points for $5,000 spend in 3 months. You will place all of your hotel expenditures on this card when you no longer have the Chase Sapphire Preferred. You will earn 2 points per dollar on these expenditures along with the gas category. Earn 5 points per dollar at Office Supplies Stores and communications. This card is a keeper since there is no annual fee.
Starwood Preferred Guest From American Express - One receives 25K sign up bonus Starpoints for $5,000 spend in 6 months; annual fee is $65 after the first year. This card comes with a 2.7% foreign transaction fee and one receive 5,000 Starpoints each approved referral one makes. You can keep this card to take advantage of the Amex promotions or you could just keep the business card to take advantage of the many American Expresses promotions, since with that card you also get OPEN Savings.
Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card From American Express - One receives 25K sign up bonus Starpoints for $5,000 spend in 6 months; annual fee is $65 after the first year. This card comes with a 2.7% foreign transaction fee and one receive 5,000 Starpoints each approved referral one makes. This business card is an American Express Card with OPEN Savings for up to 10% off at certain merchants. I would use this card for anything that would earn me 10% Off, like OfficeMax or FedEx Office. Keep this card for the many authorized users you will get for American Express Promotions, including "Small Business Saturday", which will be coming up in November. The first year you will receive as many authorized user cards as you wish. After that, it will incur a $50 fee, but for that you can get as many authorized user cards as you wish. This also applies to the business card.

Required Spending: $83,000 within the first 3 months and $10,000 being in the first 6 months.

Future Churns: Possibly these cards, but we will see what offers are available.

US Airways Barclay’s Dividend Miles MasterCard
Business Gold Rewards Card® from American Express OPEN
British Airways by Visa Signature Card by Chase
United Mileage Plus Explorer Card
Blue Cash Preferred Card from American Express
Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Business Credit Card
Do you want a hotel credit card? Chose from here.

I am not promising that all these links work.I do not promise that you will get the precise miles listed in this post. You need to verify things for yourself before making any decisions. I do not get any referral fees from these sign ups. Better than using my links, use links of your favorite bloggers that have saved you money or that you have learned from.

Read here to learn:
How Can I Get Free Hotel Stays? Which credit cards can I sign up for to receive Free Hotel Stays?

Any day now, I will be making a churn of my own and I will let you know what cards I signed up for. Which cards will you be signing up for? What are your favorite credit cards and why?

Soon to come: How I made tons of miles with charity spend!