• Episode 28: Churning & Taxes
    Sep 19 2024

    This is the long awaited tax episode! In this episode I have a special guest Tonei Glavinic, who is a tax professional and long-time churner. We do a deep dive into taxes on reselling and manufactured spending for miles and points, discuss how various methods of earning points should be treated, and also discuss tax ethics and tax-preparer responsibility.

    To connect with Tonei, visit their website https://travelhackertaxes.com/. You can also find them in the Slack :)

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    45 mins
  • Episode 27: August Recap - 9,500 Echos & Bank of America Issues
    Sep 11 2024

    This was another breakout month for me as I was able to take full advantage of the best Echo Dot sale of the year. My wife had some issues with BoA and I have been rethinking my MS strategies going forward. Good luck to everyone with iPhones this Friday!

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    21 mins
  • Episode 26: July Recap - Prime Day (Summer Black Friday) & A Trip To Cabo
    Aug 17 2024

    This month was a big month for buying groups with a lot of Amazon deals for Prime Day. On the travel side I talk about a quick trip to Cabo to visit the Waldorf Astoria and my experience with Starlink internet.

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    36 mins
  • Episode 25: Back To The Basics Part 1
    Jul 26 2024

    This is a beginner focused episode and is part one of a two part series: Part one is focused on the making money side of churning and part two will be more geared towards points and award travel. Topics include a rundown of the credit card issuers to start churning sign-up bonuses with, some basic methods for manufactured spending, and the types of skills that a churner should develop.

    Amex:

    • Can hold up to 5 credit cards at a time.
    • Can hold up to 10 charge (pay over time) cards at a time.
    • Maximum of 2 credit card approvals every 90 days (2/90). No restriction on charge cards.
    • Only one approval per product every 90 days (1/90). Upgrades and downgrades don't count.
    • Must keep a card open for 12 months to avoid clawback of the sign-up bonus.

    Chase:

    • You can't get approved for any credit card if you have had more than 4 personal card approvals in the last 24 months - stay at less than 5 (5/24).
    • There's no hard limit, but there tends to be a max of 3-4 ink business cards before they won't approve any more.

    US Bank:

    • Applications made on the same day will only have one hard pull (most of the time).
    • LLCs can help scale duplicate applications.

    Bank of America:

    • Applications within 30 days will only have one hard pull.
    • LLCs can help scale duplicate applications.

    Amazon:

    • Accounts need to be well-seasoned (6-12 months is ideal).
    • Up to 3 accounts can make the same order with the same credit card every 7 days.
    • One prime account can add one additional household member account and up to 6 teen accounts that share prime benefits (teens must still be seasoned).
    • Address jig is not required, but if you don't jig then you can't get a refund for lost items.

    Walmart:

    • Accounts need to be somewhat seasoned.
    • It helps to avoid changing payment methods prior to making large orders.
    • Limits reset overnight (usually limited to two orders per day of the same product).
    • Hard to get a refund for missing items.

    Best Buy:

    • No seasoning required.
    • Once a credit card has had a canceled order, that card will no longer work.
    • Limits reset every 24 hours.
    • Very hard to buy apple products and streaming sticks.
    • Hard to get a refund for missing items.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 24: June Recap - $11,484 - 7,900 Echos & More Best Buy
    Jul 12 2024

    The 12th monthly recap episode! Echo dots went on sale again and I had success with some smaller buying groups, which made for another great month. This episode also has a mini-trip report to Colorado to visit the Rocky Mountain National Park.

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    41 mins
  • Episode 23: Guatemala & WA Beverly Hills
    Jul 3 2024

    A quick episode to recap our trips to LA to visit Universal Studios Hollywood and a week-long trip to Guatemala.

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    23 mins
  • Episode 22: May Recap - $23,465 - Ordering 6,300 Echo Dots
    Jun 6 2024

    This was another breakout month for me for buying groups as I was able to order over $200k worth of product, mostly from echo dots. I am very happy with the automation tools that I've set up for BGs and hoping for more deals like this in the future!

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    28 mins
  • Episode 21: Churning & Getting Into Advantage Play
    May 17 2024

    In this episode I chat with a member of the Slack on how one might be able to leverage churning skills towards other "AP" ventures such as sports betting and casino games.

    Resources discussed in the episode:

    • Risk of Ruin podcast
    • Circles Off podcast
    • The Unabated Podcast
    • Be Better Bettors podcast
    • Gamberly (message to get into the Discord)
    • Betbash conference


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    48 mins