Credit card churning occurs when you frequently open and close credit card accounts to earn sign-up bonuses. On the surface, it sounds like a great deal for the ambitious consumer, but don’t get too excited — you must consider several drawbacks. Naturally, the credit card companies frown on churning and try to prevent it. The practice is simple to execute, at least in theory. You pick a card that offers a nice sign-up bonus but doesn’t charge a high annual fee (which would reduce the incentive for churning the card). You then use the card for the following three months to earn, collect, and redeem the sign-up bonus, after which you close the account sometime within the first year — to avoid paying another annual fee, if applicable. If it sounds too simple to be true, you’re right. Credit card issuers caught on pretty quickly and instituted rules to make churning much harder. For example, consider the two Chase Sapphire cards, both of which offer generous sign-up bonuses. Chase allows you the bonus from one of the cards if you don’t currently own either, and if you haven’t received a welcome bonus from either card in the past 48 months.