Updated July 2026.
The plain-English glossary for credit card churning: 63 terms and the shorthand you will see on forums and in our guides, each linked to the guide that goes deeper. Jump to a letter:
0-9
- 2/30 rule
- Chase declines you for opening more than 2 Chase cards in any rolling 30 days. See the 2/30 rule.
- 48-month rule
- Citi (on its AAdvantage cards) and Capital One (across each Venture family) make a card bonus-eligible only 48 months after your last bonus on it. Since September 2026, Citi’s Strata cards are once per lifetime instead. See the Citi 48-month rule.
- 5/24 rule
- Chase blocks most approvals once your credit report shows 5 or more new cards in 24 months. See the 5/24 rule.
A
- Annual fee (AF)
- The yearly charge to keep a card open. Churners weigh it against the bonus and perks and often downgrade before the second one posts.
- App-o-rama (AOR)
- Applying for several cards in one short window to limit how many hard pulls each issuer sees. Less effective now that issuers read real-time bureau data.
- Someone added to another person’s card. AU accounts can build credit history, but they also count toward Chase 5/24.
- Award chart
- A table of how many points a redemption costs. Some programs publish one; others price awards dynamically. The Hyatt chart is a churner favorite.
- Award space
- Seats an airline releases for booking with miles. A seat has to be bookable before any transfer makes sense, and programs price the same seat differently. See the finding award space guide.
- AZEO (all zero except one)
- A score tactic where only one card reports a small balance and every other card reports zero, which can nudge your score up before you apply.
B
- Bank account churning
- Opening checking or savings accounts for cash bonuses instead of card bonuses. See bank account churning.
- Bilt Rewards
- A program that earns transferable points on rent with no fee. See Bilt Rewards.
- Bonus (welcome offer, SUB)
- The points, miles, or cash a card pays after you hit minimum spend. The main reason to open a card. See minimum spend.
- Business card
- A card opened under a business, including a sole proprietorship. Most do not report to personal credit, so they skip 5/24. See business cards and 5/24.
- Bust-out score
- A licensed risk model that estimates the odds an account is being run up before abandonment; community reporting ties some shutdown waves to these scores. You cannot see yours. See the shutdown risk guide.
C
- Cash back
- Rewards paid as money or statement credit rather than transferable points.
- Category bonus
- Extra points on specific spend such as dining, groceries, or travel.
- Churn-worthy
- A card whose bonus clearly beats the annual fee and the effort to open, meet spend, and later cancel or downgrade.
- Churning
- Opening cards mainly to earn welcome bonuses, then downgrading or canceling. The whole subject of this site; start with the churning guide.
- Companion pass
- An airline benefit that flies a second person for just taxes and fees. Southwest’s is the most chased; from 2027 it is earned with tier qualifying points (3 trips at 95,000, unlimited at Platinum).
- Credit limit
- The maximum balance a card allows. Issuers may move a limit from an old card to a new one.
- Credit score
- The number lenders use to judge risk. Churning’s effect is usually small and short-lived. See the score impact.
- Credit utilization
- The share of your available credit in use. Lower helps your score. See how many cards is too many.
D
- Data point (DP)
- One person’s reported result, like an approval at 6/24. Churners pool data points to map unpublished rules.
- Downgrade / product change
- Switching a card to a cheaper version in the same family instead of canceling, which keeps your account age and credit line. See how to downgrade.
- Dynamic pricing
- Award costs that float with cash prices instead of following a fixed chart.
F
- Falloff
- The month a card stops counting toward a rule like 5/24, 24 months after it was opened. The 5/24 calculator shows yours.
- Foreign transaction fee (FTF)
- A surcharge, often 3 percent, on purchases abroad. Most travel cards waive it.
- Free night certificate
- A hotel award night a card grants at renewal, often capped at a points value.
H
- Hard pull (hard inquiry)
- A lender’s credit check when you apply. It can ding your score briefly and stays on your report for 2 years. See hard inquiries.
I
- Issuer
- The bank behind a card, such as Chase or Amex. Each sets its own rules; compare them in the rules tracker.
K
- Keep-or-cancel
- The renewal decision when an annual fee is due: keep, downgrade, ask for a retention offer, or cancel.
M
- Manufactured spending (MS)
- Buying cash-like products such as gift cards or money orders to hit minimum spend without real expenses. Higher risk; see manufactured spending.
- Married segment
- Partner award engines price an itinerary as a single unit, so a segment that is bookable on its own can refuse to price inside a longer routing. Community shorthand for that pricing behavior. See the finding award space guide.
- Membership Rewards (MR)
- Amex’s transferable points currency. See Amex transfer partners.
- Mile
- An airline’s points currency, earned directly or by transfer from a card program.
- Minimum spend (MSR)
- The amount you must spend within a set window to earn a card’s bonus. See meet minimum spend.
O
- Organic spend
- Everyday purchases you would make anyway, used to meet minimum spend.
P
- P2 (Player 2)
- Your partner in two-player mode, who opens their own cards and refers you for extra bonuses.
- PC (product change)
- Short for product change. See Downgrade.
- Peak and off-peak pricing
- Seasonal award pricing that charges more when demand is high. Hyatt retired its version on May 20, 2026 in favor of 5 fixed price tiers per category. See the Hyatt award chart guide.
- Phantom space
- An award seat that shows in a partner program’s search results but fails at booking: it appears on 1 partner site only, errors out at payment, or vanishes when segments are searched separately. See the finding award space guide.
- Points
- Flexible card currency you can transfer to partners or redeem directly. Compare paths in the transfer partner finder.
- Pop-up jail
- Amex’s eligibility pop-up that warns, before you apply, that you will not get the welcome bonus. See pop-up jail.
- Positioning flight
- A separate, usually cheap ticket that carries you to the city where a valuable award itinerary begins. Because it sits on its own booking record, the buffer between tickets is the main decision. See the positioning flights guide.
R
- Reconsideration (recon line)
- Calling the issuer to ask a person to review a denied or pending application. See the reconsideration line.
- Redemption
- Cashing points or miles in for travel or other value. Gauge it with the bonus value calculator.
- Referral bonus
- Points you earn when someone applies through your card’s referral link. See referral bonuses.
- Rent Day
- Bilt’s monthly promotion day, which has included elevated transfer ratios to specific partners. Timing a planned transfer into one of those windows is free value. See the Bilt transfer partners guide.
- Retention offer
- Points or a statement credit an issuer gives to keep you from canceling at renewal. See retention offers.
S
- Shutdown
- When an issuer closes all your accounts, most often Chase, for high velocity or suspected bonus abuse.
- Sock drawer
- Keeping a card open but unused, named for where it ends up.
- Spend bonus
- Extra rewards for hitting a spending threshold, separate from the welcome offer.
- Statement credit
- A credit that lowers your balance, used for card perks and some redemptions.
- Sweet spot
- A redemption that returns outsized value, like booking Hyatt at low chart rates. See the Hyatt chart.
T
- Taxes on rewards
- Bank account bonuses are usually taxable income; card welcome bonuses tied to spend usually are not. See rewards and taxes.
- Transfer bonus
- A limited-time boost to a published transfer ratio, announced by the bank for a named partner and posting with the transfer. The math is award price divided by 1 plus the bonus. See the transfer bonuses guide.
- Transfer partner
- An airline or hotel program your card points move to, often 1:1. Find paths in the transfer partner finder.
- Transferable points
- Currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards that move to several partners. See Chase transfer partners.
- Trifecta
- A set of 3 cards from one issuer that covers most spending categories. See the Chase trifecta.
- Two-player mode (2P)
- A couple churning together, each opening cards and referring the other to double bonuses.
U
- Ultimate Rewards (UR)
- Chase’s transferable points currency. See Chase transfer partners.
V
- Velocity
- How fast you open new accounts. Rules like Chase 2/30 exist to slow it down.
W
- Welcome offer
- Another name for the sign-up bonus. See Bonus.