The churning flowchart is r/churning’s Credit Card Recommendation Flowchart: a decision chart that puts Chase cards first while you are under 5/24, then moves you to business cards and to issuers that ignore your count. The newest edition we could find is version 21, and the latest r/churning thread for it is dated June 2025, so check the October 2026 changes below before committing to a branch. Get a live answer for your dates in the which card next tool.
Somewhere around 2016, the r/churning community got tired of answering the same question, what card should I get next, and drew the answer instead. The result is the churning flowchart: one decision path that encodes the 5/24 rule, business card exemptions, and issuer bonus restrictions into an application order.
Two habits multiply whatever the flowchart tells you: run it twice in two-player mode with a partner, and use a positioning flight when the best award starts somewhere other than home.
The chart itself lives on Reddit and gets revised as rules shift. This page explains the logic underneath it, because the logic is what lasts: people who understand why the branches point where they point can keep making good decisions even when a given snapshot of the chart has aged.
New here? The full churning guide covers the foundations the flowchart assumes.
The core logic in 5 questions
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Are you under 5/24?Yes: Chase cards come first. No: skip to issuers that ignore your count.
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Can you meet a minimum spend right now?Match the next card to the spending you actually have coming.
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Personal or business slot?Business cards keep your 5/24 count frozen while still paying bonuses.
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Which bonus is at a high?Offers cycle. A card at its historical high outranks one at its floor.
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Then it repeats
Strip the boxes and arrows away and the flowchart asks 5 things, in order: your 5/24 count, your spending capacity, the personal-or-business question, current offer strength, and then it repeats. Each question exists because of a specific, expensive mistake the community kept watching newcomers make.
The count question prevents the classic one: starting a churning career with 3 Amex cards, hitting 3/24, and discovering Chase’s best years are nearly gone. The spend question prevents stacked minimum spends that turn into carried balances. The offer question prevents burning a once-per-lifetime Amex slot on a 60,000 point offer 3 months before a 100,000 point version returns.
Why Chase always comes first
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The Chase 5/24 rule creates an asymmetry no other issuer matches: Amex, Citi, and Capital One will approve someone with 8 new cards in 2 years, while Chase declines at 5. Cards from other issuers therefore carry a hidden cost early in a churning career, one future Chase card each, and Chase cards carry none of the reverse.
Order the same 10 applications Chase-first and you collect every bonus on the list. Order them Chase-last and the final 5 Chase applications all die at the 5/24 wall. Same cards, same spending, thousands of dollars of difference. That single asymmetry generates most of the flowchart’s structure.
The standard path, in plain text
The maintained chart changes its specific card names with the offer cycle, but its shape has been stable for years:
| Phase | What you apply for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundations | A Sapphire as the transferable-points anchor | Strong bonus, points that move to a dozen partners |
| 2. Chase years | Chase personal cards toward 4/24, with Ink business cards between them | Inks pay bonuses without moving the count; the business card exemption does the heavy lifting |
| 3. The exit | The last Chase personal card you care about | Spend the 5th slot deliberately, never by accident |
| 4. Everyone else | Amex, Citi, Capital One, Barclays, in offer-strength order | They approve over 5/24; their own rules, lifetime language and 48 month clocks, now set the pace |
| 5. Steady state | Business cards, repeat bonuses as clocks expire, retention offers | The count ages, slots reopen, the cycle continues |
Each application also passes the spend test before it happens: a requirement you cannot meet with planned spending gets postponed, with the tactics in meeting minimum spend stretching what planned covers.
When to leave the path
A specific award goal. Chasing 2 business class seats to Tokyo on a date means collecting the right points, not the most points. Transfer partner coverage outranks bonus size, and that can justify an out-of-order Amex or Citi application.
A thinner credit file. Under roughly 700, or under 1 year of history, premium approvals get shaky. The standard advice: a no-fee card, 6 to 12 quiet months, then the path.
Low spending capacity. $1,500 a month of real spending supports 2 or 3 bonuses a year. The path stays the same; the pace slows, and business cards with large requirements drop out.
2-player mode. Couples run the path twice, referring each other for extra points at each step. Order still matters within each player’s file, and a shared tracking spreadsheet stops the whole thing collapsing into confusion.
The current chart and what changed since
The chart lives on r/churning as the Credit Card Recommendation Flowchart. The newest file we could find is titled version 21, and the most recent r/churning thread for it is dated June 2025 (checked October 22, 2026). Rules that changed after June 2025, which a June 2025 chart cannot reflect:
| Date | Change | Effect on the path |
|---|---|---|
| February 1, 2026 | Venture X lounge access for authorized users costs $125 a year; free guests need $75,000 in spend | Weaker case for adding Venture X household cards |
| 2026 | Bilt’s cards are now issued by Column N.A., outside Wells Fargo | A Bilt card no longer touches Wells Fargo clocks |
| September 2026 | Reported 3/24 screen on some Chase sole-proprietor Ink applications | Ink cards may need room under 3/24, not only 5/24 |
| About September 20, 2026 | Citi Strata bonuses became once per lifetime | Pick the Strata card you want most; there is no second try |
| October 1, 2026 | Chase to Hyatt became 4:3 from the Sapphire Preferred and Ink Business Preferred | Sapphire Reserve gains as the Hyatt route at 1:1 |
| January 1, 2027 | Southwest card bonuses stop counting toward the Companion Pass | The old 2-card Companion Pass branch stops working |
Each row is documented on this site with its source: Venture X, Bilt, 5/24, Citi, Chase transfer partners and Southwest.
Who should skip the flowchart
- Anyone carrying a balance. Card interest wipes out bonus value fast.
- Anyone with a mortgage or car loan coming. Chase suggests holding new card applications for 6 to 12 months before a big loan.
- Anyone who cannot meet the minimum spend with spending they already have.
- Anyone below good credit. FICO calls 670 to 739 good; most bonus cards want that or better.
- Anyone with many recent applications. Capital One, citing the CFPB, says several applications in a short period can make lenders think your finances have taken a turn (March 24, 2026).
What the flowchart cannot do
It cannot know current offers, so a chart snapshot is always slightly wrong about numbers. It cannot see your credit file, your spending, or your travel goals. And it cannot keep itself current: every few years an issuer rewrites a rule, Chase did exactly that with the Sapphire restrictions in June 2025, and arrows that pointed somewhere sensible start pointing at history.
Treat it the way its maintainers intend: a map of the rules as currently understood, plus a default order that is right for most people most of the time. The rules themselves live in this site’s issuer guides, which is where to check when a branch looks dated.
The path, worked for 3 profiles
The chart is built for a generic churner. Real people deviate, and the deviations are predictable enough to walk through.
The $1,200 a month spender. Minimum spend capacity caps the pace at 2 to 3 cards a year, so the path compresses: Sapphire in month 1, an Ink around month 6 if the side business is real, Freedom Flex toward the end of year 1. The big-requirement business cards drop out entirely, and that is fine; 3 well-chosen bonuses still clear 200,000 points a year. The mistake this profile makes is stacking 2 spend windows and financing the gap, which converts a hobby into a debt problem.
The 2-player household. Run the same path twice, offset by 3 months, with referrals bridging the players. Player 1 takes the Sapphire in January; player 2 applies through player 1’s referral link in April, collecting bonus plus referral on one application. Inks alternate the same way. The offset matters: simultaneous spend windows double the required spending in the same 90 days, while offset windows let the same household spending serve both players in sequence.
The over-5/24 veteran. The chart’s phase 4: Amex business cards on a rotation governed by pop-up behavior, Citi AAdvantage cards as 48 month clocks expire, Capital One every 6 months when the pre-approval tool smiles. The veteran’s chart is less a flowchart than a calendar of expiry dates, which is why the spreadsheet replaces the chart as the primary tool by year 3.
The 4 wrong turns the chart prevents
The flowchart’s value shows clearest in the mistakes of people who never saw it.
Starting with Amex. The most common: 2 or 3 Amex cards in the first year of interest, 3/24 before learning Chase exists. Cost: 2 to 3 Chase bonuses, roughly 200,000 points, recoverable only by waiting.
Burning a lifetime slot on a weak offer. Taking a 60,000 Platinum bonus in a month when 150,000 circulates through other channels. The chart’s offer-strength check exists for this.
Applying for 2 Citi cards a week apart. The velocity denial costs the inquiry anyway. The chart’s issuer-spacing logic encodes every velocity rule so the applicant does not have to remember them. Citi’s pace limits are in the Citi credit card rules hub.
Ignoring business cards out of fear. Half the chart’s value runs through the 5/24 exemption, and applicants who skip it out of LLC anxiety leave the largest bonuses in the market unclaimed despite qualifying as sole proprietors.
How to date-check any chart snapshot
Given the staleness problem, a 3 question audit tells you whether the version in front of you is current. Does its Chase section mention the Sapphire changes of June 2025, dropped 48 month rule and multi-Sapphire holding? Does its bonus math reference offers from the last 6 months? And does its issuer fine print match the live terms pages, particularly Amex family language, which has shifted repeatedly since 2024?
A chart that fails the audit still teaches the structure, Chase first, business cards between, everyone else after, because the structure outlives the numbers. Use the stale chart for shape, this site’s issuer guides for current rules, and the live offer pages for numbers, and the 3 layers stay honest about what each one knows.
Quick reference
The flowchart’s spine, in 5 lines: count your 5/24 status before anything. Chase personal cards while under the limit, the last slot spent deliberately. Business cards from exempt issuers between every Chase application. Amex, Citi, and Capital One after Chase is done, ordered by current offer strength against their own repeat-bonus clocks. Reassess quarterly with real numbers, never from memory.
And the 3 questions that catch most deviations before they cost anything: does this application spend a 5/24 slot, and is that intentional? Is this card’s current offer strong against its 12 month history? Can the household actually meet this minimum spend without inventing purchases? A yes-yes-yes application is the flowchart agreeing with you, whatever the chart’s arrows say this month.
When the flowchart leaves you between options, recent community data points settle it; r/churning, explained covers how to read them.
The interactive version of this logic is the application order planner: 5 inputs, your next 3 moves with the reasoning.
Related guides
- 5 moves for your first churning year, in order
- Positioning flights: when the extra hop is worth it
- Credit card referral bonuses: the 2-player loop and the 1099 that follows it
FAQ
What is the churning flowchart?
A community-maintained decision chart from r/churning that tells you which credit card to apply for next based on your 5/24 status, spending capacity, and goals. It compresses the issuer rules that took the community years to map into a single ordered path.
Why does the flowchart put Chase cards first?
Because Chase is the only major issuer that refuses applicants at 5 or more new personal cards in 24 months. Every Amex, Citi, or Capital One card you take early burns a slot Chase will later check; the reverse costs nothing. Chase-first preserves the most total bonuses.
Where do I find the current flowchart?
The r/churning subreddit sidebar and wiki link the maintained version. Always pull it fresh: offer numbers, card lineups, and even issuer rules in it go stale within months of any snapshot.
Do I have to follow the flowchart exactly?
No, and its own maintainers say so. It targets maximum long-run bonuses for a generic high-spend churner. A specific award goal, a lower credit score, or limited spending capacity all justify branching off, as long as you know which rule you are trading away.
How many cards does the flowchart path produce per year?
A typical pace is 3 to 6 new cards per year depending on spending capacity and the business card mix. Faster is possible but runs into issuer velocity limits and minimum spend overlap, the 2 practical brakes on any churning schedule.
Is there a 2026 churning flowchart?
The newest file we found is version 21, and the latest r/churning thread for it is dated June 2025. Use it for the logic, and check the October 2026 rule changes listed on this page before you follow a branch.
Who should not follow the churning flowchart?
Anyone carrying a credit card balance, planning a mortgage or car loan in the next 6 to 12 months, unable to meet minimum spends with normal spending, or below good credit (a FICO Score under about 670).
Last reviewed October 2026. We verify every rule, ratio, and figure against issuer terms and current reporting, and date each one. See our editorial standards for how we research and correct guides.
We re-check these guides as issuer rules and award charts change. 2 ways to follow along, no account needed.