The impact to credit is over stated unless you are churning through a new card every month. When the dust settles after a few months, you might even have a higher score. I was in the high 700s, churned through several cards and ended up in the low 800s. The sign up bonus churn management got to be too much hassle, so I stopped chasing it.

Airline rewards seem to be the best redemption value and sites like point.me or daily drop help maximize the return. I find myself using hotel points more than airline miles thanks to our employee benefits though. The 4% cash back US Bank or 3% Robinhood card are appealing since it exceeds the hotel points value. The 3-4% cash back rate also provides some arbitrage opportunities by paying property taxes and income taxes by credit card even though CC payment incurs a service fee. At the risk of perpetuating the cheap pilot stereotype, you can lower W2 withholding and make estimated IRS tax payments by CC. The IRS charges 2% CC fee and you also get the float from the CC grace period.

*Its not as bad as it sounds, honest. I already have to make estimated tax payments otherwise I'd never have found CC loophole.

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