What is bank account churning?
The practice of opening bank accounts specifically to earn sign-up bonuses, then closing them and moving on.
Churning means opening bank accounts to earn sign-up bonuses, then closing them and moving on to the next offer. You find a deal, open the account, meet the requirements, collect the bonus, and either keep it if it's worth keeping or close it and repeat.
The term came from the credit card world, where people have been doing this for decades. Bank account churning follows the same basic idea but tends to be more beginner-friendly. Most bank applications don't touch your credit score, the requirements are usually pretty simple, and the accounts are either free or easy to keep free.
A typical cycle goes like this: find an offer, open the account, fund it, set up a direct deposit if required, wait out the hold period, collect the bonus, then close the account cleanly once the timing is right and move on.
Banks know this happens. The offers exist because they want new customers and are willing to pay to get them. You're just taking them up on it.
Browse available bonuses to find your next offer.
Other Terms