Credit Card SUB Meaning

Credit Card SUB Meaning

In credit cards, SUB means “signup bonus”. SUB is a contractual incentive given by a financial institution to a consumer to sign for a credit card.

SUB are usually contractual conditions that require normally to spend a certain amount of money in a defined time period or to stay with the card for a certain timeframe: “spend five thousand in six months to achieve a signup bonus”.

It is not always seen but it is a good tactic to attract new customers with the risk of credit card churning from the consumer, of course.

Chase Credit Card With The SUB (Sign Up Bonus)

A good example of a typical SUB incentive is the Chase Amazon card. It implies a gift card that is loaded into your Amazon account right after the credit card is granted.

This product is being subject to a lot of churning. However, we have advised retaining this product in our articles.

Credit Card Churning Definition

The credit card churning definition is the practice of repeatedly opening and closing credit cards to earn cash, rewards points, or miles

Consumers qualify for important signup bonuses (SUB) as an incentive for opening a new credit card, which is something “churners” exploit to try to amass a lot of rewards. They sign for the card, obtain the SUB incentive, hence the credit card SUB meaning, and then dismiss the card right after enjoying these bonuses.

Credit Card Churning in 2022

Credit card churning in 2022 is still alive, and there is an abuse of the SUB incentive by consumers.

Churners are now opening multiple credit cards in quick succession, earning the SUB incentive bonus for each new account, and then closing or stopping using the cards.

A few months later, churners would start again with another round of applications.

Credit card churning still happens in 2022, but many credit card issuers are updating the terms and conditions for their credit cards and rewards programs to stop it, or at least make it harder and less lucrative.

Chase has now the 5/24 rule. It means the card issuer generally will not approve the customer for a new credit card if this customer has opened five cards within the last twenty-four months, including cards from other issuers.

Other card issuers may take similar approaches to stop people who may be trying to game their rewards programs.

For example, American Express generally only allows you in 2022 to earn the intro bonus on one of their cards once per lifetime. If you close your account, you can apply for the same card again in the future, but you might not be eligible for the intro bonus.

There have also been cases of card issuers before 2022 taking back points that were earned by someone gaming the system. In a few cases, issuers have even shut down accounts, including checking and savings accounts someone has at the company.

Is Credit Card Churning Illegal?

Credit card churning is not illegal, but it is controversial and frowned upon by card issuers as it affects the principle of “fair use” of financial products.

Before credit card issuers really caught on and put systems in place to stop the practice, churners would open multiple credit cards in quick succession, earn the intro bonus for each new account and then close or stop using the cards.

It is all related with the fair use of financial products.

Supplementary Credit Card And The SUB Meaning

Supplementary credit cards do not receive the SUB incentive, meaning that the only beneficiary of the signup bonus is the primary cardholder.

The primary cardholder can add an authorized user to their account. That user could be a family member, caregiver, or even a friend. Although each additional card will have a unique credit card number, the account is managed by the primary user.

What that means is that when the monthly bill comes, it’s addressed to the primary cardholder. All purchases made by others users will be shown on the statement, but the primary user will be responsible for all the charges.