I'll admit it: I am the credit card holder no financial institution wants.

I pay my credit card balances in full every month, so they're not getting any money from me in interest or late fees. And last fall, I started a new hobby: Applying for credit cards with big sign-on bonus points programs, redeeming the points for travel and then canceling the cards.

It started with the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which offered 50,000 bonus Ultimate Rewards points after spending $4,000 in the first three months. With that, my boyfriend and I scored three nights at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas in a suite overlooking the Strip.

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Natasha Chilingerian

Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.