I do points. I’m elite status on many hotels, airlines and car rentals now.
Be careful about churning. It negatively affects your credit score after awhile.
Also, if anyone is doing the gift card buying to score points, and then dumping the gift cards, that is actually against the terms and conditions and many people have had their points voided and frequent flier accounts closed.
Problem with elite status is that once you have it, you never want to lose it
It can have an impact on your credit, though usually minimal impact on your credit score itself. Where you need to be careful is if you are applying for a mortgage or large loan as having too many lines of credits opened in a short amount of time can raise red flags. I halted all cards when I knew I would be buying a house in a year.
Amex is really bad with claw backs. As of now, Chase is much friendlier with buying giftcards. Only reason I buy them though is if, for example, I can get 5x points at drug stores, I buy giftcards there, and use them at retailers that do not (eg. Amazon).