To FlexPerks or Not to FlexPerks with a 74% Increased Bonus

FlexPerks Olympic Bonus Worth It?

U.S. Bank once again ran their Olympics promotion this year increasing the bonus based on how many medals the U.S. team won. If you are like me and waited to see how it would all turn out, the results obviously are in. And they are good.

The Increased Bonus

As part of the promotion, U.S. Bank increased the bonus by 200 points for each Gold, 100 for every Silver and 50 for every Bronze.

The U.S. team won:

• 46 Gold medals = 9,200
• 37 Silver medals = 3,700
• 38 Bronze medals = 1,900

Add that to the base 20,000 point bonus and the new sign-up bonus for the FlexPerks cards is 34,800 FlexPoints if you sign up by September 3, 2016. That is a 74% increase over the normal bonus, but should you do it? Let’s look at the two cards with the increased bonus.

U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Travel Rewards Visa Signature® Card

• Bonus: 14,800 FlexPoints after 1st purchase 20,000 after spending $2K in the first 4 months.

• Annual Fee: $49 (Waived the first year.)

• Earning: 3X charity, 2X gas, grocery or airlines (whichever you spend the most in), 1X everywhere else.

• Other Benefits: $25 airline travel allowance per award ticket, No foreign transaction fee, 3,500 FlexPoints after $24K spend in a cardmember year.

FlexPerks Business Edge™ Travel Card

• Bonus: 14,800 FlexPoints after 1st purchase 20,000 after spending $2K in the first 4 months.

• Annual Fee: $55 (Waived the first year.) Plus $10 per employee card.

• Earning: 3X charity, 2X most cell phone, 2X gas, office supply or airline (whichever you spend the most in), 1X everywhere else.

• Other Benefits: $25 airline travel allowance per award ticket, No foreign transaction fee, $55 statement credit after $24K spend in a cardmember year.

Which Card?

There isn’t a huge difference between these two cards other than a few dollars on the annual fee after the first year. One thing to consider is that U.S. Bank doesn’t report business cards on your credit report, meaning it would be one less card to worry about if trying to stay under the Chase 5/24 guidelines. I have anecdotally heard that business cards are tougher to get with U.S. Bank as well, but that will depend on a number of factors. For some reason U.S. Bank doesn’t count spend on AU or employee cards towards minimum spend either.

Both cards can be applied for via the promotional page.

Need to Know

• FlexPerks are worth as much as 2 cents each. For example a $400 air ticket costs 20,000 points, but so does a $200 ticket. You can find more info on maximizing the value of these points here.

• Kiva codes as a charity and earns 3X as do most other charities. These are good cards if you donate a lot to charity.

• You can use 3,500 points to waive the annual fee on the personal card. At 1.4 cents per point it isn’t the best value, but isn’t the worst.

• U.S. Bank uses two alternative credit bureaus that monitor recent applications. They are known to deny applicants who have recently applied for a lot of cards. These bureaus can be frozen. You can find more info here.

• The terms of the Olympic bonus say it is only available to new cardholders. It isn’t clear how far they look back and/or if you can get the increased bonus if you have had the card before. Feel free to share your data points.

Conclusion

Whenever you can get a 74% increase over a normal bonus then it is time to pay attention. In this case the points earned can be worth close to $700 in free travel and the $2K spending requirement isn’t bad either. Yes FlexPerks is a niche program, but with this much value from one sign-up, it is a program I think a lot of people might want to learn about.

Are you going to apply for one of these cards? Share your thoughts/experiences in the comments!

Disclosure: Miles to Memories has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Miles to Memories and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers.

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 Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is the old king of travel rewards cards. Right now bonus_miles_full

Learn more about this card and its features!

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