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

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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. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities. Links in this post may provide us with a commission.

FlexPerks Olympic Bonus Worth It?

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

FlexPerks Olympic Bonus Worth It?

  • 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 Edgeâ„¢ Travel Card

FlexPerks Olympic Bonus Worth It?

  • 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

  • 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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Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Shawn Coomer
Shawn Coomerhttps://milestomemories.com/
Shawn Coomer earns and burns millions of miles/points per year circling the globe with his family. An expert at accumulating travel rewards, he founded Miles to Memories to help others achieve their travel goals for pennies on the dollar. Shawn also runs a million dollar reselling business, knows Vegas better than most and loves to spend his time at the 12 Disney parks across the world.

Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

17 COMMENTS

  1. I feel like I should apply for this card but not exactly sure why. A possible $600 bonus is pretty good, but I am buying a house in the next 6 months so feel the need to be selective. Maybe I have don’t want to miss out syndrome. I’m also considering a Spark card as a 2% cash back. I’ve never had the Arrival + so maybe it’s time to start cycling that

  2. What are the rules as far as qualifying for the bonus on the amex card if you already have the Visa? I was sent a preapproval for a 10K bonus for an Amex which seemed to indicate I wouldn’t qualify for any other bonus as a current Visa cardholder.

  3. sup bro. will you do an updated review of FP Visa vs Amex? Read a lot of reviews and it seems split. I guess there is no clear winner? Maybe just get both then? Or maybe wait until Amex goes above 30k bonus? I ask cuz maybe some dont want the business or cant get it.

      • what!? AMEX is only 20k now? geeez… someone didnt get the memo.. thanks man. makes things more clear now. i guess i will wait for the amex to go back up then…

          • haha… nice bro… yes. you owe me a review or… you also have the option to replace that blog post time to just buy your wife flowers and dinner…

  4. Thanks for this. I was just about to explain this one to my SO – “should you do it, if so Bus or Pers, niche card” – and instead will just let him read your summary. Makes it much easier! Thanks again.

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