Sunday Funday: Targeted 1,000 Southwest Airlines RR Points, New Sign Up Link Page, and my Strategy for the US Bank FlexPoints Credit Card
Before I go any further, I wanted to say Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all the other mothers out there. Thank you for everything you do! With that said, I had a few minutes of arts and crafts time today and made a sign with old Vanilla Reload Cards (yes I horde them). My mom > 1,000,000+ miles or points!
Now back to travel news. My mom and I both received targeted offers from Southwest Airlines for 1,000 bonus Southwest Airlines Rapid Reward Points by enrolling in Southwest Airlines email updates (I think I was already enrolled in their email updates). Both of us have a Southwest Airlines personal credit card. My dad has a Southwest Airlines personal credit card, but he did not receive an offer (yet?).
Here are the details of the targeted bonus:
I was able to enroll my mom’s account and my account fine, but I got the following error message on my dad’s account. Give it a try for yourself by going to this link.
I also created a dedicated blog page for all of my sign up links, which can be found here. All the offers on that page offer some type of financial incentive to me, but they are also the best currently available sign up links. If you have not registered for any of the websites or services mentioned on that page, please consider using my sign up links. As always, your support (both mentally and financially) is greatly appreciated. Thank you all!
Lastly, I received my US Bank FlexPoints Credit Card statement over the weekend and received my sign up bonus and Winter Olympics bonus points. I’m currently sitting on 31,723 FlexPoints.
The best use of FlexPoints is toward travel, where you can get close to 2 cents per point. FlexPoints uses a strange tiered approach to travel, whereby 20,000 FlexPoints can buy a ticket up to $400 in value. 30,000 FlexPoints can buy a ticket up to $600 in value and 40,000 FlexPoints can buy a ticket up to $800 in value.
Here is how FlexPoints are earned on credit card spending:
- Earn one FlexPoint for every $1 of eligible net purchases charged to your card.
- Earn two FlexPoints for every $1 spent on gas, grocery or airline purchases – whichever you spend most on each monthly billing cycle – and on most cell phone expenses.
- Earn Triple FlexPoints for your charitable donations. Choose from a wide range of eligible local, national and international charities. (Supposedly Kiva loans count as a charity purchase).
Here is what I am thinking:
- 20,000 FlexPoints = up to $400 in travel
- To earn 20,000 FlexPoints, you need to spend $10,000 in grocery stores (2x on all grocery store purchases)
- $10,000 / $500 Gift Cards = 20 Gift Cards
- 20 Gift Cards x $5 activation fee = $100 out of pocket expense
- $400 in travel – $100 out of pocket expense = $300 “free travel money”
Some other interesting points of FlexPoints:
- Get 3,500 FlexPoints each cardmember year you spend $24,000 in net purchases, which can be redeemed for your annual fee or towards other rewards of your choice.
- Get up to a $25 airline allowance with every award travel ticket good towards baggage fees, in-flight treats and more. (Ohhh in-flight treats/food/drinks – After travel, just call Cardmember Services at 877-978-7446 to request a statement credit within 90 days of your award ticket travel flight.)
- Earn frequent flyer miles on the airline you fly for your award travel flight.
Here is an example of how FlexPoints travel redemptions work. Say I am looking for a flight from LAX to JFK for later this month. ITA Matrix shows several possible flights at $263.
Since $263 is under $400, I would have to redeem 20,000 FlexPoints for this flight. That equates to 1.32 cents per point which is quite far from their maximum 2 cents per point value.
In another example, let’s say I need to fly to Vancouver this Wednesday. The cheapest option is $199, but goes up steadily from there.
Remember, FlexPoints do not have a travel tier under 20,000 FlexPoints, therefore, every flight under $400 requires the same number of FlexPoints (20,000) for a redemption. In some sense, that could be a good thing. You can pick and chose the best flight/time/airline for you since they all cost the same 20,000 FlexPoints.
Since there is no monthly or annual cap on FlexPoints, I am planning on accumulating a large pile of FlexPoints for upcoming travel. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
Don’t forget to do a product change to the US Bank Cash+ card as well to get 5% categories.
Do the cards earn the same type of points? Will my FlexPoints stay in tact if I convert/downgrade to a Cash+ card? Any sign up bonus on the Cash+ card? Thanks Will!
Use your FlexPoints up first, Cash+ has never had a sign up bonus as far as I am aware. Not sure if the points will stay in tact, I imagine you’ll need to use them first. Hopefully somebody else can comment as I’m planning on doing the same thing!
Will, did you actually do this, or are you just assuming it’s possible to convert FlexPerks to Cash+?
The reason I ask is because they don’t allow Cash+ applications online. You need to live in their footprint (I don’t), and apply in branch. So I wonder if they, likewise, would not allow a call-in conversion. I have a us bank card which I’m dying to change to Cash+, but I never got around to it, since I didn’t think they would allow it.
You might be able to call US Bank and have them convert the card. That’s my only suggestion.
You can apply via phone for Cash+, you can also apply via the us bank mobile banking app (only available for windows phones). I haven’t done it personally (only just got the flexperks as part of the winter promotion) but I am planning on doing it.
I will most likely wait 10-11 months after I opened my FlexPerks card and call the retention department and see if they can waive my annual fee or convert my cards to the Cash+ credit card.
Is the same best Olympic promotion signup offer like before still running for us bank flexpoints card? If so, I would like to try to sign up.
No, the Winter Olympic promo ended 2 weeks after the end of the closing ceremonies. You will have to wait until Summer Olympics 2016 in Brazil. US Bank might do something for 2014 FIFA World Cup, but that is just a wild guess. The promo for the Winter Olympics was just for 7,450 FlexPoints, so not a tremendous amount.
I see, too bad the promotion has ended already. Given that situation, if you were me and you don’t have this flexpoints credit card yet, will you apply for this card or not? is it worth the hard pull and the bonus that you will get in the long run if you apply for this card.
The current sign up bonus is 20,000 FlexPoints after spending $3,500 in 4 months (http://www.flexperks.com/credit/travelPersonalBenefits.do). 20,000 FlexPoints = up to $400 value in airline tickets. No annual fee the first year. Pretty easy to rack up points with grocery store purchases (I also have a Blue Cash Preferred credit card from American Express which earns 6% cash back at grocery stores, but there is a $6,000 yearly cap on grocery store spending). This is still a pretty good sign up bonus, it was just a little better a few months ago during the Winter Olympics. Since it is from US Bank, you probably don’t have many US Bank credit cards, besides maybe the Club Carlson credit card.
Sounds tempting……thank you Grant, I might give this a try.
Grant, I heard that US Bank is tightening up their requirement for folks who want to get credit card from them. If I have recent credit card applications with other banks, do I have less chance in getting this card? (same strict system as Barclay)
I have gotten 2 US Bank Credit Cards in the last 6 months and I have a lot of recent credit inquires. It’s hard to tell if you will have good luck or now. Try waiting at least 3 months from your last credit card application. Good luck!
Which 2X bonus category are you choosing for your Flexperks card? It seems like the two best categories are grocery stores and “gas stations”.
Also, in Orange County, what are the best grocery stores and gas stations for manufactured spending? It seems like Vons, Ralph’s, and Albertsons might have reload cards or Visa gift cards. In California, 7-11 seems to be the best “gas station” for manufactured spending.
I went to Ralph’s yesterday and Pavilions (Vons/Safeway) today. Both have Visa Gift Cards (US Bank and Metabank) with a $5.95 activation fee. I have given up going to “gas stations” looking for gift cards, not much worthwhile in SoCal.
One word — KIVA
I know, everyone loves Kiva, but I’m tired of working with that company. They have lousy customer service and I don’t like floating a few thousand dollars for several months :/
Grant, did you freeze your IDA and..(forgot the other one)….before applying for US Bank cards? Which one you think is stricter, US Bank or Barclay?
I froze both IDA and ARS before I applied for the US Bank Club Carlson credit card and was instantly approved. Then a few months later I applied for the US Bank FlexPoints and got approved after 1 week.
Personally, Barclays cards are much harder for me, I’m probably 0 for 4, but with US Bank I’m 2 for 3. But some people have good luck getting Barclays cards if they don’t have many credit inquires from the last 2 years.
Oh I see, I haven’t freeze both…maybe I should…. but I got approved once for Barclay US Airways…..but then few months later got denied for Arrival…weird huh….
Yes, Barclays is weird. Some people are only allowed to get 2 Barclays cards, so sometimes you have to close cards before you apply for other ones. This is very different from Chase which is glad to give you more cards as long as you can reallocate your total credit limit.
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The down side of US Bank FlexPerks is points is expired. Also, No grocery store, gas station around me to sell gift card in $500.
Yes, I am doing my best to rack up FlexPerks and redeem them all before my annual fee comes due (mid February). Target counts as a grocery store so I earn 2x at Target loading my Target AMEX.