Tag Archives: US Bank

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

What’s on my Mind: Tucson, Orange County, San Diego and my March App-O-Rama Results

Posted on by . 30 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Friday Thursday!  I’ve had a pretty busy week this week: Monday I was watching NCAA March Madness Final (bummer the Zags lost); Tuesday I went to see Bassem Youssef (the Egyptian Jon Stewart) speak at UC Berkeley; Wednesday I got $202 loge/mezzanine tickets to see Hamilton in SF; and tonight I am flying to Tucson for a wedding this weekend.  Even though I haven’t had much time to write this week, I have a few blog posts brewing in my mind.  Before I get to what’s on my mind, I wanted to share some travel plans for the rest of April.

  • Tucson, AZ (Friday-Sunday April  7-9) for a wedding.  Anyone have any recommendations for restaurants, bars, hikes, or other activities that are close to Tucson?
  • Orange County, CA (Friday-Sunday April 14-16) for Easter weekend.  I will do an OC miles and points meetup on Saturday afternoon, stay tuned for more details.
  • San Diego, CA (Saturday-Sunday April 29-30) for fun.  I am seeing my friend/writer Shelli and organizing a SD miles and points meetup on Saturday or Sunday, stay tuned for more details.

A few weeks ago, I wrote Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama?  In that post, I shared the credit cards I was considering and you guys gave me some good feedback.  I don’t have all the credit cards in the mail, but I have a good idea of which credit cards were approved and which ones were denied. Continue reading →

a close-up of a logo

Use Pre-Tax Commuter Benefit Debit Cards to Pay for Uber Pool & Lyft Line Rides to/from Work

Posted on by . 4 Replies

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you are having a great weekend.  I was making changes to my Uber and Lyft account this weekend by setting my US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card as the default payment method since that credit card now offers 5% cash back for public transportation (including Uber and Lyft for Q2).  While I was doing that, I noticed that the Uber app had Commuter Benefits as a payment method.  I have a Commuter Check Prepaid Debit MasterCard through my work that allows me to use pre-tax dollars to pay for public transportation to and from work.  If you have a similar commuter benefit card, you can add that card to your Uber app by clicking the payment tab, selecting Commuter Benefits and entering your card information.

Continue reading →

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

Targeted Q2 Credit Card Offers Part 2: 10,000 JetBlue TrueBlue Points & US Bank Club Carlson $25 Statement Credit

Posted on by . 9 Replies

Good evening everyone.  After going 0 for 3 with good targeted credit card offers this morning (Targeted Q2 Credit Card Offers: 4,000 Hyatt Points, 3,000 IHG Reward Points & 2,500 Lufthansa Miles), I have 2 fairly decent offers to share.  Up first, I have the Barclay JetBlue Credit Card with 10,000 bonus TrueBlue Points after spending $750 in April, May, and June.  10,000 TrueBlue Points is worth ~$150 to me, so that represents a return of 6.67% ($150 / $2,250).  This is a pretty good offer, so I will probably go for this offer.

Targeted Barclay JetBlue Credit Card Q2 Offer

Continue reading →

a woman with blonde hair and a green shirt

Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama?

Posted on by . 33 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Thursday.  My last App-O-Rama (where I applied for several new credit cards at the same time) was back in mid December 2016.  I usually wait 3+ months between App-O-Ramas, so the time has come to start my next round of credit card applications.  I am going to list the credit cards I have in mind in the order in which I will probably apply for them.  If you have any feedback on my strategy or think I am missing or applying for the wrong credit cards, please leave a comment below. Without further ado, let’s begin…

1. American Express SPG Business Credit Card – 25,000 SPG points after spending $5,000 in 90 days and an additional 10,000 SPG points after spending $3,000 in 120 days.  No annual fee the first year, then $95 in the second year.

With the impending merger with Marriott, this might be my last opportunity to apply for the SPG business credit card.  I can’t pass up this opportunity. 35,000 SPG points are worth ~$700 in hotel nights and airfare (and possibly much more).

2. Bank of America MERRILL+ Credit Card – 50,000 points after spending $3,000 in 90 days.  No annual fee.

Doctor of Credit reports that you can apply for this credit card over the phone.  50,000 points is worth $500 cash or up to $1,000 toward airfare. Continue reading →

a black and white credit card

US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature & American Express Downgrade / Conversion Options

Posted on by . 21 Replies

Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I am flying to Phoenix this weekend to watch some Spring Training baseball games, go to a Phoenix Suns basketball game, and maybe catch a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game – lots of sports in my future!

In credit card related news, both my US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card and US Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards American Express Credit Card had $49 annual fees that just posted.  I got both credit cards during various Summer / Winter Olympic promos and have since spent down the majority of my FlexPoints.  The only reason to keep the FlexPerks Visa Signature card is for 3x at charity (making Kiva loans) or 2x at gas stations and grocery stores.  You do get 10 Gogo Wifi Passes every cardmember year, but I seem to earn them faster than I can redeem them (plus the American Express Business Platinum Charge Card gave me 10 free Gogo Wifi Passes that I have yet to use either).  As for the FlexPerks American Express card (no longer offered – it has since been replaced by the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card), I really never use that card either.

Long story short, both credit cards had annual fees that posted and I wanted to downgrade / convert to credit cards with no annual fees.  Here is my journey calling US Bank and figuring out which credit cards you can downgrade / convert to.  The obvious choice is the US Bank FlexPerks Select Plus American Express Credit Card that earns FlexPoints and has no annual fee.

3 Current US Bank FlexPerks Credit Cards

Continue reading →