Tag Archives: Wells Fargo Bank

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Keep, Cancel or Convert? US Bank FlexPerks Gold ($85 Annual Fee) & Wells Fargo Propel World Elite ($175 Annual Fee)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you enjoyed reading about my credit card decisions surrounding keeping, closing, or converting my credit cards after the annual fees post.  Check out my thoughts on my Chase Sapphire Reserve and Chase Ink Plus Business credit cards; my American Express Hilton Ascend and SPG Business credit cards; my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business and Citi AT&T Access More credit cards.  As a reminder, here are all the credit cards and their annual fees.  In today’s post, I am going to cover both the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card and the Wells Fargo Propel World Elite American Express Credit Card.  Are they worth keeping, should I close them, or should I convert them to another credit card?

  • Chase Sapphire Reserve – $450 (posted 4/1)
  • Chase Ink Plus Business – $95 (posted 4/1)
  • American Express Hilton Ascend – $95 (posted 4/3)
  • American Express SPG Business – $95 (posted 4/6)
  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business – $75 (posted 4/2)
  • Citi AT&T Access More – $95 (posted 4/4)
  • US Bank FlexPerks Gold – $85 (posted 4/3)
  • Wells Fargo Propel World – $175 (posted 3/31)

US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card

The $85 annual fee just posted and I have seriously lost interest in FlexPoints over the years.  The death nail came on December 31, 2017, when FlexPoints changed to a fixed 1.5 cents per point (CPP) value for all travel redemptions.  This credit card earns 3x on airfare, 2x on gas, and 2x on restaurants.  I currently use my Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card for travel, restaurants, and gas since I get 3x Chase Ultimate Reward Points on those purchases.  I can also redeem Chase Ultimate Reward Points for travel at 1.5 CPP, so the Chase Sapphire Reserve Credit Card is as good or better in every way compared to the US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card.  I redeemed almost all of my FlexPoints before December 31, 2017, and have a few hundred FlexPoints leftover in my account.  Not to worry, I have a no annual fee US Bank FlexPerks Select+ American Express Credit Card that will keep my few hundred FlexPoints alive.

Decision: US Bank FlexPerks Gold American Express Credit Card will be converted to a no annual fee US Bank Cash 365 American Express Credit Card.  That card earns 1.5% cash back on all purchases, so it will never be used.

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How Much Money Did I Make from Bank Account Bonuses in 2017?

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Good morning everyone, happy last Friday of the year!  A long, long time ago, before Doctor of Credit was as popular as he is now, he did a guest post for me back in March 2014: Guest Post from Doctor of Credit: Bank Account Sign Up Bonuses.  DOC has always been a big fan of bank account bonuses, but it took me a long time to get on the bandwagon and now I am hooked.  Earlier this year, I wrote about my 2016 Roundup of Bank Account Bonuses.  In 2015, I made $1,175 in bank account bonuses.  In 2016, I made $2,850 in bank account bonuses.  And this year, I made $3,700 in bank account bonuses.

Here are all the bank accounts I opened, the date they were closed and the bonus I received.  To be fair, I am still waiting for the $200 bonus to post from my Capital One 360 Money Market account, but I met the requirements already, so now I just need to wait.  I learned about all of these bonuses on DOC and he keeps a very detailed and up-to-date bank account bonuses page.

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My 8 Credit Card App-O-Rama Results (Mostly Bad News)

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all has a great weekend.  A few weeks ago, I applied for 8 new credit cards during my App-O-Rama.  Here are the 8 credit cards and sign up bonuses that I applied for (not in this particular order).  Unfortunately, my App-O-Rama skills are not as good as they used to be and I was (ultimately) declined for most of these credit cards.

  • Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card: 30,000 AS Miles + $100 statement credit after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($75 annual fee)
  • Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card: 75,000 VA Miles after spending $12,000 in 6 months ($90 annual fee)
  • Bank of America Amtrak Rewards Credit Card: 30,000 Amtrak Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($79 annual fee)
  • US Bank Altitude Reserve Credit Card: 50,000 FlexPoints ($750 in travel credit) after spending $4,500 in 3 months ($400 annual fee)
  • Wells Fargo Visa Signature Credit Card: 20,000 Go Far Reward Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($0 annual fee)
  • First Bankcard Best Western Credit Card: 50,000 Points after spending $1,000 in 3 months ($59 annual fee, first year waived)
  • Synchrony Bank Cathay Pacific Credit Card: 50,000 CX Miles after spending $2,500 in 3 months ($95 annual fee)
  • Barclays Wyndham Rewards Credit Card: 45,000 Wyndham Points (3 free nights) after spending $2,000 in 3 months ($75 annual fee)

Long story short, I applied for 3 Bank of America credit cards, starting with the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card.  I recently closed my previous Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card a few weeks ago, so I was ready to apply again and earn more Alaska Airlines miles.  Unfortunately, my application went to pending.  Since I was not immediately declined, I decided to apply for a Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card.  Surprisingly, I was instantly approved for that credit card with a pretty small credit limit.  With that success, I decided to apply for a Bank of America Amtrak Rewards Credit Card.  Unfortunately, that application went to pending as well. 1 out of 3 instant approvals was not bad.  I was hopeful that the 2 pending applications could be approved with a short reconsideration call.

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Wells Fargo Propel World AMEX Sign Up Bonus Posts Slowly

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Good morning everyone, I hope you all had a great weekend.  In March, I wrote a blog post where I contemplated applying for 10 credit cards during my March App-O-Rama.  In April, I shared the results of my App-O-Rama. And then in May, I wrote My March App-O-Rama Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses Post.  One noticeable exception to that last post was the 40,000 Go Far Rewards Points sign up bonus for my Wells Fargo Propel World American Express Credit Card.  I patiently waited for the sign up bonus to post, but it seemed like the points got lost (insert bad joke that Wells Fargo is still using horse-drawn stagecoaches to deliver sign up bonuses and maybe a bank robber intercepted my points).

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My March App-O-Rama Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses Post

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Good morning everyone, I hope you are all having a great week.  By the time you read this post, I will be ATVing around the island of St. Kitts (I know, tough life).  Anyway, I wanted to talk about one of my favorite topics – credit card sign up bonuses.  In March, I discussed Which 10 Credit Cards am I Considering for my March App-O-Rama and then in early April, I wrote about my March App-O-Rama Results.  In this post, I will share with you my plans (if any) for redeeming my miles and points.  If you have any better suggestions than the ones I share in this post, please let me know in the comments.  Thank you!

To get started, I was approved for the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Credit Card and the Bank of America Alaska Airlines Business Credit Card.  Both credit cards offered 30,000 Alaska Airlines miles after spending $1,000 in 3 months along with an Alaska Airlines Companion Ticket (which can now be used on Virgin America).  I have a few other Alaska Airlines Companion Tickets in my Alaska Airlines account, so I will probably not use them all.  60,000 Alaska Airlines miles is worth ~$900 to me (valuing Alaska Airlines miles at 1.5 CPP).  I don’t have an exact use in mind, but I like flying on Virgin America first class when I fly from SFO to JFK.

Alaska Airlines Personal Business 30,000 Mile Bonuses Posted

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