I haven't seen anyone post this yet this year. Now that the Olympics are over and the medals are awarded, we know exactly what the score is for this card.
By my reckoning, including the standard 20k signup bonus, that works out to 34.8k bonus FlexPerks points (worth $348 cash or theoretically up to $696 on airfare) for spending $2k in four months. (Plus the 2k-6k points you earn on the charges themselves.)
Signup for the Olympic promo is valid through 9/3/2016.
http://www.flexperks.com/credit/offer.do?redirect=visapromo&lang=en
The card offers 3 points per dollar on charitable contributions, 2 points per dollar on groceries, gas or airfare, and on cell phone charges, and 1 point per dollar on everything else.
The $2k spending is over four months which stretches into December, so I intend to do most of the required spending on year-end charitable contributions, which I do every year anyway.
There is an annual fee of $49, which can alternatively be paid by surrendering 3,500 points.
During most years there are targeted opportunities to earn bonus points for spending during certain periods. Right now, DW is earning 2,500 bonus points for spending $1,750 between 8/18 and 9/30. There have also been frequent opportunities for earning extra points here and there for specific actions, like signing up for paperless statements, installing the latest app, doing a survey, entering a photo contest, etc. These various promos can earn you more than enough to make up for the annual fee.
Point redemption is via USBank's captive flight reservation site, which is run by one of the major flight search engines (Orbitz?). You can redeem 30k points for a flight up to $600 in value, 40k points for a flight up to $800, etc. That's how I get 34,800 points being *theoretically* worth up to $696 in airfare. If your ticket is in between the thresholds, then of course your redemption ratio will be less. You can buy a ticket with points only if you can pay for the whole ticket with points. But if you're buying multiple tickets, you can pay for one or more tickets with points and the rest with a credit card. My experience is that the cash price I get through USBank's portal is less than what I can find elsewhere for the same flight. You also get a $25 per ticket baggage allowance for flights you book using points.
My wife signed up for this card during the summer Olympics back in 2012, and we've made quite good use of it.
I applied for the card on 8/14 of this year and was told that I'd have to wait for a decision. I haven't heard anything yet, but just today I see that the account has been added to my online profile, so I presume that the plastic is in the mail.
Because USBank allows you to transfer points for free between different cardholders, I may consolidate points between my wife's account and mine to avoid paying two annual fees. Then again, if they continue to provide opportunities to earn at least 3,500 bonus points per year per card, then it may just be to our advantage to keep both.
Chris.
From the offer:
Apply for a new U.S. Bank FlexPerks® Travel Rewards Visa Card between 8/1/2016 and 9/3/2016, then, upon approval, make a purchase with your new card by 9/30/2016 – and you could earn Bonus FlexPoints for every medal Team USA wins at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, courtesy of Visa!
EACH GOLD 200 Bonus FlexPoints
EACH SILVER 100 Bonus FlexPoints
EACH BRONZE 50 Bonus FlexPoints
PLUS! All Bonus FlexPoints you earn are in addition to the 20,000 Enrollment Bonus FlexPoints you’ll get when you spend $2,000 within the first four months of account opening.
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