There are two cards that always live in my wallet and I tend to pull them out almost every day and place spend on them. The first one is really simple as when I am at a restaurant or paying for gas station purchases it is my FlexPerk Gold AMEX that comes out. Getting 3x points (each point worth ~2% towards airline tickets) for dining is just perfect for my travel needs. Beyond that to get 2x on gas as well as other things some gas stations sell (think VDGCs i.e. Visa Debit Gift Cards) is another great way to bump up my FlexPerks totals to buy Delta tickets that will earn me points just like I paid “cash” for the tickets.
Lastly, for those who do not have it yet, this card when you pay for your (or really anyone you want to) GOES or Global Entry that includes TSA PreCheck you will get a credit back once every 5 years! That alone will cover the non-waived $85 first year fee.
The next card is the FlexPerks Visa card. This card is another card I use month after month after month for two main reasons. The first is this:
Many times a month I search out loans I can make to Kiva.org that codes as a charity (and thus earns you 3x points on the FlexPerks Visa cards). If you want to know how I go about picking my loans you can see this post. The bottom line is so far after tens of thousands of dollars in loans I have got all my money back and netting out 3x points or 6% “free” travel money for Delta tickets.
The next reason I pull this card is whenever I shop for groceries. To get 2x just works and I gotta eat so why not get about 4% back each visit. BTW it seems that a number of grocery stores also seem to sell VDGCs as well. 😉
But there are some issues with these cards. You see officially you are stuck with a maximum total of 20,000 points you can send per year to someone else. Not just that if you happen to, like me, have a number of FlexPerks cards they can be pooled into one household account but the points are technically still sitting in each cards account. So, if you want to online send points to someone you have to send ONLY the points showing in that individual account not out of your pooled account or you will get an error saying you don’t have enough points.
But is there a workaround to the 20k max per year transfer limitation? YES! All you do is call the FlexPerks folks at US Bank and they can override the 20k limitation. I have asked if there is a year cap for this workaround and was told they have never seen one and that is why you should always call if you need to move points to someone else.
When you do send points to someone they transfer almost instantly but if you are planning for some kind of trip keep in mind that 20,000 points is good for a ticket up to $400 and every $200 more adds 10,000 more points to the ticket to buy.
The only other really nice tip I can give you that I always do when I burn FlexPerks points to buy my Delta tickets is that you do get a $25 travel credit the day you fly out or back (not both). Since many of us have no need to pay for bags and such what I do is simply buy a $50 Delta e-Gift card the day of travel and when I am done I call back and request my travel credit. If both Lisa and I are traveling we get $50 back. Then, in a few months as a statement credit as icing on the cake for using these points.
There you are. These are two FlexPerks cards I hold and use year after year and find them an amazing value to SUBSTANTIALLY lower the cost of my Delta travels year after year while still earning full Delta points, including MQMs, and fully qualifying for upgrades as long as I do not buy E BASIC fares with my FlexPerks points (they do warn you at purchase btw so you can avoid them if you want). – René
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.
Thanks! Great news about exceeding limit. I just called USB. Their computer was a bit slow, but I moved about 6K points to get within 500 points of the 30K level.
Any reason not to do away with the FlexPerks card that was the Lifelines conversion if I have another older FlexPerks card with AF (ignored credit score aspect)?
@Carl – None that I can think of. Biz cards good to hold as if you have your ARS & IDA frozen they will flat out say no to new cards. Personal are still fine to cancel get new.
How many times can you use that statement credit trick per year?
@Justin – Uh, just once I think.
Rene, you said that E-basic fairs are excluded. Is that basic economy?
Your FlexPerks posts are great. What I am not clear on is if it is possible to avoid basic economy on Delta when using FlexPoints. I don’t have Delta status so can’t get an upgrade. So I am very concerned to purchase a main cabin fair and not basic economy. Is there a way to do this with the FlexPerks travel portal?
Thanks!
@SCott – Yes it will show under the flights if it is basic economy.
@rene
very interesting!
so this language from the flexperks amex t&c is not correct?
” The amount of FlexPoints that you may transfer is limited to 20,000 FlexPoints in a calendar year. The amount of FlexPoints that you may accept as a transfer into your Account is limited to 20,000 FlexPoints in a calendar year.”
@Gene – Sorta. It is correct for online transfer but can be overridden by phone reps.
I have two FlexPerks earning cards. One is a Visa, and the other one is an Amex. Both cards are linked to one FlexPerks account. If I cancel the Visa card and keep the Amex one, will I lose the points I earned through Visa?
@ES – No. All your cards are (or should) be linked to your one FlexPerks account. As long as you have one card you are good. Keep in mind you can downgrade to a no-fee version if you want just to keep your credit line and keep your FICO score higher.
Verified that this still works – just transferred 40k and change today from my wife’s account to my own.