Guest post: the case AGAINST FlexPerks — because US Bank is just too hard

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[Editor's note: today's post is a guest submission from Trevor, who blogs alongside Joe Cortez at Tagging Miles, a member of the Saverocity blog network (i.e. the good guys). Trevor is a After seeing Trevor's rants about US Bank on Twitter where he is @tmount, I begged him to write a post giving my readers the case against one of my favorite points currencies: the Flexpoints earned by US Bank's Flexperks Travel Rewards credit cards. To his complaints, I can add my own indictment: I have no idea whether Flexperks is supposed to be written with CamelCase (FlexPerks) or without. Enjoy!]

The Free-quent Flyer is big on FlexPerks. I suspect he is in the 1% of maximizers of the FlexPerks program. And why not? On the face, it’s a pretty spectacular program:

FlexPerks Earn rates

So then why I am so down on it? Simply put – the value of points or miles is intrinsically linked to their ease of redeeming.

Now, I’ve got accounts with Chase, American Express, Barclays, Citi, FIA (aka Fidelity AMEX), Discover, and US Bank. The only account I commonly have to reset the password (which is nearly as hard as booking a Korean Air Skypass award), is USBank. So before I can even think of redeeming (and I’ll get there), I’m going through a rigmarole just to check my account. Really, I feel like they should be buying me dinner and drinks – first you ask me my log-in / username, then you ask me who my best childhood friend is, then it’s an image and a password. Ok – so I’ve finally gotten in!

Using FlexPerks

A week or few ago I received a little pamphlet showing me how easy it is to start redeeming my FlexPoints. Maybe it’s just me, but if you have to send out a pamphlet with step by step instructions, maybe it's kind’ve hard?

Pamphlet

The first thing that strikes me about using FlexPerks is that you’re limited to their website to purchase tickets.

US Bank Flight Search

Ok. I get it, they have a partner that they want to guide you toward. Or they want to simplify their accounting. I don’t know, but I get the single option. For all of my — non-mistake fare — revenue travel, I book directly with the airline. Why? Because it gives me that warm fuzzy feeling, like, if I run into a problem before, during, or after travel, I can call the airline, and they can make it right.

I’ve been in the other position. I once went up to Boston on an interview, the ticket was paid for by the company I was interviewing with, and I finished early. I called the airline to try to waitlist on an earlier flight, yet I was told that I had to call Orbitz, because that was who the ticket was booked through. That got me nowhere fast. I ended up flying my ticketed flight after 3 hours in Logan Airport's old terminal (at least I think it was old, it sure looked old).

Back to using FlexPerks – the Free-quent Flyer has a lot of tips and tricks for utilizing FlexPerks, Frequent Miler has some recommendations too. But, when you actually go to make the booking, first you’re faced with points only, not able to make the judgment call as to whether you’re maximizing your points or not.

FlexPerks Results — points cost only

I guess this is the same thing as if you look on ITA Matrix to find a flight you want, then go to buy it on American Airlines’ website, but it just seems like additional clicks that are geared against consumers trying to maximize their value.

You do get the point and dollar cost once you’ve selected your flight, which is good, but it's additional clicks.

Points and Dollars

Is the hassle worth it?

So, to summarize my issues with US Bank:

  • Just logging in is nearly as difficult as it is to book a Korean Air Skypass award;
  • Once you make it in, it’s another few clicks to get to what is essentially an Orbitz search tool;
  • Initial results only provide the required points, it requires an additional click/page load to see what the dollar equivalent of a ticket is.

Talking about the benefits of the US Bank Cash+, yes, you can get up to 5% on charity, but is it worth it?

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Plus Business credit card no longer available

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Back in December, I wrote that I could no longer find a new application link for the Chase Sapphire credit card, which offered 2 non-flexible Ultimate Rewards per dollar spent on dining, and nothing else. I speculated that Chase had streamlined their Ultimate Rewards-earning credit cards into the terrific no-annual-fee Freedom card and the terrible $95-annual-fee Sapphire Preferred card, and thought that was overall a change for the better.

Since then, I spent a little time cleaning up the permanent pages (found in the right sidebar on every page of my site) where I do my best to keep on top of current credit card application links and signup bonuses, and found an additional change in Chase's credit card lineup.

Changes to Southwest Airlines credit card options

Chase used to offer four Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards co-branded credit cards:

The "Plus" versions of the cards earned 3,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points on each account anniversary, while the "Premier" cards earned 6,000 bonus anniversary points, in addition to a few other benefits – like bonus Tier Qualifying Points – that matter only if you make purchases with the cards, which you should never do.

The existence of 4 Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit cards was important since it made it possible to earn a companion pass for four years per applicant by applying for Rapid Rewards credit cards during Chase's recurring 50,000 point signup bonus offers: 2 cards at a time, every 2 years.

I can no longer find a working link to the Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Business Credit Card.

Once I noticed the change, I did a little light searching and found this MileCards post from December 4, 2014, making the same observation, so the change took place no later than that, although I can't find any contemporaneous announcements, for example from bloggers who had the Plus Business card removed from their affiliate channels.

Conclusion

I don't fly Southwest, but appreciate the amazing value that folks are able to realize by easily and cheaply acquiring the Southwest Companion Pass for years at a time. The lesson I see here is that it's difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, so you should always be thinking about maximizing the opportunities that are currently available, not planning each move years ahead of time. Chase may allow Southwest cards to be churned today, but not tomorrow. And then they may change their minds yet again!

If you can use a Southwest Companion Pass, by all means get one. If another opportunity to acquire one cheaply is available when the first expires, go for it! But don't act with the expectation that every deal will be around forever; on the contrary, every deal's guaranteed to die eventually.

Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card companion coupons

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For years, Flyertalk hosted a "zombie" link to a 32,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards point signup bonus for their Chase co-branded credit card. That link no longer works, and the only publicly advertised offer is for 12,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points.

If, like me, you like using AGR points for long-haul sleeper accommodations, that offer wasn't worth a hard credit pull even though I find Amtrak Guest Rewards points extraordinarily valuable, typically redeeming them for 3-5 cents or more each.

Amtrak credit card comes with companion coupon

In the latest e-mail I received from Amtrak Guest Rewards, exhorting me to sign up for their co-branded credit card, I noticed a benefit that was new, or at least new to me:

"Apply today and, after you spend $500 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening, earn 12,000 bonus points - enough for a free roundtrip, plus a free companion coupon." [emphasis mine]

So, what's a companion coupon? Digging into the terms and conditions, we find:

"Coupon valid for one (1) free companion fare when traveling with a paid regular (full) adult rail fare. Free companion and paying passenger must travel together at all times and have ticket issued at the same time. Valid for sale and travel completed within one year after qualifying for the companion coupon. Travel blackouts apply: [...] Valid for travel as one (1) one-way or one (1) round trip on one reservation per coupon. Both tickets for roundtrip must be reserved at the same time. Valid for travel on all Amtrak services except joint Amtrak/VIA Rail service and 7000-8999 Thruway series. Free Companion offer may be combined with corporate discounts, but not combined with any other discount, coupon or Amtrak Guest Rewards redemption travel. Offer valid for coach rail fare only (Business class or [sic] Acela); not valid for sleeper accommodations, Upgrades to Business class or First Class is available upon full payment of applicable accommodation charges"

There are four key takeaways here:

  1. The coupon is good on one-way or roundtrip reservations;
  2. The coupon is good for a companion paid fare — it can't be redeemed on an award reservation (unlike, for example, British Airways' companion ticket);
  3. The coupon can be redeemed on Acela in Business class, or on long-haul trains in coach, but not on sleeper accommodations or for Acela's First class.
  4. Acela Business class companion reservations can be upgraded with cash, but not Amtrak Guest Rewards points (a popular use of AGR points is to upgrade Acela Business class reservations).

How should you use an Amtrak companion coupon?

The most valuable use of this companion coupon won't be on long-haul trains, since those trains can be easily and cheaply booked using Amtrak Guest Rewards points transferred from Ultimate Rewards for sleeper accommodations, and those reservations include the maximum number of passengers the sleeper room is designed for (i.e., 2 adults and 2 children for a Family Bedroom reservation).

So let's look at the next-most-expensive Amtrak reservation type the companion coupon can be redeemed for: Acela Business class travel.

After a little light searching, the most expensive Acela roundtrip I found was $532, for a weekend in May, 2015:

On the cheaper side, here's a weekday roundtrip in April, 2015:

That establishes a nominal range of $412 to $532 for the companion coupon's value. However, as always we need to decide what we're actually comparing the Amtrak companion coupon to. The best comparison is booking using Amtrak Guest Rewards points transferred from a flexible Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card. If you go that route, you'll spend 16,000 Ultimate Rewards points per passenger, or 32,000 points for two passengers, and save $412-$532 in cash. If you value your Ultimate Rewards points at more than 1.29 to 1.66 cents each, you'd be better off redeeming a companion coupon and paying the cash value of the first passenger's fare.

Additional considerations

There are a few final things to consider when deciding whether an Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card is right for you, and when and whether to redeem a companion coupon:

  • Amtrak Guest Rewards point redemptions on Acela have additional restrictions, in addition to Amtrak's standard redemption blackout dates. From Amtrak's redemption guidelines: "Weekday redemption travel is not permitted on any Acela Express segment with a scheduled departure between 12:01 a.m. and 8:59 a.m., or between 2:00 p.m. and 5:59 p.m., inclusive, Monday through Friday. Rule Buster redemptions are not exempt from this restriction." As I discovered last year, this rule can be circumvented by traveling to a station with a permitted departure time, like Providence, RI (slightly south of Boston, and therefore with a later departure time on southbound trains). This rule doesn't apply to paid fares or the companion coupon, to the best of my knowledge.
  • You may want to spend money on Amtrak with your Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card. For example, after spending $200 on Amtrak train travel with the credit card, you're able to transfer up to 25,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points (i.e. Ultimate Rewards points) to 50,000 Hilton HHonors points or 75,000 Choice Privileges points.

Conclusion

I'm still praying that some kind of increased signup bonus will return, so I can sign up for the Chase Amtrak Guest Rewards credit card with a clear conscience. For now, I'm unwilling to sacrifice a hard pull to save just 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points, even though I do redeem Amtrak Guest Rewards points at least 2 or 3 times per year and always receive exceptional value from them.

Chase Ink Plus annual fees: A/B testing or a sign of things to come?

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This evening I was going through my credit card drawer checking my cards for foreign transaction fees in order to decide which cards to bring to Italy tomorrow. Some cards you might not expect to have waived foreign transaction fees do (Chase British Airways) and some you might expect to waive them don't (US Bank Flexperks Travel, although apparently they've recently changed that).

In any case, I was checking the terms and conditions of the Chase Ink Plus card online, and suddenly had a moment of disorientation. Which card's terms and conditions was I looking at?

I did a double-take and checked my own terms and conditions, which show a $95 annual fee. Had Chase quietly raised the annual fee on their Chase Ink Plus credit card?

Not exactly, or at least not yet.

Different offer channels appear to show different annual fees

If you navigate directly to Chase's Ink website in an incognito window or after clearing your browser's cookies, you should find the $95 annual fee offer alive and well. I was able to replicate this consistently.

Additionally, any time you visit the Ink site after viewing the $95 offer — but before clearing your cookies — you'll continue to see the $95 offer.

But sometimes, and only sometimes, if you search for the Ink Plus through Google and click on one of the sponsored links, you'll instead be taken to this version of the offer, featuring a $150 annual fee.

What's going on?

Obviously Chase pays money to sponsor ads in Google search results, so a trivial explanation would be that they're trying to recoup those expenses by charging new customers acquired in that manner more.

More realistically, I think this is the kind of A/B testing that Google AdWords makes so easy for their customers. Since the population of people searching for "Ink Plus" is both large and targeted, you can easily measure the difference in application rates between those who see a $95 versus $150 annual fee. If it turns out that Ink Plus customers are not particularly price sensitive (don't be one of those!), they may ultimately raise the annual fee for all new applicants and even — heaven forbid! — existing cardholders, as American Express did with the Delta Platinum card in 2014.

Conclusion

I'm heading to Italy early tomorrow morning and won't be really around until we check into the Hilton in Venice late tomorrow night (Italy time). Now I have to go finish packing.

Gas station spend: Flexperks Travel or Ink?

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Introduction

I’ve written extensively about the US Bank Flexperks Travel credit cards, which earn 2 Flexpoints per dollar spent in at either gas stations or grocery stores (wherever you spend the most each statement cycle) and 3 Flexpoints per dollar spent with charitable organizations. The American Express version of the card, unlike the Visa Signature version, also gives 2 Flexpoints per dollar spent at restaurants.

Flexpoints can only be redeemed in bands, starting at 10,000 Flexpoints for hotel stays costing up to $150 and 20,000 Flexpoints for paid, mileage-earning flights costing up to $400. Clearly, the value of Flexpoints depends largely on chance: where the cost of your hotel stays and flights falls within each band determines the value of each Flexpoint, and therefore the value of a dollar of manufactured spend put on a Flexpoint-earning credit card.

Redeem Flexpoints for paid air travel

When redeemed for paid air travel, the US Bank Flexperks Travel cards blow the Ink cards and other fixed-value points like Barclaycard Arrival+ miles out of the water. Here's a chart showing the redemption value for paid flights of the three currencies for different levels of gas station spend:

This chart shows Flexpoints quickly lapping both Arrival+ miles and premium Ultimate Rewards points when used to book paid airfare.

Hotel stays muddy the picture

Here's a similar chart I drew up for hotel stays:

This picture is less decisive than the first for two reasons. First, the redemption values of the three currencies are much closer since the value of a Flexpoint maxes out at 1.5 cents, rather than 2 cents, each when redeemed for hotel stays.

That makes Flexpoint windows of opportunity quite small in the lower redemption bands: hotel stays between $151 and $222 will require less manufactured spend with the Arrival+ MasterCard than a Flexperks Travel card, while Ultimate Rewards points earned with an Ink card at gas stations are cheaper for stays costing up to $250. Only stays between $250 and $300 will be earned more cheaply with Flexpoints than the other two currencies.

In the higher redemption bands it does become possible to save real money using Flexpoints instead of the other two currencies, which is certainly something to keep in mind.

The second complication, however, is that hotel stays booked through the Flexperks and Ultimate Rewards travel portals will not typically earn elite-qualifying nights and stays or loyalty points with your hotel. If you make a reservation using your Arrival+ MasterCard, on the other hand, you have the option of booking directly with your hotel of choice or taking advantage of other stackable savings like clicking through TopCashBack to Hotels.com and saving 7% or more on your stay, plus another 10% rebate earned through Hotels.com's loyalty program, Welcome Rewards.

What's a Flexpoint worth?

Of course this analysis so far has ignored the elephant in the room: the fact that flexible Ultimate Rewards points earned with Chase Ink cards can be transferred to Chase's hotel, air, and rail partners and be redeemed for potentially much more than 1.25 cents each.

What would be really useful to know is the value of Ultimate Rewards points that would make it worth earning 2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent at gas stations rather than 2 Flexpoints per dollar. Then users could look at their own Ultimate Rewards redemption pattern and see whether they get more or less value than that.

At the high end, if you get more than 2 cents in value for every Ultimate Rewards point you transfer, then you should put all your gas station spend on Chase Ink cards since it's strictly impossible to get more than 2 cents in value from Flexpoints.

On the low end, if you get less than 1.1 cents in value from your Ultimate Rewards points, you should put no gas station spend on your Ink cards, since you'd even be better off putting it on an Arrival+ MasterCard with its fixed return of 2.22% cash back.

So what value between 1.1 cents and 2 cents is the right break-even point? What redemption value need you receive from flexible Ultimate Rewards points to speculatively accumulate more of them, rather than Flexpoints you'll be able to redeem for paid flights?

You blog with the data you have, not the data you might like to have

The US Department of Transportation publishes average domestic airfare prices for flights departing from the top 100 domestic airports by passenger volume. I manually coded the second quarter 2014 prices by the corresponding Flexperks Travel redemption band and calculated the value per redeemed Flexpoint.

Unfortunately, this data is necessarily imperfect since the DOT doesn't publish standard deviations, so it's impossible to use the data to generate a range of likely values. But it's the data I have, and using it the value of the average Flexpoint redeemed for the average flight from those airports is 1.62 cents per Flexpoint. While it's possible to "goose" the value of Flexpoints by calling into the reservation center and asking to be booked into the highest fare class within a given redemption band, I think 1.62 cents is as fair a place as any to peg the value of a Flexpoint.

Note that this is not affected by increases or decreases in the price of airfare: it's strictly a measurement of the location of average prices within each redemption tier. Averages are not ideal, or even particularly good, values to use for this purpose but, again, they're the values I have.

Are flexible Ultimate Rewards points worth more than 1.62 cents?

Let me be clear: your own redemptions should drive your earning, not blog posts about First Class suites or island resorts. If you're not going to redeem your Ultimate Rewards points for the same rewards as your favorite aspirational travel bloggers, then whatever valuations he or she comes up with are worse than useless if they cause you to make bad decisions.

Having said that, there are a few generalizations we can make. Seth the Wandering Aramean has recently posted some data from his hotel search tool that gives us some insight into the redemption value of various rewards currencies. As Chase transfer partners, the relevant hotel loyalty programs are:

  • Hyatt Gold Passport. Median point value: 1.681 cents. Average point value: 1.807 cents.
  • Marriott Rewards. Median point value: 0.630 cents. Average point value: 0.699 cents.
  • IHG Rewards. Median point value: 0.564 cents. Average point value: 0.611 cents.

In other words, of the three Chase hotel transfer partners, Hyatt is probably the only one in which it makes sense to speculatively accumulate points for award stays. The extremely limited exception is transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott Rewards in order to "top up" a Hotel + Air package as a backdoor way to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to one of Marriott's numerous airline partners.

Chase's airline transfer partners offer a wide range of potential values:

  • British Airways Avios can be redeemed for expensive short-haul flights on American Airlines, US Airways, or Alaska Airlines.
  • Southwest Airlines miles can be redeemed for up to 1.69 cents on Wanna Get Away fares, or roughly twice that if you have a Companion Pass.
  • United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, and Korean Air (temporarily unavailable for transfers) miles can be redeemed for award travel on Star Alliance, Star Alliance, and SkyTeam flights, respectively.

Finally, if you're interested in long-haul Amtrak travel, Amtrak Guest Rewards offers phenomenal value. 25,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points is enough for a one-zone bedroom redemption like the City of New Orleans between Chicago and New Orleans or Coast Starlight between Las Angeles and Portland or Seattle. Those are 2-4+ cent per point redemptions, and a fantastic use of Ultimate Rewards points.

Conclusion

I can't answer the question of whether you should put gas station manufactured spend on a Flexperks Travel, Ink, or some other card like the Amex EveryDay Preferred (3 Membership Rewards points at gas stations under certain conditions). But these are the kinds of questions you should ask when making that decision: given your actual travel plans, which currency are you most likely to redeem at the highest value?

Personally, I'd much rather speculatively acquire Flexpoints, since it's a dead certainty that I will, at some point, need to fly somewhere on a paid airline ticket, and I'd much rather do so at a 69% discount (or more) by redeeming Flexpoints than pay full price.

On the other hand, if you have your heart set on a particular Hyatt property, a Marriott Air + Hotel package, a long-haul Amtrak trip or a premium cabin international flight, it's simple enough to figure out whether that redemption is worth more or less than the roughly 1.62 cents per Flexpoint you're giving up by earning Ultimate Rewards points instead.

Travel notice, and dining bonuses after Chase Sapphire Preferred

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[update 1/18/15: Reader Ted reminded me of the American Express SImplyCash Business Credit Card which offers 5% cash back at office supply stores and 3% cash back on up to $25,000 in annual purchases in a single category of your choice, with a list of options including restaurants and gas stations. The card currently has a $250 signup bonus after spending $5,000 within 6 months.]

Traveling for the next 24 days

This is what it's all about, right? We hustle all year not just to pad our bank accounts, but to redeem our miles and points for travel with our loved ones. I'll be bouncing around the country for the next few weeks before heading to Italy for a 10-day caper in Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples.

There's always a lot to write about and I don't anticipate much changing around here during my travels, but you should probably expect fewer datapoints that involve in-person experiments and more analysis, news, signup links, and that kind of thing.

I always find spending time with family to be exhausting and unexpectedly time-consuming (but meaningful!), so posting frequency will probably drop to 2 or 3 times per week from my usual 3-5 post frequency until I get back in the middle of January. I don't expect any extended blackout, so don't hesitate to reach out to me in the comments, by e-mail, and on Twitter.

Dining Bonuses after Chase Sapphire Preferred

Having finally thrown off the yoke of Chase's over-priced and under-performing Sapphire Preferred card and embraced the Ink Plus as my source of flexible Ultimate Rewards points, I was left with a serious question: which card should I use for my routine purchases that previously fell under the Sapphire Preferred's "dining" bonus category?

First let me stress that unless you have a lot of reimbursable travel expenses or you manufacture spend, this question shouldn't interest you: you should put all your everyday expenses on a 2% cash back, no-annual-fee credit card like the Citi Double Cash or Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express and never think about it again. Even a person who spends an above-average amount every year is unlikely to recoup the cost of an annual fee in the difference between the value of their spend on a premium credit card and the 2% they would earn on a no-annual-fee card.

If you do manufacture spend, on the other hand, your new "dining" credit card will ideally be one you already carry, either in order to manufacture spend or because it doesn't have an annual fee. Here are the obvious candidates:

  • Sam's Club MasterCard. Both travel hackers and civilians already carry this no-annual-fee credit card because it gives 5% cash back on up to $6,000 in gas station spend each year (the site doesn't make clear whether this is calendar or cardmember year). If you do, you may want to use it at restaurants as well, where it earns 3% cash back, 50% more than a 2% cash back card. Note that rewards earning is capped at a total of $5,000 in cash back per year.
  • Chase AARP Rewards Visa. A lower, but unlimited, 3% cash back earning rate at gas stations may make this card worth carrying if you manufacture a lot of spend at gas stations. If that's the case, it's probably also your best bet for restaurant spend, likewise earning unlimited 3% cash back with no annual fee.
  • Ink Cash. If you already completed your first year with a premium Ink credit card like Ink Plus or Ink Bold, you may have requested a product change to the no-annual-fee Ink Cash. If so, you're in luck: it earns 2 non-flexible Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent at restaurants. If you have a spouse or domestic partner who still carries a premium Ultimate Rewards card, you can transfer your non-flexible points to their account and keep the ability to transfer them.
  • Hilton HHonors Surpass American Express. Now we're getting into more speculative territory, so we need to be careful: the Surpass card has an annual fee of $75, so this is definitely not a card you should carry just for restaurant spend. But if you already carry it, in order to earn 6 HHonors points per dollar spent at gas stations and grocery stores and Hilton Diamond elite status after spending $40,000 on the card in a calendar year, then you're already implicitly valuing the 6 HHonors points you earn per dollar spent at restaurants at more than roughly 0.36 cents each, after accounting for the annual fee (if you spend exactly $40,000 on the card each calendar year, that's the valuation that recoups both the $800 you could earn with a 2% cash back card and your $75 annual fee).
  • Citi ThankYou Premier. I don't pay $125 annual fees, and don't suggest my readers do so either. But there are a (vanishingly small) number of situations where it might make sense to have a ThankYou Premier card. For example, if you are still sitting on a huge balance of ThankYou points from the days of ThankYou Preferred bonus earning at gas stations, drug stores, and grocery stores, you may have signed up for a ThankYour Premier card in order to increase the value of that stockpile. In that case, why not take advantage of the card's 3 ThankYou point per dollar earning rate at restaurants?

The rest of the bunch

There are other credit cards that earn as much as 3% cash back at restaurants. The problem is there's no reason you would ever have one of these cards, and it's unlikely to be worth a "hard" credit pull to apply for one:

  • Santander Bravo. Earns 3 points per dollar at gas stations, supermarkets, and restaurants, but a low signup bonus, $49 annual fee, and all bonus earning is capped at $5,000 in spend per calendar quarter.
  • Huntington Voice. Earns 3% cash back with no annual fee, but with no signup bonus and bonused earning capped at $2,000 in spend per calendar quarter.

A possible exception is the PayPal Extras MasterCard, which you may well carry for other reasons. The trouble is that you're likely to easily max out the 50,000-point cardmember-year earning limit without spending a dime at restaurants, so using the card there doesn't offer any marginal value over the cards I described above.

Any I missed?

What's your favorite card for legitimate restaurant spend? Did I miss any lesser-known gems? See you in the comments.

You could do worse than Zeugma Rewards accounts

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As my regular readers know, this is not a personal finance blog. In fact, I find the personal finance industry distasteful in the extreme. My opinions on personal finance are simple and wouldn't make for a very good (or long) read:

  • Invest in Vanguard Target Retirement Date mutual funds;
  • Don't pay interest (unless it makes sense).

But when you keep your eyes out for opportunities the way the travel hacking game trains you to, you'll inevitably spot some that aren't strictly speaking "travel" hacks.

There are 6% APY saving accounts

I've written before about Mango prepaid cards and savings accounts. Mango pays 6% APY on up to $5,000 held in the savings account linked to their prepaid cards, as long as you meet their direct deposit requirements. Those requirements are a bit fuzzy, but are certainly satisfied by depositing $50 per month, whether from your paycheck or from another bank account that allows ACH "pushes" to external accounts.

Mango has started charging $3 per month for the required prepaid account, but the savings account still allows you to earn around $264 in interest on a $5,000 savings account balance, or 5.28% annually (actually a bit less since the 6% is calculated APY, not APR). It's quite liquid (since Mango allows ACH pulls from the linked prepaid card), and beats any other federally-insured, liquid account I know of.

Likewise, the PayPal Prepaid Debit MasterCard and Netspend prepaid cards have 5% APY savings accounts, again on up to $5,000 in savings, and have their own fees and requirements to waive them.

Zeugma Rewards savings accounts earn 2.05% APY

Last weekend, I returned to New England for a long weekend catching up with a friend who lives out there, and for the thousandth time I walked by the Leader Bank branch in Cambridge. The same sign caught my eye as always: "Earn 2.05% APY on your Zeugma Rewards Savings Balance up to $50,000."

Let me attempt my best droll understatement and point out that 2.05% APY is much higher than current market interest rates on federally-insured savings accounts.

Activating Zeugma Rewards

What, you ask, is a Zeugma Rewards savings account? Similar to Santander's "extra20" accounts, you need both a Zeugma Rewards checking and savings account to participate, and in order to earn the full 2.05% APY on your Zeugma Rewards savings account, you'll need to meet three conditions with your Zeugma Rewards checking account:

  • Elect to receive statements electronically;
  • Direct deposit $500 or more each month;
  • Make 8 or more debit card transactions.

Obviously these requirements aren't too heavy a lift for my readers, but you'll need to make sure you meet them all or you'll earn a tiny fraction of the 2.05% interest you were hoping for.

It gets better

Maybe you're interested in a 2.05% APY savings account and maybe you aren't. But I'll bet you're very interested in a 1% cash back debit card.

Remarkably, Zeugma Rewards checking account debit cards earn 1% cash back on all signature transactions, specifically "signature purchase transactions only where the customer selects 'credit' as the transaction type." On the one hand, that's less generous than the (no-longer-available) Suntrust Delta Skymiles debit card. On the other hand, it's comparable to the PayPal Business Debit MasterCard, but backed by a real bank that may value their relationship with customers more than PayPal appears to.

Now I'm getting into the realm of speculation, but it's my blog and I feel like speculating. There are a number of "signature" debit card transactions that PayPal does not award cash back on. For example, Evolve Money transactions funded with a PayPal Business Debit MasterCard appear in your account history as signature transactions, but don't earn cash back at the end of the month. It seems possible to me that a smaller regional bank like Leader Bank may not have PayPal's level of awareness with respect to these transactions, and may end up awarding 1% cash back on transactions that would not qualify for rewards when funded with the debit cards of other, larger banks.

That's not a promise; it's an invitation. If you experiment you may find some kinds of transactions end up being more profitable than you're otherwise able to achieve. Will online debit Bluebird and Serve loads earn 1% cash back? Almost certainly. Will Evolve Money bill payments earn 1% cash back? Probably. Will Square Cash transfers earn 1% cash back? Maybe.

Free online debit card services are increasingly popular because of the low, fixed processing fees now-enshrined in law, while rewards-earning debit cards are increasingly rare.

Conclusion

Personal finance is one of the many areas of life that is made more profitable by the habits of mind we develop while travel hacking. Zeugma Rewards may or may not turn out to fit into your own financial life, but I think for some of my readers it's probably an opportunity worth exploring.