Two questions about the US Bank Flexperks Visa PyeongChang Bonus FlexPoints

Between February 5 and March 10, 2018, US Bank is again running an Olympics promotional signup bonus for the Flexperks Travel Rewards card, offering 25,000 bonus Flexpoints when you spend $2,000 within four months, and additional bonus points based on the final US medal count at the PyeongChang Olympics.

Are you eligible?

Historically, US Bank's policy was to not have a policy limiting signup bonuses. I signed up for a second Flexperks Travel Rewards card during the first Olympics promotion in 2012 just months after opening my first card, and had no problem receiving the signup bonus for both cards. On the other hand, US Bank has been notoriously reluctant to open accounts for folks with a lot of recent accounts, and they pull credit reports from some weird risk-management firms. 

Now, they've added the following language to the Flexperks Olympics promo application: "Existing and previous FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa accounts do not qualify for Bonus FlexPoints for a similar account type."

That's the kind of sloppy language that's typical of US Bank, but you get the general idea: they don't want to award points to anyone who has or has had a Flexperks account.

The question is whether that language is going to be enforced or not. My gut tells me no, simply because I don't believe US Bank has the technical wherewithal to enforce it. But it's certainly the case that if they refused to award the bonus points, they'd be well within their rights to do so.

Is it worth it?

On the one hand, the Flexperks Travel Rewards card has lost some of its luster recently, with a slight devaluation of Flexpoints from "up to" 2 cents each to a fixed 1.5 cents each, and the earning rate on charitable spending dropping from 3 Flexpoints per dollar to 2 Flexpoints per dollar.

Nonetheless, it's still a decent core travel card, earning 3% in travel rewards at gas stations or grocery stores each billing cycle, plus 12 Gogo inflight internet coupons per year and a $25 airline credit each time you book air travel with your Flexpoints (the credit can be used to buy gift cards for later use, or for fees or onboard food and drinks).

If the US Olympic team merely earns the same number of medals as they did in 2014, the signup bonus would be a total of 32,450 Flexpoints, worth $487 in airfare. That's an above-average signup bonus for any card, and it's made all the better if, like me, you think the card's worth carrying on an ongoing basis. With the absence of the Russian national team and reduced number of (hopefully drug-free!) Russian competitors, the US may end up doing far better than that.

In any case you can wait until the Games end on February 25 to decide whether or not to apply, once we know the final medal count.