U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Card To Lose 3x On Charity At End Of Year

Earlier this year U.S. Bank removed the option to have charity as a 5% category on the Cash+ card and replaced it with ground transportation. That made the  U.S. Bank FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature Card the best option for charity donations as it earns 3x FlexPerks. Unfortunately this will only continue until 12/31/17 on the 01/01/18 the card will then earn 2x on charity donations.

us bank

It’ll still be worth using for some people as FlexPerks points are worth up to 2¢ each and it’s the only card that still offers a category bonus on charity donations. That being said up to 4% back (and that’s in a really perfect world) is not that much better than some of the everyday cards. Hopefully another card issuers sees this as an opportunity to enter the market or add charities as a category bonus.

Hat tip to Frequent Miler

 

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UAPhil
UAPhil (@guest_403762)
May 9, 2017 01:30

Much more significant than the Flexperks devaluation is the Trump tax proposal. It doubles the standard deduction, and eliminates all itemized deductions except mortgage interest and charitable contributions (for example, state and local taxes will no longer be deductible). De facto, this means that most of us who formerly itemized will instead take the standard deduction.

It’s too soon to know how this will play out, but if the changes take effect in 2018, those who itemize their deductions will want to accelerate their charitable giving into 2017 to maximize tax leverage.

Dan
Dan (@guest_407616)
May 17, 2017 18:33

Kiva loans are not charitable deductions.

John
John (@guest_403317)
May 8, 2017 12:32

Will this also affect the US Bank Travel Rewards FlexPerks American Express cards?

John
John (@guest_403783)
May 9, 2017 02:08

Just looked. I think we are talking about separate products. My wife and I have the American Express edition of the (black in color) FlexPerks Travel Rewards card, which I guess US Bank no longer offers. They have always had 3x on Charity, just like the Visa version.

Estey
Estey (@guest_403305)
May 8, 2017 12:18

Any news about the Flexperks AMEX on this front? I have found that fewer charities qualify on the AMEX version of this card (and of course, the Amex version has different, typically fewer, fringe benefits)

For example, if I’m not mistaken, donations made through the Paypal Charitable Trust doesn’t work on Amex- but don’t quote me on that. (It definitely works on the Visa version)

D Hoover
D Hoover (@guest_403236)
May 8, 2017 10:08

Welp, there goes an easy 75k free flexpoints MS per month.

It was good while it lasted.

Going to ramp up even more before this dies for good.

Scott
Scott (@guest_403435)
May 8, 2017 15:28

Were you doing Kiva loans, or was there an even better MS technique?