There have been quite some updates throughout the site and these are the highlights for the past week.

• Chase United MP Explorer is offering a public 55K miles bonus, without an annual fee waiver.  For quite some time, the same offer is targeted to many United MP members, and of course the public offer is always better.  Note that the business version still offers a 50K mile bonus with the first year annual fee waiver.
• We noticed the landing page for JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa's three Tier 1-4 free night offer was dead and re-directed to the new (and reduced) offer of two free nights.  The old application link was kept alive for a few days before pulled.  However, there is a landing page for three free nights that indicates an expiration date of November 30, 2016.  You may try it at your discretion, with the worst scenario being you just receive two free nights instead of three.  Note that Ritz-Carlton Visa is currently exempt from the infamous Chase 5/24 rule which disqualifies you from getting a new Chase card if you have opened five or more credit card accounts in the previous 24 months.  As long as you did not receive a signup bonus on the Ritz-Carlton Card within 24 months, you are eligible for the new signup bonus.  Keep in mind that you can't redeem the free Tier 1-4 certificates at 13 top-tier (Tier 5) properties including The Ritz-Carlton in New York Central Park, Bachelor Gulch, Naples, Miami South Beach, Miami Bal Harbour, Miami Key Biscayne, Grand Cayman, St. Thomas, Tokyo, Kyoto, Hong Kong, Shanghai Pudong, and Dubai.  However, there are still some amazing properties that are Tier 1-4, such as the ones in Half Moon Bay (rates from $599 per night), San Fransisco (from $399), Laguna Niguel (from $479), Los Angeles (from $409), Washington DC (from $329), Georgetown Washington DC (from $409), Boston (from $345), Dallas (from $399), Charlotte (from $399), Reynolds Lake Oconee (from $309), Maui Kapalua (from $399), Cancun (from $299), Aruba (from $299), Hotel de la Paix in Geneva (from $475), Vienna (from $360), Herzliya (from $395), and Macau (from $460)
• We discovered the website for Visa Infinite Hotels that is available to any U.S. issued Visa Infinite card.  Visit VisaInfiniteHotels.com to book a hotel - you have to type in your Visa Infinite card number before start searching for hotels.  Visa Infinite Hotel Collection covers a subset (~200) of Visa Signature hotels (900+ luxury hotels and resorts worldwide) but offers an extra perk such as a $75 dining credit or $100 spa/hotel/rate credit per stay, in addition to Visa Signature Hotel Collection's 7 perks (guaranteed lowest rates, daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, late checkout upon availability, $25 food and beverage credit per stay, free room wi-fi, and VIP amenities).  Currently, the only three U.S. issued Visa Infinite cards - CNB Crystal, Chase Sapphire Reserve / JPM Reserve, and JPM Ritz-Carlton Card - participate in both programs.

We have been making updates throughout the site and this post highlights some changes:

• We finally reviewed the new Avianca LifeMiles credit cards which was introduced last November.  Banco Popular in Puerto Rico is the issuer of these new cards.  You can earn a 60,000-mile signup bonus when you use a special promotion code in the application of Avianca LifeMiles Vuela Visa.
• Amex has reduced the amazing signup bonus on its Business Platinum Card from 100,000 points to 75,000.  This signup bonus is still worth a lot - $1,250 in our book.  The requirement to receive the full bonus was also increased from $15K to $20K.
• Amex has changed the signup bonus on its SimplyCash Plus Business Card to $400 with a spending requirement of $15K.  This is a non-fee business card and normally doesn't offer a signup bonus.
• Southwest Airlines changes how the potentially lucrative Companion Pass is earned.  Points transferred from hotel or rental car programs no longer count toward annual Companion Pass qualification.  However, points earned from the co-branded credit cards, including the signup bonus, continue to qualify.

This is Sean, aka Dr. Credit Card.  First of all, I would like to wish every reader of the site a happy 2017!  It is pretty crazy that the last blog post was almost two months ago - I bought a new house and moved in recently and have been unable to keep up.  Even though there have been updates on the site here and there, I wish more could have been done.  Now we have been slowly settling in, the site should be back to normal.  Here are some highlights of the recent updates.

• Our No. 1 credit card Chase Sapphire Reserve is now offering an online signup bonus of 50K points, down from 100K that was offered since its introduction in August 2016.  However, you can still receive the 100K bonus when you walk into a branch and apply.  Note that the infamous 5-24 rule (you will be denied the new account when you have opened 5 or more new credit cards in the past 24 months) still applies when you do that.  Hurry up if you haven't got this amazing card - source says the in-branch 100K offer will last through March but you never know if Chase decides to pull it earlier.
• Barclays has made American Airlines Aviator Red MasterCard available to new customers, with a signup bonus of 40K.  This means Citi is no longer the sole issuer of American Airlines' credit card products.  We welcome the competition. 
• We are very sad to see one of our favorite card for perks Chase Fairmont Visa has been discontinued for new applications due to Accor's acquisition of Fairmont, Raffles, Swissotel.  Fairmont Visa has been offering an amazing signup bonus (two free nights, possibly in a suite, plus breakfasts) and is also one of the credit cards to keep paying annual fees without spending a dime.
• Chase Southwest Plus Visa's 50K offer is back.  While the higher annual fee Southwest Premier Visa has been offering 50K, it has been a while since last time we saw Plus Visa's 50K offer.
• Citi has increased the signup bonus of Citi Prestige from 40K to 50K, while decreasing the signup bonus of the ThankYou Premier from 40K to 30K.

We have been continuing updating our site and here is the highlight of the week.

Chase brought to us Ink Preferred exactly as rumored.  Ink Preferred replaces Ink Plus as the $95 premium Ultimate Rewards (UR) business card.  The existing Ink Plus customers will be grandfathered in for all features and could receive the signup bonus on Ink Preferred as long as they qualify under the infamous 5/24 rule.  "5/24 rule" is a Chase internal rule that makes obtaining a new Chase card almost impossible when you have opened five or more credit cards (regardless of issuers) in the last 24 months.  Ink Preferred offers an amazing 80,000 UR points signup bonus, which is worth $1,200 in our book.  The annual fee is not waived when you apply online, but may be waived when you apply in branch.  Ink Preferred offers very different bonus categories from Ink Plus: 3x travel, shipping, advertising through search engines and social media, and phone / internet / cable services, and 1x everywhere else.  Ink Preferred will be a great combo to pair with the non-fee Ink Cash, as together they will cover 7 bonus categories that are essential to business.  Please see our review for details.

Amex has been fighting back, as Chase has been very aggressive to take its market shares.  Last month, they revamped the iconic Platinum Card, both personal and business versions.  They also upped the signup offer on Business Platinum Card to 100K points.  Now they have made available a public 100K offer through a special link.  It is recommended that you use private browsing mode in your browser if you don't see this offer.  100,000 Membership Rewards points are worth $1,500 in our book.  Keep in mind that Amex is even more stringent than Chase when coming to signup bonus: if you receive a bonus on the same product ever before, you will get the card when you are approved but won't get the bonus again.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here are some highlights:

• BofA MERRILL+ Visa Signature has an incredible 50,000 points offer.  Please see our review for details.  There are reports indicating that you don't need a Merrill Lynch relation to apply and get approved, and a relationship with Bank of America may or may not be required.  50K points are worth $500-$1,000 and we think it should be reasonably easy to redeem them for $800 in airfare.  Even though this card is worth keeping after the first year as there is no annual fee, we won't recommend it for general spending.
• We also reviewed the super-exclusive BofA Merrill Lynch Octave Amex, which carries an annual fee of $950 and is by-invitation-only exclusively for Merrill's richest clients who maintains at least 10 million dollars in asset with them.  The most interesting feature of the card is the up to 5% travel rewards for general spending (4% is reasonably achievable).
• Chase Marriott Visa has a new offer: two free nights at Category 1-5 hotels & $200 statement credit after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, an additional 7,5000 points after you add the first authorized user and make the first purchase within the same 3 months, and waived first year annual fee ($85).  The old offer of up to 87,500 points is still available.  Please see our review for details.  As for which offer is better, it depends on your value for Marriott points and free nights.  In our book, the new offers is worth $445 and the old offer is $440 - about the same.
• Please always check our Promotion page for the current credit card signup offers which are ranked by our value.     

We have been continuing updating pages throughout the site.  Here are some highlights.

• Amex has brought back the long-waited 30K offers on its SPG Card, at least sort of.  You may visit the link on our SPG Amex Review page to see if you receive the 30K offer instead of the regular 25K.  If the 30K offer doesn't show up, you may want to try again with a different browser or use private browsing mode.
• Amex also has a limited-time offer for its Business Blue Card: in addition to the regular 10,000 points your receive after the first use within the first three months of new account opening, you will also receive 10x points on U.S. restaurants for the first $2,000 in purchase in the first 6 months (up to 18,000 bonus points over regular earning), and 2x points on the first $50K in purchase in the first year (up to 50,000 bonus points over regular earning).  If you max out the bonus, you will have 78,000 bonus points!  This card has no annual fees and gives a 30% annual points bonus based on what you spend the year before.  So you will receive 10.3 points per dollar spent in dining within the first 6 months and 2.3 points per dollar spent everywhere else within the first year.  Normally the value of MR points earned through this card is capped at 1 cent a piece; however, if you have a premium MR card, the points will be automatically pooled together and the value could be higher.  For example, if you have the newly enhanced Business Platinum Card, the points value will be either fixed at 2 cents a piece when you use them toward airfare or depending on how you use them after you transfer MR points to miles/points of partner frequent traveler programs (our current valuation is 1.5 cents a piece).
• We reviewed US Bank LATAM Airlines LANPASS Visa Signature, which returns 3.2 LATAM kms for LATAM purchases and 1.6 kms for other purchases.  Our current valuation of LATAM kms is 1.1 cents a piece, so this card competes well with other airline miles card.  However, we will recommend Amex SPG over LANPASS Visa for general spending if collecting LATAM kms is your major goal, because you will earn 1.5*1.25 = 1.875 kms per dollar spent on Amex SPG if you transfer SPG points to LATAM kms in bulks of 20K.  In terms of annual fees and travel perks, The $75 annual fee will almost be offset by the annual 4,000 bonus miles (6,400 kms), and you will enjoy several LATAM benefits such as one annual 20% discount, 25% bonus flight points, and three annual upgrade coupons, almost for free.
• We finally reviewed Fort Knox FCU Visa Platinum, which is perhaps the best cashback card that offers 5% on gas purchases considering it has no annual fees, no spending limit, and no special requirements.  The caveat is that even though you may apply as a non-member of the credit union, their review process is generally more stringent than major credit card issuers.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site.  Here we would like to highlight a few important ones:

• Wyndham Rewards Visa has been revamped.  The no-fee version offers 3x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, and automatic Gold status.  The $75 version offers 5x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, 6,000 annual bonus points, and automatic Platinum status.  Compared to the old Wyndham Visa, the new cards reduce points earning on general spending from 2x to 1x, but add automatic elite status as well as waived foreign transaction fees.  As we value Wyndham points at around 1 cent per point, the old cards offer great rewards for general spending and thus rated #6 Best Card for Rewards.  We had concern about uncertainty in the rewards program before and it is very sad to see Wyndham/Barclays simply decides to slash the rewards for general spending in half.  Now the new cards won't make it to Top 10.  Even though the new perks such elite status may attractive some customers, we won't recommend the new cards for general spending at all.  It is interesting that you may still sign up the old cards through the old landing page.  We think the existing cardholders have to be grandfathered in for 2x points on general spending, but we have no info at this point and probably won't know how long it will last even if it is indeed the case.
• JetBlue's frequent flyer program TrueBlue has been added as a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou.  You can now transfer ThankYou points to TrueBlue points at a 1.25:1 rate, if you have either ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige.  TrueBlue points are mostly fixed at value of 1.4 cents per point, so if you use this option, the value of ThankYou points will be 1.12 cents per point - not a very good way of using ThankYou points.  A better way would be using ThankYou to book a revenue JetBlue flight through Citi at fixed value of 1.33 cents per point, instead of transferring the points to JetBlue and then booking an award ticket.  Our value for ThankYou points is 1.4 for ThankYou Premier considering other valuable transfer partners, and 1.6 for Citi Prestige considering the fixed value for booking an American Airlines flight through Citi.
• JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite offers $100 companion discount per trip for 2-5 domestic round-trip coach class tickets on your reservation.  Even though the terms say that primary cardholder must be one of the ticketed passengers, there are reports confirming that authorized users also enjoy this benefit for free.  This may potentially increase the value of this card quite a bit.
• Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) offer reciprocal earnings on their credit cards.  Chase Marriott Visa and JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa will start earning 5x points on SPG hotels; while Amex SPG will start earning 2x points on Marriott/Ritz-Carlton hotels.  The two loyalty programs will eventually merge in 2018, but before that customers can take advantage of the best of both programs.  Details about the future of these credit cards still remain uncertain.  We suspect that Marriott or Ritz-Carlton cards probably won't change much, while Amex SPG will probably convert to a Chase product at some point in 2018.

In addition, you may find the following news interesting.

• Amex offers 2x points for select small business purchases through 12/31/16.  That is an additional 1x points you can earn through this "Shop Small" promotion.  You have to enroll your Amex at https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/shop-small-offer/ to take advantage of this promotion.  They also have a useful search tool for you to find the participating small businesses in your area.  The following cards are eligible: Membership Rewards cards (such as Amex Platinum, Amex Premier Rewards Gold, Amex EveryDay Preferred), Delta SkyMiles cards, SPG cards, Blue Sky cards, Blue Cash cards, Hilton HHonors cards, Plenti Card, and Schwab Investor Card.
• Per Bloomberg, Chase will introduce a new business card product called "Ink Preferred", which features a 80K points signup bonus, a $95 annual fee (waived for the first year), 3x points for the first $150K spent on travel, telecommunications, shipping and advertising on social-media and search engines, and 1x points on other purchases.  Chase already has a $95 business card Ink Plus, which offers 5x points on office supplies, wireless services, landline communications and cable services (up to $50K spent annually), 2x on gas and lodging (up to $50K spent), and 1x on other purchases.   At this point, we don't know whether Ink Plus will continue to be offered alongside with Ink Preferred or be converted to the new card in the future.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

Weekly update first. Several pages have been updated.  In addition, there are a few updated signup offers including Amex Platinum Delta SkyMiles 70K miles + 10K MQMs + $100 credit (for both personal and business versions), Amex Gold Delta SkyMiles 50K miles + $50 credit (for both personal and business versions), Amex Hilton Surpass 100K, Amex Hilton 75K, and Citi Hilton Visa 75K; like always, please check out our Promotions page for details. 

Now the biggest news of the week - to respond to Chase Sapphire Reserve, Amex revamps its iconic Platinum Card, both the personal and business versions, and the changes were effective October 6, 2016.  Also Amex brings back the amazing 100K offer for the Business Platinum Card.  Please head over to our Amex Platinum Card Review for everything you will need to know about it, including the 100K offer for the business card.  Here we will highlight the changes.

Amex Platinum Card (personal): 5x Membership Rewards (MR) points on airfare booked with airlines or through Amex Travel website.  When you book airfare via a third party Online Travel Agency such as Expedia, Travelocity, Ortiz, most likely you will be charged directly by the airline so you will still receive 5x points.  Note previously, this card gives 2x points on certain travel (airfare, prepaid hotels, vacation packages, cruise) booked through Amex Travel, and the booking fees are waived for Platinum members.  Looks like this feature is still available but the airfare will earn 5x instead, while other travel continues to earn 2x.  The last thing to note is that while Amex Platinum has the highest level of travel protection among all Amex cards, it still trails behind Citi and Chase in this regard, as Amex doesn't cover family members or award tickets and doesn't offer Trip Cancellation/Interruption, Trip Delay, or Baggage Delay coverage.  This factor might make some travelers use Citi Prestige or Chase Sapphire Reserve for 3x airfare instead of 5x on Amex Platinum.

While Amex Platinum's $450 annual fee may seems hefty, when you make use of the $200 annual airline credit, the effective annual fee becomes $250.  Most savvy card members probably won't use this card for general purchases, as there are better alternatives out there, such as Amex EveryDay Preferred, Amex SPG, Fidelity Visa, Citi Double Cash, just to name a few.  However, the October 2016 enhancement turns this card into a powerhouse for bonus rewards - 5x airfare is the highest among all miles/points cards.  Using our current conservative value of 1.5 cents per MR point, you are getting 7.5% cash equivalent rewards on airfare purchases.  You only need to spend $4,600 a year on airfare to beat the $250 effective annual fee and 2% cashback, because $4,600 x (7.5% - 2%) > $250.  You will need to spend $8,400 a year on airfare to beat the $250 effective annual fee and a miles/points card that offers 3x on airfare such as Amex Premier Rewards Gold, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, because $8,400 x (5 - 3) point/$ x 1.5 cent/point > $250.  After that, you essentially receive all Platinum Card's great travel perks for free, such as unlimited access to Delta, Alaska, Centurion, and many more domestic and international lounges, Fine Hotels and Resorts, Hilton/SPG/Marriott Gold, and many others.  If you frequent Delta or Alaska and/or depart from a city where there is a Centurion Lounge, this card offers unparalleled value.  If you frequent Hilton Worldwide, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and/or luxury hotels, this card could also be hugely valuable.

With this important enhancement and its already impressive perks (rated #2), signup bonus (currently 40K), and protection, Amex Platinum finally makes to our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list, even surpassing the other two longtime favorite MR cards - Amex Premier Rewards Gold and Amex EveryDay Preferred.  As a result, the previous #10 Chase United Explorer Visa falls off the list.  Please see below the screenshots of the list before and after October 6, 2016.

Amex Business Platinum Card: (1) 1.5x points on each purchase of $5,000 or more, (2) 50% points rebate when using the "Pay with Points" option, essentially making MR points fixed value at 2 cents a piece, when buying First or Business Class tickets with any airline through Amex Travel, and Economy Class tickets with your selected airline also through Amex Travel.  So the 100K signup bonus of Business Platinum Card is worth at least $2,000!  

Note that you may still choose the other valuable redemption option to transfer MR points to miles/points of several frequent traveler programs, and keep in mind that our current value of MR points for using that option is 1.5 cents a piece, lower than the "Pay with Points" option.  However, these two options are very different in nature, I personally will choose the transfer option even with lower on-paper value, as I know I won't be using my hard earned cash/points to buy international long-haul First or Business Class tickets outright, while transferring points to miles of a frequent flyer program will allow me to have such tickets at a very reasonable rate.  Let's see an example of a recent flight I took: the one-way Suite Class on Singapore Airlines between Tokyo Narita and Los Angeles retails at about $8,000, and if I were to use the "Pay with Points" option, I will need a whooping 400,000 MR points - at exact 2 cents per point value.  However, if I would transfer 74,000 MR points to Singapore miles, I would be able to book this award ticket with the miles + $130 taxes and fees, as long as I find an available seat.  In fact, I did not use my MR points but I transferred my Citi ThankYou points to Singapore miles and I was able to secure not only one seat but two.  If I do math on paper, the value of MR points will be more than 10 cents per point; however, my personal conservative value of them is still around 1.5 cents, as I am willing to pay $1,250 for this ticket (74,000 points x 1.5 cent/point + $130 = $1,250).

Let's come back to see what the changes mean for Business Platinum Card member.  Earning 1.5x points on large purchases (>$5,000) will of course help some members.  However, the enhanced "Pay with Points" is more interesting to most members, as this makes Business Platinum Card a 2% rewards card for general spending with a $250 effective annual fee.  In addition, it opens up opportunities for other MR cards to become more valuable as MR points will be pooled together automatically.  For example, EveryDay Preferred will return staggering 9%, 6%, and 3% rewards for grocery, gas, and general purchases; the personal Platinum Card will return 10% rewards for airfare; Premier Rewards Gold Card will return 6% and 4% rewards for airfare and gas/grocery/dining.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net  All rights reserved.

We updated several pages throughout the site, including "All About Credit Card Rewards" and "US Bank FlexPerks Credit Cards".  We are copying some highlights here.  For the full details please visit the reviews directly.

Best Rewards Credit Card Combos
Theoretically you need way too many cards to maximize rewards - one for gas, one for groceries, one for dining, one for airfare, one for hotels, one for general spending, and so on.  In real life, most of us can't manager that.  That is why here we will recommend the best two-card combos that will hand you much bigger rewards than a single card while still keeping things manageable.

• Fidelity Visa | Citi Double Cash + one category bonus cashback card: This combo is for people who love cash back!  ...
• Amex SPG + Amex Premier Rewards Gold | Citi ThankYou Premier: This powerful combo is for people who prefer miles/points to cashback.  ...
• Amex EveryDay Preferred + Chase Sapphire Reserve | Citi Prestige: We highly recommend this combo as an alternative to the previous one, for the simple reason that the two cards complement each other in the bonus categories almost too perfectly.  With 30 transactions per month, EDP offers highest return for groceries (4.5x, up to $6,000 spent each year) and gas (3x), while Sapphire Reserve covers travel & dining (3x).  So with this combo, you can easily cover the five most important bonus categories: grocery, gas, dining, airfare, and non-air travel, with only two cards - that is an incredible deal!  As for general spending, EDP returns higher rewards at 1.5x (=2.25%) and will be ideal for most purchases.  However, we recommend using Sapphire Reserve for items that may have price drop within 60 days such as electronics for the Price Protection benefit, and when traveling abroad for the waived foreign transaction fees and embedded EMV chip.  Finally, Citi Prestige is an great alternative to Sapphire Reserve, as it offers similar bonus categories: 3x on most travel (airfare, hotels, travel agents), and 2x on dining & entertainment, and similar and even better consumer protection like Citi Price Rewind and two years of Extended Warranty.
• Chase Freedom Unlimited + Chase Sapphire Reserve: Even though Chase Freedom Unlimited is branded as a cashback card, it actually earn UR points at 1.5x for all purchases without an annual fee.  Normally you won't be able to transfer UR points earned through Freedom Unlimited to frequent traveler miles/points since it is a lower tier UR product, limiting the value of a point at 1 cent.  However, the secret here is that if you have our recommended premium UR card Sapphire Reserve, you can transfer the UR points earned from Freedom Unlimited to Sapphire Reserve's account so all of sudden these points become transferable to miles/points or can be redeemed for travel on any airline through Chase at a fixed 1.5 cents per point.  This hugely increases the value of Freedom Unlimited, making it returning an impressive 2.25% cashback equivalent for general spending based on our current valuation of UR points.  Obviously, Sapphire Reserve will be the card to charge to for travel & dining (3x).  In addition, we recommend using Sapphire Reserve for foreign travel and items that may have price drop within 90 days.  Lastly, if you don't mind having three cards in your wallet, adding Chase Freedom, which returns 5x on quarterly rotating categories, will make amazing Chase UR triplets.  UR points earned through Freedom are also transferrable to frequent traveler miles/points when you have Sapphire Reserve, and then Freedom returns an incredible 7.5% on 5x categories.  Bear in mind there is a quarterly $1,500 spending cap for the 5x categories on Freedom, so if you do everything exactly right, you will be earning an extra 21,000 UR points a year (1,500 x 4 x (5 - 1.5) = 21,000) by adding this non-fee card to your wallet.  Of course, you still may replace Sapphire Reserve with Sapphire Preferred and the same trick works - points you accumulated from either Freedom or Freedom Unlimited can be transferred to Sapphire Preferred's account and they become transferrable to miles/points.

US Bank FlexPerks Credit Cards
​Currently, there are four FlexPerks cards: FlexPerks Select+ Amex, FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature, FlexPerks Gold Amex, FlexPerks Business Edge Travel Rewards Visa Signature.

FlexPerks Select+ American Express

• Annual Fee: none
• ...

FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature

• Annual Fee: 1st year free, $49 thereafter (can be offset by redeeming 3,500 points)
• ...

FlexPerks Gold American Express

• Annual Fee: $85 (can be offset by redeeming 5,000 points)
• Signup Bonus: 30,000 points after spending $2,000 within 4 months of new account opening.  Historical best bonus of this card: 30,000.
• Application Landing Page
• Rewards: 3x on dining, 2x on airlines and gas, 1x everywhere else (up to $180,000 spent annually).
• Best Use of FlexPerks points: The same as FlexPerks Travel Rewards Visa Signature, i.e., up to 2 cents per point when redeeming for airfare through US Bank, with a $25 incidental credit for each ticket booked this way.
• Amex CONNECT benefits: (1) Automatic Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) credit, every five years.  (2) Complimentary Boingo Wi-Fi.  (3) 24/7 Lifestyle Concierge Service.  (4) Global Dining Program.  (5) Entertainment Access.  (6) VIP Experiences.  Please visit amexconnect.com/flexperksgold for details of the Amex CONNECT program. 
• Other Benefits: (1) No foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip.  (2)  Complimentary Andrew Harper Travel Club membership.  (3) Discounts (up to 25%) and Emerald Club membership at National Car Rental.  (4) Discounts at BostonCoach limousine service. 
• History: this product was introduced in June 2016, replacing the old FlexPerks Travel Rewards Amex, with an increase of annual fees from $49 to $85.

FlexPerks BUSINESS Edge Travel Rewards Visa Signature
...

The Math
...

The Conclusion
As long as your spending on the bonus categories exceeds a certain percentage of your total spending, FlexPerks TR Visa or FlexPerks Gold Amex will beat a 2% cashback card such as Fidelity Visa.  For most consumers, FlexPerks Gold Amex is a better card than FlexPerks TR Visa.  US Bank FlexPerks Gold Amex is rated as one of the Best Credit Cards for Rewards.

We have been working on numerous updates throughout the site during the last couple of weeks.  Here I would like to highlight some updates.

• Barclays Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard has an increased signup bonus of 50,000 miles (value $525 in travel), from 40,000 miles.
• Amex Business Platinum Card is offering an incredible 75,000 points, and with an effective annual fee of $250, our value of the signing up this card is $875.
• Amex Business Gold Rewards Card is offering a 50,000 points with a first annual fee waiver (our value $750).
• Chase Hyatt Visa's first year annual fee is NOT waived anymore.  The signup bonus is 2 free nights after spending $2,000 within 3 months + 5,000 points for adding an authorized user.
• We finally reviewed Korean Air SKYPASS Visa.  Unless you are need the signup bonus (there are targeted offers of 40K) or you need the up to 20,000 elite qualifying miles towards Morning Calm Club, you'd better to consider Amex SPG, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or Chase Sapphire Preferred, as they all allowed points to be transferred to Korean Air miles.
• Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) has added Avianca LifeMiles as a new transfer partner at 1:1.  You also receive a 5K bonus if you transfer 20K.