itaexpat

Shortly after it launched in the US, I got the FB credit card issued by Bank of America; the 60XP + 25,000 miles signup bonus was attractive, plus 20XP each anniversary year, and $89/year really doesn't feel like that much for that type of return (every single XP counts for me to keep Gold status). But! Here's the caveat. I am primarily a Chase Sapphire Reserve holder, and the benefits attached to that just far eclipse any other credit card for me at this time. I stopped using the FB card essentially after hitting the signup bonus, and keep doing all my travel purchases on the Reserve for the 3X points, including those SkyTeam related. And most of my travel purchases are SkyTeam related, so I am forfeiting the mileage accrual that comes from that if I used the FB card.

I know every individual situation is different, but are there scenarios where people would advise using the FB card instead of the Reserve? It seems to me 3X Ultimate Rewards points are a better return, but looking for suggestions on whether and how I could alternate using both fruitfully.

caliform

The US Amex Platinum is currently the best card for returns on tickets; 5 MR points per booking mean you get 5 FB miles per $ (and getting better fares: the IAP fares are now bookable online (!) in Amex Travel). After that, the US Bank AR and Chase CSR are the best. UR points transfer 1:1 to Flying Blue and the coverages (insurance) are far better on the CSR than the BofA FB card. I see no reason to use the FB card outside of the XP.

I personally use the European FB Platinum Amex, which is damn near useless as far as miles go (2 miles per €) but it's still somewhat better than the BofA offering. Wish they'd made a better credit product.

fifty_two

I would suggest to keep both , and from tiem to time use the FB card . Why ?

To prevent such problems like many customer of chase or amex , who transfered bunch of miles to see their FB account closed , their awards booking cancelled or being asked to fly thousand of miles to reach the nearest AF office

caliform

That only happens when you open a new FB account, don't use it, then suddenly deposit in 100k points. Doesn't sound like OP has to worry about that.

itaexpat

Yeah, not my case! But thanks both! Also:

I haven't done that yet, mostly because if I have enough UR to book a free flight, I'll go for that and the ensuing mileage accrual, instead of getting an award ticket (no mileage). Hopefully there'll be a day when I have enough UR that I can get myself a biz class award with the 1:1 transfer. The 25,000 signup bonus with the FB card was great because it covered one leg of an award ticket BOS-BLQ for August (in economy).

I've been dabbling in the rewards credit cards world for just over a year, but I find Europe (where I am from) to not really be on this game like the US. So I'm not surprised the FB card options there aren't that lucrative?

caliform

OK, just be aware that the difference in value can be astounding. 50,000 UR converts to (I think) $750 worth of flying. I routinely grab a one-way J ticket from SFO to AMS for 62.5-75K FB miles. That's thousands of dollars in value (one-way J doesn't really exist, so that's already great to have, but that's about $2000 if you were to think of it as half of the RT price).

Sjondorn

On "all other purchases" (non-dining, non-travel), you get 1.5 miles / $1 instead of 1 point / $1 for AMEX / Chase (when there's no promo).

itaexpat

That is so true! See? I'm still relatively new to this, and most definitely have a lot to learn. Thanks for the tips!

paris1000

I use the BofA FB MC in place of my CSR card in two ways -

1. Enough spending to meet the threshold to get the additional 40 XP yearly, so together with the 20 XP for being a cardmember I'm only 120 XP away from at least maintaining STE+.

2. 1.5x points for all non-travel, non-dining puchases which would otherwise be 1x on my CSR card.

Almost all other charges go on CSR or Chase Ink Business because, as mentioned upthread, the URs are so valuable in being able to transfer them to grab saver fares.

itaexpat

#2 is exactly what I needed to be reminded of, thank you. For the non-dining, non-travel purchases I got the Chase Freedom Unlimited (also 1.5x on all) for easy transfer to UR, and it was an easy signup bonus to get + no annual fee. But this is a great way to alternate FB with CSR. The UR I get through the Unlimited are not that meaningful, and I'm more than willing to forfeit them for a few extra miles and extra usage of the FB MC.

Unfortunately (more like, luckily--I am single with good work benefits) my monthly spending isn't that high that I could easily make the $15,000/year on one card and also make the most of the CSR, but who knows, things might change on that front!

mlin32

^Kind of in the same boat as you. I can't hit 15 k USD a year on spend. When I signed up for the card I was hoping to be able to do that but based on my trend I'm too far behind to get the extra 40XP based on spend alone. Still, the 1,5 miles per USD spend is better than all my other cards. And the annual 20XP boost helps too.

I also have a Chase Freedom card with UR but I never use it because I'm an expat and the 3% FX fee makes that card a no-go.

CoMooter

It all depends on personal circumstances in terms of using the BOC card. Personally, a REALLY big difference to me is the 3X miles on ALL ST airlines. I have two DL Amex cards, and those are limited to just 2X - an only on DL tickets (my guess is Amex is going to have to change this sooner rather than later to compete). Personally, more and more I am looking at the BOA card to largely replace in a huge way what usually goes on those Amex cards as I spend a lot of $$$ annually with other ST carriers, including quite a bit with MU and KL/AF.

ken98230

mlin32

Yes.

caliform

I mean, you could just go product change to a Platinum Amex and get that 5x MR earning and the IAP, which often knocks hundreds of dollars off my KLM ticket price.