FHB Priority Destinations card: 25,000 points and 5% back on travel

A mysterious figure who wishes to be known only as “R” sent me a link to a credit card I hadn’t seen before. It’s issued by First Hawaiian Bank and it’s called the Priority Destinations card. Here’s what you get:

• 5X points for the first $6,000 spent on travel each year
• 2X miles on gas, grocery, and utility payments
• $50 annual fee (waived the first year)
• 25,000 miles after $1,500 in purchases
• 10% miles back whenever you redeem, so it’s actually 5.5X / 2.2X

I’m guessing the “miles” are worth one cent when redeeming for travel, but I can’t tell for sure. Based on the promotions on this page, they’re worth less than one cent when redeeming for other things.

So: $250 on travel plus another $330 back per year on travel spending (if you max out). There’s a business card version as well which also carries the 25,000 mile bonus, albeit with a $3K minimum spend.

Sound worthwhile? Here’s the catch, as per the application page, “We currently only accept online applications from Hawaii, Guam and CNMI.” (Note: CNMI=Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. I had to look that one up.)

The way it’s worded makes me wonder, though: if you happen to be in Hawaii on vacation, could you walk into a First Hawaiian Bank branch and apply for the card? I have no idea, but I figured I’d throw this one out for consideration in case anybody’s familiar with it, or in case I actually have any readers in Hawaii.