NEW US Bank Card Offers 4% Back on Travel and & Gas – Altitude Connect – The Credit Shifu

I'm passing. Got the Cash+ for utilities then found out my utilities (that were done by my town and not a company) don't work for 5% category. USBank isn't worth the credit inquiry hit to get a card. Plus I think you need a minimum $20 cashback to use it as statement credit. Thanks for the review though.

Smoothie looks good!

TSA Precheck usually requires a Tier 4 card. Having it on a Tier 3 card is notable. I think this is only the third Tier 3 card from a major bank to offer it (the others being BofA Premium Rewards and CO Venture).

Nice video and very timely. Have to say I was cruising their Altitude Reserve out of boredom the other day and was surprised how competitive it was. Now this, they're really trying to become some CC players here and they could honestly take some market share I think. If they actually offered at least one account with higher interest and a solid rewards center/travel partners, they could be close to a full solution FI. The gas sets this one apart, great to see. I don't plan to switch my load out but I do like seeing more competition in the space; only benefits the consumer. Thanks shifu.

Thanks for this review Ben…quick correction needed at 3:27 👉 from the USBank footnotes: “Cash back is redeemed in the form of a statement credit or a deposit made to your U.S. Bank savings or checking account (2,500 Points minimum redemption)”

Think I'll just use the Costco card. I always go to Costco for my gas anyways. Same cash back, but no AF.

Not interested. For a LOWER (effective) annual fee of $75, the Altitude Reserve delivers way more in benefits and the points are worth 1.5¢ per point. It’s time for US Bank to allow for an “ecosystem” where all the Altitude cards can transfer points to each other (like the Chase system).

Big fan of US Bank cards, but this one just kind of strikes me as…meh. It's being billed as a travel card with the 4x points on travel, no foreign transaction fees, and the Global/TSA benefit…but lacks any trip delay or baggage insurance benefit? No lounge access (even if it was just a couple passes per year)? The multiplier is fine, but step up to the Altitude Reserve…and yes you'll have a $400 annual fee, but take one trip per year and that effective fee drops to $75 when you redeem your $325 travel benefit. And the Reserve has lounge access, primary rental insurance, and all the other goodies…not to mention giving you the option of using points at a higher redemption value if you book travel through their portal.

With a single change to this card, I would have been all in on it. If they ditched the Global/TSA benefit and the 4x on Travel…and replaced it with 4x on Groceries (only 2x more than they are already offering) and made it a 4x Grocery/Gas card with all else being the same (or even limiting purchases in those categories to $6,000 each a year), I'd try for it. Then US Bank would have a cashback version of the AmEx Gold (sorta kinda) and the Altitude family of cards would cover Dining (GO), Groceries and Fuel (Connect), and Travel (Reserve). And when those three eventually start sharing points (as I still believe they will), that would make all of the (already good) Altitude cards truly outstanding.

Had they done that it would have been effectively getting 6% on Dining, Fuel, Groceries, and Travel when points got transferred to the Reserve and boosted by 50%. Mobile wallet purchases would be worth 4.5%, and even Streaming would be at 3% (plus the bonuses on both the GO and Connect). Add all of those benefits to being able to get 5% back on home utilities with the Cash+ card? That would have probably been enough to get me to lay down most of my other credit cards (would probably have to keep my Chase Amazon Prime Card). But no. Instead we get a higher effective annual fee Reserve card…with a good fuel multiplier.

Having said that, I disagree with the notion that the $30 streaming credit isn't a great benefit. Nobody can "forget" to use it, because it gets automatically applied after the requirement is met. Yes, it's a long game benefit, but I don't think that's a huge issue. It's literally a "set it and forget it" perk. The best Streaming multiplier out there is probably the AmEx BCP at 6%. And if you have a big streaming bill (e.g. AT&T) and spend $100 a month…sure…put it on the BCP (that's $72 back a year vs.$54 from the Connect). But say a $7.99 Amazon Music subscription? Connect every time, because the BCP would only give you about $5.75 back a year, and the Connect would yield about $31.91…which equates to about four months worth of that $7.99 service. Not quite so terrible.

Just get the SAM'S CLUB Mastercard. You get 5% cashback on gas 3% cashback on dining and 1% cashback on other purchases. If you are a SAM'S PLUS member you will get 3% cashback from Sam’s Club purchases.

0:03 The new Chase United card was recently released, too 😉

Sent a message to customer service asking if the points can be combined with points on altitude reserve. Unfortunately us bank still doesn't allow it. If that happens one day this card would definitely be worth getting!

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