[ARTICLE] This new luxury card competes with Amex Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve

[cv91915]

The Cash+ is my 5% Amazon and car rental card. Is it good for anything else? No. But it does this job well.

[alliswell]

 

 

I give them 6 months before they nerf the rewards, such as they are. Standard procedure at USBank. Do you want over or under on the timeframe?

I have a "Platinum" no-frills Visa with USB that started at a $3500 CL near the end of the 20th century. It has grown, through automatic CLIs which were soft pulls, to $24.5k. I only got the automatic CLIs when I had an open USB checking account, and I closed the checking account a few years ago in an attempt to simplify. I'm now back, after they offered me $200 to open a ckg account, and no fee with NO direct deposit, since I am a cardholder. I use the USB Visa once every 6 months. No further CLIs (yet) with the new checking account.

When I opened the new checking account (maybe 6 months ago?), the banker asked me if I'd like to "upgrade" to a rewards credit card. I declined, since I remember watching the nerfing of Cash+ live on CB.

So no Altitude Reserve for me. I'm enjoying my Chase Sapphire Reserve.

Have you tried requesting a CLI online? You can request 6 months after the previous one. I THINK the magic number is $1500 if you don't want a hard pull.

 

Given the "nerfing" of Cash+, it has no AF. The Platinum has no AF. Why not the upgrade? I have the Platinum as well and don't intend to use it in the future but I'm thinking about a product change to the Cash+. I'm sorta confused about the 2% categories because the invitation isn't clear. I only got the Platinum to cancel out banking fees and since it serves no other purpose, I'm thinking a 2% cash back card with no AF is better than a card that the only perk is a $0 AF.

This is an interesting idea, thank you . . . Although the 2% is limited to certain (2 or 3??) categories that you have to manually select each quarter. I already have the Citi DC, so I'm not jumping through hoops for USB just to get 2% sometimes. And I've heard people have had trouble here with PC requests at USB (see the post after yours). Plus right now I'm on a travel rewards strategy (involving mostly Chase UR points and Hilton points) for a trip to Australia.

 

So for me, I keep the Platinum unchanged because it is so old (helping age) with no AF, the CL is in the mid-range of my TLs, and the free checking. I have other cards for rewards, and USB doesn't have rewards I want right now, but if I switch to cashback rewards in the future, I might do the Cash+. But by then, who knows how USB will have nerfed it again.

 

I was able to PC to the Cash+ yesterday. No AF, 5% and 2% categories. Could be a hassle choosing categories but I figured it was a good choice because I was able to keep the age of the Platinum and at least earn something with no AF. Initially, the rep couldn't upgrade w/out a fresh app but she placed me on hold for a few seconds, came back and it was done.

 

I'm planning a trip to Australia as well and would like to know if you could post how you're choosing your airlines. Mainly, are you flying business and if so, how you're routing yourself to avoid the extreme amount in surcharges. I'm still trying to figure it out.

 

edit to add: I'm not certain but the poster who attempted the PC could have been less successful because it was a Kroger card. Not sure but it worked well with the PC from Platinum.

Edited April 28, 2017 by alliswell

[swimmingwithsharks]

I'm planning a trip to Australia as well and would like to know if you could post how you're choosing your airlines. Mainly, are you flying business and if so, how you're routing yourself to avoid the extreme amount in surcharges. I'm still trying to figure it out.

Since you asked . . .

 

I am not sure how you define "extreme" surcharges - I mean, British Airways charges sky-high fuel surcharges, but I haven't seen that to Australia. There will be some fees to pay - Customs/Immigration fees, PFCs, for sure no matter what.

 

I have a large number of UA miles already, and I have the Chase trifecta of CSR, F5, Freedom Unlimited. I got the 100k sign-up bonus for CSR, and the F5 categories are easy for me to max out. So my plan is to transfer Chase UR points to my existing UA account - worst case scenario is 350k roundtrip each for business, but we're planning for April and have some flexibility for dates, so I'm hoping for Saver availability for part of it, once the booking window opens. We'll fly out of either LAX or SFO. My preference is LAX to Melbourne on the nonstop, but if we have to do LAX or SFO to Sydney on the outbound we will. My travel companion is willing to fly anywhere for any amount of time in a biz seat that kind of makes a bed, but only on a nonstop. #first-world problems Ideally, then returning from Sydney to California.

 

Intra-Australia I plan to use AA miles to fly Qantas business - it's 20k AAdvantage miles for each one-way segment, planning MEL-Cairns and then Cairns-SYD or vice versa, depending on where we arrive in Australia to begin with. Availability has been wide open even 6 months out whenever I've checked. Either I'll be getting the Citi 60k offer - which will neatly zero out my AA balance once I redeem the 4 one-way tix, or each of us will get Barclay's 40k offer and use our "own" miles. Not decided yet.

[swimmingwithsharks]

[Too late to edit the last post ]

 

As to those surcharges - I just checked the UA website now, and for next March (2018), the outbound (US to Aus) taxes and fees are $21.60. For the return, it's about $85. So the total round-trip taxes and fees for two people (in Biz) is about $215. I don't think it's going to be less than that elsewhere. But please let us know if you find another airline that has it lower - that would be good to know for my next travel goal!

[RocketGoBoom]

 

Any other US Bank customers that have large credit limits: how did having a banking account affect your credit limits with US Bank?

 

My Cash+ is still at initial CL of $1,500- my lowest CL.

 

 

We have two checking accounts with US Bank, personal and business. We regularly have $20,000+ in cash in our checking accounts there.

 

Cash+ card has an $8,000 credit limit. I have never asked for an increase. I might do so now that our mortgage is finalized.

The US Bank Cash+ Visa is excellent. I like being able to pick the 5% category to use each quarter.

That lets me select a category not covered by the 5% Discover or 5% Chase Freedom during that quarter.

 

We also have a US Bank Line of Credit with a $10,000 limit and 9.75% interest rate. Very useful and was instantly approved for it last year.

I have never asked for an increase, however I might do so also now that the mortgage is done.

 

I asked over the phone a few months ago if they do a hard or soft inquiry.

The guy told me it would be a hard inquiry, but they could just do one and use it for both accounts.

He also told me that he could tell already that it would be approved for whatever increase that we want based on the 3 year banking relationship and the large average balances.