topic Re: US Bank Cash+ questions in Credit Cards

US Bank Cash+ questions

Poppa — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 15:50:09 GMT

Can you choose the same 5% category month to month? I read they are replacing Bookstores (Amazon) with Utilities as a 5% category in April. Also, do they do SP CLI's and how often?

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 15:54:32 GMT

Yes you can pick whichever categories (clarification: you get to pick 2 categorirs for 5% and 1 for 2%) you want as often as you want as long as it's an option. I've had bookstore pretty much non-stop for quite some time.

Not sure about the CLI, never requested one. Off hand I haven't even noticed if they've just given me one cuz it's a non issue for me

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Poppa — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:04:24 GMT

I just found that CLI's are every 6 months and SP if $1500 or less.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:24:09 GMT

As far as I'm aware you can't change month-to-month, only for each quarter. If you're asking about keeping them the same each month, you can definitely do that.

5% on utilities will be awesome because I already get 5% with Amazon through the store card. Kind of excited to find that out.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:31:38 GMT

I think that's what he meant but good clarification. And yes, you pick categories once per quarter and once you pick them for that quarter you're locked in. You need to manually pick categories each quarter, even if you're picking the same as last quarter, or you won't get 5% back.

There's only 1 rotating category cash back card I'm aware of that doesn't require you to enroll or pick categories every quarter, and that's the Nusenda Platinum Cash Rewards - you're automatically enrolled every quarter.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Poppa — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 16:40:39 GMT

Yes sorry I meant the same categories each quarter.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Schwartzinator — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 18:25:04 GMT

wrote:
I just found that CLI's are every 6 months and SP if $1500 or less.

This is not true, at least not in every case. I started out with a $300 limit on 12/14/2014 and was auto bumped to $550 on 10/6/2015. Then on 8/29/2016 I asked for a $950 increase to bring up to $1,500 and it was a hardpull even though it was submitted at the same time as an application for the FlexPerks. Back in March of this year I managed to get a $3,500 softpull increase after a very long conversation with underwritting as I was closing my FlexPerks card with a $5,700 limit that USBank wouldn't transfer over to the Cash+.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Poppa — Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:22:05 GMT

Is there a sure way of knowing if it will be a HP or SP before the request?

wrote:
wrote:
I just found that CLI's are every 6 months and SP if $1500 or less.

This is not true, at least not in every case. I asked for a $950 increase to bring up to $1,500 and it was a hardpull.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

darkpearl — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 02:56:26 GMT

The only time I got a CL it was by mail (letter) invitation with a special URL. Appears it was in 2013. http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Approvals/Cash-auto-CLI/m-p/2541221#M5287

They need to get in the 21st century...

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 10:41:11 GMT

I called US bank today and talked to the rep about the categories for the card. This is the 2nd time I've spoken with one of their reps and suggested categories for this card: they seem very eager to hear these ideas, especially regarding categories that will generate more spend on the card. I suggested the following categories today:

Insurance
Medical bills
Bookstore (bring it back, but keep utilities: I said I assume they took out bookstore cuz people abuse Amazon with it...the rep told me they took out bookstore because *it wasn't getting used that much!* So speak up people! They need to know that people like this category, I explained it's the only card I know of with a good reward rate for bookstore purchases)
Charity (same as bookstore, not that popular but I used it and it was pretty unique)

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 15:10:10 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
I called US bank today and talked to the rep about the categories for the card. This is the 2nd time I've spoken with one of their reps and suggested categories for this card: they seem very eager to hear these ideas, especially regarding categories that will generate more spend on the card. I suggested the following categories today:

Insurance
Medical bills
Bookstore (bring it back, but keep utilities: I said I assume they took out bookstore cuz people abuse Amazon with it...the rep told me they took out bookstore because *it wasn't getting used that much!* So speak up people! They need to know that people like this category, I explained it's the only card I know of with a good reward rate for bookstore purchases)
Charity (same as bookstore, not that popular but I used it and it was pretty unique)

Given the nerf history on this card, I'm pretty sure categories are driven purely by financial considerations that reps are unaware of and have no input on. I doubt if driving up USAGE in 5% categories is what the bank wants, unless that causes people to increase 1% spend as well. Bookstores, Charity and Insurance (a.k.a the original bill pay) were all stopped, presumably for a good reason.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:24:32 GMT

Im not so sure man - the first time I called about it I also asked if I could get a second cash+ to get more categories, I got an enthusiastic yes from that rep: in fact he said a lot of their customers do that. I think their perspective is getting more customers drawn in by the 5% categories means they'll get more spend on the card, and most people probably won't pay it off in full and on the whole the bank will end up making more money on interest payments. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask!

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Kforce — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 17:57:41 GMT

US-Bank is conservative and usually give new customers small CL (Especially on Cash+).

I understand that most want a high CL, however keep in mind that this is a capped 5% in 2 category card

and most will put < $1000 a month on the card. It has a $2000 cap per quarter.

I received an auto CL increase after a year+, and another SP letter in the US-Mail late the next year.

This year I received an email saying to request an increase, would be a SP, and includes an estimated increase amount.

A fact to know about US-Bank is that they report your balance at the end of each month, on the 1st or 2nd of the next month, regardless of what reports on your statement date. My only card that ignores what post on the statement and reports "EOM" balance. Need to pay just before "EOM" to control "UTIL"

This card gives good cash-back, however is not known to be a high CL card. I am sure some have made it grow but most report moderate to low limits.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 19:32:11 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
Im not so sure man - the first time I called about it I also asked if I could get a second cash+ to get more categories, I got an enthusiastic yes from that rep: in fact he said a lot of their customers do that. I think their perspective is getting more customers drawn in by the 5% categories means they'll get more spend on the card, and most people probably won't pay it off in full and on the whole the bank will end up making more money on interest payments. Still, it doesn't hurt to ask!

Yes, I have two, but my point is that they end up closing that categories that are "too" heavily used (such as restaurants). If they were merely trying to entice people, I would guess that they could just add categories without closing others.

As I said in my earlier post, this card has a heavy history of nerfing (I got it when it first came out) and the changes certainly aren't to help the customers make more money!

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Kforce — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 19:48:37 GMT

@AnonymousYes, I have two, but my point is that they end up closing that categories that are "too" heavily used (such as restaurants). If they were merely trying to entice people, I would guess that they could just add categories without closing others.
As I said in my earlier post, this card has a heavy history of nerfing (I got it when it first came out) and the changes certainly aren't to help the customers make more money!

The changes aren't to help the customers make more money !.

Over the years they have removed good categories and replaced with less useful.

It has categories other cards don't. I max the cap or get close every quarter.

A good cashback card for my spend

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 20:20:17 GMT

I'm not really sure why people would think that the business makes these decisions for anyone other than themselves. There's no point for them to continually just 'add' categories because if so then they would just make the card a 5% everywhere card. The point of making limitations is to not give away 'free' money everywhere but give enough incentive for people to want to rack up some swipe fees. Who cares if they close a category, either use a different category or find another card to use.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 21:07:01 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
. Who cares if they close a category, either use a different category or find another card to use.

Well, WE might care as sometimes the categories have been almost uniqe and valuable. I used to be able to max out the charity feature every quarter on two cards, because my vet coded that way (and I had sick animals). I haven't been able to replace that $800 per year rebate.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 22:54:15 GMT

I don't think I chose the right words there. Obviously the person that's losing a category is going to be upset at the loss, but I meant that people shouldn't get so hung up on the money. Free money is free, and while more is always better it's still something that shouldn't ever be 'expected'. When you vote with your wallet and use another card then they lose those interchange fees, and if it's a category that legitimately affects their bottom line then they will see that in their financial reports. Chances are, though, that the $800 a year that they were giving you is now more than offset for them.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

Anonymous — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 05:16:21 GMT

I never said their goal was to give us more money. I said their goal is probably to entice more people to get the card, spend more on the card (I even told the rep that if insurance were a category I'd put several hundred even thousand dollars more on the card each year), and end up paying more in interest than they get in CB. When I got the card it was only possible to apply in branch or on the phone...now it's possible to apply online. So if they were trying to keep people from benefitting from the 5% CB then why make it more available, and why let people get 2 of the cards? Moreover why even offer 2 5% categories? The vantage west CU card only lets you pick 1 from their list (although their list is more stacked with solid categories) and only get 1 of their Connect Rewards card.

I do realize it sounds weird that they would eagerly listen to my requests to swap in better categories...but I've spoken to quite a few reps at varying institutions and what I can tell you is that typically when I suggest something that they don't care about I get some lame canned script response and/or a half listening attitude that tells me that they really are not listening to my suggestion or caring at all...but both times I've called us bank and suggested insurance they had a distinct tone of eagerness in their voices. This leads me to believe their motive is to get more people to spend more on the card because I assume they figure on the whole they will make more on interest than they will lose in cash back. Besides, your suggestion would mean that when the rep said that people weren't using the bookstore category very much that it she was lying. Not impossible, but why would she waste her time doing that? And why would both reps sound eager about my suggestion? Besides, even if they were losing money on the bookstore category, why replace it with a category like utilities? Not everyone shops at amazon or is even aware of how a lot of stuff there codes as bookstore (not everything mind you, a lot doesn't, and I doubt a ton of people realize you can get 5% back on Amazon gift cards that way, or that filtering your Amazon purchases that way is common), but just about everyone has utility bills.

You may be right. But I suspect that the bank does have an ulterior motive to bring in useful categories, and to allow individuals to get 2 of these cards, and logically that reason is likely higher revenue in interest payments.

Re: US Bank Cash+ questions

arkane — Sun, 18 Feb 2018 05:47:52 GMT

@Anonymouswrote:
I never said their goal was to give us more money. I said their goal is probably to entice more people to get the card, spend more on the card (I even told the rep that if insurance were a category I'd put several hundred even thousand dollars more on the card each year), and end up paying more in interest than they get in CB. When I got the card it was only possible to apply in branch or on the phone...now it's possible to apply online. So if they were trying to keep people from benefitting from the 5% CB then why make it more available, and why let people get 2 of the cards? Moreover why even offer 2 5% categories? The vantage west CU card only lets you pick 1 from their list (although their list is more stacked with solid categories) and only get 1 of their Connect Rewards card.

I do realize it sounds weird that they would eagerly listen to my requests to swap in better categories...but I've spoken to quite a few reps at varying institutions and what I can tell you is that typically when I suggest something that they don't care about I get some lame canned script response and/or a half listening attitude that tells me that they really are not listening to my suggestion or caring at all...but both times I've called us bank and suggested insurance they had a distinct tone of eagerness in their voices. This leads me to believe their motive is to get more people to spend more on the card because I assume they figure on the whole they will make more on interest than they will lose in cash back. Besides, your suggestion would mean that when the rep said that people weren't using the bookstore category very much that it she was lying. Not impossible, but why would she waste her time doing that?

Maybe she's only allowed to toe the company line? Really not far-fetched to think a front-end CSR is given certain canned, pre-approved answers to some touchy questions.

And why would both reps sound eager about my suggestion?
Good customer serivce. Lip service is easy, real action not so much.

Besides, even if they were losing money on the bookstore category, why replace it with a category like utilities? Not everyone shops at amazon or is even aware of how a lot of stuff there codes as bookstore (not everything mind you, a lot doesn't, and I doubt a ton of people realize you can get 5% back on Amazon gift cards that way, or that filtering your Amazon purchases that way is common), but just about everyone has utility bills.

You may be right. But I suspect that the bank does have an ulterior motive to bring in useful categories, and to allow individuals to get 2 of these cards, and logically that reason is likely higher revenue in interest payments.

Sorry I know I'm being extremely jaded, but I don't believe for one second any bank has our best interest in mind. Well maybe except the kind that we pay.