topic Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question in Credit Cards

US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

raisemysc0re — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 14:26:17 GMT

I'm looking to get this card as it is the last credit card on my wish list.

I'm interested in itt for the utilities gategory but I'm wondering if it will work for me.

The 2 main utilities are my cable and electric.

My electric company is National Grid and Cable company is Spectrum.

National Grid uses Western Union Speedpay for credit card payment so I'm not sure it will code correctly for the utility category.

It also charges $2.25 / payment... but my electric bill is always high enough to make it well worth it if it does qualify for 5%.

Does anyone have this card and use it on these 2 companies to make your payments to get the 5%?

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 14:31:24 GMT

Spectrum counts for 5%, not sure about national grid.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

Anonymous — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 14:49:44 GMT

National Grid has coded correctly for me in MA (gas).

I recently did my usual $600 prepay (the max for the lowest fee). Turned out I put in my Altitude by mistake, earning a massive 1.5%!

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

K-in-Boston — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 15:45:49 GMT

Eversource (formerly NSTAR) is my electric and gas provider and uses Speedpay for credit card payments. It definitely triggers the 5%, and like longtimelurker I'll often just pay $600 at a time and have some negative bills after to maximize the rewards after the fee.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

SpaethCo — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 16:40:54 GMT

Spectrum would code under the "TV, Internet and Streaming" category, not "Home Utilities"

See example merchants for categories here: https://cashplus.usbank.com/merchants/index

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

gdale6 — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:03:08 GMT

Spectrum is not considered a util in the utilities 5% of Cash+, you would have to select another 5% category for it (the internet, streaming service one)

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

raisemysc0re — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 17:54:08 GMT

Great news.

I like the idea of prepaying the max $600.00 to minimize the $2.25 fee... Thanks for the idea.

I did notice that Spectrum would be the other category as well.

I just applied and got the 7-10 day thing.

Perhaps because I just got a couple of new cards in the last 6 months?

All fico8 scores 777+

Fico9 score 790+

Income 165K

AAoA about 3 years

total Uti < 1% currently with AZEO

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

K-in-Boston — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 18:24:32 GMT

US Bank has a fairly firm 1/12 anti-churning policy, sometimes 2/12 happens if the new accounts aren't recent. And I believe the policy considers all credit products, not just revolving credit cards.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

raisemysc0re — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 19:10:17 GMT

Should I call and try to Recon with them?

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

DaveInAZ — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 23:15:42 GMT

@raisemysc0re wrote:
Great news.
I like the idea of prepaying the max $600.00 to minimize the $2.25 fee... Thanks for the idea.
I did notice that Spectrum would be the other category as well.
I just applied and got the 7-10 day thing.
Perhaps because I just got a couple of new cards in the last 6 months?
All fico8 scores 777+
Fico9 score 790+
Income 165K
AAoA about 3 years
total Uti < 1% currently with AZEO

Do you have a bank account with them? US Bank is known to give preference to their banking customers for their credit products.

I was approved for Cash+ 3/1/2019, they pulled TU and my Fico8 was around 734 then. I had just been approved for Amex Cash Magnet the week before, but that was a pre-approval so no HP and the account hadn't reported yet. Prior to that I had a new CC in 3/19 & 7/19. But I had a US Bank checking & savings accounts, since closed with no adverse affect.

I get 5% for my electric bill under "Home Utilities" category. They use a service call Smarthub, but the charge shows up under the name of the utility, no surcharge for CC payment. I also have "Cellular" category for my other 5% for my T-Mobile Home internet service. BUT if you get approved login your account and select your categories and then wait at least 24 hrs before making a charge. When I got my card I selected my categories and then immediately paid my electric bill. I only got 1%, they claimed my category selection didn't take effect until the day after my electric bill payment.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

MrDisco99 — Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:31:55 GMT

@raisemysc0re wrote:
Should I call and try to Recon with them?

You can if you want, but in my experience recon will not help you with a 1/12 auto-denial.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

raisemysc0re — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 18:37:05 GMT

I ended up having my wife get the card.

I activated "Home Utilities" and "TV, Internet & Streaming Services" for our 5% categories.

Spectrum is only giving me 1%:

01/19/2021

SPECTRUM 855-707-7328 MO

$154.98

$1.55

National Grid is also only giving me 1%:

01/20/2021

NATIONAL GRID 800-322-3223 NY

$602.25

$6.02

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

K-in-Boston — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 19:29:56 GMT

@raisemysc0re wrote:
I ended up having my wife get the card.
I activated "Home Utilities" and "TV, Internet & Streaming Services" for our 5% categories.
Spectrum is only giving me 1%:
01/19/2021 SPECTRUM 855-707-7328 MO $154.98 $1.55
National Grid is also only giving me 1%:
01/20/2021 NATIONAL GRID 800-322-3223 NY $602.25 $6.02

Has your statement closed? On the rewards history screen, bonus points are awarded after the statement closes. They are summed by category and not allocated to individual charges. That can sometimes make it difficult to see which charges might apply to which bonus categories if you have a lot of charges on the card. Fortunately, I have a crystal clear example of this since I had utilities going to my Chase Freedom instead for Q4:

If the card is enrolled for those categories for Q1, they should almost certainly trigger the bonus points as both Spectrum and National Grid have been confirmed to work.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

TJHOFF — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 19:40:40 GMT

Another data point is on USB's own website https://cashplus.usbank.com/merchants/index they list Charter as an example of merchants for TV, Internet & Streaming Services. Charter owns Spectrum.

Re: US Bank Cash Back 5% category question

raisemysc0re — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 20:42:43 GMT

Just got off the phone with them.

Looks like they give that 1% but further on down the list is another Bonus rewards that gave me the other 4% for each...

So all good now