topic Re: US Bank CC changes in Credit Cards

US Bank CC changes

DemonHusker — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 21:01:25 GMT

So I got a letter yesterday saying that they are "upgrading" my Cash+ card to the Altitude Go card. The letter also said the Go card will now be a World Elite Mastercard instead of Visa Signature. Anyone else get this notice yet?

Re: US Bank CC changes

Kforce — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 21:29:37 GMT

@DemonHusker wrote:
So I got a letter yesterday saying that they are "upgrading" my Cash+ card to the Altitude Go card. The letter also said the Go card will now be a World Elite Mastercard instead of Visa Signature. Anyone else get this notice yet?

Depends on where you spend but I would call that a "downgrade"

Re: US Bank CC changes

Hex — Sat, 25 Feb 2023 21:33:18 GMT

No I haven't gotten the letter and I hope I never do.

Re: US Bank CC changes

DemonHusker — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 03:42:22 GMT

Here is the letter I got detailing the changes being made

Re: US Bank CC changes

zerofire — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 05:07:29 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
@DemonHusker wrote:
So I got a letter yesterday saying that they are "upgrading" my Cash+ card to the Altitude Go card. The letter also said the Go card will now be a World Elite Mastercard instead of Visa Signature. Anyone else get this notice yet?
Depends on where you spend but I would call that a "downgrade"

I personally like the idea. Since I have a Curve card I will be able to link the MasterCard variant to it. I hope I get a similar conversion to my Altitude Go.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Rockysocks — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 05:28:26 GMT

@DemonHusker wrote:
Here is the letter I got detailing the changes being made

Were you keeping your Cash+ active when this all happened? I hope they never do this to me lol.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Tcal — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 05:32:59 GMT

This is scaring me. I am aiming to get the Cash+ near the end of this year. If they are getting rid of the cash+...

Man...

If you do call & press them on this, let us know how this goes

Re: US Bank CC changes

Anonymalous — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 06:45:54 GMT

That seems really odd. It feels like there's an important piece of data missing.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 11:38:06 GMT

@DemonHusker wrote:
So I got a letter yesterday saying that they are "upgrading" my Cash+ card to the Altitude Go card. The letter also said the Go card will now be a World Elite Mastercard instead of Visa Signature. Anyone else get this notice yet?

Years ago I had the Cash+ card and without any warning (no letter, etc.) they just converted that account to one of their other no-fee cards (Go wasn't a thing back then). I called and said I hadn't requested the change and told them to change it back. They said the new card better fit my spending (not true). They wouldn't change it back so I closed the account. I can only assume they figured I was making too much money off of the Cash+ card.

I'm not aware of any other credit card issuer that does this sort of thing, but they probably are out there. I will never do business with USBank again. Anyone who has decent credit doesn't have to put up with this nonsense and shouldn't.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Lou-natic — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 15:10:03 GMT

I'd be on the phone raising hell over this, or if a branch was close enough then doing it in person. This is absurd.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 17:15:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@DemonHusker wrote:
So I got a letter yesterday saying that they are "upgrading" my Cash+ card to the Altitude Go card. The letter also said the Go card will now be a World Elite Mastercard instead of Visa Signature. Anyone else get this notice yet?
Years ago I had the Cash+ card and without any warning (no letter, etc.) they just converted that account to one of their other no-fee cards (Go wasn't a thing back then). I called and said I hadn't requested the change and told them to change it back. They said the new card better fit my spending (not true). They wouldn't change it back so I closed the account. I can only assume they figured I was making too much money off of the Cash+ card.

I'm not aware of any other credit card issuer that does this sort of thing, but they probably are out there. I will never do business with USBank again. Anyone who has decent credit doesn't have to put up with this nonsense and shouldn't.

This isn't all that different from a rewards nerf, except here the card/reward structure you want still exists, so that's more annoying!

Re: US Bank CC changes

Remedios — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 18:26:14 GMT

I already have Go, Connect, and AR in addition to Cash+. If they wanted to PC it, there is nothing but Platinum left 🤷‍♀️

Re: US Bank CC changes

coldfusion — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:15:06 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
I already have Go, Connect, and AR in addition to Cash+. If they wanted to PC it, there is nothing but Platinum left 🤷‍♀️

I hope you didn't just jinx yourself.

Re: US Bank CC changes

1GaDawg85 — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:27:13 GMT

@Remedios wrote:
I already have Go, Connect, and AR in addition to Cash+. If they wanted to PC it, there is nothing but Platinum left 🤷‍♀️

PC to Platnium incoming

Re: US Bank CC changes

AndySoCal — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:38:03 GMT

@DemonHusker Below is a link to the Doctor of Credit post on this subject. Read the comments that users have posted.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/u-s-bank-converting-some-cash-cardholders-to-altitude-go-card/

Re: US Bank CC changes

j615 — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 19:47:03 GMT

Interesting that it's converting to a MC as the Altitude Go is still currently advertised as a Visa on US Bank's website.

I used the Cash+ actively to pay utilities monthly. Hopefully, they won't force PC my card.

Re: US Bank CC changes

DemonHusker — Mon, 27 Feb 2023 22:16:47 GMT

I did look back into the account and my last use of the card was in Jan 2022 so it must be because of non-use. I had two Cash+ cards but switched one to the shopper card to try it out. It doesn't really matter to me, I found it more interesting that the Altitude Go was going to be a Mastercard.

Re: US Bank CC changes

Curious_George2 — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:42:28 GMT

@j615 wrote:
Interesting that it's converting to a MC as the Altitude Go is still currently advertised as a Visa on US Bank's website.

I don't really know how this part of the industry works, so this is an uninformed guess, but...

If they are switching the Altitude Go product from the Visa network to Mastercard, is that the kind of deal where they are required or incentivized to hit certain targets for the number of accounts? If their new agreement with Mastercard is motivating them to drive up the number of Altitude Go Mastercards, and they don't think they can achieve that through traditional techniques like marketing (network change is a very uncompelling selling point), could these forced conversions be a workaround for US Bank?

I imagine if I was sitting in a meeting and this idea came up, the conversation would quickly turn into "who can we find among our current population of cardholders who (a) generally meet the same underwriting standards as we apply to the Altitude Go product, (b) pay no annual fee for their current card (same as AG), and (c) are unlikely to react negatively to a change in rewards structure from their current card to an Altitude Go?"

Taken as a group, holders of inactive Cash+ cards seem to check all three boxes, right?

Re: US Bank CC changes

Anonymous — Tue, 28 Feb 2023 17:54:59 GMT

@Curious_George2 wrote:
@j615 wrote:
Interesting that it's converting to a MC as the Altitude Go is still currently advertised as a Visa on US Bank's website.

I don't really know how this part of the industry works, so this is an uninformed guess, but...

If they are switching the Altitude Go product from the Visa network to Mastercard, is that the kind of deal where they are required or incentivized to hit certain targets for the number of accounts? If their new agreement with Mastercard is motivating them to drive up the number of Altitude Go Mastercards, and they don't think they can achieve that through traditional techniques like marketing (network change is a very uncompelling selling point), could these forced conversions be a workaround for US Bank?

I imagine if I was sitting in a meeting and this idea came up, the conversation would quickly turn into "who can we find among our current population of cardholders who (a) generally meet the same underwriting standards as we apply to the Altitude Go product, (b) pay no annual fee for their current card (same as AG), and (c) are unlikely to react negatively to a change in rewards structure from their current card to an Altitude Go?"

Taken as a group, holders of inactive Cash+ cards seem to check all three boxes, right?

And there may even be a subgroup inside that, those that haven't even selected the categories (for one or more quarters). That's assuming that there are some who DO select then not use.