topic Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term) in Credit Cards

USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:37:07 GMT

I was looking up my rewards by transaction data (I hoped to get 3x on two transactions but, as expected, only 1x) but saw something strange:

12/04/2023	NEXUS TRAVEL SHOP	$6.61	5X	+ 33 points
12/04/2023	NEXUS TRAVEL SHOP	$6.61	1X	+ 7 points

This is a single transaction (buying a ticket on the Newcastle Metro to be precise). On other days it correctly gave me 3x for mobile pay, but 6 times is welcome (= 9% when redeemed for travel)

And even stranger:

12/04/2023	CAFFE NERO 234 GOSFORTH	$8.08	3X	+ 24 points
12/04/2023	CAFFE NERO 234 GOSFORTH	$8.08	2X	+ 16 points

Again, at other times this got 3X for mobile pay, and this card has no 2X category anyway.

Just wished that these helpful errors occured on my bigger transactions!

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

G2244 — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 17:38:21 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I was looking up my rewards by transaction data (I hoped to get 3x on two transactions but, as expected, only 1x) but saw something strange:

12/04/2023
NEXUS TRAVEL SHOP
$6.61
5X
+ 33 points
12/04/2023
NEXUS TRAVEL SHOP
$6.61
1X
+ 7 points

This is a single transaction (buying a ticket on the Newcastle Metro to be precise). On other days it correctly gave me 3x for mobile pay, but 6 times is welcome (= 9% when redeemed for travel)

And even stranger:
12/04/2023
CAFFE NERO 234 GOSFORTH
$8.08
3X
+ 24 points
12/04/2023
CAFFE NERO 234 GOSFORTH
$8.08
2X
+ 16 points

Again, at other times this got 3X for mobile pay, and this card has no 2X category anyway.

Just wished that these helpful errors occured on my bigger transactions!

They do run some promotions and the way they show transactions can be challenging to follow at times. Here is one that comes close to the dates you are looking at but does not seem to be it for sure.

Also see this thread for more promo examples:
[YMMV] USB Cash+ $10 credit on $50+ grocery spend ...

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

BuckyB — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 19:09:48 GMT

Yeah that's weird. Let us know how it shakes out though, since they were long enough ago, I have a feeling those points are posted permanently by now.

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

xenon3030 — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 19:12:59 GMT

Based on OP's experience, it seems that there were possibly running both promotions (5x) and demotions (1x-2x) , while digital wallet should give 3x.

You might double check whether the purchases were coded the same. It might be also a glitch or bug in their algo. Anyway, from now, I would double check my earned points for large expenses.

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

Anonymous — Sun, 24 Dec 2023 19:23:58 GMT

@xenon3030 wrote:
Based on OP's experience, it seems that there were possibly running both promotions (5x) and demotions (1x-2x) , while digital wallet should give 3x.

You might double check whether the purchases were coded the same. It might be also a glitch or bug in their algo. Anyway, from now, I would double check my earned points for large expenses.

Fortunately everything was positive (getting 3x for wallet plus something else, and random travel bonus) so I failed to contact USB to ask!

I don't think I signed up for any promos but maybe

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

K-in-Boston — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 02:45:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I don't think I signed up for any promos but maybe

I've noticed a number of "your card is automatically enrolled" offers from them this year. Fifty-five reminders by email and text to choose my Cash+ categories a month after I chose them every quarter for 6 years, but these other offers don't seem to need an opt-in.

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

Leosc — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 05:24:16 GMT

Does USBank pull Equifax in Maryland?

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

Turbobuick — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:00:16 GMT

The USB Cash+ rebates are tabulated strangely. Called a year ago and even the CR couldn't explain it and got confused. We almost max out each quarter with usage. In the end the rebates all added up, but not always easy to follow along.

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

NoHardLimits — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 02:11:35 GMT

I've also noticed confusing rewards amounts with my US Bank credit cards, though Altitude Reserve has been the least confusing for me. AR rewards seem to correctly post at 1x or 3x per transaction plus the occasional promotional offer. Cash+ and Shopper Cash Rewards are less consistent. Sometimes those cards show the correct total reward amount per transaction. Other times, they split up the reward amount by initially showing the base earning rate per transaction (either 1% or 1.5% depending upon the card) and then later post a consolidated "bonus" line which consists of the difference between the base rate and the total earned amount. When I have taken the time to do the math, the full reward amounts have always turned out to be correct.

Re: USB Altitude Reserve rewards weirdness (technical term)

SpaethCo — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 18:23:54 GMT

It took US Bank almost a decade to build this system of showing per-transaction earnings, and I think that's because their back-end system doesn't actually work that way. I believe they run a daily batch process that allocates bonus earnings as part of the transaction post process, but the output only generates a bonus earned per merchant. If you have multiple transactions with the same merchant on the same day, the display logic on the portal seems to just allocate all of the bonus earnings to the first transaction that day.

I also see this on my Cash+ with things like Apple App Store purchases where if a bunch of them hit the same day I'll have 1 transaction earning 10x and the rest earning 1x. If you add everything up and divide it out then the earning rate is actually the correct 5% it should be.