topic Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve? in Credit Cards

Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 02:53:18 GMT

On another thread, the topic of Altitude Reserve's latest changes prompted a discussion about who was planning to close (or has already closed) their accounts. This separate thread will allow more detailed conversation about reasons for keeping/closing/applying without hijacking the other thread.

To start the discussion, I currently have Altitude Reserve and have enjoyed using it for travel expenses and wherever tap-to-pay was available. Rewards rates were good (3x) and could be increased by using the Real-Time-Rewards feature (4.5x). The recently announced changes flip that value proposition, so I am planning to close my account before the next annual fee posts.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

UncleB — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 05:07:35 GMT

With travel and mobile payments being reduced to 3x (or rather, 3x without the 1.5x multiplier) the card will no longer make sense for me considering the other cards I have.

I'm blessed/cursed to have nearly every category covered by a no-AF 3%, 4%, or 5% card already... it was just easier to tap my phone knowing I'd get 4.5% (in cases where I have a 5% option, I was willing to give up 0.5% for simplicity). My non-category spend was/is minimal so that never was really a factor.

I plan to eventually PC the card to an Altitude Connect. Even if I can only redeem points at 1pt=0.8¢ that's still 3.2% on travel, which is slightly better than the 3% I get from the NFCU Flagship and WF Autograph. For a card with no-AF it's not too shabby... but it's no (pre-nerf) AR.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 05:24:16 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
With travel and mobile payments being reduced to 3x (or rather, 3x without the 1.5x multiplier) the card will no longer make sense for me considering the other cards I have.

I'm blessed/cursed to have nearly every category covered by a no-AF 3%, 4%, or 5% card already... it was just easier to tap my phone knowing I'd get 4.5% (in cases where I have a 5% option, I was willing to give up 0.5% for simplicity). My non-category spend was/is minimal so that never was really a factor.

I plan to eventually PC the card to an Altitude Connect. Even if I can only redeem points at 1pt=0.8¢ that's still 3.2% on travel, which is slightly better than the 3% I get from the NFCU Flagship and WF Autograph. For a card with no-AF it's not too shabby... but it's no (pre-nerf) AR.

@UncleB You bring up a good talking point. How many of us already have other cards with rewards programs that can backfill for a closed USBAR? I have a Wells Fargo Autograph Journey that I had planned to downgrade to the no annual fee version earlier this year. WF wouldn't allow that, and they actually did me a favor because now I still have 5x on hotels, 4x on airfare, and 3x on other travel. The other travel category is also much broader than the one covered by USBAR. I have Amex Platinum too for 5x on airfare, but we all know that card will be undergoing a refresh later this year which will probably make it more expensive.

Regarding the NFCU Flagship, there are credible rumors of an impending refresh on that product which is likely to include 4x for some travel categories.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

UncleB — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 05:53:40 GMT

@NoHardLimits wrote:
@UncleB wrote:
With travel and mobile payments being reduced to 3x (or rather, 3x without the 1.5x multiplier) the card will no longer make sense for me considering the other cards I have.

I'm blessed/cursed to have nearly every category covered by a no-AF 3%, 4%, or 5% card already... it was just easier to tap my phone knowing I'd get 4.5% (in cases where I have a 5% option, I was willing to give up 0.5% for simplicity). My non-category spend was/is minimal so that never was really a factor.

I plan to eventually PC the card to an Altitude Connect. Even if I can only redeem points at 1pt=0.8¢ that's still 3.2% on travel, which is slightly better than the 3% I get from the NFCU Flagship and WF Autograph. For a card with no-AF it's not too shabby... but it's no (pre-nerf) AR.
@UncleB You bring up a good talking point. How many of us already have other cards with rewards programs that can backfill for a closed USBAR? I have a Wells Fargo Autograph Journey that I had planned to downgrade to the no annual fee version earlier this year. WF wouldn't allow that, and they actually did me a favor because now I still have 5x on hotels, 4x on airfare, and 3x on other travel. The other travel category is also much broader than the one covered by USBAR. I have Amex Platinum too for 5x on airfare, but we all know that card will be undergoing a refresh later this year which will probably make it more expensive.

Regarding the NFCU Flagship, there are credible rumors of an impending refresh on that product which is likely to include 4x for some travel categories.

I suspect we're not alone (at least in this community) when it comes to having alternative options.

I've never considered myself a card collector (not judging those who are, of course) but I'm also not really good about closing cards that I no longer have use for, especially if I can PC them to something at least semi-useful. The Flagship and Autograph (OG or Journey) are both good options for travel, and I almost forgot about the Citi Custom Cash (I have three) which could be useful as well (up to $500/statement period). Another good option could be the BoA CCR (I have two), at least for domestic travel ≤ $2500.

The really cool thing (for me) about the AR was the simplicity. There were plenty of times I was willing to forgo a half-percent just to keep things simple and help my AR rewards built up to an amount suitable for redemption. After the nerf I won't be losing any rewards... I'll just be using an extra card or two (and I'll no longer need to be concerned with paying with my phone every time).

I'm also looking forward to the (possible) refresh of the Flagship. I really wish they'd do away with the requirement to redeem in $50 increments but I suspect that won't be changing (I'd love to be wrong).

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

zerofire — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 11:55:24 GMT

You could always try to get a Kroger card. They have 5% for mobile wallets which includes PayPal even though that is not really mobile.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

bs1234 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 13:41:51 GMT

For me, one issue is confidence (or great lack of) in the future of the Smartly. With 4% domestically, it's hard to justify the AR annual fee (especially as it will be harder to get the credit). But if they remove investments counting for everyone, and/or a different nerf, if you have enough uncategorized spend and don't have a 3% card. maybe.

My fee posts this month and as I have a foreign trip in September I have decided to keep it for now (and presumably can get the credit under the old rules). This will give me time to redeem and think more, see if Smartly does something else negative, and hopefully for USBank to backtrack. Well, my fear is that if everyone closed their AR, USB wouldn't think oh no, more "Mission accomplished"!

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

G2244 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 15:07:29 GMT

@bs1234 wrote:
For me, one issue is confidence (or great lack of) in the future of the Smartly. With 4% domestically, it's hard to justify the AR annual fee (especially as it will be harder to get the credit). But if they remove investments counting for everyone, and/or a different nerf, if you have enough uncategorized spend and don't have a 3% card. maybe.

My fee posts this month and as I have a foreign trip in September I have decided to keep it for now (and presumably can get the credit under the old rules). This will give me time to redeem and think more, see if Smartly does something else negative, and hopefully for USBank to backtrack. Well, my fear is that if everyone closed their AR, USB wouldn't think oh no, more "Mission accomplished"!

TLDR:
Likely downgrading to Altitude Connect

I am in too deep with US Bank at the moment to consider cancelling (yet). My USBAR statement with annual fee just posted on 8/1. I am in similar head space as bs1234. Although the Smartly is getting 4% (got the less bad nerf here), my biggest banking worry is they full nerf everyone at some point and I am left with a 2% back card. Only in that scenario would I see keeping a 3% back card with an annual fee as a good move.

Regardless, yesterday I initiated a cash out of my AR points balance with a fully refundable one-way airline ticket. It triggered RTR, I redeemed and am just waiting for that amount to actually post before cancelling the flight for a refund back to the card.

So, option A for me is call for a retention offer and hope for at least 10K points, pay my annual fee, use the $325 annual travel credit, and then sock drawer the card sometime between now and 12/15 - keeping it as insurance for a Smartly full nerf.

Option B (which I am leaning toward) is to downgrade to the no annual fee Altitude Connect (have checking and savings accounts so redemption would be 4% back) - and hope they don’t decide to nerf that one too. If they don’t it would be an okay set up really as I would be able to use the Connect for foreign travel (no FTF) and travel/gas to keep me well clear of the 10K monthly max on the Smartly. An extra plus of this option is that I have already set aside the USBAR $400 annual fee and could use it for something like the new Alaska premium card when it comes out (AS is the only program where I still have a points balance worth noting so getting the sign-up bonus would be nice). A further additional benefit of that latter part is I would get my foot back in the door with BoA in case I decide to jump ship back to their Preferred Rewards program.

EDIT: Note that I am also trying to not open new cards at the moment (only exception might be the Alaska premium card when available)

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

Saleen099 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:56:41 GMT

Following

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

Saleen099 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 14:57:43 GMT

@NoHardLimits start one about the American Express Platinum card.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:11:05 GMT

@Saleen099 wrote:
@NoHardLimits start one about the American Express Platinum card.

I'll start one after they announce the details of the next Platinum refresh.

Until then... I already started running my numbers for breakeven and decided that I could justify keeping the card with up to an additional $200 in net annual fees. I also started looking at the current Green and Traditional Green as possible downgrade options. I have a grandfathered EveryDay too, so I could retain my Membership Rewards points even if I decide to completely cancel the charge card account. At this moment, I'm leaning towards keeping Platinum as my only remaining premium travel card. Of course, the rumors of a refreshed NFCU Flagship and new Wells Fargo Autograph Beyond could significantly alter my leanings.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

ktm — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:24:34 GMT

@NoHardLimits wrote:
I also started looking at the current Green and Traditional Green as possible downgrade options.

You mention "Traditional Green" as a downgrade option. AFAIK, Traditional Green is not a current offering, but you are suggesting it is an available downgrade option? What are the advantages of Traditional Green over current Green? Thanks

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:35:53 GMT

@UncleB wrote:
I suspect we're not alone (at least in this community) when it comes to having alternative options.

I've never considered myself a card collector (not judging those who are, of course) but I'm also not really good about closing cards that I no longer have use for, especially if I can PC them to something at least semi-useful. The Flagship and Autograph (OG or Journey) are both good options for travel, and I almost forgot about the Citi Custom Cash (I have three) which could be useful as well (up to $500/statement period). Another good option could be the BoA CCR (I have two), at least for domestic travel ≤ $2500.

The really cool thing (for me) about the AR was the simplicity. There were plenty of times I was willing to forgo a half-percent just to keep things simple and help my AR rewards built up to an amount suitable for redemption. After the nerf I won't be losing any rewards... I'll just be using an extra card or two (and I'll no longer need to be concerned with paying with my phone every time).

I'm also looking forward to the (possible) refresh of the Flagship. I really wish they'd do away with the requirement to redeem in $50 increments but I suspect that won't be changing (I'd love to be wrong).

I don't have too many reservations about closing down an account unless it would somehow negatively impact my FICO score somewhere down the road. If a card is younger than my AAoA, or has a smaller than average credit limit, I'll let it go rather than PC to something that will require attention to maintain. For that reason, I'm also planning to close my Cash+ at the same time as my Altitude Reserve. Even though I'd still get some value from Cash+, it won't be enough to offset the maintenance effort for an additional card and bank login.

As an Apple user, P2 loved AR's simplicity and will miss it even more than I will.

I had planned to apply for Flagship this summer, but decided to wait for news of the refresh to make sure that the Amazon credit would remain yearly. I, too, would prefer that they remove the $50 minimum redemption. I have another card with that restriction (a grandfathered Citi Dividend), and I find it to be annoying when almost all of my other cash back cards can be redeemed for any amount.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

bs1234 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:12:37 GMT

If I could PC my REI card to Savor (both Cap One) I would probably cancel the AR, as that gives 3% on groceries and dining abroad, which, (with smartly for now) is my AR use case. But I currently can't and don't really want to do a straight app.

And dreaming on, if Smartly anti-nerfed with a no FTF (even if it needed say $250K) then things would be easy!

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 16:47:55 GMT

@ktm wrote:
@NoHardLimits wrote:
I also started looking at the current Green and Traditional Green as possible downgrade options.
You mention "Traditional Green" as a downgrade option. AFAIK, Traditional Green is not a current offering, but you are suggesting it is an available downgrade option? What are the advantages of Traditional Green over current Green? Thanks

Anecdotal evidence says that Traditional Green remains an option as a downgrade. Senior Green does NOT appear to be still available. If I recall correctly, Traditional's fee is $55 while Senior's is $35. Both cost more if you want to participate in the Membership Rewards program. AU's might cost more as well. I don't know if this is up to date info or not. I haven't followed up to ask Amex about my product change options. I'm still hoping that the refreshed Platinum will continue to be worthwhile for me.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:06:23 GMT

@zerofire wrote:
You could always try to get a Kroger card. They have 5% for mobile wallets which includes PayPal even though that is not really mobile.

Doesn't the Kroger card have an annual cap for the 5%?

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

Vinjints — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:18:25 GMT

It's a 3k annual cap on digital wallets. But still a nice offset for what's really non-category spend. Or you can get multiple if that's your thing.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:25:22 GMT

@bs1234 wrote:
My fee posts this month and as I have a foreign trip in September I have decided to keep it for now (and presumably can get the credit under the old rules). This will give me time to redeem and think more, see if Smartly does something else negative, and hopefully for USBank to backtrack. Well, my fear is that if everyone closed their AR, USB wouldn't think oh no, more "Mission accomplished"!

P2's annual fee posted last month, while mine posts in October. We decided we had enough time under the old rules for P2's card to be worth the fee for the remainder of this year. However, my October renewal won't give us sufficient time. I'm now developing a strategy to redeem all of our remaining points at 4.5x through Real-Time-Rewards. We have 4 or 5 hotel nights to book soon, so that will knock off a bunch of points. As a last resort, we could purchase things like United Airlines travel bank credit, Uber Cash, or even to book a refundable airline ticket.

Anyone else have suggestions for other less obvious travel redemptions?

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:31:16 GMT

@G2244 wrote:
TLDR:
Likely downgrading to Altitude Connect

I am in too deep with US Bank at the moment to consider cancelling (yet). My USBAR statement with annual fee just posted on 8/1. I am in similar head space as bs1234. Although the Smartly is getting 4% (got the less bad nerf here), my biggest banking worry is they full nerf everyone at some point and I am left with a 2% back card. Only in that scenario would I see keeping a 3% back card with an annual fee as a good move.

Regardless, yesterday I initiated a cash out of my AR points balance with a fully refundable one-way airline ticket. It triggered RTR, I redeemed and am just waiting for that amount to actually post before cancelling the flight for a refund back to the card.

So, option A for me is call for a retention offer and hope for at least 10K points, pay my annual fee, use the $325 annual travel credit, and then sock drawer the card sometime between now and 12/15 - keeping it as insurance for a Smartly full nerf.

Option B (which I am leaning toward) is to downgrade to the no annual fee Altitude Connect (have checking and savings accounts so redemption would be 4% back) - and hope they don’t decide to nerf that one too. If they don’t it would be an okay set up really as I would be able to use the Connect for foreign travel (no FTF) and travel/gas to keep me well clear of the 10K monthly max on the Smartly. An extra plus of this option is that I have already set aside the USBAR $400 annual fee and could use it for something like the new Alaska premium card when it comes out (AS is the only program where I still have a points balance worth noting so getting the sign-up bonus would be nice). A further additional benefit of that latter part is I would get my foot back in the door with BoA in case I decide to jump ship back to their Preferred Rewards program.

EDIT: Note that I am also trying to not open new cards at the moment (only exception might be the Alaska premium card when available)

This is a very well thought out set of options, and thanks for the reminder that refundable airline tickets qualify for R-T-R redemptions.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

NoHardLimits — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 17:39:10 GMT

@Vinjints wrote:
It's a 3k annual cap on digital wallets. But still a nice offset for what's really non-category spend. Or you can get multiple if that's your thing.

Thanks for the reply, but I think that would require too many multiples for P2 to tolerate.

Re: Are you planning to Keep or Close your US Bank Altitude Reserve?

RBD22 — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 20:27:31 GMT

I'll be closing the account-likely exactly on December 15-and move to a BoA Platinum Honors setup. My renewal isn't until March but I don't have any desire to keep it around until that time for an extra 0.375% over the catchall of the BoA PR with PH (2.625%). There's definitely no way my P2 would be on board with keeping track of that so it would just be me and, therefore, not at all worth it considering the extra login and payment I would have to manage.

I don't use portals because I've had too many major issues while traveling (including a global IT outage on a major European airline the morning that I was set to fly back across the Atlantic to the US) and don't want to add an unnecessary middle man to the mix. I'd prefer to deal directly with the airline/hotel/etc, myself. As such, the new credit is worth $0 to me and since I would likely average around 3% back, overall, with the PR but with a net -$5 AF, the USBAR no longer makes any sense.

It's truly a shame because it's been my favorite card by a long shot the entire time that I've had it.