I've been debating grabbing this card for a while now. I was going to wait until the beginning of the year since I have a ton of signup bonuses and retention bonuses to hit ($13,000 on 4 Delta cards [2x Delta Reserve, Platinum retention, Gold upgrade to Platinum] between DW and myself, and I may still end up grabbing the SkyMiles Platinum Business for another $3,000 in spend before my targeted offer expires in 3 weeks), but since the new Delta Reserve card isn't showing yet and I know from reading up here that U.S. Bank tends to be more sensitive to new accounts than to a few dozen FICO points [my mortgage was recently sold to another lender and reports as closed and paid, which is costing me around 20 points on each bureau until it reappears under the new lender's name], I decided to go ahead and grab it and then hopefully I can actually set myself up to be completely app-free in 2019. Compared to 2015-2017, I was fairly restrained this year only picking up a TD Bank Jordan's Furniture card, Citi Premier, Delta Reserve, and now the Altitude Reserve.
I applied on Saturday, and of course I should know that my impatient self should never apply for a USB product over the weekend. LOL I've had this in my preapproved offers for ages (and have received snail mail solicitation for it at least 3 times), but of course when I'm actually ready to grab it, it wasn't listed (Flex Perks and Visa Platinum were listed for me this time) so I cold apped and got the 7-10 day pending message. I didn't sweat it (much) since my Cash+ went pending last October before my massive $500 approval (reconned on activation to $15,000), and from what I have read this card rarely sees instant approvals.
I checked the application status phone number numerous times, and finally Monday afternoon I got the congratulations message after punching in my SSN. With USB, there's no way to find out your credit line without speaking to an actual person until the card's been added to your account (which is better than last year when credit lines for Visa Signature/Infinite cards weren't even shown in your account) so I naturally checked constantly to see if it had been added. I woke up at 6 AM and the first thing I did was open up my USB app, and there it was. $14,000 starting line. Not exactly a record-breaking approval for me, but it matches my CSR, is likely enough for the 4.5% back transactions I'll put through it via Apple Pay, and it's a heck of a lot better than my ego-busting $3,000 Citi Premier approval 7 months ago!
The good news is that I got the lowest APR on this card, 17.74%. The bad news is that I got it by default since there is only one APR for this card. In other good news, I already got the notification from UPS that I have a two pound Next Day Air package arriving from U.S. Bank tomorrow.
Reasons I got this: signup bonus worth $750 toward travel which I will use in the next few months via real-time mobile redemption, $325 annual travel credit which I will likely use in that same transaction, 3x earning (4.5%) for Apple Pay (and travel if I ever use it on that), and the dozen Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes which actually take care of the rest of that $400 annual fee for me.
Going forward after the first year, this will likely be a break-even card at best for me so we'll have to wait and see if it lasts long-term. It's a shame that for such a nice looking and feeling card, there's little-to-no reason for me to ever actually carry it. If they weree to enable the $100 Visa Infinite airline credit, it would be a keeper and could easily replace my Amex Platinum Card for airfare purchases - I have the same complaint about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, of course, and regret not picking up the Ritz-Carlton card when I had the chance.
Data points? They actually pulled Experian (they used TransUnion FICO 04 for my Cash+ app last year which I thought was always the case), and I'm not sure which score they're actually using. Like I said earlier, my mortgage is currently MIA on my credit reports, so my scores are artifically low right now. EX FICO 08 is 745, EX FICO 08 Bankcard is 758, and EX FICO Score 2 is 744 (if they stuck to using a mortgage score). I'll try to remember to update this when I get the letter and know which scoring model was used. Utilization in the mid-teens, no derogs/lates ever, AoOA around 25 years, AAoA close to 9 years, AoYA 7 months (since Delta Reserve not yet reporting), income starts with the number 2, total revolving limits start with the number 7.
I believe I just did the math correctly and didn't leave one out; total current annual fees are $3,974. 
@K-in-Boston wrote:I've been debating grabbing this card for a while now. I was going to wait until the beginning of the year since I have a ton of signup bonuses and retention bonuses to hit ($13,000 on 4 Delta cards [2x Delta Reserve, Platinum retention, Gold upgrade to Platinum] between DW and myself, and I may still end up grabbing the SkyMiles Platinum Business for another $3,000 in spend before my targeted offer expires in 3 weeks), but since the new Delta Reserve card isn't showing yet and I know from reading up here that U.S. Bank tends to be more sensitive to new accounts than to a few dozen FICO points [my mortgage was recently sold to another lender and reports as closed and paid, which is costing me around 20 points on each bureau until it reappears under the new lender's name], I decided to go ahead and grab it and then hopefully I can actually set myself up to be completely app-free in 2019. Compared to 2015-2017, I was fairly restrained this year only picking up a TD Bank Jordan's Furniture card, Citi Premier, Delta Reserve, and now the Altitude Reserve.
I applied on Saturday, and of course I should know that my impatient self should never apply for a USB product over the weekend. LOL I've had this in my preapproved offers for ages (and have received snail mail solicitation for it at least 3 times), but of course when I'm actually ready to grab it, it wasn't listed (Flex Perks and Visa Platinum were listed for me this time) so I cold apped and got the 7-10 day pending message. I didn't sweat it (much) since my Cash+ went pending last October before my massive $500 approval (reconned on activation to $15,000), and from what I have read this card rarely sees instant approvals.
I checked the application status phone number numerous times, and finally Monday afternoon I got the congratulations message after punching in my SSN. With USB, there's no way to find out your credit line without speaking to an actual person until the card's been added to your account (which is better than last year when credit lines for Visa Signature/Infinite cards weren't even shown in your account) so I naturally checked constantly to see if it had been added. I woke up at 6 AM and the first thing I did was open up my USB app, and there it was. $14,000 starting line. Not exactly a record-breaking approval for me, but it matches my CSR, is likely enough for the 4.5% back transactions I'll put through it via Apple Pay, and it's a heck of a lot better than my ego-busting $3,000 Citi Premier approval 7 months ago!
The good news is that I got the lowest APR on this card, 17.74%. The bad news is that I got it by default since there is only one APR for this card. In other good news, I already got the notification from UPS that I have a two pound Next Day Air package arriving from U.S. Bank tomorrow.
Reasons I got this: signup bonus worth $750 toward travel which I will use in the next few months via real-time mobile redemption, $325 annual travel credit which I will likely use in that same transaction, 3x earning (4.5%) for Apple Pay (and travel if I ever use it on that), and the dozen Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes which actually take care of the rest of that $400 annual fee for me.
Going forward after the first year, this will likely be a break-even card at best for me so we'll have to wait and see if it lasts long-term. It's a shame that for such a nice looking and feeling card, there's little-to-no reason for me to ever actually carry it. If they weree to enable the $100 Visa Infinite airline credit, it would be a keeper and could easily replace my Amex Platinum Card for airfare purchases - I have the same complaint about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, of course, and regret not picking up the Ritz-Carlton card when I had the chance.
Data points? They actually pulled Experian (they used TransUnion FICO 04 for my Cash+ app last year which I thought was always the case), and I'm not sure which score they're actually using. Like I said earlier, my mortgage is currently MIA on my credit reports, so my scores are artifically low right now. EX FICO 08 is 745, EX FICO 08 Bankcard is 758, and EX FICO Score 2 is 744 (if they stuck to using a mortgage score). I'll try to remember to update this when I get the letter and know which scoring model was used. Utilization in the mid-teens, no derogs/lates ever, AoOA around 25 years, AAoA close to 9 years, AoYA 7 months (since Delta Reserve not yet reporting), income starts with the number 2, total revolving limits start with the number 7.
I believe I just did the math correctly and didn't leave one out; total current annual fees are $3,974.
Sweet! now recon that SL **bleep** to $50k 
Also, pretty excited that we gained another member to participate in the AR threads with our usual 4 or so people 
haha
@imaximous wrote:Sweet! now recon that SL **bleep** to $50k
Also, pretty excited that we gained another member to participate in the AR threads with our usual 4 or so people
You don't know how tempted I am to call underwriting and tell them (with a straight face) that they gave me a 30x CLI upon activation on my Cash+ card and I would like them to do the same for my Altitude Reserve. With a $420,000 credit line I'd be more inclined to use the card regularly. 
One thing I neglected to mention under reasons I got the card was thanks to the mobile redemption feature, I can truly get 1.5 cents per point on this by buying airfare wherever it's cheapest (not just in their portal) and still get the 3x points on my redemption. That's one advantage this does have over CSR. They trade blows in different areas, but I still think the CSR is the better card for most people and it would be nice to also have transfer partners to get more than 1.5 cents per point.
@CreditCuriosity I currently have $0 parked at U.S. Bank. My only previous relationship with them is the Cash+ card I got in October 2017. That one saw maybe $1500 in spend before I parked a balance transfer on it, and due to some fraudulent transactions it has had a -$0.50 rewards balance all year. When they reissued the card with a new account number, they added a second entry to my Equifax reports, left the original card reporting (yay, another new account with very high utilization that never got updated), and didn't remove the original card until months later when I actually had to file CFPB complaint.
@Anonymous I mentioned (in the mountain of text) in the original post that according to my reports my last new card was 7 months ago (Citi Prestige), as the Delta Reserve I got last month is not yet reporting per the norm with Amex. So 0 accounts in 6 months, 2 accounts in 12 months (technically 3 with AU card on DW's CSP, but since Experian like to use the 1st of the month for account dates that puts it over 12), and 13* accounts in 24 months (3 churned for BTs or bonuses and closed: BoA BankAmericard, BoA Cash Rewards, Chase Slate). Those are exlcuding the new Delta Reserve and the USB AR cards.
* 13 revolving accounts, plus an auto refi and student loan refi.
@K-in-Boston wrote:
@imaximous wrote:Sweet! now recon that SL **bleep** to $50k
Also, pretty excited that we gained another member to participate in the AR threads with our usual 4 or so people
You don't know how tempted I am to call underwriting and tell them (with a straight face) that they gave me a 30x CLI upon activation on my Cash+ card and I would like them to do the same for my Altitude Reserve. With a $420,000 credit line I'd be more inclined to use the card regularly.
One thing I neglected to mention under reasons I got the card was thanks to the mobile redemption feature, I can truly get 1.5 cents per point on this by buying airfare wherever it's cheapest (not just in their portal) and still get the 3x points on my redemption. That's one advantage this does have over CSR. They trade blows in different areas, but I still think the CSR is the better card for most people and it would be nice to also have transfer partners to get more than 1.5 cents per point.
Ok. I'm sorry to burst your bubble here (or maybe just half the bubble). So yeah, with RTR you get to redeem the points after a purchase at 1.5x and you're not limited to a portal (although I'd still suggest you check it because I recently found a car rental on the USB travel portal for a LOT less than even the usual sketchy sites, and you can still pay with any card if you don't want to use points). However, you won't get the 3x for the purchase that you used the points redemption for. In fact, it's just like the CSR, you don't get any points for purchases they apply your points towards.
I found out because my OCD likes to count points when looking at statements, and noticed I was missing a bunch.
I still support your temptation to call and recon the SL, though.