Many of you already know about Elan Financial Services, but I'll give a brief introduction to our members who may not be familiar. Among other financial services, Elan is the largest "agent" credit card issuer in the United States. It is a subsidiary of US Bancorp, the parent company that also includes US Bank which is the fifth largest bank in the USA. Agent card issuers like Elan work with smaller banks and credit unions that may want to provide credit products to their members but want to outsource the cards and servicing to a third party instead of trying to manage them in-house. You'll recognize financial institutions that do this when you visit their credit card pages and you are linked outside their web page with a cautionary note. The card offerings from any one card agent tend to be similar if not identical. The same products are just branded for the participating financial institution.
Probably the best known Elan product on My Fico is the Fidelity Rewards Visa which pays up to 2% back when redeemed to a Fidelity Investments account. Elan took over the Fidelity account in 2015 after the similar American Express card was discontinued. US Bank is known for their conservative lending over new accounts, with the 1/12 rule usually observed (1 new revolving account or less in the previous 12 months.) Similarly, as a subsidiary of USB, Elan has been somewhat conservative in approvals for the Fidelity card but data points indicate they are more relaxed. I found several reports over the past two years of approvals with well in excess of one new revolver. One approval two years ago reported as many as nine.
As far as I can tell, there is no central website to find all the Elan-serviced cards. Over time, I've noticed them anyway as I've browsed different lenders but they haven't really been noteworthy until now. Most of the cards were common offerings available most anywhere, such as basic Visa cards or cards with lower rewards (1% to 1.5%.) Until now.
One of the more popular cards on My Fico is the US Bank Cash+. It pays 5% in two selected categories up to $2K per quarter, 2% on another category uncapped, and then 1% on everything else. It currently offers a $200 SUB for spending $500 in the first 90 days. I've had my eye on it for awhile, but the conservative limits by US Bank on new accounts makes it card you have to plan and garden for.
As far as I can tell, Elan just recently started mass-releasing a version of the Cash+ to its' partner banks across the US. For the ones that are offering it, it is labeled as the "Max Cash Preferred" card. I've found it on more than 75 of Elan's partner banks. The SUB is typically $150 instead of $200 like offered at US Bank, but the cash back workings on the cards appear identical. And, if it's easier to be approved for this card through Elan, I thought many would be intrigued. This could offer many a chance to have a Cash+ card without the gardening. In my case, US Bank is not in my geographic area anyway and some of these Elan partner lenders are in my area, so applying with them might be more practical. Moreover, I called one today and asked about getting a card if I wasn't in their geo-area. I was told that since the cards are managed by Elan, anyone could apply. So it appears that, depending on the lender, any of these cards could be attainable regardless of geofence. But the listing I have included shows these cards are probably already available at a lender near you. My list is not exhaustive, so feel free to add to it as you check with your local banks or credit unions. As I said, I couldn't find a cental listing so I put this together over random web research. I'm sure I missed quite a few more.
I'll include some screen shots of the ads and application pages and you can see how similar or identical they all are to one another. The same card product with a different outer casing.
As I like to say, options are good! And I just wanted to throw this out there for the community. Happy hunting and let us know what you find! 
... list to follow >>>>
>>>> Some Elan Lenders that offer the Max Cash Preferred ...
Incredible Bank (Wisconsin)
First Financial Northwest Bank (Washington)
Guaranty Bank and Trust (Texas)
Johnson Financial Group (Wisconsin)
Capital City Bank (Florida, Georgia, Alabama)
Busey Bank (Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Florida)
Banc of California (California)
Abby Bank (Wisconsin)
Envision Bank (Massachusetts)
Fulton Bank (Virginia, Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania)
Highland Bank (Minnesota)
Chevron Federal Credit Union (United States)
Banner Federal Credit Union (Arizona)
MIT Federal Credit Union (Massachusetts)
NRL (Naval Research Lab) Federal Credit Union (DC, Virginia, Maryland)
Intrust Bank (Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas)
People’s United Bank (Connecticut)
Astera Credit Union (Michigan)
Cattle Bank and Trust (Nebraska)
Credit Union of Georgia (Georgia)
Bank of Oklahoma (Oklahoma)
Renasant Bank (Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida)
Liberty Bank (Connecticut)
Rockland Trust (Massachusetts)
Bell Bank (Arizona, Minnesota, North Dakota)
Radius Bank (Massachusetts)
Alliance Credit Union (Missouri)
Green Belt Bank and Trust (Iowa)
Northside Community Bank (Illinois)
Bremer Bank (Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin)
Bank Five Nine (Wisconsin)
F&M Bank (Farmers and Merchants) (California)
Prevail Bank (Wisconsin)
And More Elan Lenders that offer the Max Cash Preferred .......
First National Bank Texas (Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona)
Bank of Texas (Texas)
Comerica Bank (California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Michigan)
Desert Financial Credit Union (Arizona)
Flagstar Bank (California, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin)
First State Bank of Florida Keys (Florida)
Park National Bank (Ohio)
CCF Bank (Wisconsin, Minnesota)
Copper State Credit Union (Arizona)
Also dba: Deer Valley Credit Union, Canyon State Credit Union
Capital Credit Union (Wisconsin)
Beacon Credit Union (Indiana)
Mid Penn Bank (Pennsylvania)
All South Federal Credit Union (South Carolina)
Centris Federal Credit Union (Nebraska, Iowa)
Home Federal Bank (Tennessee)
Bank of Albuquerque (New Mexico)
Valley National Bank (New Jersey, New York, Florida, Alabama)
Atlantic Union Bank (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina)
Pawtucket Credit Union (Rhode Island)
Oklahoma Central Credit Union (Oklahoma)
www.oklahomacentral.creditunion
Greater Nevada Credit Union (Nevada)
Air Force Academy Federal Credit Union (Colorado, veterans)
Merrimack Valley Credit Union (Massachusetts)
Meriwest Credit Union (California)
First Class Community Credit Union (Iowa)
Wesbanco (West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio)
Amplify Credit Union (Texas)
Cornerstone Bank (North Dakota, South Dakota)
Centricity Credit Union (Minnesota)
Central Pacific Bank (Hawaii)
Public Service Credit Union (Michigan)
Allegiance Credit Union (Oklahoma)
Bank of Clarke County (Virginia)
Nodaway Valley Bank (Missouri)
First National Bank of Waterloo (Illinois)
Twin River Bank (Idaho, Washington)
Premier Bank (Ohio, Indiana, Michigan)
Byrn Mawr Trust Company (Pennsylvania)
Buckeye State Bank (Ohio)
U.S. Employees Credit Union (US government employee and retiree)
Bank of Utah (Utah)
Bay Coast Bank (Massachusetts, Rhode Island)
Pikes Peak Credit Union (Colorado)
Horizon Bank (Indiana, Michigan)
I'll also mention that the lender I called was Intrust Bank in Kansas. They have quite a few affiliate cards including some Alumni cards and others that caught my eye. This is the lender that said they could approve anyone out-of-geofence, in case any others do not. Here is a screenshot of all the affiliate cards.
@Anonymous wrote:Aim great post and very informative. Thanks for taking the time to put that information together, so I'm sure it will be helpful to many. These do seem like legit alternatives to US Bank Cash+.
Do you reckon the terms (SL, APR, etc) would very and possibly quite a bit depending on the bank with which you apply? I would imagine there is very little data on any of that and that it would take some guinea pigs from the forum to put together some numbers.
Thanks @Anonymous. I was going to tag you but you saw it already. We were just having this discussion after you posted about the Cash+ so you were one I had in mind (besides myself - lol) who could benefit. But I've heard many others mention USB's strict underwriting.
I'll still tag this in your Cash+ thread:
https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/US-Bank-Cash-opinions-feedback/m-p/6196810#M1757187
I just found the Max Cash Preferred card and links in the past week and have been putting this together. So I haven't had time to research it much. At least one Elan-sponsored lender didn't have it yet but said "coming in December 2020" so it sounds like it's being phased in. Maybe those who have worked with Elan on the Fidelity card can enlighten us on the customer service and web interface experience. On the surface, the cards look almost identical to the Cash+. One I saw had a slightly higher APR if that matters (+1%?), but we would have to dig into it on a card-by-card basis to be accurate. I got the ball rolling and everyone can look at it and tell us all what they find. I hope it's helpful to some people. I think some tend to just think of the big banks and lenders like Chase, AMEX, Citi, Discover, Capital One etc and forget about the smaller lenders in their neighborhood. A mix of both can be good but especially if they're offering cards comparable to what the big banks offer!
Ones that I have found so far:
Sunrise Banks (Minnesota)
It's not on their website yet, but if you click through to their Elan portal it lists a card called "Flexible Cash Rewards" that has the Cash+ rewards structure w/ a $150 SUB.
Access Bank (Nebraska)
Northwest Bank (Nebraska and Iowa)
Wakota FCU (Minnesota)
wakotafcu.org
This one has a lower APR range, at 11.99-17.99. Dunno if that will be common w/ CUs.
Deerwood Bank (Minnesota)
deerwoodbank.com
Associated Bank (Minnesota and Wisconsin)
www.associatedbank.com
Alerus Financial (Arizona, Minnesota, and North Dakota)
alerus.com
Riverland Bank (Minnesota)
riverland.bank
I'll edit this post if I find anything else.
Holy Crapoli! My local bank that I've banked with for over 20 years offers this card!
This is a game changer for me and DW if the underwriting standards are in fact lower that the Cash+. I couldn't care less what the front of the card says if it offers that sweet, sweet 5%😂
I'm assuming since it is a Signature VISA that the SL would be at least $5K also. Does anybody know what bureau Elan typically pulls?
Great find @Aim_High
