Sandy Spring Max Cash Preferred

[Citylights18]

I got an mailer on this one and I thought it had some interesting introductory categories.

1) 0% APR for 15 billing cycles. That is a nice offer and will effectively take you out 15 billing cycles.

2) 5% cash back on two categories. Includes streaming, utilties and fast food. 5% utilties is hard to find.

3) 2% on one other category and can be groceries, restaurants, gas or ground transportation.

This is a decent alternative to Discover because being a credit union they'll probably provide a nice credit limit.

[FormerCollegeDJ]

Sandy Spring Bank is actually one of many relatively large but not huge regional banks that offers the Max Cash Preferred; that card is issued by Elan Financial Services, a division of U.S. Bank.  The Max Cash Preferred is a very similar card to the U.S. Bank Cash+ Visa.  Some banks' versions are Visa, while others are Mastercard.  The former seems to be a little more common.

I also live in the DC area (where Sandy Spring Bank is located), and the similar-sized EagleBank also offers the Max Cash Preferred via Elan, though EagleBank's version is a Visa card and Sandy Spring Bank's version is a Mastercard.  Another, somewhat larger bank that has a few DC area branches, Fulton Bank, also issues Elan managed credit cards including the Max Cash Preferred.

If you do some searching on this subforum, you can find threads discussing the Max Cash Preferred Visa/Mastercard.  It appears that card and other Elan Financial Services cards are not geofenced (i.e. you could apply at any bank that offers Elan Financial Services cards, including banks not in your area, and potentially be approved for their cards).

[Citylights18]

Thanks for the information. With this being an Elon Max Cash it does provide for additional data points. It looks like some people are getting 20k to 25k with the card.

[coldfusion]

There was a large thread going back about 18 months ago that discussed the card and listed a number of the co-branding banks and credit unions.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Elan-quot-Max-Cash-quot-vs-US-Bank-Cash/td-p/6198795

And yes, some people get starting limits of at least $20K.

[Citylights18]

Thanks as this Elan thread came out at a time where I wasn't in the market for credit cards. I did notice Elan on the board from time to time but didn't know it had a relationship with Cash+

I've decided to go a different direction for now since I want to keep my utilities on a business card. Decided to go with a new Discover and also trying to app for a new Citi Rewards+ because I've been snarfing up TYPs in my new travel situation.

[FormerCollegeDJ]

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@Citylights18 wrote:

Thanks as this Elan thread came out at a time where I wasn't in the market for credit cards. I did notice Elan on the board from time to time but didn't know it had a relationship with Cash+.

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Small bit of clarification - Elan Financial Services is a division of U.S. Bank.  Elan doesn't have a relationship with the U.S. Bank Cash+, but its Max Cash Preferred is a similar (not exactly the same but very similar) card to the U.S. Bank Cash+.

Other Elan-issued credit cards also have similar U.S. Bank credit card equivalents.