Smartly V1 is changing on September 15th

[digitek]

Guess we knew this was coming, but not as bad as I expected. It does take out 3 things that I used it for - tuition, taxes, insurance, but at least we didn't get moved to the 1.1 version of the card where the extra money would have to sit in a checking account.

Still a good card, just a little bit less useful then it used to be.

[G2244]

Over on boggelheads there are several reports of 2 different letters coming regarding changes to V1 Smartly. The main difference is that one still allows investments to count toward 100K and the other does not BOTH letters are to those with V1. This is very concerning and just downright confusing, WTH are they doing?

I still have not recevied my letter so not sure what I am in for. 

[ptatohed]

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@G2244 wrote:

Over on boggelheads there are several reports of 2 different letters coming regarding changes to V1 Smartly. The main difference is that one still allows investments to count toward 100K and the other does not BOTH letters are to those with V1. This is very concerning and just downright confusing, WTH are they doing?

I still have not recevied my letter so not sure what I am in for. 

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Oh man, you're scaring me.   I put $50k in a robo-invest (now worth $51.8k), $50k in a self-directed invest (now worth $54.1k) [yes, I am beating the robot ], and $7k in a Roth IRA self-directed (now worth $8.4k) all for this card, to get 4% CB.  If that no longer qualifies, I'm.....well...... you guys will be seeing a grown man cry.  

[swankytiger]

I think we are up to 3 different letters on boggleheads.  1 is this mild nerf, 2 is no investment products counting, and 3 is full v2.

[MJ-san]

Gonna be blunt ... USBank SUCKS based on my experience. 

I tried bringing $100k over to USBI and attempted to set up a meeting with a wealth management advisor - my intention was to give them a chance to see my full portfolio and see if they had ideas on how to improve, and if so, I'd move more over. I went into this fully wanting to have a 2nd investmetn relationship in addition to my primary one with Merrill.  

I never got a call back after 3 attempts - web form, email, and phone message. I ended up talking to a friend who is a VP in the local market and he was mortified ... I finally got a call back and met with the advisor. Give him reports of my holdings at Merrill and Fidelity ... and never heard back from him. NO FREAKING WAY would I entrust any investments with a company with that kind of customer service! I ended up buying 100k ETFs recommended by my Merrill advisor (they agreed that for 4% back this was a great idea and supported me doing this). 

The USBI site SUCKS. Dividends weren't automatically reinvested despite 2x calls to fix it - each time over 30 mins on hold. 

The card is great for 4% back. I tried doing a limit increase after 7 months and somehow have now gotten over 12 letters in the mail stating "declined - duplicate request." Finally, after 3+ phone calls and over 1.5 hours on the phone, was told "balances too high, declined." Strange, as they just auto CLI'd my Altitude Go last month. No way to redistribute CLs. 

Like I said, USB sucks. I'm going to milk the cards for as much as I can for as long as I can (Cash+, Altitude Go, Smartly) and if they nerf my Smartly too badly, yank the investments back over to Merrill and chalk this up to a learning experience. 

[ptatohed]

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@swankytiger wrote:

I think we are up to 3 different letters on boggleheads.  1 is this mild nerf, 2 is no investment products counting, and 3 is full v2.

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@swankytiger 

What's the difference between 2 and 3?  

[swankytiger]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@swankytiger wrote:

I think we are up to 3 different letters on boggleheads.  1 is this mild nerf, 2 is no investment products counting, and 3 is full v2.

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@swankytiger 

What's the difference between 2 and 3?  

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Savings accounts/CDs counted instead of needing to be in the checking account.

[ptatohed]

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@MJ-san wrote:

Gonna be blunt ... USBank SUCKS based on my experience. 

I tried bringing $100k over to USBI and attempted to set up a meeting with a wealth management advisor - my intention was to give them a chance to see my full portfolio and see if they had ideas on how to improve, and if so, I'd move more over. I went into this fully wanting to have a 2nd investmetn relationship in addition to my primary one with Merrill.  

I never got a call back after 3 attempts - web form, email, and phone message. I ended up talking to a friend who is a VP in the local market and he was mortified ... I finally got a call back and met with the advisor. Give him reports of my holdings at Merrill and Fidelity ... and never heard back from him. NO FREAKING WAY would I entrust any investments with a company with that kind of customer service! I ended up buying 100k ETFs recommended by my Merrill advisor (they agreed that for 4% back this was a great idea and supported me doing this). 

The USBI site SUCKS. Dividends weren't automatically reinvested despite 2x calls to fix it - each time over 30 mins on hold. 

The card is great for 4% back. I tried doing a limit increase after 7 months and somehow have now gotten over 12 letters in the mail stating "declined - duplicate request." Finally, after 3+ phone calls and over 1.5 hours on the phone, was told "balances too high, declined." Strange, as they just auto CLI'd my Altitude Go last month. No way to redistribute CLs. 

Like I said, USB sucks. I'm going to milk the cards for as much as I can for as long as I can (Cash+, Altitude Go, Smartly) and if they nerf my Smartly too badly, yank the investments back over to Merrill and chalk this up to a learning experience. 

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Lol, I had the opposite problem.  I couldn't get the Wealth Management dude to leave me alone when I just wanted to do self-directed.  Phone calls, appointments, investment offerings........... leave me alone!  lol

[ptatohed]

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@swankytiger wrote:

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@ptatohed wrote:

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@swankytiger wrote:

I think we are up to 3 different letters on boggleheads.  1 is this mild nerf, 2 is no investment products counting, and 3 is full v2.

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@swankytiger 

What's the difference between 2 and 3?  

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Savings accounts/CDs counted instead of needing to be in the checking account.

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Hmmm, probably still not worth it.  $100,000 at 3.X% when it could be at 4%+ is not worth an extra 1% cash back.  Now you have me biting my nails until the letter arrives.  :-I

[swankytiger]

It is wild that there are multiple letters out there.