Smartly V1 is changing on September 15th

[G2244]

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@swankytiger wrote:

It is wild that there are multiple letters out there.

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I see just no way that their IT can keep up with this. They eff up when there is only one version of something. I see this being a cluster for those willing to stick around.

[ptatohed]

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@G2244 wrote:

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@swankytiger wrote:

It is wild that there are multiple letters out there.

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I see just no way that their IT can keep up with this. They eff up when there is only one version of something. I see this being a cluster for those willing to stick around.

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This is nuts.  Before I learned this morning that there might be 3 versions of the Smartly card, I was actually thinking that USB was going to perhaps merge V1.0 and V2.0, including all new applications, into a single V1.compromise (the iteration in Post #1).  I guess not!  

[MJ-san]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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  $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

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Same. I'll go back to BofA CCR + Elite Rewards as my primary cards again (with Citi ThankYou and Amex Blue Pref Cash for targeted spend, and a few other "specialty" cards where they make sense.

[bs1234]

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@ptatohed wrote:

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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

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Well, with the pain of dealing with USB, probably not, but purely financially, it could still be for big spend.  Assuming that savings is 1% less than you could get elsewhere , $100K credit card spend would break even over a 3% uncapped card (which I don't have!) and when you take into account that the interest is taxed and the cashback isn't, the breakeven point is lower.   

[MJ-san]

Being the data nerd I am, I had to see how this would play out in my situation... 

I'm NOWHERE CLOSE to the massive amounts of taxes or education expenses some of y'all are making BANK on with this card, just a lowly consumer making a few extra bucks on my everyday spending. 

I downloaded the CSV of all transactions + an MCC list and cross-referenced. Couple of ?s that are unknowns...
Will 7349 Cleaning and Maintenance, Janitorial Services and 7333 Commercial Photography, Art, and Graphics fall under the "Commercial" exclusion? One is my housecleaner, the other some artwork we bought. 

Taking out tax / government and insurance payments of $3565 from a total spend YTD of $23.4k, it would mean a reduction of $71 underthe new rules  (and an effective cash back of 3.7%. OK, not too bad).  It also means I won't be using this card for my property tax payments (October and February... $10k) which I was looking forward to  

If I get the "light" NERF (or v1.1 nerf) I'll move the "bad" spend over to BA Elite Visa  and keep on keeping on ... If I get one of the other two (1.2 or 1.3) then I'll pull the investments back to Merrill and kill the Smartly when the 0% runs out in November. 

[G2244]

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@MJ-san wrote:

Being the data nerd I am, I had to see how this would play out in my situation... 

I'm NOWHERE CLOSE to the massive amounts of taxes or education expenses some of y'all are making BANK on with this card, just a lowly consumer making a few extra bucks on my everyday spending. 

I downloaded the CSV of all transactions + an MCC list and cross-referenced. Couple of ?s that are unknowns...
Will 7349 Cleaning and Maintenance, Janitorial Services and 7333 Commercial Photography, Art, and Graphics fall under the "Commercial" exclusion? One is my housecleaner, the other some artwork we bought. 

Taking out tax / government and insurance payments of $3565 from a total spend YTD of $23.4k, it would mean a reduction of $71 underthe new rules  (and an effective cash back of 3.7%. OK, not too bad).  It also means I won't be using this card for my property tax payments (October and February... $10k) which I was looking forward to  

If I get the "light" NERF (or v1.1 nerf) I'll move the "bad" spend over to BA Elite Visa  and keep on keeping on ... If I get one of the other two (1.2 or 1.3) then I'll pull the investments back to Merrill and kill the Smartly when the 0% runs out in November. 

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I understand everyones' gut reaction toward jumping ship if they get one of the fuller nerfs. However, I also recall in the not so distant past when USB indicated the checking account would no longer be free and then they walked that back. I had my own quick reaction to that and closed both a joint checking and a joint savings. Then, only to find a few weeks later they updated again and would cover checking again. My point is, a good plan may be to give it all a month or two to see if things get walked back. I am not taking lightly moving my ROTH IRA out and will try to make sure the deal is for sure dead before heading the route...

[EasyMark]

Thanks for everyone's heads up here (and other forums and Reddit) and latebreaking news on from everyone on what was unfolding here.

Whew! I just raced out to the mailbox (didn't have to tackle the mail-woman), and it appears mine and my spouse's Smartly cards fall under the more benign restrictions (I was sweating it too!), and our new brokerage accounts of a bundle of old TIPs will apply. I wonder if it's because we had already established the brokerage account recently (after an incredible ordeal and numerous threats to the incompetent USBI brokerage folk, they FINALLY got the assets transferred, corrected their shortchanged bookkeeping of them (some had disappeared for a while), and finally turned it into a joint account to cover both our Smartly cards after they gave us bad data at US Bank about a need for such, just this very month, after I had to get ugly; I had converted two of our unused US Bank cards into Smartlys just before they stopped taking 1.0 applications). And this is the bank we normally have banked with for decades!

On the back of the letters, they seem to imply that the eligibility of transactions to 4% is largely dictated by the MCC code; I can already see some merchants who might fall through the cracks beneficially, and I think some experimentation (like those of us blighted SYW machocists) and shared notes will be in order. At least, until they nerf it again in a couple of weeks...

[digitek]

I actually got my letter today and it is the full language of the first post.

[creditrizz]

What a mess of a bank. This is the type of behavior that will keep my relationship with them as limited as possible. I once considered looking into their business product offerings, and it turns out my nearest US Bank branch is located within a run down ralphs grocery store.  Between that, their 1992 brokerage platform, the constant downgrading of products and introduction of new account fees - it gives me the impression of being some low budget walmart bank

[Kforce]

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@swankytiger wrote:

It is wild that there are multiple letters out there.

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Got my letter today.

Have the mild "nerf" language, like all "Smartly" card nerfing posts above.

Wonder if a regular on this forum has received any other, "nerf" version ??

As with all really good reward cards, some restrictions need to be in place because there are many that will take advantage.  I am not surprised by a spend cap, and prefer a 10k with no tax, insurance, business, gift-cards, than a 4k cap and less restrictions.

The big question is why not do the math, restrictions and cap from the beginning, they have had cards and in business long enough to think things out before introducing a card, then killing it in 6 months, and nerfing new card holders with card in hand a whole 3 months.

I understand restrictions, not the bait a switch.