U.S. Bank and Elan Financial Relationship

[cws-21]

I understand that Elan Financial is a division of U.S. Bank, but I have a few related questions that folks may or may not be able to answer (or speculate about). As always, I appreciate all replies. Thank you in advance!

1. Does having a relationship with Elan Financial (e.g., Max Cash Preferred) mean that I have a relationship with U.S. Bank?

2. If yes for Question 1, would I have a closer relationship with U.S. Bank if I have a card like the Cash+ instead of the Max Cash Preferred?

3. Do some Max Cash Preferred versions provide U.S. Bank "Cash-back deals," or something similar, such as what are offered on the Altitude Go (probably Cash+ and others as well)?

[TrapLine]

No relationship with US Bank.

Over time I have both and Elan always strives to remain independent of their connection to US Bank. Reasoning, banks that contract with Elan Financial Services expect them to operate as the contracting bank's credit card services provider. They do not want US Bank as an interloper perceived or actual.

To make this ever more confusing, US Bank/Elan Card Services shares processing personnel, systems and credit card production.

Back to your question, a relationship with US Bank generally requires and actual relationship with US Bank. That could equal having some type of banking, credit, installment loans, mortgage loans and I thought they included investments. Potentially, the business side could serve as a door opener. Even though US Bank is not in all states, Myficoers have pushed the envelope and slid in under the door getting a relationship.

One form of credit US Bank requires (?) a relationship is their Personal Line of Credit (not to be confused with their Reserve Line of Credit).

There are other banks such as UMB, Bank of America/FIA, First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO) that also provides such services and so on that operate similar to US Bank. Mellon Bank also gets in the mix with Fidelity Investments. Likely there are more.

[cws-21]

Thanks, @TrapLine. So, Max Cash Preferred = no relationship with U.S. Bank and Cash+ = relationship with U.S. Bank, right?

[Anonymous]

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@cws-21 wrote:

Thanks, @TrapLine. So, Max Cash Preferred = no relationship with U.S. Bank and Cash+ = relationship with U.S. Bank, right?

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It also depends on what you mean by "relationship"  Certainly Cash+ makes you a US Bank customer as far as relationships go and Max Cash probably doesn't.

But.... let's say you burned Elan on the Max Cash, and enough time passed so the default/chargeoff fell off your credit report.   As Elan is a wholly owned subsidiary of US Bank, the question is whether US Bank can see the default in Elan's records (i.e. just how well they seal things off, it all). If they can, maybe they would not give you a card because of "prior bad relationship"   

Don't know if anyone here has had this experience.   If not, anyone up for a long-term test (with a heavy hit to your score, at least in the short term!)

[Kforce]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@cws-21 wrote:

Thanks, @TrapLine. So, Max Cash Preferred = no relationship with U.S. Bank and Cash+ = relationship with U.S. Bank, right?

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It also depends on what you mean by "relationship"  Certainly Cash+ makes you a US Bank customer as far as relationships go and Max Cash probably doesn't.

But.... let's say you burned Elan on the Max Cash, and enough time passed so the default/chargeoff fell off your credit report.   As Elan is a wholly owned subsidiary of US Bank, the question is whether US Bank can see the default in Elan's records (i.e. just how well they seal things off, it all). If they can, maybe they would not give you a card because of "prior bad relationship"   

Don't know if anyone here has had this experience.   If not, anyone up for a long-term test (with a heavy hit to your score, at least in the short term!)

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And, previously had a "Cash+" and closed it years ago.

They keep pushing me offer's for the card that requires a relationship.

Having an ex-relationship might count !

Have no interest in the card, not a good test case   

[cws-21]

Thank you, @Anonymous and @Kforce.

I have an Elan Max Cash Preferred and a U.S. Bank Altitude Go that I could product change to a Cash+. I am most likely closing one of the two cards and I am trying to decide which one would be best to keep. I know what many people will recommend ... just keep them both open given they have no annual fee. I have always opened cards when they made sense and closed cards when they no longer did so. For many years, my credit scores have been in the high 700s or low 800s so I probably won't fix what ain't broken.

So, I am debating between the Max Cash Preferred and Cash+. For the Max Cash Preferred, I like the "No required quarterly enrollment" as well as broader Entertainment and Recreation categories than found with the Cash+. For the Cash+, I like the better website, better app, relationship maintained with U.S. Bank, and U.S. Bank "Cash-back deals."

Does anyone have any thoughts that would help me make my decision? Which card would you keep if you were in my position and why would you keep it?

[Bockrocker]

U.S. Bank cards occasionally have access to Amazon Shop With Points deals like this.

Even though Elan is also a member of the shop with points club, I've never seen a deal posted for Elan cards (unlike Citi, Discover, Amex, Chase which are all pretty common/often).  Although U.S. Bank just made the feature available last year so maybe it will become more common.

[TrapLine]

Like many things in the MyFico world I have learned there may be a "never say never" out there?

It has been there past to keep things separate ... yet they share personnel, processing systems and credit card production so one may certainly wonder???

Also, posters mentioned past relationships that are closed or were bad. How does US Bank view such a past happening? Good question.

Over many many years I have had US Bank and Elan Card services. For my profile, Elan has always given me higher starting CLs every time. Found US Bank more conservative with my profile than Elan Financial Services so I get the feeling of a separation. However, things have been very fluid in the credit world (unlike the days gone by) so change is possible.

As I mentioned earlier in another post, Elan Financial Services is available to non US Bank banks for the providing of credit card services and is not suppose to be interloping on the contracting bank's field of customers.

There are many other banks that offer similar services with similar restrictions. One would be quite surprised to see how many credit cards are issued by the private bank of the First National Bank of Omaha and, they have been doing it for many many years (very low key).

[PullingMeSoftly]

While the separation of Elan and USB gives the outward impression of separate entities rather than the reality of Elan being a subsidiary, it's interesting that the USB reps can see the Elan products we have.  I've long wondered whether or not USB factors in my Fidelity card when determining max exposure. This is something I haven't been able to get an answer for from any rep. I don't think having an Elan product alone substantiates having a relationship with USB, but it certainly seems to factor into overall credit exposure when having products from both. Would love for this to be clarified/confirmed before I outright apply for the AR and risk getting denied for hitting max exposure.

As to the question of which of your cards to keep @cws-21 , you described the advantages of each quite well, and so the relative value of each would seem to be the deciding factor. You also acknowledge the common advice to just keep AF cards, but did you have a specific reason why you want to close one (I think I missed that)? Maybe less to manage?

[cws-21]

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@PullingMeSoftly wrote:

While the separation of Elan and USB gives the outward impression of separate entities rather than the reality of Elan being a subsidiary, it's interesting that the USB reps can see the Elan products we have.  I've long wondered whether or not USB factors in my Fidelity card when determining max exposure. This is something I haven't been able to get an answer for from any rep. I don't think having an Elan product alone substantiates having a relationship with USB, but it certainly seems to factor into overall credit exposure when having products from both. Would love for this to be clarified/confirmed before I outright apply for the AR and risk getting denied for hitting max exposure.

As to the question of which of your cards to keep @cws-21 , you described the advantages of each quite well, and so the relative value of each would seem to be the deciding factor. You also acknowledge the common advice to just keep AF cards, but did you have a specific reason why you want to close one (I think I missed that)? Maybe less to manage?

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Thanks for your take, @PullingMeSoftly. To answer your question, I prefer to only keep cards that have significant value for me (and have fewer cards to manage), which means, over the years, I have opened and closed many cards. I realize that it flies in the face of conventional wisdom here on myFICO, but it has always worked for me! I assume you would keep both? However, if you were only keeping one, which one would it be and why?