US Bank 4% Smartly Visa Credit Card

[jeffyscott]

Anyone unfamiliar with US Bank who is considering this offer might do well to take their system for a test drive. I started a checking account and am REALLY rethinking the idea of doing anything further with US Bank!

They've told me that I'd not be able to reinvest dividends in the managed Vanguard fund admiral shares that I planned to move there. If that is really the case, I'm unlikely to pursue this.

Convert to ETF first.

There's no ETF for managed Vanguard fund admiral shares.

My interest in this declines to the extent that I can't just park some existing assets there.

By managed are you referring to actively traded funds? Can they reinvest dividends for VTSAX?

Yes, actively managed like Wellington or Wellesley admiral shares. No idea regarding VTSAX, I only asked about the funds that I thought I would transfer.

[SteveInNJ]

They've told me that I'd not be able to reinvest dividends in the managed Vanguard fund admiral shares that I planned to move there. If that is really the case, I'm unlikely to pursue this.

Convert to ETF first.

There's no ETF for managed Vanguard fund admiral shares.

My interest in this declines to the extent that I can't just park some existing assets there.

By managed are you referring to actively traded funds? Can they reinvest dividends for VTSAX?

Yes, actively managed like Wellington or Wellesley admiral shares. No idea regarding VTSAX, I only asked about the funds that I thought I would transfer.

If you're parking this fund there, is it a big problem to take those dividends as cash and invest in something comparable? Park X shares of your managed Vanguard fund, and when you eventually leave there take X shares with you. Whatever dividends are paid out stick them in VTI or something?

[midwest_bound]

For someone not already in the BoA ecosystem, this Reddit thread makes a compelling case to opt for it over US Bank: https://old.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/co ... at_honors/

When counting signup bonuses, which the Smartly Card will reportedly not have, the BoA system is superior.

I think most of the people who will switch over from BOA are not concerned about sign up bonuses. The value will be in the simplicity. I'm in the BOA ecosystem but have become tired of tracking all the 5.25% plat honors cash cards with their paltry quarterly limits. If you go over the $2,500 limit you only get 1.75%. So you have to be quite precise with your spending to get any value delta between the BOA cash cards and rhe 4% Smartly. And it's far worth the 1.25% delta never having to track caps and limits with the BOA cash cards. And dealing with all the individual accounts and spending on each. I am looking forward to switching.

I agree with your post as someone who actually gave up on the CCRs a while back just to use the PR (actually PRE card).

But my question is did you miss the point of midwest_bound's post for folks NOT already in the BofA system? That is the analysis in the Reddit post.

Agreed, it's not about the signup bonus. It's about jumping through a few hoops to get set up and then getting a 4% rebate on any charged spending for, hopefully, years to come. The long term benefit is the 1.375% rebate increase over the BofA card.

Yes, part of me thinks I should ignore the "optimal" solution and do the easier option. I could have applied for BofA years ago, but I've chosen to only use the Fidelity Visa for simplicity.

[Lastrun]

....
Yes, part of me thinks I should ignore the "optimal" solution and do the easier option. I could have applied for BofA years ago, but I've chosen to only use the Fidelity Visa for simplicity.

I agree here, and don't want to sound condescending, but at this point in the credit card world, the Fidelity card is an inferior card in terms of cash back and other minor benefits. So I would look around. My DD added a Wells Fargo Autograph to her Fidelity and she is averaging over 2.5% on her spend with an easy 2 card set up with no AF or FTF, hoops, caps, portals, rotators, etc.

I have found the BofA ecosystem to be a good compliment to Fidelity because it fills the weaker credit card issue, as well as the banking issues (cash deposits, teller services, etc.) that exist with a one-stop shop approach at Fidelity. Also, with the recent issues at Fidelity, it adds a back-up brokerage.

I am closely monitoring this situation with US Bank, and by the way, saw a post on Doctor of Credit that US Bank has pushed the release of the card into November.

I have no experience with US Bank, but their cards are all very competitive and discussed favorably on this and other forums, so worth a look. But the closest branch is hundreds of miles away, and it takes three accounts, plus the credit card (so a total of 4 new accounts), to avoid all possible fees and get the benefits.

I must admit that a part of me (behavioral) secretly hopes they come up with something in the next month that makes me look the other way, like a cap or FTF. I don't really want to add 4 accounts to my life.

[midwest_bound]

....
Yes, part of me thinks I should ignore the "optimal" solution and do the easier option. I could have applied for BofA years ago, but I've chosen to only use the Fidelity Visa for simplicity.

I agree here, and don't want to sound condescending, but at this point in the credit card world, the Fidelity card is an inferior card in terms of cash back and other minor benefits. So I would look around. My DD added a Wells Fargo Autograph to her Fidelity and she is averaging over 2.5% on her spend with an easy 2 card set up with no AF or FTF, hoops, caps, portals, rotators, etc.

I have found the BofA ecosystem to be a good compliment to Fidelity because it fills the weaker credit card issue, as well as the banking issues (cash deposits, teller services, etc.) that exist with a one-stop shop approach at Fidelity. Also, with the recent issues at Fidelity, it adds a back-up brokerage.

I am closely monitoring this situation with US Bank, and by the way, saw a post on Doctor of Credit that US Bank has pushed the release of the card into November.

I have no experience with US Bank, but their cards are all very competitive and discussed favorably on this and other forums, so worth a look. But the closest branch is hundreds of miles away, and it takes three accounts, plus the credit card (so a total of 4 new accounts), to avoid all possible fees and get the benefits.

I must admit that a part of me (behavioral) secretly hopes they come up with something in the next month that makes me look the other way, like a cap or FTF. I don't really want to add 4 accounts to my life.

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away. I already opened the US Bank checking account for the bonus, so I'll at least keep that around no matter what path I choose. It's conveient because they do not charge any fees for veterans, so I don't need to do anything special to keep the account free. I'm applying for a mortgage in the next week or two, so I'm waiting to open any new credit cards until after that.

[Leesbro63]

I have found the BofA ecosystem to be a good compliment to Fidelity because it fills the weaker credit card issue, as well as the banking issues (cash deposits, teller services, etc.) that exist with a one-stop shop approach at Fidelity. Also, with the recent issues at Fidelity, it adds a back-up brokerage.

I agree regarding the BofA ecosystem: Both the brokerage and bank online platforms are a B. I'd give Schwab and Fidelity an A. But BofA is "good enough", and there are now lots of branches near me, although I rarely ever use them.

[jeffyscott]

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away.

That's about the only reason that I am still looking for a way to do this without adding too much inconvenience. A branch is 3 miles away and there are many others in the area. B of A is about 80 miles away. Also US Bank's 4% card would simplify our credit card use while B of A would not.

My path to no fee checking is just being a current credit card holder.

[Leesbro63]

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away.

That's about the only reason that I am still looking for a way to do this without adding too much inconvenience. A branch is 3 miles away and there are many others in the area. B of A is about 80 miles away. Also US Bank's 4% card would simplify our credit card use while B of A would not.

My path to no fee checking is just being a current credit card holder.

We don't have US Bank branches in Pittsburgh, but I do see advertising on TV with customer's doing FACETIME with an US Bank rep. Must I show up at a branch to open an account (both bank and brokerage)? Can't this be done via Facetime or totally online?

[lakpr]

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away.

That's about the only reason that I am still looking for a way to do this without adding too much inconvenience. A branch is 3 miles away and there are many others in the area. B of A is about 80 miles away. Also US Bank's 4% card would simplify our credit card use while B of A would not.

My path to no fee checking is just being a current credit card holder.

We don't have US Bank branches in Pittsburgh, but I do see advertising on TV with customer's doing FACETIME with an US Bank rep. Must I show up at a branch to open an account (both bank and brokerage)? Can't this be done via Facetime or totally online?

I am in NJ and we have no US Bank branches anywhere. But I do happen to own a 5 month CD through US Bank (it was one of the best yielding CDs back then). That qualifies me as someone who has a relationship with the US Bank.

Perhaps open a 3-month CD, and then apply online for the Smartly Visa later?

[Leesbro63]

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away.

That's about the only reason that I am still looking for a way to do this without adding too much inconvenience. A branch is 3 miles away and there are many others in the area. B of A is about 80 miles away. Also US Bank's 4% card would simplify our credit card use while B of A would not.

My path to no fee checking is just being a current credit card holder.

We don't have US Bank branches in Pittsburgh, but I do see advertising on TV with customer's doing FACETIME with an US Bank rep. Must I show up at a branch to open an account (both bank and brokerage)? Can't this be done via Facetime or totally online?

I am in NJ and we have no US Bank branches anywhere. But I do happen to own a 5 month CD through US Bank (it was one of the best yielding CDs back then). That qualifies me as someone who has a relationship with the US Bank.

Perhaps open a 3-month CD, and then apply online for the Smartly Visa later?

That's an idea, thanks. I am going to wait until people actually have the Visa cards to see what the gotchyas are, if any.

[jeffyscott]

US Bank actually fills the local bank gap for me and the nearest BofA is ~40 miles away.

That's about the only reason that I am still looking for a way to do this without adding too much inconvenience. A branch is 3 miles away and there are many others in the area. B of A is about 80 miles away. Also US Bank's 4% card would simplify our credit card use while B of A would not.

My path to no fee checking is just being a current credit card holder.

We don't have US Bank branches in Pittsburgh, but I do see advertising on TV with customer's doing FACETIME with an US Bank rep. Must I show up at a branch to open an account (both bank and brokerage)? Can't this be done via Facetime or totally online?

Sure, you can open accounts online. I just meant that as one of the advantages of US Bank over B of A for me, that I would have a physical location nearby.

[midwest_bound]

I'm having some headache with linking my US Bank account to Fidelity. I originally linked the account manually using micro deposits and was able to push money from Fidelity to US Bank, but this week the linked account disappeared. I tried relinking using the login method and it said it worked, but the account was still missing. I called Fidelity and and they said they are getting an error from US Bank saying the account is frozen. I called US Bank and they said my account is in good standing. I called Fidelity back and they said they need a letter from US Bank stating the account is in good standing to link it. I'm not sure who is at fault for this issue, but it's pretty annoying and is making me rethink this cash back/account bonus game.

[jdubsdubs]

I'm having some headache with linking my US Bank account to Fidelity. I originally linked the account manually using micro deposits and was able to push money from Fidelity to US Bank, but this week the linked account disappeared. I tried relinking using the login method and it said it worked, but the account was still missing. I called Fidelity and and they said they are getting an error from US Bank saying the account is frozen. I called US Bank and they said my account is in good standing. I called Fidelity back and they said they need a letter from US Bank stating the account is in good standing to link it. I'm not sure who is at fault for this issue, but it's pretty annoying and is making me rethink this cash back/account bonus game.

I experienced the exact same challenge linking the US Bank account to Chase. Chase also referenced the US Bank error indicating the account was frozen. US Bank said it was not. Chase suggested I initiate a pull transfer from the US Bank side to be able to relink the account at Chase. Once I did that, I was able to add the US Bank account back to Chase. Then I initiated a transfer from the Chase side which was received by US Bank in real-time. Tempting fate, I then initiated a transfer of the funds from the US Bank side back to Chase and that went real-time as well. I was pleasantly surprised.

Not sure if this method will work for Fidelity but might be worth a try. If it works, it likely won't be real-time with Fidelity but should be fairly quick.

[Lastrun]

Ugh!

Annual fee: $0. Foreign Transaction fee: 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in U.S. Dollars. 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in a Foreign Currency.

Source: (Read fine print). https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/ba ... lsrc=aw.ds

But for some, this may be fine and preferable to a cap.

Disappointing for me, but looking at my analysis, the real “cheesecake” of this card (again for me) was in the 2.625% v. 4% base spend. I will have to rerun my numbers but I am waiting for the card to be issued and see all the T&C at once.

[Watts]

Ugh!

Annual fee: $0. Foreign Transaction fee: 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in U.S. Dollars. 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in a Foreign Currency.

Source: (Read fine print). https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/ba ... lsrc=aw.ds

Good find!

For me personally, the foreign transaction fee is not an issue, as I’ll keep a card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

[Lastrun]

Ugh!

Annual fee: $0. Foreign Transaction fee: 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in U.S. Dollars. 3% of each foreign purchase transaction or foreign ATM advance transaction in a Foreign Currency.

Source: (Read fine print). https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/ba ... lsrc=aw.ds

Good find!

For me personally, the foreign transaction fee is not an issue, as I’ll keep a card that doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.

No argument here. I am getting older and was looking for a dream one-card set up. Sigh. Running numbers.

[cowbman]

1 Domestic card and 1 foreign card is still a much simplified process.

[02nz]

For those looking for a no-annual-fee, 0% foreign transaction fee card, I recommend the US Bank Altitude Connect:
https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/alt ... -card.html

This used to come with an annual fee but they recently eliminated it. It has some good perks that are unusual for a no-annual-fee card:
- Free int'l data with GigSky (I've used this benefit several times, works great)
- 4 visits to Priority Pass lounges per year
- TSA PreCheck or Global Entry reimbursement

[beardsicles]

For those looking for a no-annual-fee, 0% foreign transaction fee card, I recommend the US Bank Altitude Connect:
https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/alt ... -card.html

This used to come with an annual fee but they recently eliminated it. It has some good perks that are unusual for a no-annual-fee card:
- Free int'l data with GigSky (I've used this benefit several times, works great)
- 4 visits to Priority Pass lounges per year
- TSA PreCheck or Global Entry reimbursement

Wait, am I reading correctly the GigSky benefit is unlimited use? That's actually kinda crazy.

Edit, well, not technically unlimited, every 15 days. So up to 24 times a year, basically.

Second edit: GigSky works in the US, so could you just like, use this as your primary data SIM always..?

Third edit: US excluded from the US Bank program--too good to be true. But still, a useful benefit.

[Lastrun]

1 Domestic card and 1 foreign card is still a much simplified process.

Agreed, pick to travel card of your choice (Chase, BofA, Capital One, US Bank), pair it with this. Done.

[midwest_bound]

1 Domestic card and 1 foreign card is still a much simplified process.

Agreed, pick to travel card of your choice (Chase, BofA, Capital One, US Bank), pair it with this. Done.

Fido visa recently dropped their FTF.

[cowbman]

1 Domestic card and 1 foreign card is still a much simplified process.

Agreed, pick to travel card of your choice (Chase, BofA, Capital One, US Bank), pair it with this. Done.

I personally fail to see many cards better than the USBAR or the Cap1 VX

[02nz]

For those looking for a no-annual-fee, 0% foreign transaction fee card, I recommend the US Bank Altitude Connect:
https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/alt ... -card.html

This used to come with an annual fee but they recently eliminated it. It has some good perks that are unusual for a no-annual-fee card:
- Free int'l data with GigSky (I've used this benefit several times, works great)
- 4 visits to Priority Pass lounges per year
- TSA PreCheck or Global Entry reimbursement

Wait, am I reading correctly the GigSky benefit is unlimited use? That's actually kinda crazy.

Edit, well, not technically unlimited, every 15 days. So up to 24 times a year, basically.

Each "use" is a 5GB, 15-day plan covering most countries of the world (126), which is really generous and will cover most travelers' use.

[jeffyscott]

FWIW, it seems US Bank may be giving out larger credit limits than they used to. I have two cards and they gave me $10K on the first and $2K on the second. I was recently approved for a 3rd (not the anticipated smartly card, of course) and they gave me $20K.

Opened a checking account in person for the $450 bonus, the banker was very helpful in answering questions and confirming my understanding of how the rewards program works. I am having issues connecting to existing accounts elsewhere as others have reported.

The banker got their investment advisor on the phone while we were there to answer a couple of questions and there's a 3rd person (Wealth Management Banker) that the banker mentioned to us and who contacted me by email right after opening the account. The advisor gave me a different answer from what I had been told by an online advisor via email (WRT dividend reinvestment for admiral shares of Vanguard actively managed funds). I am waiting for the Wealth Management banker to be the tie breaker on the conflicting answers.

I'm happy with the initial customer service at our local branch, despite the confusion regarding dividend reinvestment for funds that we may want to move there. It probably would have been faster to open the accounts online, but I thought they'd end up saying they could not ID me/us, since they had just done that with my credit card application (even though I already had of their cards). The local banker also got that credit card application issue fixed for me.

[FrugalProfessor]

$450 checking account bonus data point for those interested:
* Initially funded account on 9/10 with $250 deposit from BoA Premium Rewards card, earning $6.56 in the process (coded as purchase not cash advance).
* Completed 2 x $4,000 Fidelity => US Bank ACH pushes on 9/27. ($8k subsequently swept to Vanguard after a day or two).
* $6.95 monthly maintenance fee charged & subsequently waived on 10/8 because I have the USBAR. Annoying to have these two cluttered transactions to deal with monthly.
* 10/10 received $450 bonus.

[Watts]

$450 checking account bonus data point for those interested:
* Initially funded account on 9/10 with $250 deposit from BoA Premium Rewards card, earning $6.56 in the process (coded as purchase not cash advance).
* Completed 2 x $4,000 Fidelity => US Bank ACH pushes on 9/27. ($8k subsequently swept to Vanguard after a day or two).
* $6.95 monthly maintenance fee charged & subsequently waived on 10/8 because I have the USBAR. Annoying to have these two cluttered transactions to deal with monthly.
* 10/10 received $450 bonus.

Frugal Professor, mine is nearly the exact same:

9/9: Opened account and funded
9/27: Completed two direct deposits separated two weeks apart.
10/10: received $450 bonus.

[anon_investor]

FWIW, it seems US Bank may be giving out larger credit limits than they used to. I have two cards and they gave me $10K on the first and $2K on the second. I was recently approved for a 3rd (not the anticipated smartly card, of course) and they gave me $20K.

Opened a checking account in person for the $450 bonus, the banker was very helpful in answering questions and confirming my understanding of how the rewards program works. I am having issues connecting to existing accounts elsewhere as others have reported.

The banker got their investment advisor on the phone while we were there to answer a couple of questions and there's a 3rd person (Wealth Management Banker) that the banker mentioned to us and who contacted me by email right after opening the account. The advisor gave me a different answer from what I had been told by an online advisor via email (WRT dividend reinvestment for admiral shares of Vanguard actively managed funds). I am waiting for the Wealth Management banker to be the tie breaker on the conflicting answers.

I'm happy with the initial customer service at our local branch, despite the confusion regarding dividend reinvestment for funds that we may want to move there. It probably would have been faster to open the accounts online, but I thought they'd end up saying they could not ID me/us, since they had just done that with my credit card application (even though I already had of their cards). The local banker also got that credit card application issue fixed for me.

How many US Bank CCs do you have now? 3? Do they have a cap on how many you can get?

[SpaethCo]

tl;dr: I think the Smartly card will be great if you want to park > $5k in the Savings account to enable 2.5% cash back on a free card. If you want to push beyond that to the brokerage, buckle up.

I'm out. I'm going to take some of the $450 I got for the checking account bonus and use it to pay the $95 brokerage account closure fee and move on. I currently am setup with BoA/ML, so when I saw this I thought "The checking/credit card interface seems better than BoA, so the brokerage interface can't be worse than ML." Now I can safely say that as clunky as the ML user interface is, at least it's possible to handle all the functions you would need to self-manage an account.

Setting this up had lots of little snags along the way.

Want to establish PODs for the Checking/Savings account? Oh, you have to call and give the information over the phone, from there they print out a form and mail it to you, and then you have to sign it and mail it back in. Alternatively you can visit a branch and do this paperwork with a banker. These are your only 2 choices.

With US Bancorp Investments it’s pretty clear that they are geared to have this all go through human advisors. You can do self-directed, but most actions require downloading a PDF, filling it out, and then either emailing or USPS mailing the form back. There is no online submission portal to securely send these documents.

Want to apply for margin? Fill out the usual investor profile form (with your SSN) in PDF form and mail/email it back in. A fun part of the form is you have to specify your estimated marginal tax bracket, and the form hasn't even been updated with the 2018 tax bracket changes. When this is processed there is no notice. If approved margin will just show up on the “balances” section of your account.

Want to transfer assets? Again, fill out a PDF and send it back, hope someone gets it and does something with it, and also hope that they don’t mess up entering the transfer request back into a computer on their side.

I started a test transfer to seed the account on 9/25, the shares I selected to move from Merrill disappeared out of my account there on Monday (10/7) and Merrill is the only entity that ever sent me any notification about any activity. Those shares just showed up in my account at USBI last night(10/9), and I only know this because I've been logging in multiple times each day to check the status. There's no way to see any kind of transfer progress online, and when I called they had to relay my request to some back-end team who was supposed to call me back with a status of my transfer. Even now that the transfer is fully complete there's been no notifications despite having every single notification option enabled on my US Bank profile for this account.

So far with the self-directed brokerage interface it appears there's no way to setup dividend reinvestment, no way to chose a preferred disposal method, and so far it appears it's not even possible to sell specific tax lots.

With BoA I can use "Balance Connect" to link checking to my ML account so that I can keep a minimal amount in the checking account but still have access to liquidity in an emergency. (ie, you can do an ATM withdrawal for more than your checking balance and it will just pull from margin) With US Bank the only accounts that are eligible for this type of service are savings accounts, lines of credit (personal/HELOC), or credit cards.

I was fascinated by the idea of a 4% everywhere card, but this is just too much of a mess. Compared to BoA it's an extra $137.50 per $10k of spend ($400 @ 4% vs $262.50 @ 2.625%). Ordinarily I won't even consider opening a new card for less than a $500 sign-up bonus, but here I started going after an offering that will require $36k of spending to trickle down to my catch-all card to hit that dollar amount.

YMMV, but after all of this I can't help but feel there are far easier ways to earn credit card returns especially with the ever increasing sign-up bonuses being offered across all the banks.

[jeffyscott]

FWIW, it seems US Bank may be giving out larger credit limits than they used to. I have two cards and they gave me $10K on the first and $2K on the second. I was recently approved for a 3rd (not the anticipated smartly card, of course) and they gave me $20K.

Opened a checking account in person for the $450 bonus, the banker was very helpful in answering questions and confirming my understanding of how the rewards program works. I am having issues connecting to existing accounts elsewhere as others have reported.

The banker got their investment advisor on the phone while we were there to answer a couple of questions and there's a 3rd person (Wealth Management Banker) that the banker mentioned to us and who contacted me by email right after opening the account. The advisor gave me a different answer from what I had been told by an online advisor via email (WRT dividend reinvestment for admiral shares of Vanguard actively managed funds). I am waiting for the Wealth Management banker to be the tie breaker on the conflicting answers.

I'm happy with the initial customer service at our local branch, despite the confusion regarding dividend reinvestment for funds that we may want to move there. It probably would have been faster to open the accounts online, but I thought they'd end up saying they could not ID me/us, since they had just done that with my credit card application (even though I already had of their cards). The local banker also got that credit card application issue fixed for me.

How many US Bank CCs do you have now? 3? Do they have a cap on how many you can get?

Yes, 3. No idea if there's a limit. Plan to have spouse get smartly (she has none from US Bank). Alternative would be a product change with one of mine.

The new card will give me 3% at Costco plus a $250 bonus. No fee for a year. I happened across it and decided to get it in case there's a longer than expected delay for the new card or other issues.

Prior to hearing about the smartly card, I'd been considering the AAA card or Venmo in order to boost our Costco rebates to 3%.

[jeffyscott]

tl;dr: I think the Smartly card will be great if you want to park > $5k in the Savings account to enable 2.5% cash back on a free card. If you want to push beyond that to the brokerage, buckle up...

That seems to be unlikely to be worth doing, the savings account only pays 2.9% at that level. For me it's gonna be 4% or nothing.

I have been told by my assigned "wealth management banker" that we'll be able to get all questions answered before moving ahead. Given your experience, I think I will be taking advantage of the offered assistance before moving anything to the brokerage.

[cowbman]

How many US Bank CCs do you have now? 3? Do they have a cap on how many you can get?

Yes, 3. No idea if there's a limit. Plan to have spouse get smartly (she has none from US Bank). Alternative would be a product change with one of mine.

The new card will give me 3% at Costco plus a $250 bonus. No fee for a year. I happened across it and decided to get it in case there's a longer than expected delay for the new card or other issues.

Prior to hearing about the smartly card, I'd been considering the AAA card or Venmo in order to boost our Costco rebates to 3%.

BoA CCR with Platinum Honors gets 5.25% online (including Costco Cash cards ordered) and 3.5% on Wholesale Clubs.

[anon_investor]

Yes, 3. No idea if there's a limit. Plan to have spouse get smartly (she has none from US Bank). Alternative would be a product change with one of mine.

The new card will give me 3% at Costco plus a $250 bonus. No fee for a year. I happened across it and decided to get it in case there's a longer than expected delay for the new card or other issues.

Prior to hearing about the smartly card, I'd been considering the AAA card or Venmo in order to boost our Costco rebates to 3%.

BoA CCR with Platinum Honors gets 5.25% online (including Costco Cash cards ordered) and 3.5% on Wholesale Clubs.

Plus a $200 SUB, I just got my 4th CCR a few months ago.

[PersonalFinanceJam]

...
YMMV, but after all of this I can't help but feel there are far easier ways to earn credit card returns especially with the ever increasing sign-up bonuses being offered across all the banks.

I appreciate these detailed comments. I had a bit of buyers remorse as I just decided to start on the journey to preferred rewards with BofA when the Smartly was announced. However your comments echo my own conclusions based on current information. With the combination of the Premium Rewards Visa and a CCR or two the majority of our spend should be at 3.5%+ cash back. Churn one or two cards a year for a sign up bonus and it can probably be a bit better. So far that seems like a better option than dealing with an entity which is even more backwards than BofA/Merrill.

[cowbman]

Starting your credit card journey should begin with Chase due to 5/24.

[SnowBog]

Starting your credit card journey should begin with Chase due to 5/24.

Can someone explain this to us slow people?

Did Chase launch something new in May of this year?

I already next an Amazon and Marriott card from them...

But what I'm hoping for - and excited by with US Bank - is "one card to rule them all". My spouse - and if truth be told me as well - is not a fan of having to carry multiple cards and figure out which one to use when. Excluding a few "hard wired" cards like Amazon (saved into the account), the most I can get them to consider (after much struggle) is 2 cards. Savor @ 4% for food and currently BoA @ 2.625% for everything else (since my 3% Greenlight card is dead).

Having a single 4% card might bring welcome simplicity to us. We can "downsize" to a single card to carry.

So, what does Chase have to do with this?

[Lyrrad]

Starting your credit card journey should begin with Chase due to 5/24.

Can someone explain this to us slow people?

In general, Chase doesn't approve applicants for new cards if there are 5 or more new cards on their credit report in the prior 24 months. It's commonly referred to, (in some circles,) as the 5/24 rule.

[tj]

Starting your credit card journey should begin with Chase due to 5/24.

Can someone explain this to us slow people?

Did Chase launch something new in May of this year?

I already next an Amazon and Marriott card from them...

But what I'm hoping for - and excited by with US Bank - is "one card to rule them all". My spouse - and if truth be told me as well - is not a fan of having to carry multiple cards and figure out which one to use when. Excluding a few "hard wired" cards like Amazon (saved into the account), the most I can get them to consider (after much struggle) is 2 cards. Savor @ 4% for food and currently BoA @ 2.625% for everything else (since my 3% Greenlight card is dead).

Having a single 4% card might bring welcome simplicity to us. We can "downsize" to a single card to carry.

So, what does Chase have to do with this?

Chase does not approve you for any cards if you have opened 5 credit cards in the last 24 months. Some people think they have the best cards. If you want want any of their cards, you should get them first.

[jeffyscott]

BoA CCR with Platinum Honors gets 5.25% online (including Costco Cash cards ordered) and 3.5% on Wholesale Clubs.

Plus a $200 SUB, I just got my 4th CCR a few months ago.

Yes, but only with B of A and Merrill accounts. It's not worth that bother to me just to get 3.5%, instead of 3% at Costco and I am not going to do the gift card thing to get 5.25%.

So, like some others I am hoping to simplify our card usage via this new smartly card. The US bank set-up would also, as I understand it, simplify our cash management with a 3.8% savings account that we can pay bills from and that can also provide free overdraft protection for checking. For us it also gives us many convenient local branches which B of A does not.

About all I need the brokerage account to accomplish is holding 3-4 mutual funds and automatically reinvesting distributions without transaction fees. I'd not plan to do any buying or selling there. We shall see if it is up to the task...

[isira]

tl;dr: I think the Smartly card will be great if you want to park > $5k in the Savings account to enable 2.5% cash back on a free card. If you want to push beyond that to the brokerage, buckle up.

I'm out. I'm going to take some of the $450 I got for the checking account bonus and use it to pay the $95 brokerage account closure fee and move on. I currently am setup with BoA/ML, so when I saw this I thought "The checking/credit card interface seems better than BoA, so the brokerage interface can't be worse than ML." Now I can safely say that as clunky as the ML user interface is, at least it's possible to handle all the functions you would need to self-manage an account.

Setting this up had lots of little snags along the way.

Want to establish PODs for the Checking/Savings account? Oh, you have to call and give the information over the phone, from there they print out a form and mail it to you, and then you have to sign it and mail it back in. Alternatively you can visit a branch and do this paperwork with a banker. These are your only 2 choices.

With US Bancorp Investments it’s pretty clear that they are geared to have this all go through human advisors. You can do self-directed, but most actions require downloading a PDF, filling it out, and then either emailing or USPS mailing the form back. There is no online submission portal to securely send these documents.

Want to apply for margin? Fill out the usual investor profile form (with your SSN) in PDF form and mail/email it back in. A fun part of the form is you have to specify your estimated marginal tax bracket, and the form hasn't even been updated with the 2018 tax bracket changes. When this is processed there is no notice. If approved margin will just show up on the “balances” section of your account.

Want to transfer assets? Again, fill out a PDF and send it back, hope someone gets it and does something with it, and also hope that they don’t mess up entering the transfer request back into a computer on their side.

I started a test transfer to seed the account on 9/25, the shares I selected to move from Merrill disappeared out of my account there on Monday (10/7) and Merrill is the only entity that ever sent me any notification about any activity. Those shares just showed up in my account at USBI last night(10/9), and I only know this because I've been logging in multiple times each day to check the status. There's no way to see any kind of transfer progress online, and when I called they had to relay my request to some back-end team who was supposed to call me back with a status of my transfer. Even now that the transfer is fully complete there's been no notifications despite having every single notification option enabled on my US Bank profile for this account.

So far with the self-directed brokerage interface it appears there's no way to setup dividend reinvestment, no way to chose a preferred disposal method, and so far it appears it's not even possible to sell specific tax lots.

There's so little information about their brokerage, thank's for checking it out! I've got a few questions if you don't mind to investigate:

Does US Bank block ETFs, like $NTSX, $AVGE, and $RSSB?

Does US Bank have a decent low-ER No Transaction Fee/No Load mutual fund list, or are they like Merrill Edge where they all have high ER?

What kind of Money Market Funds are available at US Bank? Do they match Merrill Edge's access to Institutional Money Market Funds for only $1?

[SpaethCo]

Does US Bank block ETFs, like $NTSX, $AVGE, and $RSSB?

WisdomTree US Efficient Core Fund (NYE - NTSX)
Avantis All Equity Markets ETF (NYE - AVGE)
Return Stacked Global Stocks & Bonds ETF (AMX - RSSB)

I can make it all the way through preview order with these, but I didn't actually initiate a trade so it might still fail?

Does US Bank have a decent low-ER No Transaction Fee/No Load mutual fund list, or are they like Merrill Edge where they all have high ER?

If I use the MF screener there are 259 no-load mutual funds. The overwhelming majority are Fidelity funds (ie, Fidelity Freedom funds and the like) and every one I checked in a random sample had a $25 transaction fee.

What kind of Money Market Funds are available at US Bank? Do they match Merrill Edge's access to Institutional Money Market Funds for only $1?

There are 14 money market funds. One Alight (HEWXX) and the rest Fidelity retail money market funds, with the highest yielding being SPRXX.

Fidelity Institutional MM funds (ie, FNSXX) return this error when attempting to build an order "We're sorry, but online purchases of that type of fund aren't allowed. Please contact us for help."

I attempted to place an order for TTTXX and got this error for any purchase amount that would apply to most retail investors: "We're sorry, but that amount doesn't meet the minimum purchase required. Please enter a higher amount."

Edit to add: all of the money market funds also have a $25 transaction fee.

[MBB_Boy]

Another DD on checking bonus:

9/26: Open account with $250 CC transaction, earned 2.62%
9/26: Pushed $5K from SoFi account
9/26: Pushed $3K from SoFi account
10/2: Withdrew all funds
10/10: $450 bonus posted

I called in a few days ago to let them know I'm a veteran, which means monthly fee for the account is waived and I don't have to keep anything there.

Simply standing by now for 4% card details - if it doesn't look good, I will apply for another CCR instead and maintain my BOA setup

[January]

I'm having some headache with linking my US Bank account to Fidelity. I originally linked the account manually using micro deposits and was able to push money from Fidelity to US Bank, but this week the linked account disappeared. I tried relinking using the login method and it said it worked, but the account was still missing. I called Fidelity and and they said they are getting an error from US Bank saying the account is frozen. I called US Bank and they said my account is in good standing. I called Fidelity back and they said they need a letter from US Bank stating the account is in good standing to link it. I'm not sure who is at fault for this issue, but it's pretty annoying and is making me rethink this cash back/account bonus game.

I had a somewhat similar issue earlier this year when the finance software I use would throw an error to say that one of my US Bank accounts was closed (it wasn't), or the data feeds for my two cards would get confused. I suspect their backend tech just isn't very good (not that I'm surprised, working in an adjacent industry). It eventually frustrated me to the point that I sacrificed my USBAR card just to fix the issue...and then I had to deal with a different situation, which was US Bank's seeming inability to delete the checking account I used to pay the USBAR's charges. I would delete the saved payment account info, and it would come back. I would talk to support, who would delete it from their end--and it would come back. Eventually, it went away for good, but I went back and forth with them for about at four months trying to solve the issue.

tl;dr: I think the Smartly card will be great if you want to park > $5k in the Savings account to enable 2.5% cash back on a free card. If you want to push beyond that to the brokerage, buckle up.

[...]

I was fascinated by the idea of a 4% everywhere card, but this is just too much of a mess. Compared to BoA it's an extra $137.50 per $10k of spend ($400 @ 4% vs $262.50 @ 2.625%). Ordinarily I won't even consider opening a new card for less than a $500 sign-up bonus, but here I started going after an offering that will require $36k of spending to trickle down to my catch-all card to hit that dollar amount.

Thank you for posting this. When this card was announced, I thought about jumping ship from BOA, but ultimately decided to keep my current setup (BOA Premium Reward for personal spend; US Bank Cash+ for household bills, namely utilities). Reading your account reinforces that staying the course is the right decision for me. (And if I ever feel like I'm leaving money on the table, I can just grab a sign-up bonus when I pay my annual property taxes. I don't have the interest in churning more frequently than that.)

[midwest_bound]

tl;dr: I think the Smartly card will be great if you want to park > $5k in the Savings account to enable 2.5% cash back on a free card. If you want to push beyond that to the brokerage, buckle up.

I'm out. I'm going to take some of the $450 I got for the checking account bonus and use it to pay the $95 brokerage account closure fee and move on. I currently am setup with BoA/ML, so when I saw this I thought "The checking/credit card interface seems better than BoA, so the brokerage interface can't be worse than ML." Now I can safely say that as clunky as the ML user interface is, at least it's possible to handle all the functions you would need to self-manage an account.

Setting this up had lots of little snags along the way.

Want to establish PODs for the Checking/Savings account? Oh, you have to call and give the information over the phone, from there they print out a form and mail it to you, and then you have to sign it and mail it back in. Alternatively you can visit a branch and do this paperwork with a banker. These are your only 2 choices.

With US Bancorp Investments it’s pretty clear that they are geared to have this all go through human advisors. You can do self-directed, but most actions require downloading a PDF, filling it out, and then either emailing or USPS mailing the form back. There is no online submission portal to securely send these documents.

Want to apply for margin? Fill out the usual investor profile form (with your SSN) in PDF form and mail/email it back in. A fun part of the form is you have to specify your estimated marginal tax bracket, and the form hasn't even been updated with the 2018 tax bracket changes. When this is processed there is no notice. If approved margin will just show up on the “balances” section of your account.

Want to transfer assets? Again, fill out a PDF and send it back, hope someone gets it and does something with it, and also hope that they don’t mess up entering the transfer request back into a computer on their side.

I started a test transfer to seed the account on 9/25, the shares I selected to move from Merrill disappeared out of my account there on Monday (10/7) and Merrill is the only entity that ever sent me any notification about any activity. Those shares just showed up in my account at USBI last night(10/9), and I only know this because I've been logging in multiple times each day to check the status. There's no way to see any kind of transfer progress online, and when I called they had to relay my request to some back-end team who was supposed to call me back with a status of my transfer. Even now that the transfer is fully complete there's been no notifications despite having every single notification option enabled on my US Bank profile for this account.

So far with the self-directed brokerage interface it appears there's no way to setup dividend reinvestment, no way to chose a preferred disposal method, and so far it appears it's not even possible to sell specific tax lots.

With BoA I can use "Balance Connect" to link checking to my ML account so that I can keep a minimal amount in the checking account but still have access to liquidity in an emergency. (ie, you can do an ATM withdrawal for more than your checking balance and it will just pull from margin) With US Bank the only accounts that are eligible for this type of service are savings accounts, lines of credit (personal/HELOC), or credit cards.

I was fascinated by the idea of a 4% everywhere card, but this is just too much of a mess. Compared to BoA it's an extra $137.50 per $10k of spend ($400 @ 4% vs $262.50 @ 2.625%). Ordinarily I won't even consider opening a new card for less than a $500 sign-up bonus, but here I started going after an offering that will require $36k of spending to trickle down to my catch-all card to hit that dollar amount.

YMMV, but after all of this I can't help but feel there are far easier ways to earn credit card returns especially with the ever increasing sign-up bonuses being offered across all the banks.

As previously mentioned I've already had quite the hassle with US Bank trying to link to Fidelity, this has now been resolved but it required two trips to branches before they would give the documents that Fidelity was requesting. My plan was to park $250k worth of VTI and leave it alone. If I'm not actively trying to do trades, I think this might be fine? But it does seem like an antiquated system.

[JackoC]

We don't have US Bank branches in Pittsburgh, but I do see advertising on TV with customer's doing FACETIME with an US Bank rep. Must I show up at a branch to open an account (both bank and brokerage)? Can't this be done via Facetime or totally online?

I am in NJ and we have no US Bank branches anywhere. But I do happen to own a 5 month CD through US Bank (it was one of the best yielding CDs back then). That qualifies me as someone who has a relationship with the US Bank.

Perhaps open a 3-month CD, and then apply online for the Smartly Visa later?

Getting up to speed on how I might do 4% card/brokerage account thing if I do. The magic of the internet still gives a US Bank branch in walking distance in NJ (huh? street view confirms it's the Citizen's Bank branch I walk by often and it was some other bank before that, I've been here since long before that building went up but, I guess it must have been USB at one time but I don't remember it ). So nearest branches OH and NC. And 'Doctor of Credit' says the $450 checking bonus (might as well go for if there's a chance of proceeding to the 4%/$100k brokerage, account to deposit the rewards and even if the card/bro didn't work out it could replace a backup checking account elsewhere) requires 'existing relationship' if you live in states without a branch. If that's correct it wouldn't even work to stop by if I happened to be in NC to visit relatives.

Another question for anyone. When I went to Smartly 4% card page all I could do was sign up for information about the card with no response so far. Can people with a 'relationship', or the site seeing you're in a particular location, apply for the card now?

I might have guessed about 'relationship' after wasting time being turned down by USB for a bonus for my LLC a few years ago for the same reason. Hmm small CD (I assume their rates aren't great usually), practical suggestion itself. But it's another hoop, besides whether they give me enough line on the card, whether est tax payments get the 4% and any unknown drawbacks in the brokerage account. I wouldn't open the bro account preemptively. It's their 'free money' to put whatever hoops in front of they want to. I'm just mulling whether it's too many for me.

[tj]

The card hasn't launched yet. It seems a bit premature to be jumping through hoops for it.

[SpaethCo]

Another question for anyone. When I went to Smartly 4% card page all I could do was sign up for information about the card with no response so far. Can people with a 'relationship', or the site seeing you're in a particular location, apply for the card now?

The card has not been actually released yet.

Right now we're all considering or starting to jump through these hoops for the idea of 4% uncapped, even though no actual details have been released about how the 2% bonus on top of the 2% base earning of the card will work. There's no information on if there will be category restrictions, limits around how many times (every time, or only one 2% boost per quarter? per year?) you'll get the bonus when redeeming the cash back, or anything else like that.

Even more, many of us have Bank of America setups which lock in a base earning rate of 2.625%, so we all started off excited to move assets to a place we'd all probably skip otherwise just for a maximum potential of an extra $137.50 in cash back per $10,000 of spend.

Just for a bit of perspective, right now if you sign up for a Chase Ink Unlimited and spend $6,000 on the card you could walk away with 99,000 UR points worth at least $990. No need to move assets, or open checking/savings accounts, or do any of this other stuff. To break even on that deal with the Smartly card over a BoA card earning no more than 2.625%, you'd have to spend $72,000.

I'm not sure who figured out that 4% is a level that could short circuit our brains, but kudos to that marketing person because it certainly worked on me.

[JackoC]

Another question for anyone. When I went to Smartly 4% card page all I could do was sign up for information about the card with no response so far. Can people with a 'relationship', or the site seeing you're in a particular location, apply for the card now?

The card has not been actually released yet.

Right now we're all considering or starting to jump through these hoops for the idea of 4% uncapped, even though no actual details have been released about how the 2% bonus on top of the 2% base earning of the card will work. There's no information on if there will be category restrictions, limits around how many times (every time, or only one 2% boost per quarter? per year?) you'll get the bonus when redeeming the cash back, or anything else like that.

Even more, many of us have Bank of America setups which lock in a base earning rate of 2.625%, so we all started off excited to move assets to a place we'd all probably skip otherwise just for a maximum potential of an extra $137.50 in cash back per $10,000 of spend.

Just for a bit of perspective, right now if you sign up for a Chase Ink Unlimited and spend $6,000 on the card you could walk away with 99,000 UR points worth at least $990. No need to move assets, or open checking/savings accounts, or do any of this other stuff. To break even on that deal with the Smartly card over a BoA card earning no more than 2.625%, you'd have to spend $72,000.

I'm not sure who figured out that 4% is a level that could short circuit our brains, but kudos to that marketing person because it certainly worked on me.

OK, nobody can get the card right now. I'm not ready anyway, would have to 'forge a relationship'

On rest I agree basically. Though opening bonus and ongoing CB only partly compete (if you reach banks' limit for frequency of applications to anybody). Wife and I did other Chase cards this year (after being over Chase's applications limit for a while) with bonuses that are more than I believe it *likely* I'd be able to get in 4%-2.625% per year at USB. But it wouldn't be far less if I could do state estimated plus stuff I pay for my real estate LLC as 'payable to managing member' plus 'regular' 2.625% spending, and on autopilot till they cancel the program. Much more if I could fit Fed estimated though I'm not expecting that. And though I might quietly pat myself on the back for cleverly converting Chase points to Hyatt 1:1 and avging >$.02, any point system means I must buy particular services from particular providers at particular times to achieve it, a discount in my mind v cold cash. And I hate flying. I must sometimes but I'm not looking for ways that make family members think it's 'free'.

But, the hoops are piling up at USB with (per Doctor of Credit) needing a pre-existing 'relationship' in my state, then apply for card, see line, test estimated tax to see if the brokerage account is worth opening. Then do that and see what drawbacks it might have. And scattering investment assets further is another intangible cost.

[Leesbro63]

The card has not been actually released yet.

Right now we're all considering or starting to jump through these hoops for the idea of 4% uncapped, even though no actual details have been released about how the 2% bonus on top of the 2% base earning of the card will work. There's no information on if there will be category restrictions, limits around how many times (every time, or only one 2% boost per quarter? per year?) you'll get the bonus when redeeming the cash back, or anything else like that.

Even more, many of us have Bank of America setups which lock in a base earning rate of 2.625%, so we all started off excited to move assets to a place we'd all probably skip otherwise just for a maximum potential of an extra $137.50 in cash back per $10,000 of spend.

Just for a bit of perspective, right now if you sign up for a Chase Ink Unlimited and spend $6,000 on the card you could walk away with 99,000 UR points worth at least $990. No need to move assets, or open checking/savings accounts, or do any of this other stuff. To break even on that deal with the Smartly card over a BoA card earning no more than 2.625%, you'd have to spend $72,000.

I'm not sure who figured out that 4% is a level that could short circuit our brains, but kudos to that marketing person because it certainly worked on me.

OK, nobody can get the card right now. I'm not ready anyway, would have to 'forge a relationship'

On rest I agree basically. Though opening bonus and ongoing CB only partly compete (if you reach banks' limit for frequency of applications to anybody). Wife and I did other Chase cards this year (after being over Chase's applications limit for a while) with bonuses that are more than I believe it *likely* I'd be able to get in 4%-2.625% per year at USB. But it wouldn't be far less if I could do state estimated plus stuff I pay for my real estate LLC as 'payable to managing member' plus 'regular' 2.625% spending, and on autopilot till they cancel the program. Much more if I could fit Fed estimated though I'm not expecting that. And though I might quietly pat myself on the back for cleverly converting Chase points to Hyatt 1:1 and avging >$.02, any point system means I must buy particular services from particular providers at particular times to achieve it, a discount in my mind v cold cash. And I hate flying. I must sometimes but I'm not looking for ways that make family members think it's 'free'.

But, the hoops are piling up at USB with (per Doctor of Credit) needing a pre-existing 'relationship' in my state, then apply for card, see line, test estimated tax to see if the brokerage account is worth opening. Then do that and see what drawbacks it might have. And scattering investment assets further is another intangible cost.

Can you post a link to the Doctor of Credit post stating these “hoops”?

[cowbman]

The card has not been actually released yet.

Right now we're all considering or starting to jump through these hoops for the idea of 4% uncapped, even though no actual details have been released about how the 2% bonus on top of the 2% base earning of the card will work. There's no information on if there will be category restrictions, limits around how many times (every time, or only one 2% boost per quarter? per year?) you'll get the bonus when redeeming the cash back, or anything else like that.

Even more, many of us have Bank of America setups which lock in a base earning rate of 2.625%, so we all started off excited to move assets to a place we'd all probably skip otherwise just for a maximum potential of an extra $137.50 in cash back per $10,000 of spend.

Just for a bit of perspective, right now if you sign up for a Chase Ink Unlimited and spend $6,000 on the card you could walk away with 99,000 UR points worth at least $990. No need to move assets, or open checking/savings accounts, or do any of this other stuff. To break even on that deal with the Smartly card over a BoA card earning no more than 2.625%, you'd have to spend $72,000.

I'm not sure who figured out that 4% is a level that could short circuit our brains, but kudos to that marketing person because it certainly worked on me.

OK, nobody can get the card right now. I'm not ready anyway, would have to 'forge a relationship'

On rest I agree basically. Though opening bonus and ongoing CB only partly compete (if you reach banks' limit for frequency of applications to anybody). Wife and I did other Chase cards this year (after being over Chase's applications limit for a while) with bonuses that are more than I believe it *likely* I'd be able to get in 4%-2.625% per year at USB. But it wouldn't be far less if I could do state estimated plus stuff I pay for my real estate LLC as 'payable to managing member' plus 'regular' 2.625% spending, and on autopilot till they cancel the program. Much more if I could fit Fed estimated though I'm not expecting that. And though I might quietly pat myself on the back for cleverly converting Chase points to Hyatt 1:1 and avging >$.02, any point system means I must buy particular services from particular providers at particular times to achieve it, a discount in my mind v cold cash. And I hate flying. I must sometimes but I'm not looking for ways that make family members think it's 'free'.

But, the hoops are piling up at USB with (per Doctor of Credit) needing a pre-existing 'relationship' in my state, then apply for card, see line, test estimated tax to see if the brokerage account is worth opening. Then do that and see what drawbacks it might have. And scattering investment assets further is another intangible cost.

There are several processors the IRS lists to pay taxes. I've never had an issue with this. I've never tried to use a US Bank card either, but if this was blocked, this would be a huge nerf, and the numbers they are hoping for they would not see.

[SpaethCo]

This is going to be a VISA Signature card, which has an average merchant transaction fee of around 2.5%. Any bank offering anything above that is losing money on every transaction, so it's just a question of how much money they're willing to lose and for how long.

Other cards that implemented 3% have found it necessary to cap or otherwise restrict their programs.

US Alliance had a card that was briefly able to function as a 3% card, but then had to drop back to 2% permanently.

A small credit union in Alabama (AOD) had a 3% card that was geofenced to the local region, people online figured out how to join the credit union by joining a local bike association, and now the card is capped at $1500 worth of spend per month at 3%.

Robinhood launched a 3% on everything card. This card:
Declines attempts to use it for tax payments
Declines rent / mortgage payements
Has been closing high volume accounts

Right now US Bank has released the outline of the rewards program without any specific details around restrictions on earning or cash out. In the absence of those details there's a lot of assumption that this will be the most favorable rewards program ever offered.