Good evening everyone.  I spend a lot of time with my credit cards and banking apps (probably more time than most normal people should), but I wanted to share a quirk I noticed with the US Bank Cash+ Credit Card.  I love this credit card so much (I have 2 of them), because of the ability to select 2 different 5% cash back categories each quarter, and you can select the same 2 categories each quarter.

The 2 categories that I have picked lately are Home Utilities (which covers water, gas, electricity, trash, etc.) and TV / Internet / Streaming Services (which covers all the well known and niche streaming services I have tried).  Now, this is where the quirkiness comes in…

In the month of February, I used my Cash Plus to pay for my gas and electricity bill (via Arcadia), my local water bill (via local water district WD), Netflix (you can now watch Netflix on Peloton) and Discovery+ (I love Dr. Pimple Popper and 90 Day Fiancé too much to resist).

On the left side (before my March statement closed) you can see all 4 purchases earned 5% cash back (show in green).  On the right side (after my March statement closed), the amounts in green changed to 1% cash back and a $11.47 bonus appeared at the top.  I checked the math and both sides add up to $14.33, so at the end of the day, everything is equal.

On my March statement, the Cash Rewards and Bonus categories also add up to $14.34.  This makes me wonder, if it were possible to refund one of the 4 transactions after the statement closed, would my rewards only drop by the lower cash back amounts?  This is more of a thought exercise since those transactions would not be easy to refund, but I’m guessing it is doable if you select Electronic Stores or Department Stores as your 5% cash back categories.

I don’t have any answers yet, but wanted to share my thoughts on this quirky credit card rewards program.  If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.  Have a great day everyone!