Tag Archives: US Bank

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I Paid $5,341 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2024 – Was it Worth it?

Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2024 version of credit card annual fees I paid this year.  For comparison, here are my previous credit card annual fee posts:

For this year’s post, I decided to break up the list of credit cards into 5 sections:

  • Credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Credit cards with retention offers
  • Credit cards with product changes
  • Credit cards that were closed this year
  • All other credit cards

For simplicity, I did not include the value of miles or points earned from credit card spend, but I did include the value of miles and points earned from sign up bonuses, referral bonuses, anniversary points, discounted points, and rebated points.  I counted all credits, reimbursements, and retention offers at face value.  I list the value of all tangible and intangible benefits below too.

I went through all of my credit card statements and online accounts to see which Credit Card Benefits I used in 2024 and those values are in the CCB $ column. If I received a retention offer, that is listed in the RO $ column. I listed the credit card annual fees in the AF $ column. Lastly, I used this formula to calculate the Profit or Loss (P/L column) for each credit card: CCB $ + RO $ – AF $ = P/L.  Laura’s card are included as well. Continue reading

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I Product Changed to US Bank Altitude Connect Credit Card for 4 Free Priority Pass Restaurant Visits & Other Free Benefits

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend.  Last weekend, I flew Avelo Air from Santa Rosa, CA (STS) to Boise, ID (BOI) to visit my parents.  The weather was perfect and I enjoyed going to a real pumpkin patch and getting lost in a huge corn maze.  2 weeks ago, Doctor of Credit wrote about Major Changes To U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Card, mainly that the credit card removed the $95 annual fee and now has a $0 annual fee.  Looking at the Altitude Connect credit card homepage, doesn’t look that exciting, but it has several great benefits on a $0 annual fee card…

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How to Count / See your Priority Pass Restaurant & Non-Lounge Visits

Good evening everyone, I hope your weekend is going well.  A few months ago, I wrote How to Enroll US Bank Altitude Reserve & Business Altitude Connect Credit Cards in Free Priority Pass Membership because Chase Sapphire Reserve and JPMorgan Ritz Carlton Priority Pass memberships would lose restaurant access on July 1, 2024.  Thankfully, the US Bank Altitude Reserve offers 8 Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits every year and the US Bank Business Altitude Connect offers 4 Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits every year.

I used 2 of my Priority Pass restaurant visits when Laura and I flew to Seattle in early August for the Seattle Seafair / Boeing Air Show.  A few days ago, I learned that I could count / see the number of Priority Pass restaurant & non-lounge visits on each card, so I wanted to share that info with you.  Once you sign into your Priority Pass online account, click the My Priority Pass tab.  That will show you how many visits you get per year.  Click on the Details button below the QR code to learn more.

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My United Airlines Account & MileagePlus X App were Hacked, My Journey to Restore Access

Good afternoon everyone.  A few weeks ago, Laura and I were driving to Lake Tahoe for vacation.  During the drive, I started getting emails from the MileagePlus X app (the app where you can earn United Airlines miles for buying gift cards).  The first confirmation email came in at 12:48pm for a $10 Apple eGC.  Then over the next 5 minutes, I received 4 more confirmation emails for $500 Saks Fifth Avenue eGCs.  Uhh oh, this was bad.  Then I got an email from United Airlines that said:

Your MileagePlus account information has been updated – We wanted to let you know your MileagePlus account information has changed. For your security, we can’t specify exactly what was updated, but it may include your address, phone number, password or other details.

Oh boy, now the hacker had signed into my United Airlines account and changed my email or password.  We exited the freeway and stopped at a gas station.  We changed seats so Laura could drive the car and I could call United Airlines about my hacked account and US Bank to report the credit card fraud.  This was the start of my journey to restore access to my accounts.

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Midyear Review: My Credit Card Retention Offer Thought Process & Results

Good morning everyone, I hope your weekend is going well. A few days ago, I wrote about my Midyear Review: My 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions (as predicted, my success rate was terrible). Thankfully, my success rate when it comes to credit card retention offers is much better. Let me ask you a question, if you could make $50, $100, or $150+ from making a phone call, would you do it? If you said yes, then you should make credit card retention offer calls.

In this post, I will share my thought process when it comes to making retention offer calls and then share my midyear results. Here are my thoughts:

1. I call every time a credit card annual fee posts to my account. I have also found that no annual fee business credit cards sometimes have retention offers, but I haven’t had much luck with no annual fee personal credit cards. Lastly, I try to call a few days after the annual fee posts to my account, but several weeks before the credit card payment is due. Continue reading