Tag Archives: US Bank

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I Paid $4,043 in Credit Card Annual Fees in 2022 – Was it Worth it?

Good evening everyone, I hope your week is going well.  With the end of the year right around the corner, I decided to publish my 2022 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:

  • Annual fees paid on new credit cards with sign up bonuses
  • Annual fees paid on credit cards that received retention offers
  • Annual fees on credit cards that have been upgraded / downgraded / product changed
  • Annual fees on credit cards that I closed
  • All other credit cards

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Product Change US Bank Credit Card to Redeem Rewards Below Minimum Redemption Threshold (Altitude Go to Cash Plus)

Good afternoon everyone, happy Labor Day Weekend!  This post may not be very exciting, but the principles behind this post are useful.  Let me explain…

When US Bank converted my US Bank Radisson Rewards Credit Card into the US Bank Altitude Go Credit Card, I used it for a few weeks before deciding that I wanted to product change to another US Bank Cash+ Credit Card (for the 5% cash back categories).  At the time, I had 31 points on my Altitude Go, so if I had decided to close my credit card instead, I would have lost those 31 points (worth 31 cents).  But instead, by product changing from one card to another, US Bank converted my unredeemed rewards into statement credit (31 points = 31 cents).

This is noteworthy because of the minimum redemption threshold normally required for the Altitude Go: “U.S. Bank points are worth a penny each when redeemed for options like cash back, travel, gift cards or merchandise, although minimum redemption requirements apply. (You need at least 2,500 points for cash back or gift cards; 1,000 points for travel or merchandise.)”  US Bank has a similar minimum redemption threshold on the Cash Plus that went into effect on June 1, 2021.

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My 2022 Midyear Review of Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great weekend. Much like the corporate world with midyear reviews, I thought it would be fun / embarrassing to do a midyear review of My Wild and Crazy 2022 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  I copied the list from the previous post and will see how many predictions I got correct and how many were dead wrong.  But remember, there is still 6 months left in the year for the remaining predictions to come true…

My 2022 Airline Predictions (1 / 7)

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature. – I still cannot believe this feature exists but Alaska and Southwest are not using it.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points airline transfer partner. – I still cannot believe that Citi can’t get American Airlines to come back to the ThankYou Points portal.
  • Avianca will give Turkish Airlines a run for their money for domestic Star Alliance awards.
  • British Airways will let you use Avios to pay the taxes, fees, and fuel surcharge portion of award tickets.
  • Delta Airlines, Southwest Airlines, or United Airlines will introduce a “Miles and Cash” payment option for award tickets (pay 10,000 miles or pay 8,000 miles + $40).
  • JetBlue will partner with another US airline for award bookings. – Yes, you can book JetBlue flights using American Airlines miles.
  • United Airlines will be a transfer partner with Brex, Citi, or American Express.

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Use US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card or Altitude Go to Pay for Streaming Services?

Good afternoon everyone.  Earlier today, I wrote Goodbye Old US Bank Radisson Rewards Credit Cards, Hello New Altitude Go & Business Triple Cash Rewards.  After writing that post, I decided to dig into the $15 streaming credit on the US Bank Altitude Go Credit Card and compare it to the US Bank Cash Plus Credit Card, which offers 5% cash back on streaming services (among other 5% cash back category options).  As you can see, the US Bank Cash Plus offers “5% cash back on your first $2,000 in combined eligible purchases each quarter on two categories you choose.”  Let’s check out those bonus categories.

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Goodbye Old US Bank Radisson Rewards Credit Cards, Hello New Altitude Go & Business Triple Cash Rewards

Updated 12:00pm PT on 7/11/22: The prorated annual fee refund posted on my US Bank Altitude Go on 7/5 in the amount of $31.25.  That represents a prorated amount of 5 months (5 / 12 x $75 = $31.25).  I haven’t see the prorated annual fee refund on my new US Bank Business Triple Cash Rewards yet.  I called US Bank and they said I should see the statement credit on my August statement.


Good afternoon everyone, I hope you had a great Father’s Day Weekend.  2 months ago, US Bank sent out letters to cardholders who had personal and business Radisson Rewards credit cards alerting them that their credit cards were going to be changing in June.  A few days ago, we learned that Choice Hotels will acquire Radisson Americas for $675 million, which explains why US Bank is changing the credit cards.

My US Bank Radisson Rewards Premier Credit Card became the US Bank Altitude Go Credit Card and my US Bank Radisson Rewards Business Credit Card became the US Bank Triple Cash Rewards Business Credit Card.  The new credit cards arrived over the weekend, so I wanted to share the card art, welcome letters, brochures, and activation process for both credit cards.  First, a moment of silence for the retired personal and business Radisson Rewards credit cards…

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