I got the USBAR October 2024 and thought it would be one of, if not *the* endgame card. But the nerf killed it for me. The spending cap wasn't a deal-breaker for me but removing the 1.5x redemption definitely was, as was removing the dining redemption from the annual fee reimbursement and requiring you to use the portal.

I did an obligatory ask if there were any retention offers but there weren't so I downgraded to a free card.

I have one of the Kroger family cards and may get another one for NFC payments but think I'll finally do the work to get signed up for the BoA Preferred Rewards. Hopefully, they don't kill the current promotions on their CCR and UCR before my 3-month average is up.

Are you all keeping or downgrading the USBAR?

Any fellow USBAR cardholders received the mailer detailing substantial changes to the card? I saw it circulating in a FB group, but can’t verify on their website

https://imgur.com/a/60OaJ0W

Following the USBAR Nerf, what would be the best credit card to replace USBAR for all the mobile wallet and Travel expenses?

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/u-s-bank-to-make-negative-changes-to-u-s-bank-altitude-reserve-travel-transfers-1¢-per-point-instead-of-1-5¢/

Summary of changes:

Effective December 15, 2025:

• Mobile pay transactions will be capped at $5,000 per billing cycle (month), with an additional $5,000 cap after the first cycle.

• Redemptions for travel will be reduced from 1.5 cents per point to 1 cent per point.

• $325 travel credit will be applicable only for travel through the travel center. No more dining credits will be applicable, and travel booked directly through merchants will no longer be eligible for credits.

• Possible introduction of transfer partners. (??)

• 10x points for hotels and car rentals purchased through the portal, and 5x points for flights booked through the portal.

US Bank just officially posted the details of the new terms of the USBAR in their benefits portal. Link to the actual letter. It is basically the same as the rumors posted a couple of days ago: no more 4.5% cashback and no more 325 dining/ traveling statement credit, starting 12/15.

As y'all know USBAR nerf is slated for 15 Dec 2025 (1.5 cpp → 1.0 cpp, $325 credit going portal-only, mobile wallet cap, etc.), yet no transfer partner announcement has been made yet. Red flag? Lol

Lets do a r/CreditCards prediction market [Kalshi/Polymarket]

When do you think U.S. Bank will actually announce Altitude Reserve transfer partners (if ever)?

lmk

What odds do you give that the partners are actually competitive (Chase/Cap One level) vs. just meh?

Have you already cashed out at 1.5 cpp and bailed, or are you hanging on to see what happens?

USBAR was my catch all card and depending on their transfer partners, I’ll either keep it or PC it but atm I’m leaning towards PC.

My only other catch all card is CFU but it earns 1.5x which personally I don’t really like, as much as I love the UR points.

I know there’s the Citi Double Cash, Wells Fargo Active, RobinHood Gold etc but not sure which one to aim for.

My main priority is to use points to travel but with school upcoming, I won’t have much time for that so I’m okay with a cash back card. What would be the best option?

After a lot of thought, we're going to cancel our USBAR next year (we've already paid the AF, and it's too far past to get a refund). Thoughts on this setup for replacing it?

Travel - WF Autograph Journey 5x/4x/3x + Altitude Connect (for lounge passes) $95 AF - $50 credit = $45 AF (our biggest single category spend annually)
Groceries - AmEx BlueCash ED (already have) - 3%, no AF
Costco - Wells Fargo Active Cash - 2%, no AF
Gas - Sam's Club (already have) - 5%, no AF
Sam's Club groceries - 5% (3% scan & go, 2% for Plus), no AF
Dining Out - Altitude Go MC (already have) - 4%, no AF
Online Shopping - AmEx BC ED (already have) - 3% (US merchants), no AF
Misc Spend - WF Active Cash - 2%, no AF

It's a lot more convoluted than just using USBAR + Sam's Club, but it takes us from a $400 (used to be net $75) AF to $45 AF, and overall, I think it will be at least as good as pre-nerf USBAR, at least until one of them gets nerfed.

As discussed on this sub, the USBAR will be getting nerfed on 12/15. For those that plan to product change or cancel soon, just wanted to point out a few things:

Along with my AF renewal, my Oct-Nov statement just closed, which means I just received those pending reward points. To me, this means:

• Any transactions I make during my Nov-Dec cycle, I won't get those points until December.

  • Because I plan to product change before statement closing to avoid the AF, these points won't be able to redeemed with the 1.5x RTR.

• At this moment, all points in my account is considered my final balance that can be maximized with the 1.5x RTR redemption.

If anyone else's timeline is similar to mine, this means that any spend for Nov-Dec will only have a max value of 1cpp. Even though the 3x with Mobile Wallet is still very competitive, it's still something to consider based on your product change or cancellation plan, especially since the other Altitude cards have limitations on how you can redeem those points (I believe $25 minimum for statement credit, or you can redeem towards Amazon purchases without a minimum).

Also, since I just hit my AF renewal, I'm lucky enough to have my $325 travel/dining credit to start over, and it has to be fully spent within this statement cycle or before product change/cancellation.

TL/DR:

• If you plan to redeem at 1.5x RTR, do it now

• For the statement cycle of Nov-Dec, reconsider the value/redemption of using your USBAR

• Use up your $325 credit before you product change/cancel

Had this card since 2020. Truly end of an era.

Edite 11/20: Called a USB rep, and again was not offered a product change.
Rep also told me that the AF is not prorated if I were to cancel or product change later on.
Rep also told me that USB reviews our accounts every 6 months for product change offers. I assume that this is based on cardmember year, so calling another rep won't help with your options. This is leading me to cancel the card before statement closure.

Edit 11/15: Used the chat function on the USB website, and was not offered a product change. Also no retention offer (usually got 50k points when calling in).
YMMV, so reach out to USB to confirm if this is an option for you.

USBAR is no longer open for applications. It's possible it'll open up again in the future, but it remains to be seen.

What other cards (from any lender) do you think are going to get the axe sometime because they're too good? Do you think current users of those card(s) will be grandfathered in? Is there any cards you want to get while you still can?

Just saw the posts about the USBAR nerf. I was fearing this, but I had hoped they would be smarter than that. We use this for 90-95% of our spending, excluding gas.

• Current cards: (list cards, limits, opening date)

  • USBAR, $30k, 2019

  • Sam's Club, $15k, 2014

  • Amazon Prime Visa, $25k, 2023 (no longer have Prime, going to close)

  • United Gateway x2 $50k, 2021 (only use to keep open - happy to ditch)

  • AmEx Blue x2 $15k, 2015 (only use to keep open)

  • CapOne Venture One $5k, 2014 (only use to keep open)

• FICO Score: 830's

• Oldest account age: 11 years

• Chase 5/24 status: 0/24

• Income: $150k+

• Average monthly spend and categories:

  • dining $300

  • groceries: $600

  • gas: $125

  • travel: $1500+

  • other: $3000+ (household, clothing, bills, pets, healthcare)

• Open to Business Cards: No

• What's the purpose of your next card? To replace USBAR with something that will get us as close to the same value for travel rewards (typically redeem $2k+ in points)

• Do you have any cards you've been looking at? No

• Are you OK with category spending or do you want a general spending card? Prefer it to be as easy as possible, which is why we chose USBAR. We don't stay at many chain hotels, travel internationally for the most part, and don't collect airline points for any airline exclusively (we just pick best price/route for each trip).

My annual renewal fee just posted and since I don’t really use the USBAR enough to justify the cost (and I’m not convinced further nerfs aren’t coming for the 3% mobile spend), I asked about product change and was offered a choice between Altitude Connect, Altitude Go, Smartly or Cash+. I’ve seen some reports here from people saying US Bank wasn’t offering any product changes on the USBAR so wanted to post my experience for anyone looking.

My USBAR annual fee is next month, and I'm not terribly interested in renewing after the recent nerfing.

I've had the cc for one year: would it damage my credit score if I were to cancel it?

Alternatively, would it be wiser to see if I can PC into a different $0 annual fee US Bank card instead so I can keep the account open?

EDIT: For additional context, this is not my only card, I have several others which have been open for 5+ years. It was my primary card for the past year though.

I’ve just seen understandable negativity around the post-nerf USBAR but what are reasons for keeping it?

The US Bank Altitude Reserve has long been part of my Core Setup and captured 90% of my spend. Now with the nerf I am forced to revaluate things. Waiting to see what US Bank does before I cancel it, but with the loss of the non portal dining/travel credit, and 1.5 cents per point redemption I am unlikely to keep it.

This setup is optimized to my needs as an expat/digital nomad who mainly travels between the Americas and EU. I prefer Marriott and IHG properties, and use Wyndham as well when I'm in Latin America (Tryp, Esplendor, Dazzler, and Wyndham are great in that part of the world). My future setup will likely look like the following:

Core (daily spending) setup:

Robinhood Gold: This will now capture nearly all of my spend. 3% CB on nearly everything which is deposited directly into my brokerage account and earns APY while uninvested is very valuable. All while having no FTF and decent protections.

Wyndham Business Earner: Keeper card that I use exclusively for wyndham, gas, and utilities. Also Diamond status is great when you are abroad and I usually get 2 free nights/year in nice hotels abroad with the 15k points. The 10% point discount is great too.

Supplemental Cards (Cards I don't spend much on but keep for the benefits and niche use cases):

Bonvoy Brilliant: Platinum status, a good priority pass, easy to use couponbook, cell phone insurance, and 85kFNA, and 25 ENC make this an easy keeper card for me.

Bonvoy Business: 15 stackable ENCs, 7% cardholder discount, and 35k FNA make this a keeper as well.

Bonvoy Boundless: Pays for itself with 35k FNA, plus option to change to the Ritz if I ever want to.

IHG Premier: annual FNA, 4th night free, and platinum status make this a no brainer.

Altitude Connect: 4 priority pass restaurant passes, free international mobile data, and smart delay make this card a no brainer.

Amazon Prime Visa: Great for amazon shopping, plus makes a nice backup card for international travel with no FTF.

Capital One Savor: This is simply a no FTF backup card in case I ever have issues with robinhood. It's a decent earner and has no FTF. I also like the discount at capital one cafes.

BoA Free Spirit Card: Soon this card will give 2 free checked bags, seat upgrades, and priority boarding/checkin. I use spirit when connecting between hubs while in the US so this works great.

Cardless Avianca Card ($99): Gives Avianca silver status which gives 2 lounge passes, priority boarding, priority checkin, priority baggage, and 6 upgrades to "business class" (really economy plus).

Cardless Latam Card: 2 lounge passes and 2 seat upgrades. I plan on using this to get a business class upgrade on Brazil to Madrid flights.

I am unlikely to get any more cards at this point since I don't want to juggle coupon books. The only thing I'd really like is IHG diamond status if IHG ever releases their version of the Brilliant card. I also might pick up the IHG business card for another FNA at some point.

What do you all think of this setup and am I missing anything? Hilton Gold via the Surpass is tempting but I don't really stay at Hilton properties and don't want to juggle quarterly credits.

I already went 100% to BofA Premium Elite Card ever since USBAR nerf announcement. My annual fee will post on January. Should I product change it and sock drawer it or cancel? My limit is 30k and had the card for 2 years. I would probably put $5 a month on it if I'm going to PC

My points just posted and I see a "2 extra pts,$5k cap" line item. So all my extra points from mobile spending is lumped into one amount. And all my individual spends shows as 1x.

So that means I can't actual see which purchases net me 3x. I don't understand the need for this change.

When I do the math, I don’t think the upcoming nerfs will make this card worth it for me. I’ve been torn between canceling and not, and I’m struggling to decide. It’s either hard for me to let go of was the best card I have, or I’m worried I’m overreacting and I’ll regret this decision.

My AF hit on August 1st, so I have until the end of the month to cancel and get a refund. I’m also considering using some of my dining credits, but I’m not sure if I should.

Has anyone else canceled their card? Did you have any issues getting your AF refunded? Did you use any of your annual credits and were they clawed back? Are you happy with your decision? I’d really appreciate it if anyone could share their experience.

Edit to add: Thank you for sharing your thoughts, tips and experience. I hope this thread will also help other USBAR holders when it’s their turn to make this decision.