U.S. Bank Cash+ Adds TV, Internet, Streaming Services as 5% Category [Replaces Car Rentals]

U.S. Bank Cash+ is notifying customers that beginning Q2 2019, car rentals will be removed as a 5% category to be replaced with TV, Internet, and Streaming Services.

New! TV, Internet and Streaming Services will replace Car Rentals as a new 5% Cash+ Category starting April 1, 2019. This category includes merchants such as Netflix, Comcast, DIRECTV®, Hulu and Apple Music. Registration opens February 15 for the second quarter at usbank.com/cashplus. Remember to register for your 5% and 2% categories to get MORE CASH BACK!
If you have an INK card which earns 5x on some/all of these, this new category won’t be very useful. Otherwise, it could make be helpful for some people. The nice part about the Cash+ card is that they offer the same categories the entire year, so you can set your Cash+ as the default payment method for all internet, tv, and streaming services, and always earn 5% on those. Just be sure to register every 3 months.
The new list of 5% categories will be:
  • TV, Internet, and Streaming Services
  • Home utilities
  • Select clothing stores
  • Cell phone providers
  • Electronic Stores
  • Gyms/Fitness
  • Fast food
  • Ground Transportation
  • Sporting goods
  • Department Stores
  • Furniture Stores
  • Movie theaters

Hat tip to reader Kevin

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33 Comments
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yuva
yuva (@guest_1643344)
June 28, 2023 14:10

does anyone know, how long will it take to see the rewards earned? or to see, whether a transaction is eligible for 5% cb?

Wave
Wave (@guest_1168832)
March 31, 2021 07:01

DP: This might be a no-brainer for some, but I wanted to test it to see what would happen or how things would code since I couldn’t find data points when searching.

Whenever I’d pay my ATT cell phone bill, it would post as “AT&T” or AT&T*BILL PAYMENT”. Seeing as ATT also offers TV/Internet, I wanted to test if paying my cell phone bill would count towards that category since it posted with a generic description. It didn’t count. No big deal since my cell phone bill was the least compared to the other categories I had selected.

Mike
Mike (@guest_707377)
January 16, 2019 19:17

Utilities is always an interesting category, because IME a lot of Plastiq payments code as UTILITIES. $8,000 year annual cap isn’t ideal, but it could be worse.

Lightspeed
Lightspeed (@guest_707461)
January 16, 2019 22:00

Problem is USB is very MS-sensitive; if they shut Altitude Reserve cardholders down for buying retail GCs, I’m sure they’d shut down for Plastiq.

Sam
Sam (@guest_707374)
January 16, 2019 19:16

How reliable is the prequal page for USBank? (I know no guarantees, but some of the prequal pages are a much better indicator than others.)

Andrew
Andrew (@guest_707560)
January 17, 2019 01:58

They have always approved me when they said I’m pre qualified. I only have cash + and cash 365 that I should pc to second cash plus

da5kicka
da5kicka (@guest_707295)
January 16, 2019 17:22

“Cell phone providers”
My AT&T bill for whatever reason doesn’t quality for 5%, maybe because wireless account is combined with DirecTv
Contacted US Bank and they said has to be coded right way from merchant

Inclusion of TV might fix it 😀

the_shek
the_shek (@guest_707370)
January 16, 2019 19:02

Have you tried putting it on a CIC?

HmoobMikah
HmoobMikah (@guest_707280)
January 16, 2019 17:11

For internet and tv categories I have the CIC for that. Streaming services could be interesting, but I don’t have netflix, hulu, etc..

the_shek
the_shek (@guest_707368)
January 16, 2019 19:02

NETFLIX will code as 5x on CIC I’ve heard. Better bet is to bill through iTunes and purchase discounted iTunes GC.

AlwaysChurning
AlwaysChurning (@guest_708445)
January 18, 2019 17:14

No longer works for new subscribers. There was a DOC article about it dying a few days back.

5150d
5150d (@guest_707257)
January 16, 2019 16:56

This is the only card that has Home Utilities.

Mike
Mike (@guest_707378)
January 16, 2019 19:19

I think Huntington Bank has one too? But they aren’t in most states.

Superchurn
Superchurn (@guest_707526)
January 17, 2019 00:16

Can confirm, at least the business version of the Voice card does have Utilities as a 4x category you can select

Ryan Goldstein
Ryan Goldstein (@guest_707685)
January 17, 2019 11:50

Vantage West has Utilities as a selectable 5% category too: https://vantagewest.org/personal/credit-cards/connect-rewards-visa/

Kelly
Kelly (@guest_707233)
January 16, 2019 16:26

This for me makes it worth applying for this card. Maybe after applying I can get targeted for a bank bonus.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_707240)
January 16, 2019 16:37

Think this largely depends on where you live. If you are in a footprint state, yes, maybe. I’m out of footprint (VA), and a couple years ago I did the nationwide checking. Since that time, I signed up for 3 credit cards with them, but now they have closed that nationwide checking door, at least for promos. Think I saw they are opening branches in DC, so I am hoping that they start bleeding over into VA.

ABC
ABC (@guest_707330)
January 16, 2019 18:07

How do you max out $2k/quarter on this category?

dave_b
dave_b (@guest_1586402)
March 28, 2023 07:36

Electricity, water, natural gas, garbage collection

MisterBill
MisterBill (@guest_707221)
January 16, 2019 16:06

Hmm.. now I will have to choose between utilities, wireless and TV/streaming. Do they allow customers to have more than one of the same credit card type?

Qi Chu
Qi Chu (@guest_707223)
January 16, 2019 16:08

Yes. I have two Cash+ cards. Just applied for a new one while having one. No product change or any magic.

Andrew
Andrew (@guest_707420)
January 16, 2019 20:24

did you get a second bonus?

SA
SA (@guest_707226)
January 16, 2019 16:11

I have 2 Cash+ cards as well.

Shyam
Shyam (@guest_707230)
January 16, 2019 16:21

I recently downgraded Flexperks card to second Cash+

Prem
Prem (@guest_707256)
January 16, 2019 16:56

How recently? They didnt offer me any downgrade options

Sam
Sam (@guest_707535)
January 17, 2019 00:38

Which flavor of FlexPerks? I’ve got a visa that I was told had no downgrade option.

Scott
Scott (@guest_707246)
January 16, 2019 16:42

I was told the limit is 3 for the Cash+. The branch had an offer this week for the Cash+ to spend $500, get $150 so hopefully you can get that too

MisterBill
MisterBill (@guest_707267)
January 16, 2019 17:00

Thanks! They had the $150 offer online as well so I just applied for one. Decision got deferred but I assume they’ll approve it. They are welcome to take some CL from my other cards.

MisterBill
MisterBill (@guest_708767)
January 19, 2019 17:21

Good news, just logged on to US Bank and my 2nd Cash+ account was approved. They didn’t even take any CL away from my other 2 cards (which they really should, but I guess an extra $15k just reduces my overall usage percentage).

Jeff H
Jeff H (@guest_707253)
January 16, 2019 16:54

Interesting idea, but doing so would put me over 5/24 longer sigh!

Elmer
Elmer (@guest_707328)
January 16, 2019 18:05

I’ve long decided I will ALWAYS be 24 months from being under 5/24. Just not worth what I’d miss out on otherwise.

MisterBill
MisterBill (@guest_707357)
January 16, 2019 18:45

I’ve been avoiding applying for new cards recently and hadn’t gotten one in a year. I applied for a new (extra) BofA Cash Rewards card last month and now this one.

TomT
TomT (@guest_707930)
January 17, 2019 18:22

I have 3 Cash+ cards, all via PC from FlexPerks cards (Amex, Visa and Gold)