Update 4/10/24: Landing page also says that GigSky benefit will be removed on 8/31/2024.
U.S. Bank has announced major changes coming to the Altitude Connect card, effective September 9, 2024:
Biggest changes:
- The $95 Annual Membership Fee will be removed.
- Points are going down in value from 1 cent-per-point to .8 cents per point. This is true for cash back, Real-Time Rewards, U.S. Bank Rewards Card, Shop with Points at Amazon.com and Paypal. You can still get 1 cent per point in the Altitude Rewards Center when redeeming for travel.
- The $30 credit for annual streaming service purchases will be discontinued.
Points Earnings:
- 4X points at gas stations and EV charging stations will be limited to your first $1,000 each quarter.
- The card earns 2X points on dining, streaming services and at grocery stores. Beginning September 9, 2024, discount stores/supercenters and wholesale clubs are excluded.
- You will continue to earn 5X points on prepaid hotels and car rentals booked directly in the Altitude Rewards Center and 4X points on travel purchases.
Other Changes:
- New benefit: Points can be redeemed for a monetary charitable contribution across a variety of nonprofits and U.S. Bank will match your contribution at 100%.
- The cell phone protection benefit will no longer be available with your card.
Final Thoughts
All other benefits remain unchanged. Notably, the card will keep the Precheck or global entry credit. The card also offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership with 4 free visits. These are sweet perks for a no-fee card.
Altitude Go Card
It’s not clear to me of what changes are happening to the Altitude Go card. It appears from this page that the card will maintain its $15 streaming credit. I’m not sure if points are going down to .8 cents per point on that card.
Hat tip to reader TJ
Is there still a 50k link somewhere? (Sorry for the cross post)
I am guessing some time during june, they remove the link
It is churnable after almost 3 years in my case.
I opened Altitude Connect the second time and got 50K points bonus in 2024.
The previous one I opened less than 3 years ago in 2021 and downgraded after 1 years to no fee Altitude Go.
The same experience is for P2.
We have small investment accounts in USBank.
Recently had the $95 AF for this card post and was able to get it fully refunded.
Had to call 3 times.
First person submitted a manual request that apparently would take 10 days, not sure who looks at that.
Second person said they couldn’t refund the AF at all. I asked to speak with a supervisor, she talked to her supervisor and reiterated that statement.
Called the 3rd time, got a pretty friendly person who put the AF refund request into the computer and it went through. Said it should get refunded in 3 days, which it did.
HUCA (Hang up, call again) leading to results.
FYI…I was able to get the annual fee waived over phone for this year (within 30 days of being charged annual fee). Just mentioned that I read annual fee was being removed later this year and customer service rep talked to supervisor to remove
I am planning to apply for this card. Anyone recently got the bonus, can you share how soon you got the 50K points posted to your account once the spending requirement was met? Thanks.
My SUB offer appeared as ‘completed’ and the 50k points appeared as ‘pending’ under rewards on 5/8, about 1-2 days after hitting the spend requirement. However, the points are not actually available to redeem until my next statement close date on 6/3.
Great. By any chance, do you remember on which day of the month did you initially activate the account? I am trying to figure out the right time to activate the card. Thanks.
Why would you wait to activate the card? The clock on the spend/statement dates started upon approval.
Venture X Biz PP restaurants just got axed… this card needs to HOLD the line!
Is Priority Pass Select benefit only for the first cardmember year?
“Provided the Priority Pass Select membership benefit is still being offered by U.S. Bank and the card under which you originally enrolled is still eligible, your membership will be automatically renewed for another year at no additional cost, unless you cancel your membership by calling Priority Pass Select at +1 800 352 2834 (toll-free in USA/Canada/Mexico) or +1 972 735 0536 (outside of North America). Once the renewal is processed, a new card with the updated expiration date will be mailed to the address we have for you on file. If the Priority Pass Select benefit is no longer being offered by U.S. Bank or the card under which you originally enrolled is no longer eligible for the benefit, your membership will not automatically be renewed, but you will be given the opportunity to renew with Priority Pass Select at the applicable retail rate on Priority Pass then current standard terms.”
Sounds like it’s ongoing to me, but I can’t be 100% sure.
Looks to me this is a very good card at least for the first year. I was wondering why Doc didn’t add this one onto the best credit card sign-up bonus list.
Altitude Go minor change:
“You will earn 1 Point (2 Points total) for every $1 on grocery store, supermarket, gas station and electric vehicle charging station purchases. Effective September 9, 2024, grocery store and supermarket purchases at discount stores/supercenters such as Target and Walmart and wholesale clubs will be excluded. Gas station and electric vehicle charging station purchases at discount stores/supercenters, wholesale clubs and grocery stores/supermarkets will be excluded.”
Seems like this was suppose to be competitve against the Costco anywhere visa card previously. Yes, the costco card have no AF but you need to be a costco memeber which is 60-120/yr