Update 11/13/24: U.S. Bank is now accepting product changes to this product.
Update 11/11/24: Card is now live, here is the link
Update 10/31/24: Landing page says the card will be metal.
Update 10/13/24: U.S. Bank has confirmed there will be no cap on the 4%. Hat tip to reader John D
Update 10/6/24: Card will have 3% foreign transaction fee. Also 0% APR on purchases for 12 months. Also 0% APR for 12 months on balance transfers done in the first 60 days (3% standard BT fee). The 0% APR on purchases for 12 months is interesting and makes for a ‘signup bonus’ of sorts for someone willing to carry a balance on a personal card.
Update 9/17/24: a reader heard from a bank source that the release date is slated for October 21, 2024.
Update 9/8/24: Reports are that the card will have no annual fee and will have no welcome bonus.
Original Post 9/3/24:
U.S. Bank is set to launch the Smartly Visa Signature card and this will earn up to 4% back on all purchases. Card details as follows:
- Earn 2% cash back on all purchases
- Earn up to an additional 2% cash back when paired with a U.S. Bank smartly savings account.
- Earn 2.5% total cash back when you have a qualifying balance of $5,000 – $49,999
- Earn 3% total cash back when you have a qualifying balance of $50,000 – $99,999
- Earn 4% total cash back when you have a qualifying balance of $100,000+
There are a few things that are unclear such as whether there is an annual fee, is there a cap on the additional up to 2% cash back and if there will be a sign up bonus or not. The Smartly account itself earns 4.1% APY when you also have a Smartly checking account and a balance of $25,000+ so this is competitive with the best high yield savings accounts.
You can also have the money in their investment account to qualify. (Note: there is a $50 annual fee for self directed brokerage account balances under $250,000. It appears that IRA balances of $50k+ which also have a linked checking account, get the $50 fee waived, so if you meet the $100k minimum with an IRA, and also have a checking and savings account, it should be possible to get the 4% on the Smartly card without any additional fees.)
This has the potential to be big, worth signing up for the wait list in case they offer a better than normal sign up bonus for those that do.
