It seems in order to get the new card with max cash back (4%) and no fees, we need to
apply for the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card (duh)
open a Checking account ($6.95 monthly fee should be waived because of qualifying credit card)
open a Savings account ($5 monthly fee should be waived because of the presence of Checking account)
open an investment ($250k+) or IRA account ($100k+) (unclear here) ($50 annual fee should be waived because threshold met)
Regarding the fourth point, From my understanding, the investment account (brokerage or IRA) is opened up through US Bancorp Investments, a subsidiary of US Bancorp, the parent company of both US Bank and US Bancorp Investments. (confusing, yet?)
I have searched up on both Google and YouTube for reviews on the US Bancorp Investment experience (UI/UX, do they allow DRIP, etc.), and I am shocked that there is not much out there (which worries me slightly, lol).
Does anyone already have a US Bancorp Investment account? Can you speak to the user experience and how it compares to other brokerages? I’ve read comments that they do not DRIP which is surprising/unfortunate.
I have investment accounts at other places (Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, Merrill Edge, Morgan Stanley, E*Trade, and IBKR), and I am curious how it stacks up. Thanks in advance.
Does anyone already have a US Bancorp Investment account? Can you speak to the user experience and how it compares to other brokerages? I’ve read comments that they do not DRIP which is surprising/unfortunate.
@Dany
Thank you! This was very informative, and it confirmed some of my fears. Banks just don’t do a good brokerage experience.
My takeaways from the link:
Most things we are used to doing online cannot be done online. Print out PDF, physically fill it out, mail it back in.
No notifications of account activity (<-- wow)
DRIP possible but have to call in and someone sets it up for you.
Selling specific tax lots possible but have to call in, and there is a $25 fee for a broker assisted trade. (<-- wow)
I will see where everything shakes out in a few weeks when the Smartly is released, but I was originally considering just transferring stocks that are just long-term buy-and-hold anyway and not really log into the system. This is what I did with ME to get Platinum Honors status. Yes, the ME interface is horrible, but I don’t have to deal with it.
Maybe now if I don’t want the hassle of calling in to get DRIP enabled, I just transfer in stocks that don’t declare dividends anyway.
At any rate, thank you for the link, and thank you u/SpaethCo for your detailed write-up!
Paden said: @Montana
USBank: We want to convince more people to bring their investments over
Also USBank: Let’s release one of the worst investment platforms in existence
Bold strategy.
I legitimately think whatever group put this marketing initiative together was operating under the assumption that most people would become advisor clients. If you were expecting an Edward Jones or Raymond James type of managed shop experience I think they’re actually geared up for that experience to be okay with having hundreds of advisors in the branches.
I think much like the development team who started to build it, US Bank maybe forgot they had a self-directed interface.
@Montana
Note that I am not sure it is 100% confirmed on the DRIP. If my recollection is correct on the BH post, the poster called in and they said it was possible, but the poster closed their US Bank brokerage before checking that it actually happened.
@LizCampbell
That’s probably my post. I’m trying to close it out but my ACATS was just denied by USBI. I don’t have a definitive answer why, but the person I talked to speculated their system might have a 60-day lockout before you can transfer out again.
I’m pretty confident that an interface does exist on the call center side to configure DRIP based on the conversation I had on the 2nd call. The first time I called the rep told me it wasn’t possible, but it could have just been them being unfamiliar with the process to do it in the system.
I transferred in $25k to start. My recommendation would be to make your initial transfer be an amount you wouldn’t mind being tied-up or otherwise mishandled. I think you have to experience it for yourself to fully believe just how much manual handling is done on these accounts.
@Zach
That was pretty helpful, thanks you just saved me lots of hassle. I think I’m just going to park $5k in the savings for the 3% on savings and 2.5% on the card, and instead of opening a new card I’m going to convert my existing altitude connect if they let me. I did the checking for the $450 bonus, so it means only opening the savings now. Thanks again for the huge help and heads up your post provides. There were other warning signs already with my other US Bank accounts too. Sounds like they don’t have their act together.
@Zach
Calculating my overall benefit of this card is around $1,500 extra cash back a year v. my current setup. I like the simplicity of having one decent cash back card, but having to maintain a new checking, a new savings, and a subpar brokerage to get that money is ultimately the decision I need to make. If all three were set and forget it, fine, but having to go in and reinvest dividends, etc. makes things tough.
@LizCampbell
If I’m doing the math right, that’s between $110k - 150k of spend? US Bank is rather conservative, and to run that kind of spend through a personal card with them would basically require them to be more accommodating than they’ve ever been on any personal product they’ve ever released.
Just to share, got called by my US Bank branch and they told me that the Smartly credit card will release on November 11, didn’t clarify if it will be in branch or online.
Carmine said:
Just to share, got called by my US Bank branch and they told me that the Smartly credit card will release on November 11, didn’t clarify if it will be in branch or online.
Carmine said:
Just to share, got called by my US Bank branch and they told me that the Smartly credit card will release on November 11, didn’t clarify if it will be in branch or online.
They’re launching the card on a holiday when the banks will all be closed? November 11th is Veterans Day.
I’ve read comments that they do not DRIP which is surprising/unfortunate.
They do if you call in, but it’s not possible to set it up or confirm it is set up through the online interface. This will be a recurring theme with USBI.
The closest USBI probably aligns to is Morgan Stanley, at least in terms of UI/experience for self-directed accounts. The online interface is extremely limited, with most functions requiring a call because the entire shop is built around advisors, so several functions only have interfaces built for them and no one else. With an assigned advisor, you’d have someone who would handle tracking your requests, following up, etc. Without that advisor, there is absolutely no communication loop - you know if your requests are received because something happened, not because they confirmed anything. That’s a little scary because the requests are effectively paper forms that someone is entering back into the system manually on their side. There is no secure online document submission or any discernible ticketing system, forms are mailed to a group email address or sent via USPS. With the self-directed account, you have to use the general advisor support call center, and very much like Morgan Stanley you can call twice to ask the same question and somehow end up with three different answers. I don’t think it’s malicious or even incompetence; I get the sense they’re fighting with their own system/interface, but unlike the self-directed interface, at least it seems like more functions actually exist on the interface they use.
I foresee this being a complete shit show with those teams being overwhelmed and making mistakes with a flood of new clients/requests if the number of Reddit comments on this setup is any indication.
The US Bancorp self-directed online tools are complete crap. You can basically do nothing yourself and have to call in or send them a paper form for just about everything.
That said… I’m still going for it. I opened a Roth IRA with them and then transferred about $125k in assets from my existing Roth IRA at Vanguard. Yes, this required a paper form… Then I called them to make sure my dividends are being reinvested… yet another thing you can’t just do online.
Now, my plan is to continue to contribute to my Vanguard Roth IRA since it is infinitely easier to manage myself, and leave my US Bancorp one alone and just let it churn away on an S&P index fund. Eventually, if the Smartly card benefits get nerfed in the future, then I’ll ACAT transfer my Roth IRA assets back to Vanguard.
So yes, there are some hoops to jump through, and yes, US Bancorp’s online investment portal is a complete joke. But I think if you set up a brokerage account that you can basically just ignore once it gets going, then it’s probably fine.