Upcoming U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card

Discussion / Conversation Forum
1

Like many of us in this sub, I am interested in this upcoming card. Details here: https://www.usbank.com/credit-cards/bank-smartly-visa-signature-credit-card.html

I don’t have anything with U.S. Bank, so I am reading through all the material if I decide to apply for this card. Please let me know if I have missed anything.

At its base, the card is unlimited 2% cash back.

BUT: you can get up to an additional 2% cash back if you do two things:

  1. Have/open a U.S. Bank Smartly Savings account https://www.usbank.com/bank-accounts/savings-accounts.html
  2. Have combined balances with U.S. Bank in specific types of accounts to these levels:
  • $5k–$49k: 2.5% total cash back
  • $50k–$99k: 3% total cash back
  • $100k+: 4% total cash back

Many of us have IRAs we can transfer over.

BUT: the annual investment/IRA account fee is $50 per account. https://www.usbank.com/investing/online-investing/self-directed-investing/brokerage-fees.html

BUT: the fees may be waived if the total balance is $250k+

ALSO BUT: the Savings account has a $5 monthly fee

BUT: the fee is waived if you have a U.S. Bank Smartly Checking account. [U.S. Bank Smartly® Checking Account - Earn Interest, Open Online]

BUT: the Checking account has a $6.95 monthly fee

BUT: the fee is waived if you meet any of these three conditions:

  • Average account balance of $1,500+
  • Have an open, qualifying U.S. Bank consumer credit card
  • Combined monthly direct deposits totaling $1,000+

SO: in order to get the new card with max cash back and no fees, we need to:

  1. Apply for the U.S. Bank Smartly Visa Signature Card (duh)
  2. Open a Checking account ($6.95 fee should be waived because of qualifying credit card)
  3. Open a Savings account ($5 fee should be waived because of presence of Checking account)
  4. Open an investment/IRA account and deposit $250k+ ($50 fee should be waived because the threshold is met)

Do I have this right? Any corrections/clarifications appreciated. Thank you!

2

You don’t have to open the brokerage account if you want to take their savings rate… But yeah, you nailed the details overall.

3

Finlo said:
You don’t have to open the brokerage account if you want to take their savings rate… But yeah, you nailed the details overall.

Thank you! Much appreciated.

4

Finlo said:
You don’t have to open the brokerage account if you want to take their savings rate… But yeah, you nailed the details overall.

> You don’t have to open the brokerage account if you want to take their savings rate

But taking the savings rate on such a large amount is going to cost you a ton of money in opportunity cost.

5

@Kiernan
OP was asking about how not why

6

From my reading of everything, you’ve got it right. I think the goal with this card is for U.S. Bank to get more customers using them for pretty much all their basic banking needs and then try to keep them as customers for years to come since, in general, bank customers are more profitable the more products they use. Not a bad strategy for the bank, really.

Another thing to add here is U.S. Bank is offering $400 if you:

  1. Open a Smartly Checking account
  2. Direct deposit $5k or more within the first 90 days

So, one way to look at it, if you are willing to jump through the hoops, is this lets you fund the $50 annual IRA fee for eight years if you don’t have $250k in it yet.

https://www.usbank.com/splash/checking/2024-q3-digital-checking-offer.html

7

@Zaneta
Thank you for the SUB information. Worth it. Seems easy enough to do by just changing a few numbers (routing/account) with the employer. Appreciate this!

8

I think that’s right. Unlike some people here, I am planning to take advantage of this, even though I’m not planning to make U.S. Bank my main bank or anything. It’s really not that different from what I (and many people on this subreddit) already did with Bank of America. Bank of America requires one fewer account and only requires 100K instead of 250K, which you either have or don’t. In exchange, U.S. Bank is giving you a much better catch-all credit card, and you don’t have to deal with the BoA website… I’d rather maintain three accounts on a decent site than maintain two on BoA’s.

9

@Kyle
> you don’t have to deal with the BoA website

I thought BoA was bad until I started to set this all up.

Want to establish PODs for the Checking/Savings account? Oh, you have to call and give the information over the phone, they PRINT OUT A FORM AND MAIL IT TO YOU, and then you have to sign it and mail it back in. Alternatively, you can visit a branch and do this paperwork with a banker. These are your only two choices.

With U.S. Bancorp Investments, it’s pretty clear they are geared to have this all go through human advisors. You can do self-directed, but most actions require downloading a PDF, filling it out, and then either emailing or mailing the form back. There is no online submission portal to securely send these documents.

Want to apply for margin? Fill out the usual investor profile form, but note that part of the form is selecting your marginal tax bracket and they haven’t even updated the forms to list the post-2018 Federal tax brackets. When this is processed, there is no notice. If approved, margin will just show up on the “balances” section of your account.

Want to transfer assets? Again, fill out a PDF and send it back, hope someone gets it and does something with it, and also hope they don’t mess up entering the transfer request back into a computer on their side.

I started a test transfer to seed the account on 9/25. The shares I selected to move from Merrill disappeared from my account there on Monday (10/7), and so far, Merrill is the only entity that sent me any notification about any activity. As of today, those shares have yet to show up in my USBI account. There’s no way to check the progress of a transfer on U.S. Bank’s site, and if you call, they have to engage some back office team and call you back.

Like everyone else, I’m attracted to that 4% earning rate on the card like a moth to a flame, but holy shit has this experience been a ride so far. Feeling like my assets are being tracked by some dude with a beat-up Mead 5-star notebook isn’t exactly confidence-inspiring.

10

@Wesley
This is what I wanted to know. It’s more than just parking money at either BoA or USB. You actually need to deal with the bank to manage the assets. BoA works. It’s not pretty, but it works. If USB doesn’t work, or works poorly, then it’s not worth the frustration for an extra percentage point of cash back.

11

Too many hoops.

12

Zoren said:
Too many hoops.

I know. Not OP’s fault, but that was like reading word algebra. Like many financial instruments, it’s overly complicated and convoluted by design.

13

Kieran said:

Zoren said:
Too many hoops.

I know. Not OP’s fault, but that was like reading word algebra. Like many financial instruments, it’s overly complicated and convoluted by design.

I know, right? I just wanted to see what was needed to get the card, and then each new “requirement” led me down another rabbit hole and webpage of fees and potential waivers. :confused: