Look out Discover, Chase Freedom, and everyone else. There’s a new 5% category cash back card in town, and it looks pretty darn good. The US Bank Cash + VISA offers some solid cash back and lots of flexibility in your rewards card wallet. Anywhere you have a 5% cash back category hole, this card can fill the gap, and you can change it every quarter. Let me explain.
Here’s the basics:
- Earn 5% Cash Back on two categories – YOU CAN CHOOSE! (CAPPED AT $2K IN SPENDING/QTR)
- Earn 2% Cash Back on gas, groceries or drug stores – YOU CHOOSE ONE!
- Earn 1% Cash Back on everything else
- Get a $25 Cash+ Bonus debit card each time you redeem $100 or more Cash Back in a single redemption. (ONCE PER YEAR)
- No Annual Fee
- Earn a .25% or .50% bonus on all purchases by opening a Gold or Platinum checking account at US Bank
The 5% cash back categories for the US Bank Cash + VISA include:
- Department Stores
- Restaurants (note this is separate from Fast Food)
- Fast Food (note this is separate from Restaurants)
Home Improvement Stores- Electronic Stores
Airlines (Must book directly through website, over the phone or in person)- Hotels (Must book directly through website, over the phone or in person)
Bill Payment (automatic bill payments only – and no you can’t pay your mortgage this way)- Furniture Stores
- Car Rental (Must book directly through website, over the phone or in person)
- Charity
- Movie Theaters
You MUST re-choose your categories each quarter, even if you want them to remain the same. If you do not, you will get 1% across the board. Luckily you have late into each quarter to decide or change your mind. The only important thing is that you make a selection. US Bank has email and text alerts if you want them as reminders.
If you have the Platinum checking account and only redeem once you have $100 in rewards and just choose Fast Food and Restaurants, you essentially have a dining out card that’s paying you 6.75% back. That is hard to beat.
I have had this card for about 5 months now. In that time, I’ve spent $5,379.46 on the card. It’s had a large share of wallet. For me I’ve doubled down on the restaurants category so this serves as a dining out card for me. My wife used it for a lot of other things too so don’t think I spend a grand on restaurants every month! My latest bill showed I had over $100 in reward dollars ($119.04 to be exact). So, I went to the website and redeemed $100.01 as a statement credit, and as I clicked forward they noted that my redemption was over $100 so I would be receiving the $25 VISA card in about 6-8 weeks. Awesome AND an overall 2.68% cash back rate!
US Bank is not a sponsor of this site so I get nothing for this link. Use it anyway! It’s a great card.
EDITS IN RED REPRESENT CHANGES NOTED 1/24/13