US Bank Smartly Credit Card Review (2025.4 Update: Got Nerfed)

     2025-04-14     2025-04-14 2 Comments

US Bank

U.S. Bank Smartly™ Visa Signature® Card Review

2025.4 Update: Starting from today (2025.4.14), the benefits of this card got nerfed. Existing customers can enjoy the previous benefits, new customers will get the following new changes:

  • Only checking account balances count toward the reward tiers. Savings account and brokerage account don’t count any more.
  • The extra cashback is no longer unlimited, the limit is $10k spending per billing cycle.
  • There are exclusions for the extra cashback now: Educational/school, gift cards, insurance, taxes, business to business transactions, and 3rd party bill payments. 

In the current interest rate environment, keeping $100k in a checking account means losing $4k+ a year in interest. The extra 2% cashback you get in return has a cap — even ignoring the issue of excluded categories, the most you can earn is $2,400. It’s just not worth it. Maybe when we’re back to a zero-interest-rate environment and checking account yields aren’t much lower than elsewhere, it’ll be something to consider. But for now, just treat this card as a flat 2% cashback card.

2024.11 Update: This card is now live!

Application Link

Benefits

  1. Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase + on your first $10,000 in eligible Net Purchases each billing cycle if you have a lot of money in the US Bank checking account:
    • Earn a total of 2.5% cashback with a qualifying balance of $5,000 – $49,000;
    • Earn a total of 3% cashback with a qualifying balance of $50,000 – $99,000;
    • Earn a total of 4% cashback with a qualifying balance of $100,000 or more.
  2. No annual fee.

Disadvantages

  1. No welcome offer.
  2. Only checking account balances count toward the reward tiers. Savings account and brokerage account don’t count any more.
  3. There are exclusions for the extra cashback: (1) education/school, gift cards (including discount gift card sites), insurance, or tax; (2) “business-to-business transactions” (transactions with merchants who are in the business of supplying goods and services to other businesses, such as advertising services, plumbing/heating suppliers, construction material suppliers (excluding home improvement stores), and computer programming services), even if not made for a business purpose; and (3) transactions using third-party bill payment services will earn the base of 2 points per $1 spent in Net Purchases and may not earn additional Points for the Smartly Earning Bonus.
  4. The extra cashback is capped to $10k spending per billing cycle, not unlimited.
  5. It has foreign transaction fee, so it's not a good choice outside the US.

Recommended Application Time

  1. We recommend you apply for this card after you have a credit history of at least two years and you are very comfortable with the credit card game.

Summary

When the card first came out, it was too good to be true. Then it got nerfed starting from 2025.4.14. In the current interest rate environment, keeping $100k in a checking account means losing $4k+ a year in interest. The extra 2% cashback you get in return has a cap — even ignoring the issue of excluded categories, the most you can earn is $2,400. It’s just not worth it. Maybe when we’re back to a zero-interest-rate environment and checking account yields aren’t much lower than elsewhere, it’ll be something to consider. But for now, just treat this card as a flat 2% cashback card.

Benefits before 2025.4.14
  1. Unlimited 2% cash back on every purchase + up to an additional 2% cash back when paired with a US Bank savings account or investment account, no cap:
    • Earn a total of 2.5% cashback with a qualifying balance of $5,000 – $49,000;
    • Earn a total of 3% cashback with a qualifying balance of $50,000 – $99,000;
    • Earn a total of 4% cashback with a qualifying balance of $100,000 or more.
  2. About how you can park $100k in US Bank without losing money: either savings account or brokerage account:
    1. US Bank Smartly Savings currently (2024.12) has an APY 3.50% (if your balance is $25,000 or more), which is somewhat competitive but not the best among savings accounts.
    2. US Bank Self-Directed Investing. It has an annual fee of $50, but if you have $100k in the brokerage account (only brokerage account balance is counted, not total balance across the bank), then its annual fee is waived. It has 100 free trades per year, not unlimited. If you just invest in VOO or short term treasury ETFs (such as BIL) and almost never trade again, then there’s no cost.
  3. No annual fee.

The standard for no-annual-fee, unlimited category cashback cards has traditionally been set at 2%, with the Bank of America Preferred Rewards program boosting that to 2.625% for those with $100k in assets. However, the US Bank Smartly Credit Card takes things to a whole new level, offering a 4% cashback rate with no cap – – a game-changer for heavy spenders! This card is perfect for those who prefer a one-card strategy. If you’ve got $100k in assets, whether parked in VOO ETFs for the long term or short-term treasury bond ETFs, consider moving those funds to US Bank to unlock this unbeatable cashback rate across all categories.

Because it has no welcome offer, this card is ideal for product changes. If you have other US Bank credit cards, you can convert them to this one.

After Applying

  • To check the application status, you can visit this webpage or call (800) 947-1444. If you see the 7-10 days message, it just means they will do a manual review and the outcome could be either approved or denied.
  • US Bank reconsideration line: (800) 947-1444.

Historical Offers Chart

Application Link

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