U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Review

The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card is a powerful tool to keep in your virtual wallet thanks to increased earnings on mobile wallet spend. It is also a solid travel card that can be handy to keep around for lodging, trains, and other in-the-moment travel spend, though the travel insurance limitations make it less useful for booking flights and lodging for expensive trips. Still, easy-to-use and easy-to-understand rewards can make this a great card for qualifying travel redemptions.

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Complete Guide

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Review

The U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve is a terrific card for everyday spend anywhere mobile wallet is accepted (mobile wallet means Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay). That’s because the Altitude Reserve card earns 3x on mobile wallet spend and those points can be used to cover select travel purchases at a value of 1.5c per point. At the end of the day, it is pretty easy to turn this into a card that earns 4.5% cash back everywhere mobile wallet is accepted — and these days, that includes most places where you would spend money in-person and also some places where you can use mobile payment online. This can be especially good for purchases that ordinarily wouldn’t earn strong category bonuses on other cards, like at warehouse clubs such as Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s Wholesale. In our opinion, this card is a must-have for those who spend a lot at places where mobile wallet is accepted and that wouldn’t otherwise earn a category bonus.

• Annual Fee: $400
  • Authorized User Annual Fee: Free
• Annual credits: $325 in automatic credits for travel and dining purchases
• Foreign Transaction Fee: None
• What points are worth: 1.5c for real-time mobile rewards travel purchases. Only 1c per point for many other types of real-time mobile rewards redemptions (like grocery or restaurant redemptions)
• Best Use for Points: You can get 1.5c per point in value when redeeming points for paid travel through Real-Time Mobile Rewards. Note that officially, Real-Time Mobile Rewards only works with US-based travel providers and rental car and hotel redemptions have a minimum redemption amount of $150 (most other redemptions have a minimum of $10). For more details about Real-Time Mobile Rewards and what works to trigger these redemptions, see US Bank Real-Time Mobile Rewards
• Earning Categories: 
  • 5x prepaid hotel & car rental through Altitude Rewards Center
  • 3X travel and mobile wallet payments
  • 1X everywhere else
• Travel Protections:
  • Auto Rental Coverage: Primary auto rental CDW (collision damage waiver). Provides reimbursement for theft and collision damage for rental cars in the U.S. and abroad.
  • Travel Interruption Insurance: Kicks in with delays of longer than 6 hours or overnight, good for up to $500 per ticket.
  • Baggage Delay Insurance: This card does not feature baggage delay insurance
  • Trip Cancellation Insurance: Covers up to $2,000 per traveler up to a maximum of $2,000 per trip when you use your card or rewards associated with your card. Note the low overall cap and the requirement to have purchased your ticket with this card or rewards associated with it. See our guide to Ultra-Premium Credit Card Travel Protections.
• Purchase Protections:
  • Extended Warranty: One additional year, on eligible warranties of three years or less (US warranties only).
  • Damage and Theft Protection: Covers new purchases for 90 days against damage or theft up to $10,000 per claim/$50,000 per account.
• Who’s this card for? Anyone that spends a fair amount on mobile wallet purchases.
• Is the U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve card a keeper? Given the very easy (and automatic) reimbursements for up to $325 in annual travel and restaurant purchases, this card feels close to a net $75 annual fee. For that price, most people would likely find the effectively uncapped 4.5% back toward travel purchases to be a compelling return on otherwise unbonused spend in situations where mobile wallet can be used..

U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve Pros and Cons

Pros

• 3X points anywhere mobile wallet can be used, which is almost anywhere in-person through Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay
• 3X travel
• Ability to redeem points for 1.5c per point through Real-time mobile rewards. This can be a particularly good option for those looking for a way to get good value out of points toward U.S. car rentals since you’ll pay directly with your card and redeem points for the purchase through real-time mobile rewards. Just keep in mind the minimum redemption amount for car rentals is $150.

Cons

• No transfer partners
• Not particularly useful for using the physical card (outside of travel purchases)
• No real ability to get outsized value out of rewards (beyond 1.5c per point)
• Can not combine points across cards to increase value
• Minimum real-time mobile rewards redemption for car rentals and hotels is $150 (most other redemptions start at $10)
• Travel cancellation insurance only covers up to $2,000 per trip, which could make it an impractical choice for booking flights

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