The Altitude Connect is a new card offered by U.S. Bank that is part of the Altitude Rewards Program. It features a large amount of categories with the most notable returns being on Altitude Rewards Center pre-paid rental car & hotel bookings, general travel purchases, and gas station spend. The card has a waived annual fee the first year which is pretty good considering the earning rates of the card.
Note that Altitude Points earned on the Altitude Connect and Altitude Go Visa are worth 1 cent each. You will not be able to combine them with the points earned on the Altitude Reserve and redeem them for 1.5 cents.
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Bonus Categories
The U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Visa features seven bonus categories that earn extra points. Those categories are prepaid hotel & car rental purchases booked through the Altitude Rewards Center, travel, gas station, dining/takeout, grocery, and stream services.
- 5x Hotel/Car Altitude Rewards Center
- Note that the Altitude Reserve earns the same amount of points but can be redeemed for 1.5 cents each instead of 1 cent.
- 4x Travel
- U.S. bank considers travel purchases to be:
- Airlines
- Hotels
- Car Rental Companies
- Taxis
- Limousines
- Passenger Trains
- Cruise Line Companies
- U.S. bank considers travel purchases to be:
- 4x Gas Station
- 2x Dining
- 2x Grocery
- 2x Streaming Services
- U.S. Bank has the following examples of streaming services that will earn you 2x points:
- Amazon Music
- Apple Music
- AT&T TV Now
- Disney+
- Google Music
- Hulu
- Netflix
- Pandora
- SiriusXM
- Slacker Radio
- Sling TV
- Spotify
- Tidal
- Vudu
- YouTube Music
- YouTube TV
- U.S. Bank has the following examples of streaming services that will earn you 2x points:
- 1x Non-Category
Overall, these are pretty nice returns for a card with a basic annual fee. Do note that mobile pay is available for travel, gas, dining (fast food specifically), and grocery which means that the Altitude Reserve may be the better option in some cases.
Also note that for non-category purchases, points earned with Altitude Reserve can be redeemed for 1.5 cents meaning it's the better card for miscellenous purchases.
Perks & Benefits
The U.S. Bank Altitude Connect Card offers an annual streaming credit, cell phone protection, and a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck credit. Again, this is pretty great considering the low annual fee.
- Annual $30 Streaming Credit
- For every 11 months of streaming services that is charged to your Connect Card, you'll receive $30 in complimentary streaming credit on the 12th month.
- You do not have to charge the same streaming service to the card every month as long as at least one streaming charge hits the card during each of the 11 months.
- Cell Phone Protection
- $600 in coverage with $25 deductible
- Global Entry or TSA PreCheck Credit
- Global Entry is for speeding through customs when re-entering the states; also grants TSA PreCheck if approved.
- TSA PreCheck is for expedited screening through TSA checkpoints.
Sign Up Bonus
The upcoming sign up bonus for the Altitude Connect card is 50,000 points after $3,000 in spend within the first three months of having the card. The value of this depends on how much Altitude Points are worth when this card releases. Hopefully the points are worth no less than 1 cent each which would make this worth $500. If they're still capable of being redeemed for 1.5 cents each, you're looking at a nice $750 sign up bonus.
Fees
Annual Fee
The Altitude Connect Visa has no annual fee the first year. After the first year, the card is $95 annually. With a 4% return on travel and gas station purchases, this card could easily be worth it depending on how much you spend.
Authorized User Fee
Not sure on the Authorized User Fee of this card just yet, but my guess would be that it's $0 since it's not a luxury/premium travel card.
Foreign Transaction Fee
The Altitude Connect has a 0% foreign transaction fee. This makes it a great choice for international travel spend.
Rewards Calculator
You can use the rewards calculator to calculate how many points, miles, or cash back you can earn based on your spend per category. This calculator will also give you the dollar value of the card based on the value of the rewards earned and how much each benefit is worth to you, minus the annual fees. You can click the Compare A Card button to compare this card side by side any other card featured on the site within the same calculator.
Note! All category spend entered in the primary card's column (first column when comparing cards) will carry over to all credit card calculators on the site. This means you will not have to re-enter the same information again and again when browsing during the session.
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