As was recently reported by Doctor of Credit, U.S. Bank has removed the banner promising that transfer partners would be “coming soon” from its Rewards Center. In my 2026 predictions, I said that I didn’t think U.S. Bank would actually launch transfer partners as they promised about a year ago. It doesn’t sound like this is likely to happen anytime soon, so I think my prediction is unfortunately going to be correct.
Almost ten months ago, U.S. Bank announced a slew of changes that would come to the Altitude Reserve Card as of December 2025. One of the changes promised was that U.S. Bank would be launching the ability to transfer your Altitude Reserve points to airline and hotel partners. At the time, I had some excitement over the potential for a U.S. Bank transferable currency system; however, when the changes began in December 2025, U.S. Bank failed to launch a transfer partner program, instead putting up a banner in the rewards center saying that transfer partners would be coming soon.
As weeks continued onward, I became far less optimistic for the future of a U.S. Bank transfer partner program. In fact, in my 2026 predictions, I predicted that U.S. Bank would not end up launching a transfer partner program. I based that prediction on the fact that they announced the launch of a transfer partner program more than four months in advance of the date they were set to launch, and surely they had been considering it for longer than that, and yet they failed to launch it in time for the December 14th, 2026 changes. That made it immediately feel like they were overly optimistic/ambitious about launching a transfer partner program.
At this point, they’ve removed the banner promising that transfer partners would be coming soon, which certainly makes it seem like they no longer intend to offer a transfer partner program. That’s really disappointing! I personally held Altitude Reserve points expecting a transfer partner program, and now I’ve wish I had redeemed them at 1.5 cents per point while I was still able to do that, or that I had downgraded the Altitude Reserve Card for a pro-rated annual fee refund. As a customer, it certainly feels like U.S. Bank over-promised and has not delivered. My annual fee will be coming up very soon on my Altitude Reserve card, and I can’t imagine keeping it open given U.S. Bank’s lack of ability to follow through on what they promised.
Maybe U.S. Bank is doing me a favor, though, as I’m pretty interested in picking up an Altitude Connect card, since that card has no annual fee and offers four annual Priority Pass Lounge visits (which can be restaurants), and it also offers a repeatable GigSky benefit that’ll really come in handy for our travels. I will probably soon product change to that card because I don’t think U.S. Bank is going to make their transfer partner program happen. An eagle-eyed reader at Doctor of Credit did find a mention of a coming Transfer Partner Program deep within the terms of the reward system, though I think it’s more likely that that was an artifact that failed to be scrubbed than it is an Easter egg hinting at a Transfer Partner Program yet to come.
I suppose it’s possible that U.S. Bank has simply recognized the fact that May 2026 is not representative of “soon” as measured from December 14, 2025, and that they do intend to live up to what they promised, albeit on a slower timeline than promised. I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I hope that I’m wrong for all of the people who held on to an Altitude Reserve card expecting the transfer partner program that U.S. Bank promised.
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Honestly would much rather see a enhanced redemption rates than transfer partners. At this point, most partners are already transferrable from other programs and the chances of them picking up an elite one is rare. Also availability is getting worse and worse.
Before you cancel or product change, wait for your anniversary to pass, and then use up your new $325 travel credit.
A lesson to all (that keep requires repeating), CEOs aren’t to be trusted. A big part of their job duties is lying and gaslighting.
But we should trust a random guy named “Bradly”
no Selfies?
Will be doing same when annual fee hits
Will try to convert to Connect
USB, you are a big fat disappointment
Last month when I went to cancel my account, I asked the csr about US Bank reneging on the transfer partners and they may have yawned. 4.5 cents travel redemption per dollar of mobile wallet spend was never sustainable. I am happy it lasted several years.
I don’t understand the strategy for this card. Would the transfer partners only be for the dwindling pool of USBAR customers? Are they trying to make it profitable and attractive to reopen it to new customers? Or are they really just as incompetent as all the commenters here and on reddit keep saying they are?
US Bank’s various flavors of points that cannot be combined makes zero sense.
Plus how hard is it to create a transferrable points program? Bilt and Rove were able to put one together quickly. It can’t be that difficult to partner with the usual transfer players (Aeroplan, Flying Blue, Avios).
How extensive is the 4x travel category on the Altitude Connect? Seems great and I’m wondering if it includes OTAs and AirBnb. Could be a great no-fee earner just using it for hotels alone.
The USB Altitute Connect business card specifies that 4x travel includes purchases made directly with airlines, hotels, car rentals, taxicabs, limousines, passenger trains and cruise line companies. So OTAs and Airbnb aren’t listed…
Fair Question: What hasn’t US Bank abandoned or nerfed? Its pattern of behavior has been clear for years.
Fair Question #2: Even if US Bank were to implement transferable points, do the earn rates of its cards offer incremental value relative to the competition? I don’t get the fascination some seem to have about US Bank. I honestly ask for someone to enlighten me.
Hey Nick, my prediction is that as soon as you do the product change to the no-annual-fee U.S. Bank Altitude Connect credit card, U.S. Bank will unveil their awesome transfer partners.
I’m disappointed that it’s taken so long for the transfer partners to go live, but I’m still optimistic that they’re working on it and will reveal more details in the coming months. My 90,000 points hope so too!
I was in touch with US Bank about the status of this a couple of months ago and they at the time told me it was currently in the “testing” phase and would be launch in early April. Clearly that hasn’t happened and so I’m very curious to see what will come of this. Obviously “soon” is a laughable description for something that was put up back in December and announced many months before that.
You keep chasing that windmill!
Sounds like grounds for a class action lawsuit if you ask me. Between people hoarding points for (hopefully) higher value in future with transfer partners and people paying the entire annual fee on the basis of transfer partners, they did not deliver what they said they would. US Bank is trash on the credit card side.
I would gladly take a $100 statement credit from US Bank for my pain and suffering of waiting a few extra months…
Easier than a lawsuit is downgrading and getting a pro-rated refund. I downgraded and got $120.
Yes, that is true, but I might not be able to upgrade back to the US Bank Altitude Reserve if transfer partners actually get released.
I got 5,000 pts as an initial apology with a promise of more points if there were further delays so gonna need to go try and collect on that.
I think I only got 1,000 points as a retention offer. I normally get 5,000 points.
Lmao. Y’all think everything is a “class action lawsuit“. Meanwhile, you let your employers routinely literally get away with homicide.
Transfer partners was the lone bright spot in the AR benefits nerf last winter and now that’s gone and done. Seems honestly like a blessing in disguise that my annual fee hit two days after the nerf; made it a lot easier to just make a clean break.
Gonna take a wild guess that they were banking on KE making or breaking their program and that they couldn’t make a deal with KE. So rather than launch a nothing, also-ran to a deprecated card, they’re maybe just shelving it or reworking it for the future.
I wouldn’t mind if they decided to nix the transfer idea. (I wouldn’t like it either….) I feel the lame thing is they have said nothing. Leaving ur customers hanging seems so disrespectful and disingenuous. Just say something. Very disappointed. I’m too sitting on many AR points. Sigh.
Curious what the economics look like for newer programs looking to offer transferrable currencies. Obviously, loyalty programs have some interest in partnering with newer entrants like Rove, Mesa (RIP), and Bilt from a few years ago. So why not with an established financial institution like US Bank?
I think this all lays with US Bank. They have never wanted to be competitive in the credit card space. Constant nerfs to their products and not a good lineup to begin with. Never thought I would see the day that Wells Fargo eclipsed them but here we are!
the difference is rove, mesa, bilt etc are actually trying to gain market share and thus are willing to pay for points. US Bank does not care. They just want to float along and coast
Hate to break the news to you about Mesa.