Update 8/1/25: All of the changes discussed below have been confirmed and are now displayed by US Bank online. We still haven’t heard any further details about the coming transfer partners, so there’s reason to hold off final judgment. However, taken alone, the changes to redemption values and the travel credit are brutal.
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Doctor of Credit has reported on an image we have also seen in our Facebook group of a letter that has apparently been sent to U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve cardholders, indicating major changes coming to the card in December 2025. To my knowledge, none of the members of the Frequent Miler team have received this letter (several of us have the card), but assuming it is legitimate, it looks like the Altitude Reserve will see a slew of major changes coming in December.
U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve December 2025 changes at a high level
Here’s a high-level summary of the most important changes listed, which are all scheduled to take effect on December 15, 2025, according to the letter:
- 3x Mobile Wallet purchases capped at $5,000 per month (then 1x). This is a change from uncapped 3x mobile wallet earnings (when paying via mobile payment methods like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Samsung Pay)
- $325 travel and dining credit changed to $325 credit for travel booked through US Bank Travel Center
- Redemption value dropped to $0.01 per point for travel or deposit to a US Bank checking account (or less for other redemptions). That’s a 33% devaluation from the current value of 1.5c per point for travel redemptions through US Bank Travel Center or Real-time mobile rewards.
- Transfer points to other airline and hotel loyalty programs. No details are given as to which programs or transfer ratios
- Earn 10x on hotels and car rentals & 5x on flights booked through US Bank Travel Center
Again, note that the above changes are all slated to take effect on December 15, 2025, according to the letter being circulated.
Quick Take
My immediate reaction to these changes is very mixed. I expect that many cardholders will have a knee-jerk reaction to a set of major changes to a widely beloved card, and I don’t disagree with feelings of disappointment overall. It’s certainly a bummer to see a cap on mobile wallet earnings, and the 33% devaluation on redemptions is a massive hit that may prove to be a nail in the coffin for many cardholders. That said….
- I think the $5K/mo cap on mobile wallet will be reasonable for most folks. I know there are people who have been exceptions to this, but I bet a lot of cardholders were already under this cap. I could still see this being the perfect card for my wife now that I have finally gotten her used to using tap to pay. Whether she’s picking up groceries at a wholesale club, paying for a car repair at the shop, getting a massage, or even paying at an actual supermarket or restaurant, she’d still be effectively getting 3x on all of her purchases without having to juggle multiple cards. If we maxed out our mobile wallet at 15,000 points per month, that’s 180,000 points per year — not a bad haul (though we probably won’t). And if we took a cruise or paid for a large hotel bill, we’d just have to remember to insert the card in the payment terminal to earn 3x on all travel still (without that cap).
- Transfer partners could be huge! I’m particularly excited about this and interested to see which transfer partners U.S. Bank might offer. If they offered 1:1 transfers to popular transfer partners, I’d still be pretty happen with 3x mobile wallet spend! The loss of 1.5cpp redemptions will sting, but it’ll sting less if we can get 3 transferable points per dollar spent on a wide range of purchases. But will they transfer 1:1, or will U.S. Bank make this wildly complicated? Will U.S. Bank bring Korean Skypass back into the fold for a transferable currency for the first time since Chase Ultimate Rewards ended its partnership with Skypass in 2018? Could U.S. Bank pull out a complete wild card partner like Amtrak? Probably not on the latter, but I’ll be excited to see what comes of the transfer partners.
- Redemption value decrease to $0.01 per point is devastating. The best thing about U.S. Bank’s program has been the ability to use Real-time Mobile Rewards to erase travel purchases at a value of 1.5c per point. That has made it possible to pay for travel directly with travel providers, repeating the full benefit of that, but redeem at 1.5c per point. The drop to 1c per point is a massive, massive loss. The flip side of this is that the system has been buggy. We’ve kept a resource of what works, but over the past couple of months, I’ve had multiple purchases that clearly should have been eligible (like Marriott properties in the US) that have failed to trigger any text message, leaving me to pay the full cash rate when I wanted to use my points (that stung on one prepaid rate I booked specifically because I thought I’d erase with points). If you had given me a choice to keep Real-time mobile rewards or get a really good set of transfer partners, it might have been a toss-up for me. But I’m sure that many folks would have gladly kept 1.5c per point via Real-time mobile rewards. There’s no doubt that this hurts.
- The change in automatic travel & dining credit to a US Bank Travel Center credit stinks. I never even thought about using this card’s annual $325 travel and dining credit. I just used this card to pay for stuff as I usually would, and I’ve earned the travel credit within weeks each time. Having to make the effort to book $325 in travel through the US Bank Travel Center will be really annoying. Given that I most often travel with a family of four, it probably won’t be hard for us to use this booking a single flight somewhere, but I hate that it won’t be automatic and will instead require effort. That said, I did recently book some JetBlue flights through the US Bank Travel Center, and I’m glad to report that the process was easy. The flights showed up in my JetBlue ap,p and I was even able to make changes via JetBlue without issue. I’m still not thrilled with the change, though.
In short, I don’t think these changes are the end for the Altitude Reserve card. In fact, I’m sure I’ll still keep the card if these changes come to pass, but I’ll shed a tear or two along with everyone else who will miss the simplicity of an uncapped 3x on mobile wallet combined with the chance to get 1.5c per point for travel redemptions. There’s no doubt that this card will be far less of a no-brainer for many than it has been for years. Here’s hoping that U.S. Bank surprises us with a terrific set of transfer partners.
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Now they just need to let us combine points between U.S. Bank cards, especially if they get transfer partners.
US Bank losing Altitude recently
One thing I haven’t seen this.past year was typical $75~100 in points/statement credits every year for using card on certain categories – this always completely offset the AF (PP visits or not) but I do wonder if the will relaunch the USB AR and if it will have a hugher AF – the old SUB was pretty decent if you could meet MSR at Costco or with 3X then it was worth ±62K/$930 in RTR.
Not lots of ways to earn lots of Pts.with USB AR moving forward.
The biggest variable will be Transfer partners and if the PP “lounge access ” is 8 * $28 F&B PP experinces or just watered down PP select.
BTH the PP Experiences at PDX post C19 have been devalued at Capers market (select to go items from a list – used to be everything) and Capers Café (I haven’t seen it since the remodel (but its listed). Now that PDX has the PP Escape lounge and we have access to Delta Sky club/United club 4X – the 8x * $28 are less important and valuable.
I am a huge fan of the Giant’s Clubhouse at SFO but we just haven’t been transiting SFO for domestic flights much the past three years (but we have have mostly had access to Polaris for Int’l) but Amex CL is now.closed for 18-24 months remodel.
Anecdotally I’ve still gotten a few of the 1000 or 1500 point offers for spending on utilities, internet, etc but no more than $50 worth. The double cash back on card linked offers has occasionally worked out well.
A downgrade to PP select would be a huge blow – that’s one of the few differentiators for this card anymore.
This is really unfortunate. I got this card last year and have really put it to good use. I did call the number on the back of the card, talked to a representative, and told them I was unhappy with these changes and I would appreciate them emailing their manager to let them know. My hope is that if enough people did the same thing we might be able to influence them not to make these changes.
Denial. Anger. Acceptance.
Accept US Bank for what it is as demonstrated by its actions over the past couple years.
And, move on.
So with the reduced redemption value, you need to spend $2500 just to break even on the net $75 annual fee. And it’s much harder to use. Unless the transfer partners are amazing, there’s no way I’m keeping it.
The breakeven is higher because you have to include opportunity cost of spend. It would be about $20k comparing 3% USBAR with BofA 2.62%
Its still a minimum 3 cents back on Apple Pay purchases (assuming you use points to get cash back) which is pretty good.
I agree. especially as a P2 card!
the travel portal $325 is a real bummer though, I guess I could use it for some cash flight I have to book when points redemptions are bad, but again, just another thing to keep track of.
I called US Bank this morning and they have NO details on who the transfer partners are or when they’ll be announced.
Im doin the math between mobile wallet spend vs. just using CitiDC for everything
I dont have the headspace for another travel portal credit…
Simple question: How much ***mobile-wallet*** spending do you have? What is the extra 1x over the Double Cash or Venture worth?
Otherwise, the card is a who-cares 3x travel and dining card. Get the Citi Premier or Amex Green.
Only MSers and OCD maximizers will care about this card.
“So, Professor … would you say it’s time for everyone to panic?”
“Yes I would, Kent.”
This just gets so sticky. The $325 credit now requires extra thought and hassle to redeem. If you don’t have to think about the $5000 limit then you’re really probably not maximizing the card value to justify the annual fee, and if you are in a position to maximize it you probably have to do special thinking to hit $5k and $5k only. At 1cpp, redemptions are only very marginally better than other cards and you have a $75 net af assuming you can use the $325 credit, so it’ll all come down to transfer partners.
I’m thinking BOA ecosystem is looking way better for big spenders
It’s been easy to justify the annual fee when they give 10k points retention offers pretty much every year for many of us making it a negative AF
So are they going to open up the card for new applications after these changes?
Mobile wallet is used almost everywhere in most european, asian and central/south american countries I have visited. It was a win-win situation with not having to pay foreign transaction fees(FTF) and get 4.5% on top of that. Was perfect P2 card as when in doubt always use MW with USBAR was my instructions. I can live with lost 0.5% when compared to 5% card. RTR was so easy to use as well… Alas too good to last… I am ok with limit per month as well as $325 credit change, but loss of 1.5cpp RTR is the killer blow. USB Smartly OG suddenly becomes the go-to card for everyday use from Dec but it has FTF… 🙁
Smartly card I am sure caused this huge downfall of USB credit cards this year, as it was just a big mistake releasing that card as USB underestimated the abuse customers can do with uncapped 4%. USBAR is a victim of USB Smartly disaster.
I am SUPER bummed about this (P2 thought someone died when she heard my audible reaction to the news), but let’s keep things in perspective. Those of us who have been in this hobby long enough know that this was never going to last.
On the flip side, let’s say a new card just came out that essentially gives 3% back everywhere and you don’t even have to hold 6 figures of assets with the bank. We would be ecstatic! And since the method to get 3% is niche enough, this could be sustainable in the long run. Toss in any good transfer partners, and we are doing even better. The potential downfall for me will be having to use the U.S. bank travel portal. I find the capital one portal to often be overpriced and difficult to use, so I will probably downgrade my venture x at renewal. If the U.S. bank portal is similar, that could be enough to make me reconsider the card but it’s most likely I’ll keep the card regardless of these changes.
The real-time redemptions was a good counterweight to transferrable points for when award redemptions aren’t possible.
I’m curious how long this card was around for? I only got it the week it was discontinued.
Fortunately, I managed to empty my point balance last week with a hotel RT redemption.
It launched May 1, 2017.
Ugh so many years of missed rewards. Should have followed FM sooner!