How does US Bank go from pumping up transferrable points to radio silence to quietly acting like it never happened? Sadly, like this.

US Bank flirted with transferrable points in 2025

Let’s go back to a simpler time: August 2025. It was a time when banks were eager to still pump out points like crazy. But there were also signs of slowdown. Chase had just implemented its version of “pop-up jail” where they could deny customers a sign-up bonus if there was something they didn’t like in its review of a credit card application. American Express and Chase were also in competition for who could raise annual fees more. And then here comes US Bank out of left field announcing an interest in transferrable points.

The play for US Bank was leveraging its Altitude Reserve card, a $400 annual fee card. Initial partners weren’t announced, but there was a promise of transferring your US Bank points to both airline and hotel partners. I was hoping this would allow transferring to Korean Air miles as US Bank issues the Korean Air credit card. No transferrable points program in the US sends points over to Korean Air since Chase dropped it in 2018.

The announcement was met with some curiosity but also optimism. Having another program and another way to earn points is never a bad thing, especially if it has some unique partners.

Slowly, all material related to the announcement is quietly disappearing

The first evidence of some issues with the US Bank transferrable points program flirtation was in December 2025. The Altitude Reserve card dropped some pretty significant features, nerfing the usefulness of the card:

• The 3X mobile wallet category was capped at $5,000 spend/month (was uncapped)
• The $325 travel and dining credit changed to a $325 travel credit that could only be used at their travel portal
• Redemptions were once 1.5 cents/point towards travel but points devalued to just 1 cent each toward travel or deposited into a US Bank checking account

When these major changes were made, you’d expect some update on the transferrable points side to go along with it. After all, some good news to go in with the bad news would help calm fears, but there was no update. Radio silence on everything related to the possibility of transferring your points out. On top of that, no one could even apply for the Altitude Reserve card. It’s just a card that really only helps those who already had it, and now the benefits are worse than before.

Now, Doctor of Credit reports that all the banners are gone that used to once promote points transfers. Whatever idea that happened in August 2025 seems to be long gone at this point. We’re no longer expecting anything from US Bank related to transferrable points.

US Bank appears unsure of what to do with its Altitude cards

Can we just say for a moment that US Bank seems to be a bit confused with its own credit card products?

Even before this announcement, it wasn’t quite clear they knew what to do with their Altitude line of credit cards. They had the Altitude Reserve, then introduced the Altitude Go and Altitude Connect credit cards. Sounds nice to build out a portfolio, but the points from the Go and Connect cards couldn’t mix with the Reserve. But the points from the Altitude Go could mix with the Altitude Connect, and vice versa. Seems strange to have products developed with the same “Altitude” name not all treated as one family.

And that’s it. US Bank developed a points currency with the Altitude Reserve, followed it up with two no annual fee credit cards in the Go and Connect, and has nothing else that earns points in its environment. The rest of US Bank’s cards that aren’t a co-brand are cash back cards. That’s not to say there’s nothing good about a cash back card. In fact, some of US Bank’s cards are among the best options to use at Costco.

What US Bank needs is a card with an annual fee around $95 to $150 under the Altitude name that offers some travel protections and compliments its existing cards. That would better tie together the cards, but the big bogey then would be the transferrable points piece. They’ve announced it and then eschewed it. Running it properly will take a commitment from them to manage it, but it sure seems like it’s a moneymaker from how many other banks are doing it.

Suggested reading:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred Losing 10% Anniversary Bonus Perk and What It Means Big Picture
• The Complete Guide to Maximizing Bilt Points
• Rove is on a Roll: Adding JAL and SAS Makes Program Attractive