US Bank is not one of the big players in co-branded credit
cards. But they do offer one co-branded card that is a very good deal. The Club
Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card is the strongest card available
from US Bank.
Here is the skinny:
- 50k Club Carlson Gold points with your first purchase
- 35K Club Carlson Gold points after you spend $2500 within your first 90 days of opening
- $75 annual fee that is not waived
- 5X on all spending
- 40K bonus Gold points each year when you renew
And I have saved the best benefit for last. As a cardholder,
when you book award stays of 2+ nights, the last night of your stay is free. To
maximize this, you would make all of your bookings for two nights.
Below is the current Club Carlson award chart.
The bonus
night is also valid with premium rooms. After spending the $2500, you would
have another 12,500 gold points, for a total of 97.5K. Theoretically, a married
couple who both apply for and are approved for the Premier product would have
at their disposal 195K gold points. For this example, let’s say that the couple
spends another $1000 to round off their joint total to 200K points. This couple
could then book a series consecutive of four two-night stays at a Category 6
property. If you go to this link for category 6 properties, you will see a very
nice list of Radisson Blu’s in some great destinations. The list of the cities
reads like a top destinations of Europe travel show.
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Radisson Blu Edinburgh - Category 6 hotel
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If you do decide that you want to take advantage of this credit
card offer, I would recommend that this be one of your first applications. US
Bank does things differently from the other credit card banks. They do not pull
your credit from the big three. Instead they use a very small credit agency
that has a far stricter standard of credit. One additional caveat on this card
is that if you are not approved for the Premier product, you are automatically
applied for the lesser Platinum Rewards. It still gets you the 50K first
purchase bonus. But only gets you 10K bonus after your initial $1500 in
purchases.
