The U.S Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card offers 5% cash back on your first $2,000 in combined spending on two categories you choose each quarter. When paired with other rewards cards, the Cash+ can increase the total rewards you earn in its bonus categories. Here’s what you need to know.
U.S Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card at a glance
Annual fee: $0
Foreign transaction fee: 3% of each foreign transaction
All information about the U.S Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card has been collected independently by cardsandpoints.com.
The U.S. Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card offers 5% cash back on up to $2,000 in combined purchases each quarter in two categories you choose, plus additional cash back in one everyday category, with no annual fee.
Sign-up bonus
Best sign-up bonus: Earn a $250 rewards bonus after you spend $1,000 in eligible purchases within the first 90 days of account opening.
Learn how to apply.
This bonus is earned as cash back credited to your rewards balance.
Rewards
- 5% cash back in two categories you choose each quarter
on your first $2,000 in combined eligible purchases.
Eligible categories include fast food; home utilities; TV, internet, and streaming; department stores; cell phone providers; electronic stores; sporting good stores; gyms/fitness centers; ground transportation; movie theaters; furniture stores; and select clothing stores. - 2% cash back on one everyday category you choose each quarter
Eligible categories include grocery stores and gas stations and EV charging stations. - 1% cash back on all other eligible purchases.
Rewards are earned as cash back and can be redeemed for full value as a statement credit, or a direct deposit into your U.S. Bank checking or savings account.
Benefits
The U.S Bank Cash+® Visa Signature® Card offers a very limited set of benefits.
Travel insurance benefits
- Travel and Emergency Assistance Services.
- Roadside Dispatch.
U.S Bank Cash+ Review
Cards and Points Rating: 4.0/5.0
Read more about our star ratings.
The U.S. Bank Cash+ card’s headline feature, 5% cash back (on up to $2,000 of spending each quarter) in two categories you choose, is actually really useful. Sure, the Chase Freedom Flex and Discover It cards offer 5% cash back in rotating categories, but with the Cash+, you get to choose your categories. This makes it similar to the Citi Custom Cash—and since you can choose your 5% category, you can get value year-round.
This makes the card a great choice to pair with your other rewards cards, to use specifically in the Cash+ card’s 5% bonus categories, which are relatively uncommon among rewards cards. Home utilities, TV/internet/streaming, or cell phone service are categories where you’re probably not getting bonus rewards on your other cards.
And if you find your spending patterns changing, you can change your 5% bonus categories each quarter if you want.
Outside of the 5% categories, the card doesn’t really deliver significant value. You’ll get 2% cash back in one of the card’s “everyday” categories—or you could get 2% cash back everywhere with a 2% cash back credit card.
The card’s general lack of benefits are also a disappointment, but for many of the categories where you’re actually earning 5% rewards, those benefits aren’t going to matter.
While we wouldn’t recommend the Cash+ as a card to use as a single card to use everywhere, it can meaningfully increase the rewards you earn in the categories where it earns 5% rewards when paired with other rewards cards.
Likes
- 5% cash back on up to $2,000 spent each quarter in categories you choose.
- Unique and useful bonus categories.
- No annual fee.
Dislikes
- Limited benefits.
- Rewards expire after 36 months.
- Grocery, gas, and restaurant rewards aren’t terribly compelling.
My take: I’ve become much more of a fan of this card
Aaron Hurd
Executive Editor of Cards and Points
My post about the best cards to use for streaming forced me to take a second look at the U.S. Bank Cash+ card and I’m glad I did because my view of this card has changed significantly.
Previously I was pretty dismissive of this card because, frankly its 5% categories didn’t excite me. I mean, I can’t imagine spending almost $700 a month on fast food or movie theaters. And earning only 2% cash back on groceries, restaurants and gas stations isn’t terribly exciting when you can earn 2% cash back everywhere with any number of no-annual fee cards.
But the card does have some compelling 5% categories that match up with the monthly bills that a lot of people do spend a lot of money on. Many people spend a ton on home utilities, TV/internet/streaming, and cell phone plans… and getting 5% cash back on these purchases can meaningfully increase the amount of rewards that you earn.
I also undervalued how unique the combination of 5% bonus categories are on the Cash+. Home utilities, sporting goods stores, electronics stores, and furniture stores are pretty uncommon bonus categories and having a card that can more than double the earnings that you’re probably getting on these purchases is great.
The Cash+ isn’t currently in my wallet, but I’m thinking of adding it—the card is much more compelling than I previously believed.
Maximizing the Cash+ card’s rewards
In our view, the best way to maximize the Cash+ card’s rewards is to use the card for purchases in the card’s 5% category and nothing else. The card is particularly good for expected, recurring monthly expenses like home utilities, TV, internet, streaming, and cell phone bills. Here are our thoughts on a few specific rewards categories.
TV, internet, and streaming
If you have a card that offers a credit for specific streaming services, or the Blue Cash Preferred, those cards are better choices for your streaming subscriptions. Outside of those cards, the Cash+ is one of the best cards to use for streaming services. And since internet service is included in this category, you’re getting 5% on two sizable monthly bills with one category choice.
Home utilities
Not many cards offer bonus rewards for home utilities, so getting 5% cash back with the Cash+ is a great deal, provided you can put your utility bills on a credit card for no (or a reasonable) fee. While some rotating 5% cards offer occasional quarterly bonuses in this category, we like putting these expenses on the Cash+ because it’s a pain to change your payment card on your monthly utilties.
Cell phone
Getting 5% cash back on your cell phone bill is nice, but in many cases putting your monthly cell phone bill on a card that offers a cell phone protection benefit is worth the rewards tradeoff. (The Cash+ doesn’t offer this benefit.)
Retail categories
The Cash+ offers a handful of retail categories within its 5% category choices. But those probably aren’t the best use of this card. Aside from being relatively inconsistent spending categories for many, often benefits like extended warranty and purchase protection are more important for these purchases.
Rewards: Cash back in bonus categories
The U.S. Bank Cash Plus card awards 5% cash back on up to $2,000 of combined eligible purchases in categories you select each quarter, plus unlimited 2% cash back in the everyday category you choose. General purchases and purchases on 5% bonus categories over the $2,000 limit earn 1% cash back.
You can redeem your cash back rewards as a statement credit, a deposit to an eligible U.S. Bank savings, checking or money market account, or as a U.S. Bank rewards card. Cash back redemptions have a $25 minimum. Be sure to redeem your U.S. Bank cash rewards. Cash back rewards expire 36 months after you earn them.
5% cash back categories
Each quarter, you can select two categories in which you will earn 5% cash back on up to $2,000 in spending. The U.S. Bank Cash Plus lets you pick from a wide variety of categories. Here are all of the current options:
- Fast Food
- Home utilities
- TV, internet and streaming
- Department stores
- Cell phone
- Electronics stores
- Sporting goods stores
- Gyms/fitness centers
- Ground transportation
- Movie theaters
- Furniture
- Select clothing stores
2% cash back categories
In addition to the 5% cash back categories, the U.S. Bank Cash+ card offers unlimited 2% cash back in one “everyday” category that you choose. You must enroll in your 2% category every quarter. Here are the options:
- Grocery stores and grocery delivery
- Restaurants
- + Gas stations and EV charging stations
Should you keep the U.S. Bank Cash+ after the first year?
The reason to get the U.S. Bank Cash+ card is for its 5% categories and that value proposition doesn’t change much year-to-year. If you completely maximize the 5% cash back categories each year, you can earn $400 cash back each year on the card.
Because the card carries no annual fee, as long as you are getting some value out of the 5% cash back categories, it’s probably a good call to keep the card open.
