US Bank Radisson (Formerly Club Carlson) Premier Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card Review
2022.4 Update: This card is now discontinued, and existing cards will be automatically converted to US Bank Altitude Go in May 2022.
2019.4 Update: There’s a 120k offer now!
Contents
Application Link
Benefits
- 120k offer: earn 120,000 Radisson points after spending $3,000 within the first 90 days. This is the recent best offer.
- We value Radisson points at 0.4 cents/point (See Hotel Points Value), so the 120k highest sign-up bonus worth about $480. Click here to see how many points are required for a free night.
- Earn 10 points per $1 spent at participating Radisson hotels, 5 points per $1 spent on other purchases.
- Earn 40,000 points each year when you renew your card, which worth about $160.
- Earn one free night when you spend $10,000 and renew your card each year.
- Complimentary Radisson Gold Elite status.
Disadvantages
- $75 annual fees, NOT waived for the first year.
- There are not many Radisson hotels in the U.S. compared to Europe.
- It has foreign transaction fee, so it's not a good choice outside the US.
- If you are approved but not qualified for the Visa Signature card (at least $5,000 credit limit), you will be automatically downgraded to the lower annual fee version, which has worse rewards and sign-up bonus, and it’s pretty much useless.
Recommended Application Time
- We recommend you apply for this card after you have a credit history of at least two years and you are very comfortable with the credit card game.
Summary
For those who stay a lot in Radisson hotels, or could make use of the anniversary bonus, this card is still worth keeping. Except for the devaluation of Radisson points, this card still has two drawbacks: First, there are not many Radisson hotels in the U.S., so make sure you can indeed use the points before applying for this card. Second, it’s difficult to get this card without being downgraded, and sometimes you don’t even know you’re downgraded if you don’t get an instant approval. So we don’t recommend this card to beginners.
Related Credit Cards
- US Bank Radisson Visa
- US Bank Radisson Visa Signature (Discontinued)
- US Bank Radisson Premier Visa Signature (this post)
Note that these are different products. They don’t affect each other’s sign-up bonus.