Club Carlson: Best. Devaluation. Ever.

By now you've probably heard about Club Carlson's March 15, 2014, devaluation. The short version:

• Introduction of a 7th category, which will cost 70,000 Gold Points per award night;
• Changes to the Silver and Gold elite earning bonuses;
• Premium room award nights (suites and such, I gather);
• Elimination of the online-booking bonus, except on a promotional basis;
• and finally, award nights will count towards elite status.

In the travel hacking community we're accustomed to thinking about loyalty programs as a chess match between hotels, who try to squeeze us as much as possible while not scaring off the business travelers who make up the bulk of their revenue, and those of us who seek to stay as many nights as possible while paying as little as possible.

And indeed, that's the approach most bloggers have taken to this devaluation:

• View From the Wing says "On net these changes are not good. You’ll earn fewer points, and it will take more points to redeem for many hotels.. especially their most expensive properties."
• The Points Guy says "All in all, though these changes are mostly disappointing, but not entirely surprising."
• One Mile at a Time says "These changes are no doubt negative on the whole."

I disagree completely. Of course I'm not thrilled that Club Carlson has changed elite earning and made me rework my beloved point density charts.

But allowing award nights to count towards elite status is the single most consumer-friendly thing any chain can do.

And it's good business.

Award stays are so lucrative at Club Carlson that, while everyone with one of their co-branded credit cards has Gold elite status, it has been unthinkable to achieve Concierge status since that has — to date — required 75 paid nights or 30 paid stays.

Now that award nights and stays count towards elite status, it changes the calculus for where to direct paid stays, as well. If you're a business traveler and travel hacker, before this change you might have redeemed Gold Points you earn with a Club Carlson credit card for award stays, but directed your paid stays towards Hyatt or Starwood in order to secure elite status with one of those chains. Now, one or two award stays per month gets you almost all the way to Concierge status, where you earn 75% more Gold Points on your paid stays and free breakfast on all stays. That might convince you to direct additional, paid, stays to Club Carlson properties as well.

That's why I'm inclined to not think of these changes as a devaluation, but as part of a realignment. Club Carlson is eagerly trying to position itself as an appealing brand for business travelers, especially in Europe where their properties are frequently in great downtown locations. Allowing award nights and stays to count towards elite status is going to drive a lot more business towards those properties since it puts Concierge status within reach for more casual travelers. And it's a brilliant move by Club Carlson.

Club Carlson Mega Points Promotion

Hat tip to Mommy Points and her reader who passed along the news that at a few Club Carlson properties, you can earn 10,000 bonus Gold Points per night when you make a reservation using the promo code "MEGAPT." Here's the list of participating properties:

• Radisson Martinique on Broadway
• Radisson JFK Airport
• Radisson Resort Orlando – Celebration
• Radisson Hotel Orlando – Lake Buena Vista
• Radisson Hotel Orlando – UCF Area
• Radisson Hotel Fisherman’s Wharf

Of course, I'm planning a trip to New York in March, and currently have 2 nights booked at the Radisson Martinique for a total of 50,000 Gold Points, but don't have my third night booked yet. This promotion has put me in a tough position. The way I see it, I have three options:

• Option 1: keep the 2 award nights, pay $228.42 after taxes for a "AAA Hot Deal" 20% off rate;
• Option 2: keep the 2 award nights, pay $307.59 after taxes for the "Mega Points Promotion" rate;
• Option 3: rebook all 3 nights, pay $1037.51 after taxes for the "Mega Points Promotion rate.

Deciding between Options 1 and 2 depends on my valuation of Club Carlson Gold Points. Are 10,000 Gold Points worth $79.17? Maybe, sometimes. But it takes more than "sometimes" to get me to spend $79 out of pocket (although I'll naturally redeem Barclaycard Arrival miles against the transaction later).

One of these options is not like the others though: why would I pay $1038 when I could pay $228 instead? Because of the other current Club Carlson promotion, which gives 38,000 Gold Points after 3 paid nights between January 6 and April 13, 2014.

By triggering that second promotion, I'd end up paying $810 for ~144,850 Gold Points (30,000 "Mega Points," 38,000 "Stay 3 Nights," and the 50,000 Gold Points I'm currently paying for the 2 nights, plus 30 Gold Points per dollar on my $895 room rate as a Gold elite), or 0.56 cents each. There's no denying that's a good rate to buy Gold Points at in bulk. It's almost enough for 6 free nights at a Category 6 property, as long as the nights are booked in blocks of 2, so conservatively $1,200 in value.

So, am I gonna do it? Of course not. The least valuable point is the one you don't spend, and I have 50,000 Gold Points burning a hole in my account. They're not going to get any more valuable by sitting on them.

My fellow travel hackers, we are the redemption we've been waiting for.

Check back tomorrow for my take on the Club Carlson "devaluation" (hint: I love it!).

How much would it cost to live in a hotel?

[Editor's note: as a reminder, I'll be blogging and tweeting all day today since I'm taking a 5 hour train to Philadelphia, then another train back tonight. Thank God for whiskey.]

I read a lot of "aspirational" travel blogs, but I personally take only a few aspirational trips per year. Last year over the summer I flew to Prague on Delta's new lie-flat BusinessElite product for 100,000 Skymiles (now 125,000 Skymiles), and of course over Christmas I flew on a paid Alaska Airlines first class ticket in order to secure one last year of Platinum Medallion status before I status match to Alaska's Mileage Plan.

For me, travel hacking is about saving money on flights I would take anyway, and making money by taking trips I wouldn't be able to otherwise afford.

That's why I've been following with interest Lucky's musings on hotel living. Lucky's an aspirational kind of guy, so he's talking about bouncing around the world's most beautiful locals being waited on hand and foot.

But he got me thinking: how much would it cost to live in a hotel year-round?

Club Carlson to the Rescue

Fortunately, this is wildly easy to calculate thanks to my lovingly-crafted point density charts. The obvious candidate for a hotel chain is Club Carlson, where Category 1 hotels cost just 9,000 Gold Points per night. Using a Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa or Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa, you'll need to spend $1,800 to earn enough points for a night at a Category 1 property.

Of course, as a cardholder, you receive the last night free on all award stays of 2 or more nights, good for up to 100 free nights annually. That means you'll need to spend $1,800 on the card for every 2 nights you plan to stay — assuming you're able to book stays of exactly 2 nights.

In order to do so, you'll need a partner who also carries a Club Carlson Premier or Business Rewards Visa. You'll book alternating blocks of 2 nights each, paying a total of 135,000 Gold Points per 30 days.

That means between you and your partner you'll need to manufacture $27,000 in spend on the Club Carlson credit card each month. [Yes, there's an annual renewal bonus of 40,000 Gold Points, which takes care of 8 nights for each person, or about half a month between the two.]

Getting to $27,000

This is an almost laughably easy amount of spend to manufacture between 2 people. Here's how I'd do it, in ascending order of cost and using strictly "within the lines" techniques:

• Amazon Payments, $1,000: one partner to the second partner; free.
• TD Go, $6,000: $3,000 per person; load cost $6; liquidation cost $4.20; total cost $10.20.
• Nationwide Visa Buxx, $2,000: $1,000 per person; load cost $8; liquidation cost $1.40; total cost $9.40.
• US Bank Visa Buxx, $2,000: one partner as parent, one as teen; load cost $10; liquidation cost $1.40; total cost $11.40.
• Bluebird, $10,000: 2 Bluebirds; load cost $79; free liquidation; total cost $79.
• PayPal, $6,000: 2 personal accounts with linked PayPal Personal Debit Cards; load cost $47.40; liquidation cost $4.20; total cost $51.60.
• Club Carlson Premier Rewards annual fees: $150 ($12.50 per month).

30 days in a Category 1 Club Carlson property, with accomplice: $174.10.

But Which Hotel?

Interesting exercise? Sure. But we still have to figure out which Category 1 Club Carlson property to move into!

Fortunately Club Carlson makes it easy to find properties by Category. Here's the list of all the Category 1 properties in the world we have to consider.

Home or Abroad?

The first question you should ask is whether you want to manufacture this spend on an ongoing basis, or stockpile 1.62 million Gold Points before you move in. On the one hand, the former gives you more flexibility if Club Carlson undergoes the long-awaited devaluation of their award chart. On the other hand, it requires you to pick a property that's convenient to your manufactured spend techniques, which rules out any overseas properties.

Since Gold Points reservations are easily cancelable, you don't actually have to decide this in advance, since you can move out after literally any 2-night reservation. A lot cheaper than breaking a lease, in my experience!

Stateside Options

I looked into all 10 US Category 1 properties [editor's note: it's a long train ride], and here's what I found:

• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Saraland, AL: CVS, Walmart
• Park Inn Fresno, Fresno, CA: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Jacksonville, FL: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, LaGrange, GA: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Norcross, GA: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites Greenfield, Greenfield, IN: CVS, Walmart
• Radisson Hotel Indianapolis Airport, Indianapolis, IN: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson Tulsa Central, Tulsa, OK: CVS, Walmart
• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, Cookeville, TN: CVS, Walmart
• Park Inn By Radisson Dallas Love Field, Dallas, TX: CVS, Walmart

So based on my research, I'd say these are all outstanding options, if you want a taste of Southern living (or airport-adjacent living).

Options Abroad

As they say, read the whole thing, but a few properties jumped out at me from the list of Category 1 properties.

5 Eastern European capitals:

• Park Inn Sofia (Bulgaria)
• Park Inn Central Tallinn (Estonia)
• Park Inn Budapest (Hungary)
• Radisson Blu Beke Hotel, Budapest (Hungary)
• Park Inn by Radisson Vilnius North (Lithuania)
• Park Inn Danube, Bratislava (Slovakia)

One beachfront-ish property:

• Radisson Hotel Hacienda (Cancun, Mexico)

And one place in Costa Rica. Island living!

• Country Inn & Suites By Carlson, San Jose (Ciudad Cariari, Costa Rica)

Now you know everything I know. See you in Cancun?

Travel bleg: where should I stay in New York City?

When I published my 2013 end-of-year report on my manufactured spend activity, one of the requests I got from some readers was for more information on how I spend my miles and points and not just how I earn them. I just booked a pretty involved itinerary for March that I'll be posting about once it's finalized, but I'm still struggling with the last piece of the puzzle: where should I stay in New York City?

I'm planning on a long weekend in the City, preferably from Thursday to Sunday, although Friday to Sunday is fine as well. Since I always keep a balance of Club Carlson Gold Points, I went ahead and booked a 2-night award stay at the Radisson Martinique on Broadway for 50,000 Gold Points, valuing that 2-night stay at $222, which seems like a good value for New York City. For comparison, the AAA rate would be $511.92 for the same stay.

To book the previous Thursday would cost another 50,000 Gold Points or $238, which I consider a push since the paid rate would also earn Gold Points.

My concern is that for some reason I have a bad impression of the Radisson Martinique. I've never stayed there, but whenever I read about it it's people saying things like:

"It’s such a so so hotel. There is no way for me to pay to stay there."

"I am not the biggest fan of this hotel...Truly NY-style matchbox size rooms."

So I'm curious if my readers have any great insights or little-known hacks for getting great values in Manhattan. I have all of my February statement cycles to go, so I could run up the score on my Chase Sapphire Preferred in order to transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt and stay at one of their properties for 20,000 or 25,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points, but it's tough to imagine that's going to be a better value than the Radisson Martinique.

Are there other properties or programs I should be looking at? Good best rate guarantee opportunities?

Connecting the dots: Chase Ink Visas back on top

[update 2/6/14: please see my post on Upromise Investments]

I mentioned a few months ago that I was planning to finally get a Chase Ink Bold card, which would allow me to earn bonus points at local convenience store locations categorized by Visa as gas stations.

Ultimately that plan was short-circuited in my impromptu January application cycle, when I jumped on a 100,000 Avios offer from the Chase British Airways Visa card.

I've had a tortured relationship with the Chase Ink Bold card: in principle, its earning rate at gas stations (2 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) and office supply stores (5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar) should make it one of the most lucrative cards available. In practice, every time I think I have a new source of gas station reload cards and gift cards, it's slammed shut by a register re-coding or employee re-training.

Meanwhile, while $200 Visa gift cards from office supply stores, with an activation fee of $6.95, allow you to buy Ultimate Rewards points at a cost of 0.67 cents each, liquidating those cards has traditionally required either using up valuable Bluebird reload space or buying inefficiently small money orders and bill payments.

Finally, since the United devaluation it's become increasing difficult to value Ultimate Rewards points at the 1.89 cents necessary to justify buying them for 0.67 cents each when you can buy Barclaycard Arrival miles, worth 1.11 cents, for just 0.39 cents each. (Explanation: 1.89 / 1.11 = 0.67 / 0.39).

Events have conspired to change that calculation, and again make the Chase Ink Bold Visa one of the most unimaginably lucrative cards on the market today.

Visa Savings Edge

Visa Savings Edge is a program that allows you to earn cash back in the form of statement credits on your account whenever you make eligible purchases at participating merchants. As Frequent Miler pointed out yesterday, Staples is one of those participating merchants. The offer reads:

Save 1% when you make a qualifying purchase of $200 or more with your enrolled Visa Business card in store or on staples.com. Save on thousands of products for your small business at Staples. From coffee to cleaning supplies and technology to business services, you’ll find everything you need to keep your business running. Now get 1% back via statement credit on all purchases at Staples® when you use your enrolled Visa® Business Card.

That means a $200 Visa gift card, rather than costing $6.95, will cost just $4.88, bringing the break-even value of Ultimate Rewards points down to 1.35.

Plink

Of course, as I mentioned yesterday in my trip report, Staples also participates in Plink, allowing you to earn $3 in Amazon credit every time you spend $60 or more at Staples. If you consider Amazon credit "as good as cash," you'll end up paying just $1.88 each time you buy a $200 Visa gift card – just 0.18 cents per Ultimate Reward point (up to 10 purchases per 30 days, per the terms of the Plink offer).

Liquidate Using Evolve Money

Finally, the last concern above, that liquidating $200 Visa gift cards is awkward, inefficient, and impractical, has been put to rest by the vast liquidation capacity of Evolve Money. If you take advantage only of the most lucrative version of this deal, combining both Visa Savings Edge and Plink, you'll have just $2,000 in gift cards to liquidate every 30 days. Since Evolve Money has plenty of legitimate payees, like utilities, insurance companies, phone companies, etc., $2,000 seems like an eminently reasonable amount to push through each month – especially when buying those gift cards is this unbelievably lucrative.

Honorable Mention: Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa

While the card itself doesn't bonus office supply store purchases, the Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa does earn 5 Club Carlson Gold Points on all purchases, which I've argued can in some cases be worth up to 1 cent each. The card can likewise be registered through Visa Savings Edge and through Plink, allowing you to pay the same 0.18 cents per point as with the Chase Ink cards.

Do this now: Club Carlson first quarter promotion

Between January 6 and April 13, 2014, you can earn 38,000 Club Carlson Gold Points after completing 3 paid (not Points + Cash) nights at any Club Carlson properties worldwide. You can only earn the bonus once.

While this is a lucrative promotion (as Frequent Miler shows here), I strongly doubt I'll participate, since I can manufacture 53,000 Club Carlson points for $83 (by buying 21 Vanilla Reload Network reload cards), rather than the $180 Frequent Miler moots in his post. But if you have some upcoming paid Club Carlson stays anyway, this is a very generous bonus.

Register now, before you forget.

Are Club Carlson points worth 1 cent each? Sometimes.

I've been fortunate enough this year to be able to more or less sit out the signup bonus carousel. Sure, I applied for a few new cards in April when I had some upcoming travel needs, but besides my 2% cash back Fidelity American Express and 2.22% travel rewards Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard, I've been focusing on getting the most out of my 5% cash back Citi ThankYou Preferred card. Now that I'm in the home stretch of my promotional period, my thoughts have naturally turned towards finding a new "workhorse" card for next year: a card which earns points or miles that are more valuable than the average of 2.1% cash back I earn with the cards I mentioned above.

One obvious choice is the Citizen's Bank 5% cash back offer, which lasts for the first 90 days of card membership. I happen to have a Citizen's Bank checking account where I receive some direct deposits, which hopefully would weigh favorably in their calculation of my credit limit, so it's certainly possible I could earn $2000-$3000 in cash during the promotional period.

There's a long thread on the FlyerTalk forums about the Wells Fargo version of this offer, which lasts for 6 months instead of 90 days. Unfortunately, those applying without a Wells Fargo checking account have found themselves with credit limits so low that it's difficult to imagine getting much value from the card.

On the other hand, I already have a Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa that gives me 5 Gold points per dollar spent on all purchases and – crucially – the last night free on award reservations of 2 or more nights. Thanks to that "last night free" benefit, the conventional wisdom is that the points are best used on award stays of exactly two nights. That's all well and good as far as it goes (I spent 2 nights at the Radisson Blu Aqua in Chicago in November, which cost me around $75 thanks to this card), but it's also fairly restrictive: sometimes you want to stay in a city for more than 2 nights, sometimes you don't want to move between properties every 2 nights, and some cities only have 1 Club Carlson property in the first place.

That being the case, I thought it would be useful to do a speculative analysis of the value of a Club Carlson point across various hotel categories and lengths of stay. I might have my next workhorse card in my pocket already!

Before I share the results, a couple of quick points:

• I assumed that you can manufacture spend at an average of 0.75 cents per dollar. If that's low for you (for example, if you primarily use MyVanilla Debit cards you might be paying somewhat more for that portion of your spend) then this analysis would have to be adjusted slightly;
• There's no easy method of selecting a value to use for a single hotel night. Price is almost always misleading, since there are hotels so expensive that you'd never pay to stay there (and hotels too horrible to pay any price for). I picked what seems to me a sensible compromise: the most I could ever conceive of paying for a hotel room is $250, and the least is $60, so I applied a linear regression between those numbers for a "hypothetical value" of one night at each category of Club Carlson property. This method isn't perfect and there's no substitute for researching the actual properties you want to stay at.

Here's what I came up with:

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This follows the pattern you'd expect: when you stay 1 night at any property, you don't get to take advantage of the "last night free" benefit, so your value per point is just the hypothetical value divided by that category's point cost. Then your value per point is maximized when you stay exactly 2 nights, since that serve as a 50% discount on the cost per night. Finally, the more nights you stay, the less your free night decreases your average value, until it is just a 16% bonus on your points' value when you stay 7 nights.

As I mentioned, this analysis is very sensitive to assumptions, especially our assumptions about the value of a free night, so I want to suggest an alternative approach: at what hypothetical value per night is a dollar spent on the Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa worth less than a dollar spent on the Barclaycard 2.22% cash back Arrival World MasterCard? Since the Club Carlson Visa earns 5 Gold Points per dollar, we'll need to get less than 0.444 cents in value per point to justify using the Barclaycard instead. Here are those "break-even values:"

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Strictly for the sake of comparison, here are some midweek refundable (AAA) rates at Category 5 and 6 Club Carlson properties I pulled up, including tax (since taxes and fees are included on award redemptions):

• Radisson Blu Aqua Chicago, mid-February, Category 6: $207.88
• Radisson Blu Alcron Hotel, Prague, mid-March, Category 5: $123.61
• Radisson Blu Hotel Champs Elysees, Paris, mid-April, Category 6: $524.42
• The May Fair, London, mid-May, Category 6: $596.31
• Radisson Martinique on Broadway, New York City, mid-June, Category 6: $292

This analysis has its limitations of course: you need to know in advance that you're traveling to cities with Club Carlson properties, for example, and the properties have to be convenient to the part of city you intend to visit. That's far from always the case. However, I know of no other card that offers such consistent value above that earned by a cash back card. To put it another way, while you may get more than 2.22 cents per value out of your United miles, you only get that value when you redeem for last minute domestic travel or premium-cabin international trips. A dollar spent on a Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa, on the other hand, is worth over 2.22 cents on stays of virtually any length at virtually any Club Carlson property.

Anatomy of an Award Trip: Acela to Philadelphia

I've mentioned before that Amtrak has some remarkably lucrative award redemptions. Since flexible Ultimate Rewards points transfer instantly into any Amtrak Guest Rewards account, this is a great way to get value out of Ultimate Rewards points. I recently used Ultimate Rewards points to book a short vacation next weekend, taking Amtrak down to Philadelphia. Now that I finally have all my reservations booked, here's a breakdown of all the rewards components.

Getting there: Acela First Class

 I've been living on the East Coast fo a year, but still haven't ridden on one of Amtrak's Acela high speed trains, so I decided to take Acela First Class to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. A business class redemption costs 8,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points, and a first class tickets costs 12,000 AGR points, and there are no additional taxes or fees.

If you're interested in riding on Acela, keep in mind their very strict blackout policy: 

On Acela service, weekday travel origination may not occur from any boarding point between start-of-service and 8:59 a.m. inclusive, or between 2:00 p.m. and 5:59 p.m. inclusive (weekend Acela travel is permitted at any time except on any weekend dates defined below). Select Plus and Select Executive members may redeem for travel during blackout dates by using our "rule buster" awards, but Acela blackout times still apply.

The key element here is that blackout times are determined by scheduled boarding time. So an award ticket boarding Acela Express 2167 in Boston at 1:15 PM is legal, while an award ticket boarding the same train at 5:00 PM at New York Penn Station is not.

I'm thrilled to be taking Acela for the first time, and I'll report back here on the experience. 

Total cost: 12,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points (transferred instantly from Ultimate Rewards). Total value: $259. Value per point: 2.16 cents.

Staying There: Radisson Plaza-Warwick Hotel Philadelphia

For my stay in Philadelphia I used the "last night free" feature of the Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa to book two nights for the price of one: 44,000 Gold Points. 

This hotel is located just a block off the central Rittenhouse Square, where I used to live in Philadelphia. It's walking distance from the train station and all the downtown tourist attractions, shops, restaurants, and sites I'll be visiting while I'm in town. 

I'm a little concerned by the "hotel alert" on Club Carlson's website: 

RENOVATION IS TAKING PLACE WITHIN THE HOTEL. ALL AVAILABLE GUEST ROOMS HAVE BEEN FULLY RENOVATED URBAN ROOM PRODUCT IN ALL GUEST ROOMS WITH REFRIGERATORS NO WORK PERFORMED B/F 9AM OR AFTER 4PM. NO WORK ON WEEKENDS.

They claim there won't be construction on the weekends, so hopefully that means I won't be woken up early by men at work!

Total cost: 44,000 Club Carlson Gold Points. Total value: $435.46. Value per point: 0.99 cents.  This is a really remarkable value, especially considering that the card earns 5 Gold Points per dollar on all purchases!

Getting back: Amtrak Northeast Regional

I decided against spending another 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points to take Acela First Class back from Philadelphia, and instead booked a simple coach class Northeast Regional ticket for 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. As always, there are no additional taxes or fees on Amtrak redemptions.

Total cost: 4,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points. Total value: $164. Value per point: 4.1 cents.

Do this now: Club Carlson's summer promotion

Registration is now open for Club Carlson's summer promotion. ​Between May 13 and July 21, 2013, you'll earn 10,000 bonus Club Carlson Gold Points for each paid stay of 2 or more nights at Club Carlson properties. Unfortunately Cash + Points stays are not eligible for the bonus.

You need to register for the promotion before you check out during your first eligible stay, which you can do here.​

Update to the website: current hotel promotions all in one place

As you can see, in the top right navigation bar I've now added a simple page listing all the current hotel promotions that I'm aware of and registration links for each one. This is a handy way to keep track of all quarterly and seasonal hotel promotions, which typically have different start and end dates, and to make sure you're registered for all of them, which is free and easy. Check it out, and be sure to let me know if I'm missing a promotion or if there are other hotel chains you'd like me to keep track of.

Obviously I'll continue to post to the blog when registration opens for seasonal promotions, reminding you to register now, before you forget!​

Advanced churning techniques: applying for US Bank credit cards

Today's post is relevant to readers who are interested in applying for US Bank credit cards.​ There are many reports that US Bank credit cards (like the lucrative co-branded Club Carlson cards) are among the hardest to be approved for if you have a long history of frequent credit card applications.  One reason is that in addition to the traditional credit bureaus (Equifax, Transunion, and Experian), US Bank also apparently uses two non-traditional credit reporting agencies: IDA, Inc. and Advanced Resolution Services (ARS). These agencies take take into account additional factors that the bigger bureaus don't consider.

The workaround for this problem is to put a "security freeze" on your IDA and ARS credit reports, which can be done with a simple letter.​

IDA Security Freezes

To freeze my IDA report, I sent the following letter by certified mail​ to:

IDA, Inc, Consumer Assistance Center
P.O. Box 503793
San Diego, CA 92150-2833

Security Freeze Request Letter

Dear Sir or Madam:

Please freeze my ID Analytics (IDA, Inc.) consumer report, which discloses all of the
information in your files associated with my Social Security number.

1. IDENTITY INFORMATION
A. FULL LEGAL NAME
FREE-QUENT FLYER

B. STREET ADDRESS, CITY, STATE, AND ZIP CODE
STREET, APT
CITY, STATE ZIP CODE

C. DATE OF BIRTH
MONTH DAY, YEAR

D. SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
123-45-6789

E. PRIMARY PHONE NUMBER
(123) 555-0220

2. IDENTITY VERIFICATION DOCUMENTS [any two of the following documents, "with all identity elements matching the information provided in step 1." I used copies of a utility bill and my US passport]

A. COPY OF A STATE-ISSUED DRIVER'S LICENSE OR STATE-ISSUED ID CARD
B. COPY OF A UTILITY BILL DATED WITHIN THE LAST 60 DAYS
C. COPY OF A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER CARD
D. COPY OF A BIRTH CERTIFICATE
E. COPY OF A U.S. PASSPORT (PICTURE PAGE ONLY)
F. COPY OF A VOIDED CONSUMER CHECK
G. COPY OF AN ALIEN REGISTRATION CARD

Mailed by certified mail MONTH DAY, YEAR.

Regards,
Free-quent Flyer
MONTH DAY, YEAR

The first time I sent the letter, IDA mailed me back a letter saying that my state required security freeze requests be made by certified mail. This is not ​true (since ARS does not require security freeze requests to be made by certified mail), but it is what IDA requires, so it's best to send your request by certified mail the first time.

ARS Security Freezes

To put a security freeze on my ​ARS report, I sent the following letter by first class mail to [edit 5/21/13: however see comments for ARS's new mailing address]:

Advanced Resolution Services, Inc.
6111 Oak Tree Blvd., Suite 400
Independence, OH 44131

Dear Sir or Madam:

Please freeze my Advanced Resolution Services (ARS) consumer report, which discloses all of the
information in your files associated with my Social Security number.

Personal identification information:

NAME: FREE-QUENT FLYER
SSN: 123-45-6789
ADDRESS1: STREET, APT
ADDRESS2: CITY, STATE ZIP CODE
PHONE: (123) 555-0220

Proof of Identity (Choose one, and check the box for the document you selected.)

[ ] Driver's license
[ ] Passport
[ ] Utility bill
[ ] Social Security card
[ ] Medicare Health Insurance Card
[ ] Social Security Verification letter (Third Party Disclosure signed and dated by your local Social SEcurity Administration office)

Regards,
Free-quent Flyer
MONTH DAY, YEAR

Results

As I mentioned earlier in the week, after freezing my IDA and ARS reports I was instantly approved online for the US Bank Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa.  It's impossible to know whether I would have been approved even if I hadn't frozen these two credit reports.  All I can say is, it worked for me!