U.S. Bank is quietly the fourth Tier 1 issuer — they waive annual fees under both SCRA and MLA, same as Amex, Chase, and Citi. Nobody talks about them because U.S. Bank doesn’t market their military program with the same volume.

The Altitude Reserve is $400/yr for civilians and $0 for active-duty holders. It’s one of the best per-dollar unlocks in the waivable card universe.

What makes the Altitude Reserve interesting

  • 3x points on travel and mobile wallet purchases (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay). Real-world mobile-wallet multiplier — most cards cap at 2x.
  • Points redeem at 1.5¢ each toward travel through U.S. Bank’s portal, so 3x mobile wallet effectively yields 4.5% back on anything you can tap-to-pay.
  • $325 travel credit annually — easier to use than Amex’s $300 credit because it triggers on any travel category, not just airfare incidentals.
  • Priority Pass Select (4 free visits, then $35/visit — less generous than Chase’s unlimited).
  • No foreign transaction fees.

For an active-duty household that uses Apple Pay or Google Pay as a default: 3x on effectively all in-person spending, redeemed at 4.5% back on travel. It’s a quiet value leader.

How the waiver works

  • MLA (during service): U.S. Bank auto-verifies via DMDC at application. Fee reverses on your first statement.
  • SCRA (pre-service): Call 800-934-9555 and submit orders.

One historical quirk worth knowing: some applicants report having to open a no-fee U.S. Bank military checking account before the Altitude Reserve approval went through. Whether this is still enforced as of 2026 varies by branch. Easy to do and free.

Availability caveat

The Altitude Reserve was closed to new applications through parts of 2023–2024 while U.S. Bank reworked the product. It has since reopened, but availability should be verified before you plan around it — occasionally it gets paused again.

Check usbank.com/altitude-reserve before submitting an application.

What U.S. Bank doesn’t waive

Business cards, generally. The Triple Cash Business has some anecdotal MLA-treatment data points, but it’s a $0 AF card anyway, so the question is moot.

Bottom line

If you’re building an active-duty card stack, the Altitude Reserve is the third or fourth slot most people miss. Amex Platinum + Chase Sapphire Reserve are the marquee picks. Then Citi AAdvantage Executive if you fly American. Then this. All four fees waived, all four perk portfolios live.

Full context in the Military Credit Card Stack guide.