topic Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards in Credit Cards

USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 17:05:34 GMT

I am not a points accumulator and I don't travel often and when I do, it is for work, so it goes on a small business card.

I know I am not maximizing my personal rewards, but I don't want to spend a bunch of time worrying about it. I generally take cash rewards.

I don't want the hassle of any mixing in any spend I can put on the business as the rewards won't outweigh any other advantages. For example gas and dining aren't worth the small extra to put on a personal card with higher rewards.

I have a USAA Limitless which is where I put general spend now.

I have a BoA Cash Rewards and am Platinum Honors.

I consistently have special offers for BoA Travel Rewards and Premium Rewards.

Can some of you more knowledgeable rewards spenders provide some insight as to where I should put my personal general spend?

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 17:09:39 GMT

Your USAA limitless is 2.5% as long as you have a direct deposit, right?

Given how you described your situation and wanting to keep things simple, the usaa card is a slam dunk. Even if you were chasing points that card is hard to beat.

I’d stick with usaa and know that you’re earning better rewards than most people and doing it without having to worry about category spending or redemption options / points transfers.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

sunkissed — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 17:42:39 GMT

With Platinum Honors, BoA’s Premium Rewards earns 3.5 points on travel and restaurants and 2.625 points on everything else which beats USAA’s Limitless 2.5% on everything. Of note, Premium Rewards has a $95 annual fee. If you use the $100 travel credit each year you’ll come out $5 ahead of the fee.

I went the BoA route and skipped the Limitless.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

TheBoondocks — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 19:02:46 GMT

Looks like you got money in the bank with boa, whichever is higher for your general spend regardless of category I would go with that. So, I would go with the Limitless.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 20:14:12 GMT

@sunkissed wrote:
With Platinum Honors, BoA’s Premium Rewards earns 3.5 points on travel and restaurants and 2.625 points on everything else which beats USAA’s Limitless 2.5% on everything. Of note, Premium Rewards has a $95 annual fee. If you use the $100 travel credit each year you’ll come out $5 ahead of the fee.

I went the BoA route and skipped the Limitless.

Some good points here. The Limitless is a nice card, but it can't beat BOA Premium rewards if you're Platinum Honors customer. I think the only good thing about the Limitless here would be the instant rewards credit (where BOA is monthly after the statement cuts).

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

sunkissed — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 20:26:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@sunkissed wrote:
With Platinum Honors, BoA’s Premium Rewards earns 3.5 points on travel and restaurants and 2.625 points on everything else which beats USAA’s Limitless 2.5% on everything. Of note, Premium Rewards has a $95 annual fee. If you use the $100 travel credit each year you’ll come out $5 ahead of the fee.

I went the BoA route and skipped the Limitless.
Some good points here. The Limitless is a nice card, but it can't beat BOA Premium rewards if you're Platinum Honors customer. I think the only good thing about the Limitless here would be the instant rewards credit (where BOA is monthly after the statement cuts).

I prefer to BoA over USAA for credit cards. BoA is more flexible – with SP CLIs now and they allow product changes and APR reductions.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 20:54:02 GMT

@sunkissed wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@sunkissed wrote:
With Platinum Honors, BoA’s Premium Rewards earns 3.5 points on travel and restaurants and 2.625 points on everything else which beats USAA’s Limitless 2.5% on everything. Of note, Premium Rewards has a $95 annual fee. If you use the $100 travel credit each year you’ll come out $5 ahead of the fee.

I went the BoA route and skipped the Limitless.
Some good points here. The Limitless is a nice card, but it can't beat BOA Premium rewards if you're Platinum Honors customer. I think the only good thing about the Limitless here would be the instant rewards credit (where BOA is monthly after the statement cuts).
I prefer to BoA over USAA for credit cards. BoA is more flexible – with SP CLIs now and they allow product changes and APR reductions.

True, it would be nice if USAA allowed product changes and SP increases (other than automatic).

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

AverageJoesCredit — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 21:16:59 GMT

Which sneaker is better ,Nike or Adidas? Lol, will always pros and cons on which is better debates. What ever works best for your spend

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 21:26:47 GMT

inverse ... you mentioned simplicity and your travel requirements were focused on a small business card so a spend where you get the simplicity desired. Since I do not travel as such anymore ... many of the travel cards that offer potential leverages for more than 2.5% or even 3% are not appealing. Many MyFicoer's focus on the leveraging that includes travel (I get that) but, for small spenders and non-travelers (used to have the travel cards) simplicity and 2.5% is simple or a connection to some form of checking/savings product that might add to the mix and higher return works. I'm keeping it simple.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 22:20:29 GMT

I do remember hearing what sunkissed said now about the bofa offering 2.65% if paired with a high balance account (I’m guessing that’s platinum honors?) which makes it a better deal.

Knowing that, if it were me I would choose whichever bank I preferred doing business with, as the extra 0.15% is probably not worth scrambling over.

Still prefer Usaa as far as customer service and very little wait when I call, but perhaps bofa answers quicker for platinum honors members. I know chase private clients and sapphire reserve have a different number and I’ve yet to wait more than a couple rings when calling for reserve card issues. Bofa on the other hand usually puts me on a list and calls my number back at a later time (Not a platinum honors member)

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 22:54:01 GMT

Thanks everyone. All good points above. And yes, part of this is my frustration with my 30+ year relationship with USAA, its just not the entity it used to be.

BoA isn't that quick on the phone for the 800 numbers even though they promise higher service level. I have found my business rep to be very receptive to anything business or personal since she works in a branch and my ML rep to be very eager to please.

One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is the additional 10% for depositing into a BoA account, if I am correct that brings the Premium Rewards to 2.8875%, but I am not sure if the deposit bonus applies to Preferred Rewards Bonuses.

As for limits with USAA, I don't have to worry about USAA SP CLIs or PCs. I am at max exposure with USAA and I don't want any other cards from their current offerings.

As for limits with BoA, I don't need any more than I have on the personal side, I am sure if I asked for more I could get it, I'd be satisfied to SP CLI on occasion just for fun. I could PC to Premium Rewards, but I'm not worried about inquiries, I'd rather have the $500 signup bonus and I could make the $100 incidentals work and do PreCheck just for the sake of it.

All of that being said, its not a ton of money difference in the scheme of things, but its one of the small things I've been thinking about when thinking about changing the way I bank.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Jul 2018 23:20:30 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks everyone. All good points above. And yes, part of this is my frustration with my 30+ year relationship with USAA, its just not the entity it used to be.

BoA isn't that quick on the phone for the 800 numbers even though they promise higher service level. I have found my business rep to be very receptive to anything business or personal since she works in a branch and my ML rep to be very eager to please.
...
All of that being said, its not a ton of money difference in the scheme of things, but its one of the small things I've been thinking about when thinking about changing the way I bank.

I mean if you're a Bank of America customer... I don't think I've ever seen a more toxic enviornment than being in a BoA branch and dealing with the tellers... Such miserable people who don't want to help you. They just stare at you, expect you to do all the talking, and don't even have manners or human decency to say "hello, how's your day?" or "have a nice day! " - maybe I'm just used to walking into my credit union's branch to see friendly faces, but even Chase seems to have much much nicer tellers than BoA does.

So when re-considering USAA, I would take my small little rant into account... The people on the phone are at USAA friendly, and USAA not only has instant pulls, but they don't charge a $3 for pushing money out through the ACH network either. I guess if you have over $100,000 stashed in an account with BoA, they may waive some of the fees us non-wealthy folks have to pay, though. Merrill Lynch on the other hand, has terrific customer service and is owned by BoA, and I advise anyone (wealthy or non-wealthy) to go with them for credit cards and checking services because you'll actually be treated like an appreciated customer.

Re: USAA Limitless VS BOA Preferred Rewards

Anonymous — Mon, 09 Jul 2018 10:52:23 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

So when re-considering USAA, I would take my small little rant into account... The people on the phone are at USAA friendly, and USAA not only has instant pulls, but they don't charge a $3 for pushing money out through the ACH network either. I guess if you have over $100,000 stashed in an account with BoA, they may waive some of the fees us non-wealthy folks have to pay, though. Merrill Lynch on the other hand, has terrific customer service and is owned by BoA, and I advise anyone (wealthy or non-wealthy) to go with them for credit cards and checking services because you'll actually be treated like an appreciated customer.

Thanks for your FSR judgment. I'll take your rant into account and offer some insight and maybe help some others.

If you have a USAA account, you can perform a $250 ACH each month into (and out of) a BoA Core checking account to avoid a monthly service fees.

If you have a BoA checking account and link your ML account that balance applies towards your eligibility for Preferred Rewards. At my age having a retirement account at ML that makes one eligible for Platinum Honors doesn't make me wealthy.

I'd be happy to discuss USAA skeletons in the appropriate forum should a thread present itself.