topic Re: USAlliance Credit Card in Credit Cards

USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:07:50 GMT

Will be 6% on groceries for 2023 (as we knew) but will be 2% on everything else rather than the 1% that it appeared from the web pages. So that's good. Not quite as good as keeping the 3% but...

It claims the 2% will revert to 1% in 2024 (and the 6% will go) but presumably since flat 1% cards aren't all that popular they will do something else.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Kforce — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 22:03:20 GMT

Agree :

I believe they are in a one year at a time rewards mode...

Will miss the flat 3%, but take advantage of the 6% grocery.

Yes, 2% is better than 1% for general spend.

Got an eMail from them today saying the same.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 23:22:03 GMT

Reading the fine print in the email now. Some things bother me, such as this date being wrong (I hope I'm right here, otherwise the very large purchase literally today I just made will only be 2% and not 3%?)

As of 12/23/2022, all eligible purchases on USALLIANCE Visa Signature Cards will earn one (1) bonus point per dollar above the standard base point until 12/31/2023, for a total of two (2) points per dollar.

Shouldn't this be "Effective 01/01/2023....?" I just checked my rewards, and purchases I made 12/24 did get 3 total points.

Second obvious thing (I was told by a rep they didn't have limits on grocery spend when I signed up, but I could be wrong):

"..all eligible grocery store or supermarket transactions on USALLIANCE Visa Signature Cards will earn four (4) additional bonus points per dollar until 12/31/2023. Maximum number of points earned per eligible grocery transaction is six (6) per dollar. The four (4) bonus points promotion is limited to $2,000 spending at grocery stores per calendar month; after $2,000, cardholders earn one (1) base point and one (1) bonus point on all eligible purchases for the remainder of the calendar month.

So it's going from a 3% everything + 6% uncapped card to 2% + 6% grocery (no Sam's Club or Costco) capped at $2k per month.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 23:29:53 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Reading the fine print in the email now. Some things bother me, such as this date being wrong (I hope I'm right here, otherwise the very large purchase literally today I just made will only be 2% and not 3%?)

As of 12/23/2022, all eligible purchases on USALLIANCE Visa Signature Cards will earn one (1) bonus point per dollar above the standard base point until 12/31/2023, for a total of two (2) points per dollar.

Shouldn't this be "Effective 01/01/2023....?" I just checked my rewards, and purchases I made 12/24 did get 3 total points.

Second obvious thing (I was told by a rep they didn't have limits on grocery spend when I signed up, but I could be wrong):
"..all eligible grocery store or supermarket transactions on USALLIANCE Visa Signature Cards will earn four (4) additional bonus points per dollar until 12/31/2023. Maximum number of points earned per eligible grocery transaction is six (6) per dollar. The four (4) bonus points promotion is limited to $2,000 spending at grocery stores per calendar month; after $2,000, cardholders earn one (1) base point and one (1) bonus point on all eligible purchases for the remainder of the calendar month.

So it's going from a 3% everything + 6% uncapped card to 2% + 6% grocery (no Sam's Club or Costco) capped at $2k per month.

Yes, I assume the first date is wrong! But the cap on groceries is all new. I guess this is part of them reserving the right to change at any time etc.

$2K per month isn't terrible (BCP is the equivalent of $500 a month) but is very different from unlimited. I was buying Amazon gift cards for the extra 1% and planning to buy lots of supermarket gift cards in Dec 2023. Have to space that out a little better.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 23:45:08 GMT

I'm on the phone with a very nice CSR from USALLIANCE right now.

She assures me the 3% is good until 12/31/2022.

She assured me that any swipes done up to midnight 12/31/2022 will count as 3%, even if it clears on say, Jan 3rd. They go by the "swipe date" and she conferred with her supervisor.

The 2k cap per month on groceries is new. "People were abusing this" was mentioned.

Fingers crossed that Affinity FCU will continue their 7% on groceries & gas for 2023 QTR1, but alas, still have not heard anything.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

FinStar — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:20:44 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Will be 6% on groceries for 2023 (as we knew) but will be 2% on everything else rather than the 1% that it appeared from the web pages. So that's good. Not quite as good as keeping the 3% but...

It claims the 2% will revert to 1% in 2024 (and the 6% will go) but presumably since flat 1% cards aren't all that popular they will do something else.

Right.

Still a decent product, though. Albeit, a year-to-year wait-and-see approach to determine whether it's a keeper or not given the alternatives.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

mfinsmi1 — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 00:45:01 GMT

Im so glad i waited , was only going to get this card if they kept it at 3% in 2023 but now that they plan to keep dropping it i have no use for this credit union.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

JamP — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 16:24:42 GMT

Moving all my bill spend to AOD now.

Need to find another 3% card.

Alliant 2% and now UsAlliance 2% (until they nerf it farther).

Kinda digging my 5% CustomCash glad I pcd my doublecash. Need to see if I can apply for another.

Sad to see UsAlliance go but I killed their 3% for a couple years.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

coldfusion — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 20:36:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
"People were abusing this" was mentioned.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 20:36:40 GMT

@coldfusion wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
"People were abusing this" was mentioned.

Right, I don't even know how you could abuse uncapped 6% at supermarkets! Buy loads of apples maybe

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:29:32 GMT

@JamP wrote:
Moving all my bill spend to AOD now.
Need to find another 3% card.

Alliant 2% and now UsAlliance 2% (until they nerf it farther).

Kinda digging my 5% CustomCash glad I pcd my doublecash. Need to see if I can apply for another.

Sad to see UsAlliance go but I killed their 3% for a couple years.

Yes, wish I had got AOD at the time, but it seemed quite a hassle at various points and I thought that they would live or die roughly together.

Still with BCE 3% online, and PPMC 3% for Paypal, the only gap is the big ticket items, vet, insurance and taxes. Oh right, that's the problem!

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 19:52:39 GMT

Taxes and insurance are always "the problem".

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

CreditCobra — Wed, 28 Dec 2022 23:56:22 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@JamP wrote:
Moving all my bill spend to AOD now.
Need to find another 3% card.

Alliant 2% and now UsAlliance 2% (until they nerf it farther).

Kinda digging my 5% CustomCash glad I pcd my doublecash. Need to see if I can apply for another.

Sad to see UsAlliance go but I killed their 3% for a couple years.

Yes, wish I had got AOD at the time, but it seemed quite a hassle at various points and I thought that they would live or die roughly together.

Still with BCE 3% online, and PPMC 3% for Paypal, the only gap is the big ticket items, vet, insurance and taxes. Oh right, that's the problem!

I love this USAlliance card, starting in a few days, I won't even carry it anymore, I'll just use Apple Pay at the grocery store and collect my 6% for all of 2023.

I've got the FordPass Rewards Visa, that gets me 3% on auto insurance (and Trupanion pet insurance), also my auto/home provider lets me pay with Apple Pay, so 5% in the last quarter using Discover, and I'mlooking at a Kroger branded card for 5% on digital wallet spend for this too.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 01:15:02 GMT

@CreditCobra wrote:
I've got the FordPass Rewards Visa, that gets me 3% on auto insurance (and Trupanion pet insurance),

So Trupanion is treated as auto insurance on this card?

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

CreditCobra — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 01:27:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditCobra wrote:
I've got the FordPass Rewards Visa, that gets me 3% on auto insurance (and Trupanion pet insurance),
So Trupanion is treated as auto insurance on this card?

That is correct! I tried it one month after looking over the MCCs. I couldn't find a separate pet insurance and thought it might be under the same as auto insurance. Boom!

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 13:24:00 GMT

Comments in DoctorOfCredit suggest there have been shutdowns (presumably for misuse of the grocery 6%)

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Kforce — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 01:04:14 GMT

@JamP wrote:
Moving all my bill spend to AOD now.
Need to find another 3% card.

Alliant 2% and now UsAlliance 2% (until they nerf it farther).

Kinda digging my 5% CustomCash glad I pcd my doublecash. Need to see if I can apply for another.

Sad to see UsAlliance go but I killed their 3% for a couple years.

Did Alliant nerf the "Visa Signature Credit Card" from 2.5% ?

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Aim_High — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 03:21:50 GMT

@Kforce wrote:
Did Alliant nerf the "Visa Signature Credit Card" from 2.5% ?

No, @Kforce.

For those who don't have either:

AOD FCU Visa (3%)

(or)

Bank of America Premium Rewards (with Preferred Rewards Platinum Honors) earning 3.5% uncapped dining/travel and 2.625% everything else uncapped ...

I'm pretty sure the >Alliant Credit Union Visa Signature card< is still the next best option.

No annual fee and earns 2.5% on the first $10K monthly purchases.

There are a few banking hoops to jump through to earn the 2.5% rate.*

*Alliant High Yield Checking account with e-statements; one monthly electronic deposit; $1K+ Avg Daily Balance.

Visa Signature never earns less than 1.5%.

Plus no FTF and some perks like Rental Car CDW, Travel Accident insurance, Purchase Security, Extended Warranty protections, Roadside Dispatch.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 04:22:12 GMT

Agreed, that's the logical firing order. AOD still #1, BOA #2 (but require 100k in assets with them), Alliant #3 with the 2.5.

I'd argue that Fidelity's flat uncapped 2% card would be the very top of the food chain for 2% cards; combine it with their brokerage account and write checks, 0 ATM fees worldwide and 0 FTF.

If my AOD gets nerfed I'm just doing Fidelity all day and using their Full View (I do that already). I mean I have a rollover IRA there, a pension, both my wife and myself have RothIRAs there and a seperate brokerage account. Fidelity has been fantastic with me for many many years. I'm sure I'll just do this once I retire in about 13 years and want less hassle.

Right now though with 2 teenage kids - they eat a lot, like to travel, need clothes, supplies so our spending is high enough for me to fool with maximizing rewards.

Re: USAlliance Credit Card

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 04:27:01 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Agreed, that's the logical firing order. AOD still #1, BOA #2 (but require 100k in assets with them), Alliant #3 with the 2.5.
I'd argue that Fidelity's flat uncapped 2% card would be the very top of the food chain for 2% cards; combine it with their brokerage account and write checks, 0 ATM fees worldwide and 0 FTF.

Don't think so, that's why I got the SoFi card as well. From the Fidelity T&Cs:

Foreign Transaction

1% of each foreign transaction

Much lower than some others (e.g. PPMC) but not 0!

And the PPMC is a good example of having to monitor. They went from no FTF to a %2+ one (don't remember the precise number)