Disappointing USAA Approval, then immediately cancelled

[Anonymous]

Hey all,

I seem to have about a 30-day clock in my head that starts to make me feel wonky if I don't try to someone get an HP on at least one bureau...  So bored last night I got to thinking, it'd be nice to have a USAA Credit Card so I could have Overdraft Protection on my Checking accounts with them.  So I pull up their credit card page and decide on their Preferred Cash Rewards.  Nothing special, and nothing I don't already have, but the really the only one I might possibly ever use out of their selection.

I fill out the app, click submit and the page takes forever to come back.  It finally does and says I'm approved for $2,000 at 26.15% APR.  Yikes, a crummy limit and the maxed APR?  Granted two years ago I would have killed for an unsecured card at $2,000.  But now with cards ranging from $25,000 limits to $4,500 limits and one low ball (Barclay Apple Visa) at $2,700, $2,000 felt very low for me.

I was wondering what that was all about since I had some offers for an affiliate card of there's expiring last month at 17.9% or 17.99%.  I know from my friend who works at USAA that the affiliate cards typically charge 1% more of APR to give to those affinity groups.  Not worrying too much about it, I go to bed and figured I'd give USAA a call in the morning.

So driving to work I call USAA and the first rep I speak with tells me it was the Credit Bureaus, not USAA that determined my limit and my APR, yeah ok...  I didn't want to be a jerk/expletive deleted, so I didn't argue and when I asked if I could talk to someone in underwriting the call dropped.  I call back and get a different rep, explain that I know they pulled Equifax, I know my true Equifax FICO score was 719, and that I was rather disappointed with the APR and the limit.  I ask politely if there's anyone who could manually take a look for a reconsideration.  He says no, I ask about underwriting, he says well 99% of the time they'll agree with the computer.  I said, sure I understand, but what about that 1%?  He insists it wouldn't matter even if an underwriter takes a look.  Fair enough I say, then I'd just like to close the card.  I had no intentions of bluffing, but figuring that might be the only way they'll budge, if not I'm more than happy to close it.

So that rep puts me on hold, for a good 4-5 minutes and a "Senior" rep comes on.  She asks why I want to cancel, I re-explain, they stand their ground and so do I.  I really hate to waste the HP and the AAoA ding, but knowing USAA does HP CLIs if the CLI is requested, there was no point to keeping a card that I would literally never use.  A lower APR and a better SL would have made it easier to justify keeping it around as overdraft protection.

Am I being a snob?  More than likely, yes.  But at the same point if Barclay gave me $2,700 almost a year ago with a 658 TU and major derogatories (defaulted student loans, a collection account, and a couple 60-day lates on other student loans), yet USAA only wanted to give me $2,000 with a 719 EQ with no major derogatories than they really must not want my business that bad.  I guess I'll just stick to insurance with USAA, maybe it's about time I move what banking I have with them away from them too and stick with companies that are willing to give me decent SLs...

Oz

[pizza1]

I personally would have taken it, but thats me, and I burned them in my BK, so Id take whatever they  gave me. But, in your case, I still would have taken them. They are pretty conservative, and treated well, that limit would have grown in the next 1-2 yrs with a little usage and payment history.

But I can understand your frustration, certainly...

Again, just one person's opinion.

[ddemari]

that's a really high apr for credit union card. I'm still trying to figure out a way to join lol. At least u feel satisfied not taking the card. Maybe reapply in 6 months

[Anonymous]

I could have tolerated it and probably kept it if the SL was better or the APR wasn't maxed out. One or the other, or them at least pretending to care and ask underwriting might have sat better with me...

Knowing they don't ever lower APRs I think was a big tipping point in my cancelling the card, sure the limit would have gone up over time with usage but I have plenty of 1.5% cards with better APRs.

I'll probably have to wait until a majority of my inquiries fall off or I get an offer from USAA again before I'd consider trying again.

Oz

[lindsaydruart]

USAA likes you in the high 700s for the big limits. DH got 12k with 790s. If you were at least mid 700s, you would have gotten pretty good.

[Anonymous]

I can only say, Huh. What about that. Then scratch my head.  Don't they have some internal scoring system or use some other version of EQ?  Oz's report and score is my 2017 goal, can't see why they'd give such a high APR.

SL, ok, well, no other USAA cards so I can imagine they'd pull the stingy SL but the APR doesn't make sense to me.

DDemari, only way in USAA is either join the Military, have a Parent as a member, or marry a member, right? So I say, some dating apps should have USAA Member listed as one of their positive attributes. 

[lindsaydruart]

You can get USAA deposit accounts without being military. You just can't get the good stuff like mortgages, insurance, etc.

[UncleB]

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@lindsaydruart wrote:

You can get USAA deposit accounts without being military. You just can't get the good stuff like mortgages, insurance, etc.

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Not anymore... they changed that back in the fall of 2013. 

They mailed me a letter stating that I was 'grandfathered' and could keep my checking account, but if I were to close it I wouldn't be able to open a new one.  At that time I didn't have a credit card with them, so I don't know if I closed my checking but kept the credit, if that would 'save my place' or not. 

I'm still not eligible for their insurance products, at least not until my father purchases an insurance policy from them.  Maybe someday...

[UncleB]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I can only say, Huh. What about that. Then scratch my head.  Don't they have some internal scoring system or use some other version of EQ?  Oz's report and score is my 2017 goal, can't see why they'd give such a high APR.

SL, ok, well, no other USAA cards so I can imagine they'd pull the stingy SL but the APR doesn't make sense to me.

DDemari, only way in USAA is either join the Military, have a Parent as a member, or marry a member, right? So I say, some dating apps should have USAA Member listed as one of their positive attributes. 

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It seems crazy to me as well. 

I will say that it may be that they prefer folks with fewer cards... when I got my own Visa with them, I only had a couple of store cards and a QS1, and my largest credit line was $1900.  I still had some baddies (5 years old at that time) and my three credit card accounts were all 6+ years old.  I was approved for $7k at 16.9% (now 17.15%).

I'll also add that someone had a thread over in Credit Cards last week where USAA actually did lower their APR, so apparently this has changed (in the past they would never change it).  I haven't tried to get my own lowered since I hardly ever use the card, but at some point I'll send them a SM to see how it goes.  In addition to having the card for overdraft protection, I also use it for no-fee cash advances, which can then be paid off using a no-fee balance transfer from NFCU.  It's also an end-run to get around the cash advance limit on my NFCU card, although that's just 'theoretical' since it should never be necessary (USAA's cash advance line is the same as the credit line).

I'm sorry things didn't work out for the OP, but even a low-limit card with a high APR would be fine for overdraft protection (especially since the AAoA hit and HP had already taken place).  Perhaps once some inquiries age off (as was mentioned) the OP can reapply and will have a more desirable outcome.

[dms42]

Personally, I would have taken the low limit and high APR simply to help bring down the utilization. If you had used it occasionally...PIF each month...the limit would have eventually increased. By PIF each month the high interest rate becomes moot. Additionally, USAA loves to approve additional cards. I'm a bit surprised that the limit was kinda low given your score, but we know that there are tons of other factors/formulas they use- so who knows how they arrived at that. I have new approvals ranging from $300 to $11K...approved within minutes of each other. Makes no sense. Maybe give it some time and try again.