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Hello friends!
I got a heads-up from my friend Gmood1 that the USAA Limitless has gone 'live' in more states, so I logged in to check and sure enough it was there for the taking... I hesitated for a moment since I know I have some balances reporting from the holidays (one of which is on my other USAA card) but I figured 'what the heck' and gave it a whirl...
Approved, $5500!
I was less than thrilled once I saw the APR, though... 20.40%, but since this card isn't for carrying a balance anyway I'm not going to let it discourage me from the happiness (and relief) of the moment!
I already have another card with USAA... it's their 'Platinum' 1% points card, and I got it back in November 2014. It was approved with a SL of $7k, and it's APR is now 17.40% (due to Fed increases), which is among my highest rates on bankcards, but considering that it was my first 'big boy' card and I still had several baddies reporting when it was approved I never felt too bad about it.
My utilization is a little higher than normal right now but still not too bad (somewhere between 5%-7%), but I have a modest income which is likely holding me back as well as several new accounts in the last 12 months (five from last May, and one in September). I don't know for sure which bureau they pulled, but since I've not got an alert from Credit Karma for EQ I'm assuming it's likely EX, which I'm currently at 765 as of last week. (Edit: Others are reporting EQ, so my lack of CK alert might not be meaningful.) I admit that I am slightly second-guessing if I should have waited a month or so (to work on utilization), but even if I had waited and the APR was slightly lower it wouldn't have mattered since it won't be used to carry a balance anyway. (USAA isn't known to lower the APR later, although there have been a few exceptions reported here on the forums.)
Since I'm currently using a Sam's Club MasterCard with no hesitation and it has an APR of 23.15% (or thereabouts) I guess I shouldn't be too concerned about this APR... the main thing is it was approved - which was never guaranteed - and I can now work on moving forward with earning rewards. Although I will take a slight rewards 'hit' I plan to move some of my Sam's MC 3% spending activity to the Limitless to (hopefully) help it grow.
I'll have to decide now if I want to keep my USAA Platinum Visa around or close it out... the credit line is $8400 (I got an auto-CLI in 2015) and the APR is lower than the Limitless but other than no-fee cash advances and overdraft protection (both of which the Limitless can do as well) it's pretty useless at this point.
Thanks again to Gmood1, and to all my other friends here for your knowledge and support!
Edited to add: It appears the Limitless is still not open nationwide, but USAA has simply opened it up to more states. This post has more details: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/USAA-2-5-Targeted-Offer-UPDATE-DEC-2016/m-p/4830868#M14...
I cannot congratulate you. But I will. Awesome job, UncleB!
Congrats again UnkaB!!😀
EQ pull for sure.
I wish USAA would allow me to consolidate my limits. My 1.5% card with them as you said will become obsolete. I'll hang on to it for now. As USAA does give $50k max across all cards. For big purchases, it still has usefulness at the moment.
@Anonymous wrote:I cannot congratulate you. But I will. Awesome job, UncleB!
LOL... thanks so much my friend! (I've not given up on you getting a card with them just yet!)
@Aduke1122 wrote:
Yay congrats UncB you deserve this! I'm very happy for you friend! Could someone tell me how to add images on mobile ?
Thanks so much Aduke!
Sometimes I have apped for cards that would be 'nice' to have, but this is one I really, really wanted... I was actually nervous waiting for the response! LOL
Thanks again for your kind words!
@Gmood1 wrote:Congrats again UnkaB!!😀
EQ pull for sure.
I wish USAA would allow me to consolidate my limits. My 1.5% card with them as you said will become obsolete. I'll hang on to it for now. As USAA does give $50k max across all cards. For big purchases, it still has usefulness at the moment.
The man of the hour! Thanks so much for the heads-up... I checked yesterday but I hadn't checked today (for some reason... like you, I've been checking often... LOL)
I also wish USAA would allow us to consolidate limits... even better would have been a PC, but I knew better than to even try that - especially for this card. I'll never have to worry about getting close to USAA's max limit on any products, but I do worry about having too much credit with them for my income (at least in their conservative opinion).
I won't be making a decision today about the other card, but it will give me something to think about. That other card has served me well...
I updated my original post to indicate that my pull was also likely EQ, although for the moment I'm not absolutely positive... my Credit Karma doesn't update 'naturally' until Sunday so I won't know for certain until then. In any case I'm not concerned for myself... I'm only trying to nail that down to help others.
Again, huge thanks!
@pizza1 wrote:
YAY! Nice job UB!! Im so very happy for you. I can't wait till I can be back in with USAA only 3 1/2 more years to go! LOL
Thanks so much my friend!
This one was definitely on the 'bucket list'... and no worries, 3 1/2 years will fly by before you know it!