USAA Secured Cards Are Back

BearsCubsOtters · ‎08-23-2022

In reviewing the USAA credit card page, I just noticed that both the secured Visa and secured American Express are back after a 4+ year hiatus.

Interestingly, the site states, "Your USAA Secured Credit Card is reported to the three main credit bureaus. By managing your credit wisely, you could build a healthier credit history and move to a card with a higher credit limit in the future." I italicized that for emphasis. I am not sure if by using your secured USAA card, you could build a healthier credit history and move to a card with a higher card in the future with USAA or outside of USAA. This is important because historically, their secured cards never unsecure.

Anyway, won't matter to most but there have been inquiries for years about the status of their secured card program.

UncleB · ‎08-23-2022

@BearsCubsOtters wrote:
In reviewing the USAA credit card page, I just noticed that both the secured Visa and secured American Express are back after a 4+ year hiatus.

Interestingly, the site states, "Your USAA Secured Credit Card is reported to the three main credit bureaus. By managing your credit wisely, you could build a healthier credit history and move to a card with a higher credit limit in the future." I italicized that for emphasis. I am not sure if by using your secured USAA card, you could build a healthier credit history and move to a card with a higher card in the future with USAA or outside of USAA. This is important because historically, their secured cards never unsecure.

Anyway, won't matter to most but there have been inquiries for years about the status of their secured card program.

Thanks for the heads-up on this. It will be interesting to see future data points on if the card actually unsecures (unlike the previous version).

There was a time when this would have been an attractive option for me, and I'm glad to see it's back for others now.

wingennis · ‎08-24-2022

Thanks for providing the information. Sometimes I wish they would do something interesting with their card line-up. I have the Preferred Cash Rewards (1.5%) with a good APR, great limit, and it actually provides all of the first-rate Visa Signature protections that are not usually supported unless you pay an annual fee. But still. Maybe they are putting some thought into their credit card lineup again, starting with secured cards?

BearsCubsOtters · ‎08-24-2022

@wingennis wrote:
Thanks for providing the information. Sometimes I wish they would do something interesting with their card line-up. I have the Preferred Cash Rewards (1.5%) with a good APR, great limit, and it actually provides all of the first-rate Visa Signature protections that are not usually supported unless you pay an annual fee. But still. Maybe they are putting some thought into their credit card lineup again, starting with secured cards?

I am not sure what is going on over at USAA. Almost all last year my savings account earned 0.09 APY before plummeting to 0.01%; even with multiple increases to the Prime rate, USAA has not buged on the APR (to be fair, neither has Navy). Additionally, they discontinued my Limitless card in April-replacing it with Preferred Cash Rewards (they are paying 2.5% cash back through the end of December) and they also recently discontinued their cash back checking account. So, if they are putting more thought into their product, I hope they do it soon.

Embedded in my letter telling me that my Limitless card was being discontinued was this verbiage, "Over time, we change our offerings to reflect members’ evolving needs and to remain competitive. These changes include simplifying our current offerings to make way for new
products in the near future."

Then, this month, I received another letter from them regarding my now, Preferred Cash Rewards card, "Coming in late 2022, we’re making
improvements to provide you with a better rewards experience for your Preferred Cash Rewards Visa® Credit Card ending in XXXX. This update will lay the foundation for future enhancements so that we can offer you more options and value for the rewards you’ve earned."

So it sounds like they may be doing something to make the cash back more like points that can still be redeemed for cash but may also be redeemed for travel (?). This was included in the letter:

"How You Redeem Your Rewards. When redeeming your cash back for a travel reward, if you do not have enough cash back to book the entirety of your travel reward, in some instances, we may allow you to pay the difference with your USAA credit or debit card."

I do not ever remember being able to transfer my cash to a travel reward. I go online, click the redeem link and I pop it into my USAA savings. I never saw an option for travel. So, leads me to believe they are going to try to make their 1.5% cash back card more flexible.

I think they just need to make a flat 2% card and those of us who had our Limitless changed to Preferred Cash Rewards should be changed to the 2% card and not have to apply for it.

They had been promising the return of the secured card for years now, with "enhancements" but like you all have said, it is yet to be determined if that means they may become unsecured.

They also very recently denied that they would ever offer contactless and now they are offering it. So hopefully some good things are coming.

wingennis · ‎08-25-2022

@BearsCubsOtters wrote:
@wingennis wrote:
Thanks for providing the information. Sometimes I wish they would do something interesting with their card line-up. I have the Preferred Cash Rewards (1.5%) with a good APR, great limit, and it actually provides all of the first-rate Visa Signature protections that are not usually supported unless you pay an annual fee. But still. Maybe they are putting some thought into their credit card lineup again, starting with secured cards?
I am not sure what is going on over at USAA. Almost all last year my savings account earned 0.09 APY before plummeting to 0.01%; even with multiple increases to the Prime rate, USAA has not buged on the APR (to be fair, neither has Navy). Additionally, they discontinued my Limitless card in April-replacing it with Preferred Cash Rewards (they are paying 2.5% cash back through the end of December) and they also recently discontinued their cash back checking account. So, if they are putting more thought into their product, I hope they do it soon.

Embedded in my letter telling me that my Limitless card was being discontinued was this verbiage, "Over time, we change our offerings to reflect members’ evolving needs and to remain competitive. These changes include simplifying our current offerings to make way for new
products in the near future."

Then, this month, I received another letter from them regarding my now, Preferred Cash Rewards card, "Coming in late 2022, we’re making
improvements to provide you with a better rewards experience for your Preferred Cash Rewards Visa® Credit Card ending in XXXX. This update will lay the foundation for future enhancements so that we can offer you more options and value for the rewards you’ve earned."

So it sounds like they may be doing something to make the cash back more like points that can still be redeemed for cash but may also be redeemed for travel (?). This was included in the letter:

"How You Redeem Your Rewards. When redeeming your cash back for a travel reward, if you do not have enough cash back to book the entirety of your travel reward, in some instances, we may allow you to pay the difference with your USAA credit or debit card."

I do not ever remember being able to transfer my cash to a travel reward. I go online, click the redeem link and I pop it into my USAA savings. I never saw an option for travel. So, leads me to believe they are going to try to make their 1.5% cash back card more flexible.

I think they just need to make a flat 2% card and those of us who had our Limitless changed to Preferred Cash Rewards should be changed to the 2% card and not have to apply for it.

They had been promising the return of the secured card for years now, with "enhancements" but like you all have said, it is yet to be determined if that means they may become unsecured.

They also very recently denied that they would ever offer contactless and now they are offering it. So hopefully some good things are coming.

You said what I said but better🧐. I agree completely.

W261w261 · ‎08-25-2022

I do have a couple of cards from these guys with ok limits, and it doesn't really matter, but I find the bank to be almost terminally D-U-L-L. Good padding, but not much more.