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Because of USAA's affiliation with the Air Force Academy they have now made their Amex and World Mastercards available to all members.
Or so I was told. Log in and go to the credit card applications and you will notice that the old non-rewards mastercard has been replaced by these and one other card.
I now have the option to apply for a card online too. Too bad I cannot afford to app for another card right now.
https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_utils/McStaticPages?key=banking_credit_cards_main
txjohn,
No link to anything in writing and I know it is dangerous to take the word of CSR's but I'm a limited member and yesterday I logged in and went to the credit card application portion of the site. There was an option to apply for the AMEX and World Mastercard, so I did and was approved for the AMEX card. In the past you could go to the main USAA page and click the apply button for the AMEX card and then log in and an application would appear, however this appears to have been a glitch in the system. I recall reading of one person who applied this way and got an approval only to have the card cancelled because he wasn't a full member. However, now when you log in and go to the link to apply it asks for your pin number and the application comes up with you personal information already filled in. I was skeptical about this so I called in and talked not only to the CSR who answered but also to an underwriter. They both indicated that as a result of their recent affiliation with the Air Force Academy (sometime just after they changed their other elligibility requirements), they agreed to open their credit products to all members. Part of the reason might be that one of the other credit cards that appears is an Air Force Affinity card which would be available non-military personnel. This doesn't apply to insurance and other products that limited members haven't been able to acquire.
Although they were bk-friendlier in the past, I applied for the Amex recently and was turned down only for my bankruptcy. After inquiring through both the email and phone CSR, the phone CSR talked to an analyst who said they currently want 7 years from a bankruptcy. I would guess that active duty might get a break on this....
@haiti222 wrote:
Although they were bk-friendlier in the past, I applied for the Amex recently and was turned down only for my bankruptcy. After inquiring through both the email and phone CSR, the phone CSR talked to an analyst who said they currently want 7 years from a bankruptcy. I would guess that active duty might get a break on this....
I think more so than being "active duty" is type of membership (full or limited), length of membership and depth of relationship. Full members get preferencial treatment. The longer the length of membership, the better. The more products you have through them the better (auto, home, life, checking, savings, cd's, investment, ira/retirment, etc).