USAA offers the Limitless card that offers 2.5% cash back on all purchases as long as you receive a monthly direction deposit of $1,000. The issue with the card has always been USAA strict eligibility requirements and the fact that it’s only offered in some states. There was a rumor circulating that the card would be available nationwide in mid September, but that date came and went with no changes. It now looks that USAA is going in the other direction and actually removing eligible states.
Previously the following states were eligible:
- AL, AR, AZ, CO, CT, FL, GA, HI, ID, IL, IN, KS, LA, MD, MI, MN, MT, ND, NM, NV, NY, OR, PA, RI, SC, TN, TX and WA
Currently the following states are eligible:
- AL, AR, AZ, CO, GA, ID, IN, KS, LA, MI, MT, NM, NY, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX and WA
That means the following states were eligible and are no longer eligible:
- Â CT, FL, HI, IL, MD, MN, ND, NV, and RI
Some cardholders have also been politely told to cease manufactured spending or risk account shut down. I suspect that’s one of the reasons this program hasn’t rolled out nationwide. The Limitless card is still one of the best cards to use for every day spend, let’s hope it does eventually roll out nationwide.
Well, the card is officially gone now thanks to the people who abused it. I had it for about 10 years (was a special offer for 5 states in the early 2010s).
Was looking into this today and got an error it’s not available in my state (PA). Looks to only be available in LA now:
“Note 1 This product is currently available to members residing in LA only.”
Footnote at https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/bank_cc_limitless_cashback_visa_signature
Looks like this card is dead.
Ouch. i just hope they don’t cancel the card I have.
Anyone have trouble with approval on this card when your state is eligible? My score took a hit – 60 points or more – due to some high credit to balance ratios and a spree of apps earlier this year. I applied twice a few months apart and was denied both times. My score is now adjusting back up to ~740-60 where it lives, but wonder if there is a known threshold score for USAA on this card.
and as always I believe they don’t allow product change, so i’ve got my .5% usaa visa that i’ve had for like 25 years and put minimal spending on it (enough to not worry about canceling it), but I don’t want a second identical visa but may be forced into it. really dumb.
Fewer states… not less states
Fixed now
Was waiting to apply in January when I go over 5/24 with Chase, but now my state is off the list.
Anyone have luck with changing their address then changing it back after getting approved?
Yes, that’s how I got mine.
Ha I’ve been contemplating this card for a long time and finally pulled the trigger on it a month ago. My state is one that has just been pulled from eligibility. Sure glad I got it when I did or I’d be kicking myself today. I assume I should have no issues now that I am grandfathered into a state no longer eligible?
Same.
I just checked and it says I am still “signed up” for the 2.5% CB offer.
The card earns a flat cashback rate for all purchases. MS should have no impact on the program’s viability. There is no difference if someone spends $10 million on Televisions, Appliances, etc at Best Buy or if they purchase $10 million in gift cards there instead. Both provide the same amount of revenue to USAA for the card swipes and the same cost to payout rewards.
You can’t abuse or game a card with a flat rewards structure. If the card issuer doesn’t want to pay rewards above a certain $ amount in spending, they need to cap it.
USAA is hoping to profit from interest charges and fees, swipe fee’s alone aren’t going to make the program profitable. MSers are keen to avoid these charges, and many of them spending outrageous amounts would obviously make the program unprofitable.
In that case I would view the lender and product offering as predatory. A credit product should be happy to have customers that always pay their balance in full and never late therefore being a dependable borrower.
I’m sure they’re fine with most people not carrying a balance. With that said almost all credit card companies anticipate a certain percentage to carry balances. That is, after all, where they make the bulk of their revenue. In this case USAA is essentially passing on their entire swipe fee, if not more, to the cardholder, while simultaneously offering all of the benefits and taking on all of the risk. In many cases MSers are spending in stores with very low swipe fees, making this even less profitable. The rewards credit card industry would change quite drastically if nobody paid interest.
I suspect the accountants at USAA laid out a plan to keep this card profitable. And we know that offering 2.5% rewards for everybody is not profitable, because nobody else is doing it.
In some cases USAA may make money back from credit card interest charges, or perhaps a customer gets a car loan, insurance, or an investment product. But when a customer spends multiples of the their credit line every month to game the rewards and doesn’t use USAA for anything else, USAA is losing significant money on that customer. If it happens a lot USAA is going to shut down the game (as it appears they are starting to do).
They want people to carry a balance.
Of course MS would have an impact, part of this card earning 2.5% is that it requires a direct deposit as well. They likely make money on fees/interest rates and also from having people using the checking account as their primary account.
Spending money on cash equivalents isn’t normal behavior and 2.5% is obviously a loss leader for them. Saying you can’t abuse a flat rewards structure doesn’t make any sense.
I’ve been abusing double cash 2%. I bought a lot of PPMC that causing them to shut down.
Who is MSing on this card? What’s wrong with you people?
Something tells me they’re going to introduce limits on their “limitless” card before nationwide release