USAA Limitless Credit Card Review – 2.5% Cash Back On All Purchases

This card is now no longer accepting new applications.

USAA has launched a pilot program for a new credit card called ‘limitless’. Let’s take a look at this new card offering.

The Basics

Here are the basics of the card:

  • Card earns at the following rates:
    • 2.5% cash back on all purchases if you have a $1,000 monthly direct deposit into your USAA checking account
    • 1.5% cash back on all purchases if you don’t receive the monthly direct deposit
  • No annual fee
  • No sign up bonus
  • Chip & PIN
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • You must be a USAA member to apply for the card

Eligiblity

USAA Membership

You’re eligible if you fit in these categories:

  • Active, retired and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military.
  • Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS).
  • Adult children whose eligible parents have or had a USAA auto or property insurance product.
  • Widows and widowers of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy.

You can find more information here.

Pilot Program

This is a pilot program and only available in select states at the moment, currently it’s available in:

  • 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

They are also slowly adding more states.

Credit Limits

Here are some data points on what credit limits people have been receiving:

Our Verdict

This card would be your best option for non-category spend (apart from the Discover it Miles, that offers 3% cash back for the first year). Obviously this is a loss leader for USAA, but they would be trying to make that money back on the checking account that requires the $1,000 direct deposit. Most other financial institutions have used bank account bonuses instead, but Fidelity also loses money on their 2% card but still come out ahead as cardholders have larger Fidelity deposits than non-cardholders. I suspect USAA will need to add some limits to this card to make it sustainable, but the limited membership might make this unnecessary.

If anybody has some screenshots or additional information, please share them in the comments below.

You might also be interested in our reviews of other USAA cards:

Hat tip to RileyRydem on /r/churning

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103 Comments
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Penny
Penny (@guest_1344385)
March 7, 2022 20:36

They are killing the Limitless card. got this letter today:

Effective April 26, 2022, your USAA Limitless Cashback Rewards Credit Card ending in XXXX will automatically be converted to the Preferred Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card.

What’s Changing?
Your new Preferred Cash Rewards Visa Credit Card will earn unlimited 1.5% cash back on every Qualifying
Purchase. We recognize that this product change reduces the amount of cash back you will earn on purchases.
To show our appreciation for your loyalty, you will automatically earn an additional 1% cash back, totaling 2.5%, on Qualifying Purchases through December 31, 2022. Additionally, tax payments will no longer be eligible for cash back

What’s Not Changing?
There is no change to your card number, or current Annual Percentage Rate. You can continue using your current
card for purchases and recurring bill payments as you normally would. If you have an existing cash back balance,
it will transfer to the new card type. Additionally, you will continue experiencing the following benefits with your
card:
· Rewards that never expire and are redeemable anytime
· No annual fees
· No foreign transaction fees
· Travel, shopping, and identity theft benefits

It have been a good couple of years. I have been milking this card good…

Penny
Penny (@guest_1245641)
August 28, 2021 12:26

Just got a letter in the mail:

“Effective September 14. 2021, we are making changes to your account regarding transactions that earn rewards. At that time, in accordance with your reward program terms and conditions, cash-equivalent transactions that previously may have earned rewards will not qualify. A few examples of such transactions include gift cards, cryptocurrency and person-to-person money transfers, such as Venmo, PayPal and Cash App”

Guess no more MSing on this card

anonymous
anonymous (@guest_1245649)
August 28, 2021 12:44

Same for the Cashback Rewards Plus.

Mr Fixit
Mr Fixit (@guest_779192)
July 6, 2019 12:01

@Doc I received $18500 in late 2017, and after a year requested an increase that got me to $22000. My income is on file with them along with direct deposit for a healthy amount but not six digits, and I’ve been a member for about 18 years, and I have flawless credit. I have a better income this year and I’m hoping they’ll see that and give me a higher limit automagically as I spend more and thrash my utilization, and start to keep more in the bank with them.

BS
BS (@guest_565417)
March 1, 2018 13:05

DP: The credit limit I received on my USAA Limitless card was $25,000. It was my 3rd credit card with USAA and my 5th credit card. Total monthly credit limit from all banks was about 25% of my annual income at the time. (2016)

Max martori
Max martori (@guest_580546)
April 11, 2018 15:43
  BS

You just applied?

BS
BS (@guest_580558)
April 11, 2018 16:10

No, it was in 2016 as indicated. Just adding a CL DP.

Todd
Todd (@guest_544507)
December 31, 2017 00:00

Great card! Averaging $100 a month cash back! Just wish I had found it sooner!

Will
Will (@guest_527156)
November 30, 2017 00:32

I was just approved with a $32,500 limit and balance transferred about 20k in. TransU 811 Equifax 808. Also hold 1.5% Cash Back card, not requested to close either. Account balances are pretty high tho and have steady direct deposits for 8 years now.

Doug Beasley
Doug Beasley (@guest_428152)
June 26, 2017 22:25

Applied for the card, 20k CL. I have a $500 DD each pay period (bi-weekly on Fridays) that goes into checking. This is qualifying me for the bonus 1%.

DD does not have to single $1000. Just has to total $1k per statement cycle.

Fred
Fred (@guest_436866)
July 10, 2017 10:22

Doug, did rep specifically state this, or is this your observation in practice? A rep specifically told me it needed to be $1000+ per DD, but that was a few months ago.

Belleama
Belleama (@guest_453391)
August 4, 2017 18:36

Did you notice whether or not you got 2.5% in July as well?

jennifer miller
jennifer miller (@guest_602131)
June 4, 2018 11:12

My experience is that it must be $1000 in a single deposit. I do ach’s from fnbo direct checking and it works.

RandR
RandR (@guest_420065)
June 13, 2017 14:11

We applied for the card the first part of 2017 and were approved for $25K CL. I made $1K ACH transfers from our NFCU account, “an external financial institution” in February and March. Mid-March I received a e-mail informing me that we did not qualify for the 2.5% and were only getting 1.5% back. Made a call to USAA and was assured that the notice of ACH transfers I had made would kick in soon.
April I get another e-mail stating the same thing. Call to USAA spoke with two different people and was assured, once again, that the ACH transfers DID qualify as Direct Deposits. May arrives and I check the balance on our card and still at 1.5%. Call USAA = same song and dance. June arrives, there’s $5K in the checking account and we STILL DON’T qualify for 2.5% back.
Call USAA again and finally get a straight answer – ACH transfers DO NOT qualify. The transfer must be a DIRECT DEPOSIT.
By now we’re past the 90 days to make the qualifying deposits. We were advised to apply for new cards and now we’ve involved my husband’s retirement account by designating a monthly $1K allotment to our USAA checking account. We’ve been ASSURED that it will qualify. Not holding my breath.

Leafgreen
Leafgreen (@guest_551031)
January 16, 2018 02:33

Do you think that Bank of America Billpay recurring payments are counted as Direct Deposits?

Leafgreen
Leafgreen (@guest_551035)
January 16, 2018 03:09
jennifer miller
jennifer miller (@guest_602130)
June 4, 2018 11:10

I know your post is old, but just in case people are currently reading this thread, ach does count. Not sure why yours doesn’t, but I’ve been ach’ing from fnbo direct for a year now, and always got the 2.5%.

Gadget
Gadget (@guest_411356)
May 28, 2017 03:25

Seems like they are dragging their feet on rolling this out to anymore states (Last update I saw was March)
Makes me think they aren’t going to keep going. I’m impatient!

Justin
Justin (@guest_410416)
May 25, 2017 11:03

I got a 20k limit approved. Already made 400 bucks on it!