USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card Review
Not all cards have to come with fees. You can skip the fees and save a few bucks by choosing this credit card that has no annual fees, no foreign transaction fees, and no penalty APR for late payments, all matched by a low APR.
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Key Features
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- Get a 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers and convenience checks that post within 90 days of account opening. After this time, the variable regular APR of reg_apr,reg_apr_type will apply to introductory balances
- No annual fee*
- No foreign transaction fees
- You must be a USAA® member, or become a member, to apply. USAA offers membership to current and former military, as well as their spouses and dependents. If you don't fall into one of those categories, you won't be eligible for this card.
USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card essentials
The USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card is a card for a niche market that offers some attractive and unique features that can result in big cash savings for people with strong credit and responsible fiscal habits.
In many ways, the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card is an exclusive club. To be approved for the card, you need to have good or excellent credit. You also need to be a member of the USAA, which is restricted to active and former members of the United States armed services and their eligible family members.
However, if you do qualify, you can take advantage of the 0% intro APR for 15 months on balance transfers and convenience checks that post within 90 days of account opening, and a potentially amazing ongoing interest rate that runs from RegAPR, depending on credit worthiness.
Additionally to the intro offer, the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card has no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. The latter is quite important for a military family that may spend extended periods overseas.
What our editors like most about the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card
If you qualify and you tend to carry an ongoing balance, the interest savings can be huge.
Also, anytime you can have a card with a $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees, it’s worth having in your wallet. Even if you don’t use the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card frequently, it’s not costing you anything to hold.
Another nice feature of the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card is no "penalty interest rate." In other words, late payments won’t result in your interest rate spiking as a consequence.
Potential downsides of the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card
The USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card is exclusive, not just because of the good to excellent score needed but for the limited demographic eligible to apply.
You must be a USAA® member, or become a member, to apply. USAA offers membership to current and former military, as well as their spouses and dependents. If you don’t fall into one of those categories, you won’t be eligible for this card.
While a low interest rate might get you excited about transferring every credit card balance you have to the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card, your enthusiasm might be tempered by a fee of BalanceTransferFees.
How the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card compares to other cards
USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card vs. Simmons Visa®
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Like the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card the Simmons Visa® is a "no frills" card with a low interest rate, with a few differences.
Both cards have a $0 annual fee and no fee on foreign transactions. Both will require good to excellent credit for approval, but with Simmons Visa®, you don’t have to have a connection to the military to be eligible.
Is the USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card a good card?
If you meet the eligibility requirements and aren’t concerned with earning rewards with your purchases, USAA Rate Advantage Credit Card is definitely a card you’ll want to have in your wallet. A $0 annual fee and no foreign transaction fees means you don’t have to worry about reaching a certain spending threshold for the card to pay for itself.
Disclaimer:The information in this article is believed to be accurate as of the date it was written. Please keep in mind that credit card offers change frequently. Therefore, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information in this article. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. See the online credit card application for full terms and conditions on offers and rewards. Please verify all terms and conditions of any credit card prior to applying.
This content is not provided by any company mentioned in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed here are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any such company. CardRatings.com does not review every company or every offer available on the market.
