USAA Military Affiliate Cards Review
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Americans strongly support their armed forces, and the USAA has been offering financial services to the military community and their families since 1922. Today, USAA offers its members a wide variety of insurance, investing and banking products, including a complete line of credit cards. The USAA Military Affiliate Cards offer members a way to support their favorite military affiliate organization or veteran's group while enjoying low rates and valuable rewards.
How This Card Works
Members of USAA have their choice of military affiliate cards that can support one of dozens of different institutions, such as the Air Force Association, Disabled American Veterans, or Veterans of Foreign Wars. Other available cards support specific units such as the 101st Airborne Division Association, the 1st Marine Division, or the Society of the First Infantry Division. In fact, there are dozens of groups you can chose that support the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, Navy and other veterans’ groups. When you open your account, USAA will make donations to the organization you choose, as well as when you make purchases and keep the card active.
In addition to choosing a military affiliate organization to support, you also can choose between having a Visa Signature card or one that is part of the American Express payment network. With the Visa Signature version, you receive 2,500 points after your first purchase, and one point per dollar spent on all purchases. You can then redeem your points for cash back or use them to purchase travel, gift cards, and merchandise. You can also redeem your points for donations to your favorite military affiliate group.
With the American Express version, you also earn 2,500 bonus points after your first purchase, as well as 2x points for every dollar spent on gas and groceries. There is no annual fee for either card, and no foreign transaction fees imposed on charges processed outside of the United States.
To apply, you must be a member of USAA. Membership is available to active, retired, and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military. Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS) are also eligible as are adult children of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy. Finally, membership is also offered to widows and widowers of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy.
Advantages
These cards can offer a great way for you to support your favorite military affiliate group, and there's a very wide variety of groups that you can choose from. In addition, these cards have no annual fee and relatively low interest rates for reward cards. Having no foreign transaction fees is also an important consideration for service members and their families that are stationed overseas, or anyone who occasionally travels out of the country. Finally, each card features the logo or design of the organization they support.
Disadvantages
As reward credit cards, these cards do not offer the most competitive rates of cash back to customers. Instead, these cards are designed to offer rewards to both cardholders and the military affiliate group that they choose. The other major drawback of these cards is that you must be a member of USAA in order to apply.
Bottom Line
The USAA Military Affiliate Cards offer a way to support your favorite military affiliate both symbolically and financially. In addition, these cards are strong products that offer low fees and reasonable interest rates. However, you can only apply once you join USAA, which is not open to everyone.
First published , last updated
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Know Stewart is one of the leading journalists covering the credit card industry and travel rewards. His work appears at many of the top personal finance websites and is regularly syndicated by mainstream sites such as MSN Money and Yahoo! Finance.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer.
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