USAA® Cashback Rewards Plus American Express® Card review

USAA® Cashback Rewards Plus American Express® Card review

Updated: January 11, 2021
Updated: January 11, 2021
Ratings Policy
Cash Back Rating:
3.2 rating
3.2 rating
3.2 / 5
Rewards Value:2.2
Annual Percentage Rate:0.8
Rewards Flexibility:3.8
Features:4.0
Customer Experience5.0

In a Nutshell:

The USAA Cashback Rewards Plus American Express is an ideal card for military families: It offers an industry-leading 5 percent cash back on gas and military base purchases, 2 percent cash back on groceries and a number of money-saving perks for active duty service members. This offer is no longer available on our site.

Information about this card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy.

Rewards Rate

  • 5% cash back on gas and military-base purchases ($3,000 in purchases annually, 1% thereafter)
  • 2% cash back on groceries ($3,000 in purchases annually, 1% thereafter)
  • 1% cash back on other purchases
Very Good

Sign-up Bonus
None

Poor

Annual Bonus
None

Poor

Annual Fee
$0

Excellent

Average Yearly Rewards Value ($1,325 monthly spend)
$290

Average

APR
11.9%-25.9% (variable)

Fair

Rewards Redemption
Pros

  • Redeem any amount, any time in $1 increments
  • No rotating categories to keep track of

Cons

  • Bonus categories are capped at $3,000 of purchases per category, per year
Very Good

Customer Experience

  • Consumer Reports rating: 96 (top rating)
  • 24/7 customer service?: Yes
  • Online chat available?: Yes (but difficult to locate)
  • Google Play Store mobile app rating: 4.6/5
  • Apple Store mobile app rating: 4/5
Excellent

Other Notable Features: No foreign transaction fee; military benefits including deployment rates, finance charge rebates for military campaigns and deployment assistance; identity theft services; trip cancellation and interruption insurance; baggage delay insurance; no penalty APR

Ratings Policy
Low Interest Rating:
1.6 rating
1.6 rating
1.6 / 5
Rates, Fees, Penalties:1.2
Rewards:2.9
Features:3.0
Customer Experience5.0

In a Nutshell:

Though the USAA Cashback Rewards Plus card offers a very reasonable APR, cardholders seeking to save on balance transfers and new purchases would be better served with a card that offers a 0-percent introductory APR. This offer is no longer available on our site.

Information about this card has been collected independently by CreditCards.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy.

Regular APR
11.9%-25.9% (variable)

Average

Introductory Purchase APR
None

Poor

Introductory Balance Transfer APR
None

Poor

Fees

  • No annual fee
  • 3% balance transfer fee
  • No foreign transaction fee
  • 3% cash advance fee
Excellent

Penalties

  • Up to $35 late payment fee
  • No penalty APR
  • Up to $35 returned payment fee
Very Good

Customer Experience

  • Consumer Reports rating: 96 (top rating)
  • 24/7 customer service?: Yes
  • Online chat available?: Yes (but difficult to locate)
  • Google Play Store mobile app rating: 4.6/5
  • Apple Store mobile app rating: 4/5
Excellent

Other Notable Features: No foreign transaction fee; military benefits including deployment rates, finance charge rebates for military campaigns and deployment assistance; identity theft services; trip cancellation and interruption insurance; baggage delay insurance; no penalty APR

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For a card with no annual fee, the USAA Cashback Rewards Plus American Express card offers great benefits and a good cash back rate on select categories. You get 2 percent cash back on groceries and a whopping 5 percent cash back rate on gas and military-base purchases, capped at $3,000 of yearly spending per category.

The card is not available to the general public. It is only available to USAA members and other select individuals who use certain USAA products. In order to join USAA, you have to be a member of the U.S. armed forces, a veteran or a family member of a USAA member.

5 and 2 percent bonus categories

This card pays 5 percent cash back on gas and military base purchases, 2 percent on supermarket purchases and 1 percent on all other purchases. Few cash back cards offer a bonus rate as high as 5 percent, and those that do typically assign the 5 percent rate to less lucrative categories. Also, the USAA card requires less maintenance than other cards. You don’t have to sign up for bonus categories, and there are no rotating categories. Note, however, that the bonus cash back does include a strict cap of $3,000 of purchases per year in each category.

Flexible rewards redemption

The USAA cash back card makes it easy to redeem your cash rewards. While most cards require you to accumulate a significant amount of rewards before you can redeem for cash back, this card allows you to redeem any amount at any time, starting in $1 increments.

No penalty APR

The USAA Cashback Rewards Plus American Express card doesn’t impose a penalty APR, which is a rare benefit. Many card companies raise your APR as high as 30 percent for just one missed payment. The USAA card won’t raise your APR, no matter what happens to your account.

Identity-fraud-expense reimbursement

The card includes identity-fraud-expense reimbursement, a benefit that rarely comes with a card that has no annual fee. The reimbursement is limited to $1,000 per claim, and there is a limit of one claim per year.

Why get the USAA Cashback Rewards Plus card?

  • You are a USAA member who can take advantage of the 5 percent bonus on military-base purchases.
  • You want the simplicity of a no-annual-fee card that doesn’t make you register for quarterly bonus categories.
  • You are interested in the suite of excellent travel benefits that comes with the card.

How to use the USAA Cashback Rewards Plus card:

  • Use the card to pay for gas and military-base purchases until you reach the $3,000 cap in each category.
  • Use this card interchangeably with other cash back cards that offer bonus cash on alternate categories of spending.

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