Sad, but all too true. Honestly, I don’t even know what interest rate is on either of my USAA Visa cards. That’s because I haven’t paid interest nor fees for years. Every morning, over breakfast, I merely pay off whatever balance cleared the day before. I didn’t like paying high interest rates, either. So I dug in to make my cards zero out; paying that bill, that built up to often a substantial amount, caused emotional response and financial impacts. Obviously, I pay whatever expenditures I generate, but the pain isn’t the same as having to write a check [back in the bad old days of pre-electronic payments]. Two additional benefits: 1. the rewards generated when using my Visa to pay bills generate roughly $100 per month; bills I’d pay anyhow, but with no returned money otherwise; 2. Buying through the shopping tool for larger purchases at whatever amount each company sets, usually 2% or so; that can add up on expensive electronics, tools, etc! [note: that buying tool includes some really bad companies like Adorama in NYC that is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg; wen I contacted USAA trying to get Adorama dropped is when I found USAA uses a third party contractor…as usual…that refused to drop Adorama despite the city and state prosecutors investigating Adorama for fraud and outright theft. USAA relies too heavily on these contractors that default or provide poor service: but that’s a separate issue. And Adorama is a special issue to me only because they stole some of my used photo gear I sent to them to sell; and damaged most of what they did return. Not relevant to anyone but me, but any member buying through USAA from Adorama is in danger of being ripped off. Sorry for the rant.].
