USAA Preferred Cash Rewards

The draw is the $250 cash bonus after $1,000 of spending in the first three months, a low bar for a card that charges no annual fee. After that it settles into a flat 1.5% back on everything, with nothing to activate or track. The honest problem is that 1.5% now trails the 2% flat-rate cards that have become common, so the ongoing earn rate is the weakest part of the package. Where it does stand out is abroad: there is no foreign transaction fee, and the regular APR starts at 15.4%, lower than most cash back cards if you occasionally carry a balance. Worth opening for the bonus and the overseas use, less compelling as the card you reach for every day.