USAA Eagle Navigator Review
Tl;dr: despite offering little more than credit toward travel as rewards, the Eagle Navigator’s solid earning rates and net-zero fee make it a good option for USAA members looking for a single-card setup.
Wells Fargo isn’t the only bank getting into the premium travel card game. If you are eligible for USAA membership, the Eagle Navigator card offers an interesting blend of credits and earning to pair with its $95 annual fee, making it highly competitive even in this crowded space.
As we did last time, let’s see how these cards stack up side-by-side:
Fees and credits
All five cards charge a $95 annual fee. The Eagle Navigator offers 10,000 points (worth $100 toward travel) when spending $100 + 100 points on a single booking of a hotel stay, rental car, or combination of the two. The Autograph Journey offers a $50 statement credit towards airfare purchases. The Sapphire Preferred offers a $50 credit toward hotel stays booked through Chase plus a 10% anniversary points bonus. The Premier offers a $100 hotel credit, but only on a single $500+ stay booked through Citi. The Venture Rewards offers a $100 credit toward TSA PreCheck or Global entry, but only every four years.
Were it not for the complicated requirement to spend both $100 and 100 points, the USAA card would take this category handily. Even with that drawback, if you can remember to use the points, the $100 reward pays for the entire annual fee, making the Eagle Navigator a net-zero (or net -$5) card, by far the best in this category. You’d need to spend $500 on a hotel stay to get that with the Citi Premier, or spend $50,000 in purchases to break even with the Chase Sapphire Premier’s 10% points bonus.
Earning rewards
Eagle Navigator: 3x on travel (broadly defined), 2x on all other spending
Autograph Journey: 5x on hotels, 4x on airlines, 3x on travel and dining, 1x on all other spending.
Sapphire Preferred: 5x on travel through Chase; 3x on dining, select streaming, and online groceries; 2x on travel, 1x on all other spending.
Premier: 3x on restaurants, gas, supermarkets, air travel, and hotels, 1x on all other spending.
Venture: 5x on hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One, 2x on all other spending.
At least in terms of nominal points earning, the Eagle Navigator may again be best in class. The 2x earning on base spending is better than all the competitors except for the Venture, and the 3x on all travel (not just portal spending) bests all cards except for the Autograph Journey. Because I have the Venture X, I would choose the Autograph Journey for the higher earning rates on hotels and flights, but if I were choosing a single one of these cards for my wallet, I would want the Eagle Navigator’s combination of a high base earning rate with an elevated bonus on travel. Of course, you can’t compare earning rates unless you know how much the points are worth, which brings us to…
Using rewards
Eagle Navigator: Redeem for travel via USAA (10,000 points = $100 toward travel/1¢ each when redeemed for travel).
Autograph Journey: Redeem with Wells Fargo (1¢/point) or transfer to partners including British Airways, Avianca, Choice Hotels, and Flying Blue.
Sapphire Preferred: Points are worth 1.25¢ when redeemed via Chase. Transfer partners include Southwest Airlines, United, Hyatt, and British Airways.
Premier: Redeem with Citi (1¢/point) or transfer to partners including Choice Hotels, Wyndham, JetBlue, Avianca, and FlyingBlue.
Venture: Redeem as statement credits toward travel at 1¢/point (“mile”) or transfer to partners including Choice Hotels, Avianca, British Airways, and FlyingBlue.
Here, the Eagle Navigator falls well behind the competition. The maximum value of the points is 1¢ each, and must be redeemed via USAA. By contrast, Chase points are worth more at Chase, and Capital One points can be redeemed at that rate to reimburse any travel purchase (and you can keep the miles you earned on the spending).
All the other programs also feature the ability to transfer points to travel partners, which creates opportunities to squeeze more value out of your points. For instance, 3,500 points will get you only $35 toward travel with USAA, but could get you an off-peak night at a $100+ Hyatt hotel—more than double the value—when transferred from Chase to Hyatt. That said, it can be difficult for middle-class travelers to squeeze much more than 1-1.25¢ in true value out of points transfers, so the other benefits of the Eagle Navigator might outweigh this drawback for some people.
Welcome bonus
As of writing:
Eagle Navigator: 30,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 within 90 days
Autograph Journey: 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months
Sapphire Preferred: 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 within 3 months
Premier: 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months (plus 10x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi through June 30, 2024)
Venture: 75,000 points after spending $4,000 within 3 months
Here, the Eagle Navigator falls well short of its peers, with a welcome offer less than half of its competitors (although you need to spend $1,000 less to earn it). If you save $50 on net fees and earn an extra 5,000 points each year with the USAA card, you would break even with the other cards after around 3 years, and (if everything stays the same) start coming out ahead thereafter. But three years is a long time in the world of credit cards, and some people might prefer to take the extra $300-450 in bonus points up front.
Conclusion
With a mediocre welcome offer and unspectacular points that can’t be leveraged into fancy travel, the USAA Eagle Navigator won’t attract the adoration of most credit card aficianodos. But it is a great option for people looking to add a travel rewards card (with Visa Signature benefits and protections) with excellent earning rates that will give you your annual fee back each year (with interest) if you book a hotel or rental car. If you’re USAA-eligible (but not able to take advantage of the best cards for active duty) and are looking a solid long-term keeper card, this might be a great option.