Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card review 2024: The most generous of the 2% bunch
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“Verified by an expert” means that this article has been thoroughly reviewed and evaluated for accuracy.
BLUEPRINT
Updated 4:25 p.m. UTC July 1, 2024
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The credit union card offers a rewards rate you’ll be hard-pressed to beat elsewhere. Read more in our full Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card * The information for the Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. review.
Why trust our credit card experts
Our team of experts evaluates hundreds of credit cards and analyzes thousands of data points to help you find the best card for your situation. We use a data-driven methodology to determine each rating. Advertisers do not influence our editorial content. You can read more about our methodology below.
- 50+ cards analyzed.
- 8 data points considered.
- 5-step fact-checking process.
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card basics
- Annual fee: $0.
- Welcome bonus: None.
- Rewards: 2.5% cash back on up to $10,000 spent each billing cycle with qualifying accounts and all other purchases earn 1.5%.
- APR: 17.49% to 27.49% variable APR on purchases and balance transfers. A balance transfer fee of 3% of each transfer applies.
- Preapproval tool: None.
- Recommended credit score: Excellent.
- Other perks and benefits: Secondary auto rental collision damage waiver, purchase security, roadside dispatch, extended warranty protection, travel accident insurance and personal identity theft protection.
Alliant Credit Union share certificates
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card review
The Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card is one of the best no-annual fee cards on the market if you’re seeking simplicity and a top-shelf rewards rate on your daily purchases in every spending category. The Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card * The information for the Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. offers the chance to earn a whopping 2.5% cash back on up to $10,000 spent each billing cycle with qualifying accounts and all other purchases earn 1.5%. To qualify for the higher rate, however, you’ll need to have an account and meet certain requirements with it.
The card doesn’t offer a welcome bonus or even a 0% introductory APR promotion. Depending on your creditworthiness, your APR can be somewhat high. But there is no annual or foreign transaction fee, and you’ll get some standard ancillary perks.
If you want to bank with Alliant, this card provides an excellent way to rack up a lot of cash back. But if you don’t want to jump through extra hoops to accelerate your rewards, you may consider other options.
Pros
- High rewards rate: While it’s not the best base rewards rate, the card’s rate beats most other flat-rate cash-back credit cards. And while there is a cap on how much you can earn at this rate each billing cycle, it’s so high that most cardholders won’t even get close.
- Personal identity theft protection: The card comes with many standard insurance protections, but one that stands out is personal identity theft protection, which covers up to $5,000 for expenses in the event that your identity is stolen.
- No foreign transaction fee: It’s common for a cash-back credit card to charge no annual fee, but it’s more difficult to find one that doesn’t have a foreign transaction fee on international purchases.
Cons
- No standard welcome bonus: All cardholders will earn the higher rewards rate for the first 100 days, but there’s no standard new-cardholder incentive like you can get with other top cash-back credit cards.
- No 0% intro APR promotion: It’s rare for a cash-back credit card not to offer a 0% introductory APR promotion on purchases, balance transfers or both. But this one does not.
- Extra hoops to earn the maximum rewards rate: Most credit cards don’t require a linked checking account to earn a certain rewards rate, and while this card makes that move worth your while, it may be an extra hassle for someone who doesn’t want to bank with Alliant.
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card rewards
There are many factors to consider when choosing a cash-back credit card, and the percentage of cash-back rewards is a big one. While the Alliant Cashback card has no welcome bonus, it offers one of the best rewards rates on the market for a flat-rate card. If you qualify, you can earn 2.5% cash back on up to $10,000 spent each billing cycle with qualifying accounts and all other purchases earn 1.5%.
To get that higher rate, you’ll need to open an Alliant High-Rate Checking account and meet certain requirements, including:
- Opt in to receive electronic statements.
- Receive at least one electronic deposit each calendar month.
- Maintain an average daily balance of $1,000 or more.
If you don’t meet these requirements, you’ll earn the lower rate on every purchase. However, all cardholders will earn the elevated rewards rate for the first 100 days after approval, which could act as a welcome bonus for those who don’t already qualify for the elevated rate.
You can use your cash back to get a statement credit on your account or request a deposit into an Alliant checking or savings account.
Using government data and other publicly available information, we estimate that a household in the U.S. that would be in the market for this card has $29,575 in expenses they are likely to charge to a credit card annually. Here’s how our sample household’s rewards could break down:
| SPENDING CATEGORY | SPENDING AMOUNT | CASH-BACK RATE | CASH BACK EARNED |
|---|---|---|---|
All purchases
| $29,575
| 2.5 %
| $739.38
|
TOTAL
| $29,575
| $739.38
|
As you can see, if you qualify for the elevated flat-rate, you could expect to earn $739.38 in cash-back rewards every year. If you don’t meet the requirements with an Alliant High-Rate Checking account, however, you’ll earn significantly less, $443.63 by our calculations.
Redemption options with Alliant are limited but extremely straightforward. You can get your rewards either as a statement credit posted within one billing cycle or as a direct deposit to your Alliant checking or savings account.
How the Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card compares to other cash-back cards
The Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card stands out among the best cash-back credit cards on the market for its high flat-rate of rewards for cardholders who qualify. However, the card does have a few significant drawbacks. If any of these are deal breakers for you, one of these competing cash-back cards may be a better fit.
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card vs. Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
If you want a solid cash-back credit card with no catches, consider the Wells Fargo Active Cash Card. The card offers 2% cash rewards on purchases, plus a $200 cash rewards bonus after spending $500 in purchases in the first three months of account opening. New cardholders will also get a 0% intro APR for the first 15 months on purchases and qualifying balance transfers, then a 20.24%, 25.24%, or 29.99% variable APR applies thereafter. Balance transfers made within 120 days qualify for the intro rate and fee of 3%. After that a fee of up to 5%, with a minimum of $5 applies. The card has no annual fee.
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Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card vs. Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card * The information for the Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
If you’re a loyal Bank of America customer, you could potentially earn more than the elevated rate on the Alliant Cashback Visa Card, with the Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card. The card offers 2 points per $1 on travel and dining purchases and 1.5 points per $1 on other purchases.
But if you’re a Bank of America Preferred Rewards® member, you could earn between 25% and 75% more points on every card purchase, maxing out the base rewards rate at 2.62 points per $1. Just note that you’ll need a three-month combined balance of at least $100,000 across Bank of America deposit accounts and/or Merrill investment accounts to earn that highest possible rate.
The card also offers 60,000 points after spending $4,000 on purchases in the first 90 days of account opening, up to $100 each year in airline incidental fee statement credits and an application fee statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. The card’s annual fee is $95.
Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card vs. Chase Freedom Flex® * The information for the Chase Freedom Flex® has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
If you want to maximize your rewards on various spending categories, consider the Chase Freedom Flex. The card offers 5% cash back on up to $1,500 in categories that rotate quarterly (requires activation), 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on dining and drugstores and 1% cash back on all other purchases.
You’ll also earn a $200 bonus after spending $500 on purchases in the first three months of account opening. New cardholders will also get a 0% intro APR for the first 15 months on purchases and balance transfers, then a variable APR of 20.49% to 29.24%. There is an intro balance transfer fee of either $5 or 3% of each transfer, whichever is greater, in the first 60 days. Then the fee is the greater of $5 or 5% of each transfer. There is no annual fee.
The Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card is right for you if:
- You qualify for the higher rewards rate. If you bank with Alliant Credit Union or plan to, meeting the requirements to earn the card’s elevated rewards rate should be pretty easy and could be a great way to earn significant cash back without using multiple cards.
- Your spending habits match the card. If you spend a lot in areas that fall outside of traditional bonus earning categories like dining and travel, this card offers a way to get high earnings on your daily spending.
- You’re willing to forgo other perks. If you’re OK with not getting a welcome bonus or a 0% introductory APR offer in exchange for simplicity and a high rate of rewards, this card might be a fit for you.
Methodology
Our credit card team has spent hours analyzing hundreds of credit cards. We took a deep dive into the details of each product and that analysis, combined with our years of experience covering credit cards, informed us as we developed these credit card rankings.
Some of the factors evaluated in selecting the best rewards credit cards included:
- Rewards potential and redemption options.
- Welcome bonuses.
- Travel and shopping benefits.
- Intro APRs.
- Annual fees.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
Alliant does not disclose a minimum credit limit, but online reports say that the credit union is more generous than other card issuers. There are some unverified reports that, as a Visa Signature card, the credit limit is at least $5,000.
No, the card does not charge foreign transaction fees, making it a solid payment option if you’re planning a trip abroad.
Alliant doesn’t specify a minimum credit score, but you generally need to have good to excellent credit to get approved, which translates to a FICO Score of 670 or higher.
Alliant also offers the Alliant Visa® Platinum Card * The information for the Alliant Visa® Platinum Card has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer. , which has a 0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases and balance transfers, after a variable APR of 15.49% to 27.49% applies. There’s a balance transfer fee of 2% of the amount transferred, $5 minimum. The card has no annual fee, but it doesn’t offer rewards.
You’ll need to become a member of Alliant Credit Union to open an account. Fortunately, it’s easy to meet the requirements to join. If you don’t meet the basic eligibility criteria based on where you live or work, you can become an Alliant Credit Union Foundation digital inclusion advocate to become eligible for membership.
*The information for the Alliant Cashback Visa® Signature Credit Card, Alliant Visa® Platinum Card, Bank of America® Premium Rewards® credit card and Chase Freedom Flex® has been collected independently by Blueprint. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Blueprint is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor. The information provided is for educational purposes only and we encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific financial decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
Blueprint has an advertiser disclosure policy. The opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the Blueprint editorial staff alone. Blueprint adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. The information is accurate as of the publish date, but always check the provider’s website for the most current information.
