USAA Bank

What Has USAA Bank Done For Their Members Lately? NOTHING !
- RickO - Monday, February 28, 2011 - 8:13 AM

 

 

When I joined USAA in 1963, it was a highly select Military Officer only organization. Over the decades this insurance company grew and grew and grew to include dozens of services including banking and membership became available to nearly anybody who is breathing.  They just opened membership to ROTC cadets and believe it or nor, to 'any person who ever was in the military and has an honorable discharge.'  Next, I anticipate 'anybody who has ever seen a John Wayne war movie'.  Oh, and of course as membership selectivity has lessoned, fraud has gone up. Now, we get to the REAL REASON members are treated like dirt. It's 'politically correct' to treat all equally. Thus, the deadbeat dads, the scammers, the con artists and, of course, legacy members of nearly half a century are all equal. Oh, brother!

 

Sadly, USAA Bank has become a bank like all other mediocre American banks. That means young, inexperienced bank officers who have little, likely no, military background or Federal service experience whatsoever. And these same cookie-cutter robot employees foster the failed banking industry  'we must grow' philosophy (****ed by their managers) that largely destroyed the entire U.S. banking industry including USAA due to greed, bad risks, bad loans and a collapsed housing market. So, who takes the brunt? Certainly nobody in banking got punished or fired. Again, who takes the brunt? Why, the loyal bank customers, who else!

 

My beef? Now using a great 'deposit by phone' capability I find checks deposited must be HELD until the bank gets the actual money from the institution on which the check is drawn, then the funds are placed in my own USAA account for use. Thus, we are back to the mid-19th Century banking mechanisms. In a word, those who have a record of integrity for decades must suffer waiting along with the deadbeats. The bank overcompensates for their industry mis-management of non-regulated loan policies of the recent past and now takes no risks or gives any latitude whatsoever to honest members. Thus, the ' politically correct' mantra prevails so as not to offend those who abuse the capabilities of rapid 21st Century banking.

 

Would I recommend USAA to anybody anymore? No! Never! I would suggest getting a hometown bank within blocks of your physical residence. Faraway bureaucratic institutions invariably lose their sense of mission and their raison d'etre. They come to view the customer as 'the enemy' and this is USAA today.

Holds Reg CC
- clstrang - Wednesday, October 12, 2011 - 6:43 PM

I've worked at a bank for several years - Wells Fargo, to be exact. Wells Fargo is an extremely conservative (not in the political sense) bank in terms of funds availability. I placed holds on tons of things that my friends who worked for smaller banks would laugh at. But when I started banking with USAA, I was honestly shocked at the ridiculousness of the holds they place on checks. I deposited my paycheck, and there is a four day hold on the funds from the check, which was less than 1,000.00. I have never in my life experienced this or would have even thought about placing a hold for that long, or at all, on someone's paycheck that was that small. I understand that what they do is legal under Reg CC, but to anyone that needs funds availability in less than a 5 days or so, I would run away from USAA as fast as I could. Closing this puppy out the second this hold is released and I can write a check for the balance to my other account. Complete waste of time.

USAA Bank Cares NOTHING About It's Members Or The Military
- usaasucks - Saturday, December 24, 2011 - 9:53 AM

They have a fraud dept that does NOTHING when OBVIOUS fraud occurs, they are complete idiots. It is Christmas Eve day and ZERO notification from the bank I have used for almost 10 years that my debit card info had been compromised. Two identical charges made in CALIFORNIA at a Shell station and I live in TX but no one notifies me or tells me ANYTHING. Spoke to fraud dept just now and they basically said "too bad" and then tried to blame the fraud on me because I used my debit card locally here in TX". Really??? And I will not have access to ANY MONEY now for up to 10 days until I get another card. Merry F***** Christmas to my child when he won't have gifts.

USAA Is One Of The Best Banks I've Done Business With
- Anonymous - Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - 10:13 AM

USAA is one of the best banks I've done business with.  I've used USAA for more than a decade.

Their customer service, ACH transfer service, free check-printing for life, and refund of ATM fees charged by other banks make them one of the best.

USAA offers CDs rate that are very good.

I have also used non-banking products offered by USAA such as Mutual Funds, Annuities and I'm very satisfied.

After 10 Years, This Is How They Treat People?
- hooahgirl2004 - Thursday, November 24, 2011 - 1:21 AM

If you had asked me if I like my bank, I would have said yes, pointed out everything good about it and tried to get you to switch. NOT AFTER TODAY! We deposited a check at our local UPS store on Friday. A small amount, $700, no big deal, our pay checks are more than that. They only released $100. Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a problem, however we had to pay for vehicle repairs and came into hard times. We were supposed to go to Alabama for Thanksgiving but thanks to USAA customer service giving us the wrong information, our funds won't be "released" to us until Friday. Believe me, when this ordeal is done, I'll go to Navy Federal or some other bank. The representative I spoke to told me it wasn't her fault, she couldn't do anything about it (mind you, she was supposed to be a supervisor) and I would have to wait until Friday to speak to somebody about getting them released. If we had known this hold would have been this long, we would have just gone to a check cashing place instead of taking 8 days of leave only to not be able to go anywhere or do anything because of a hold. Thanks for ruining a holiday USAA!

USAA - HORRIBLE SERVICE- Orearado@Comcast.Net
- orearado - Monday, August 1, 2011 - 4:05 PM

USAA has become no better than all of the other Monster mega-banks.  They actually denied my REFI after they took the $350 application fee.  They did this the day before closing.  They termianted the loan because my wife was ill and could not sign papers. Once she recovered as was able to sign, they would not allow her to sign.  SHE HAD BEEN ILL FROM DAY ONE, THEY KNEW THIS.  Even though I have a Court order Guardianship giving me authority to sign, USAA denied the loan.  They did this the day of the scheduled closing.

 

They have grown to the point they a no better than monster mega BANK.  With the limited locations USAA offer, it is better to use a local bank.

 

Oh not to mention the Rewards programs was cancelled.

 

Why have USAA bank-? 

Horrendous, Disrespectful, Probably Illegal
- robbieflick - Wednesday, May 23, 2012 - 3:08 AM

I opened an account with USAA after Wells Fargo began implementing new service fees that made keeping my checking account with them financially unviable. I chose USAA because of the rave reviews, free checking, innovative services, and because they cater to the armed services community; I work in international health and am based in rural Africa, so I figured my situation would not surprise anyone there.

Opening an account and getting checks and my ATM card was a breeze. I electronically transferred a sum of money, and after it was verified, began making payments from this account. My payments were immediately returned, incurring "returned payment fees" on several occasions. Confused, I attempted to login to my USAA account, only to find it was "restricted". I called, and after waiting on hold for close to thirty minutes and being referred to their Fraud department, was told that USAA had reserved their right not to do business with me.

USAA closed my account with no prior warning, so that I personally incurred large fees as I was completely unaware of my account's suspension. After numerous phone calls they have provided no explanation whatsoever. The funds I had accessible online are still being held by them. When they are released, they will be in the form of a check, which is useless to me in rural Africa; these funds are essentially lost to me.

I cannot understate how frustrating this process has been, and I would strongly urge all potential customers to avoid this bank at all costs. I had no idea when I signed up for my "free checking" how much time, money, and stress it would cost me. Charles Swab's checking account has the same benefits and with no foreign transaction - they presumably treat their customers better than USAA, but of course this is not saying much.

Horrible If I Could Give Zero Stars I Would
- Dagg2004 - Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 7:05 PM

Im in the military and this bank used to be amazing it has lost it all over the last three years.  accounts being frozen for just about anything and to get it unfrozen its pulling teeth even more so on leave about to go on deployment and coming home from deployment.  when i rely on having access to money.  this bank also gave me bad advise with the money i saved on deployment for a new car.  by the way temporarily placing money in mutual funds for 4 months not a good idea.  i was charged fees when i took it out and which was alot more then the 20 or so dollars i made.  recently i transfered money into my savings i needed to dip into it and transfer funds to checking it cost me $25 dollars to transfer 50 to force thee transfer.  would have been nice to know that.  there insurance is average there phone service.....the only way you can really get service because theres no branch anywhere sucks as of late almost like they dont care if they lose accounts.  they lost mine and i work with recruits im spreading the news that they arent what they used to be and navy feds the way to go.  im going to navy fed they have placed branches near every base around the world.  also before i end this ranting.  when there was a scare of military not getting paid like 8 months ago.  usaa said too bad.  navy fed was going to release it anyway take a hit until we would get back paid.  shame on you usaa you dont serve us active duty military anymore.   

Disappointment
- benmurphy63 - Monday, October 3, 2011 - 2:50 PM

I recently made an error depositing a check via deposit@mobile and two months later they reversed the check twice. I have called 5 times and been placed on hold for over 45 minutes each time. I finally had to beg to get a supervisor's number so that I could get the solution resolved. In all they held $500 from my account for 13 days. What if I didn't have enough money to cover that amount? What would they have done if I had bounced a check?

I cannot recommend this bank to anyone that is looking for full service. If you need an event sponosored for wounded warriors or Army vs. Navy they are hard to beat but banking....not their cup of tea.

Terrible Financial Advice, Poor Customer Service, Average Rates
- jorgey454 - Monday, April 11, 2011 - 4:12 PM

I'm 25 years old trying to open a retirement account. Not knowing any better, and trusting their advice, I opened a low-growth annuity Roth IRA. Realising my mistake after reading a few financial advice books, I tried to move it to a high-growth Roth IRA mutual fund, again with USAA. After months of un-returned calls, I finally talk to someone competent enough to give it to me straight. Turns out I'm going to have to pay 7% of the thousands of dollars I used to open the account in fines and fees. This has been one expensive, time consuming, frustrating cluster-! from start to finish.

Take your business elsewhere, their rates aren't even that good. Vanguard charges half of what USAA does, and they're getting my business as soon as USAA pulls its head out of its butt long enough to finish the paperwork.

Horrible Mortgage Department
- mlomba - Sunday, April 3, 2011 - 5:00 PM

I have had USAA for many years for my insurance needs and have added pretty much everything since. Checking, savings, investments...you name it. Those departments are just incredible: great customer service, good resources and plans and hassle free data.

But the Mortgage department is atrocious, I mean all-time bad. I had a ton of problems with my loan processing and the title company had a very difficult time reaching my mortgage representative. On the day I was to close, I waited all day for a call or some sort of instruction and it never came. The title company was told the loan was held up in underwriting where it had been for a week and no one from USAA ever called me to let me know the status.

We did not close and no apology, explanation or status was received. When I complained my mortgage representative said, "Yeah blame me, everyone else does!" No one from USAA has contacted me since and when I wrote a review for their customer website, it was never posted. It is pretty much the same review I've written here.

Looks like USAA is getting too big, too fast and I am seriously considering transferring some of my financial assets away from this bank. Too bad, this was probably the best financial company I've ever dealt with.

GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE!
- suzi_sonrisa - Monday, February 21, 2011 - 9:40 AM

We purchased a car and USAA financed us. I was skeptical of how it would work since they are an out of town bacnk. But they made it so easy. They were always available online and over the phone. We just had to log on and print paperwork and voila! It was seriously easier than a traditional loan process! We were so gratfeul to them we got out car insurance through them, opened a credit card with them, and now that we have a baby we are planning on opening her an account with USAA.

I know membership is inclusive, but if you can get in, go with USAA. You can even deposit a check by using your smartphone and take a picture of it! So easy!!!! Whenever you have a question or issue you can call and every rep I have ever dealt with is SUPER nice and will go out of their way to help you.

I will saty with USAA, they impress me!

USAA Has Gone Down The Tubes
- bobtuba - Tuesday, April 2, 2013 - 5:20 PM

It has been eye-opening seeing the negative comments about USAA on a number of financial services fora. I've been with USAA for 33 years, never a late or missed payment, never an overdraft, and I think my last and only automobile claim was for a couple hundred back in 1982. When you look up "low risk" in the encyclopedia, it has my picture! Anyway, I am one of those who was always singing the praises of USAA over the years and I, too, ignored the warning signs of a formerly excellent organization that got too big and started chasing too many higher risk customers to the detriment of the former core customers. It's particularly disheartening when I think about how good they used to be, say, 20 years ago.

I had two extremely negative experiences last year, one with Mortgages as I started construction of a new home, and later with Property Insurance as I tried to insure it. In both cases, it appeared that the decision makers have been moved behind a wall, well insulated from the annoying customers, protected by 17 layers of middle management, not one of whom is empowered to actually make a decision. Essentially, USAA left me standing at the altar twice in a row on this real estate deal, and that's something I can't forgive. I then began the process of moving all my USAA business -- banking, credit cards, auto / property / life insurance, investments, you name it -- to other firms. After 33 years. I thought it was just me. But I see I am not alone when I look at all the reviews around the Internet instead of just those cherry-picked by USAA on their site...

In sum, with regards to the banking business:

The Good: Mostly competent online banking with no fees or reasonable fees if you do things right. Average credit cards. Use any ATM.

The Bad: Other banks offer better rewards on their cards. Customer service starts to fall down if your situation does not fit into their cookie-cutter checklist mentality.

The Ugly: Never, ever deal with their mortgage origination. You will regret it. Also, it is impossible to speak to anyone who is actually empowered to make a command decision about anything.

USAA Banking And Insurance
- Lima1 - Monday, September 10, 2012 - 1:03 PM

The service and products at USAA have gone way down hill since I joined in 1981.  Bad advice, bad service, bad everything.  I recently moved to Allstate insurance after 30 years at USAA because of poor service. I am going to transfer all my banking accounts shortly. Allstate was less expensive for the same coverage. USAA does not appreciate it's long term customers, and I no longer trust their advice.  I agree with another post on this site, I would give them 0 stars if it was an option.

USAA Hurt My Family
- EdStarski - Saturday, June 16, 2012 - 3:54 AM

USAA really hurt my family. I am a disabled veteran and had my veteran's disability stolen by USAA due to a bank error. They refuse to take responsibility so I filed a lawsuit. They hired a multi-million dollar law firm to fight me with paperwork. Please help me by signing my petition against USAAEconomic Justice Petition: USAA Bank: Stop being malicious towards a disabled veteran! | Change.org

Banking And Mortgages
- timothycurrie - Monday, April 30, 2012 - 1:33 PM

I would highly recommend that any one interested in starting a checking acount or using USAA for a mortgage DO NOT.

First USAA is very inconsisted in depositing YOUR money in Your account.  Most months the deposit will go in on time, but if the deposit or trnasfer of funds happens on a weekend or Monday or Holiday, your account will not be credited till Midnigh Monday (really Tuesday).

After having several differt mortgages through USAA for over thirty years and wamted to refinance a existing mortgage, USAA said no.  I have never missed a mortgage payment or be late.

So, say goodbye to USAA before you start.

Timothy J. Currie

Member since 1970.

I Love USAA
- pysteph - Thursday, December 15, 2011 - 4:35 AM

I've never had an issue with them, and frankly, I'm shocked at all the difficulties people have had in the comments.  I'm in the Air Force and have been with USAA since 2006.  Their customer service is always prompt and polite, and I love that they pay dividends on everything, including car insurance and checking account (or there's interest or something - either way, you get money).  I also like the fact that you get ATM fees refunded.

I also find it amazing that everything is instant.  If I want to transfer money between accounts, I can do it on my phone and the money's there instantly.  Or if I deposit a check by sending them a picture, the funds are also in my account instantly.  Seriously, what other bank does that?  There's always some kind of hold with other banks.  USAA takes me at my word that the check is worth that much and that I'm good for it.  I have pretty much everything with them.


The only two downsides I can see is that they don't have a physical branch, so if I wanted to deposit cash, I wouldn't be able to.  I've never had to, so I'm not really worried about that.  Of course, there may actually be a way to do that, but I'm unaware of it.  The second one is that I've seen higher savings rates elsewhere.  I think also lower car insurancem but it wasn't by much, and I wouldn't trade it.

Decent Bank, Insurance, Etc... Horrible Mortgage Department
- devo96 - Tuesday, August 30, 2011 - 12:56 PM

i've been a member of USAA for 15 years, and have had some ups and downs with them.  their banking is top of the line, their computer banking is state of the art, and their insurance rates are low with great service to back it up. 

i have about 10 years ago received a mortgage from them to buy a house.  the process was smooth and easy.  the processor was on top of the loan, and communicated with me every step of the way.

that said, i'm now in the final stages of trying to buy a house through their mortgage department.  i had a 60 day closing window, which USAA failed to meet.  i'm now 2 weeks past that.  the processor hardly speaks english and can't write a legible sentence on email.  so i'm dealing with the supervisor.  i've met all the conditions of the pre-approval, before the orginal closing date.  the package has been submitted to underwriting at least 3 times (all after the original closing date) and each time they come up with a new set hoops to jump through.

the mortgage department seems disorganized, and the processors don't really seem to know what they're doing.  they don't communicate: with each other, or with the customer.  i will not seek another loan from them.  the smaller, local banks can do a much better job than these mega-banks....

Great Bank...Sucky Rules
- alwalters5 - Monday, July 11, 2011 - 11:18 PM

I've had this bank for about a year now, and up until today I have had no complaints about it. My mother actually opened this account up for me when I was away at college so I have never put a check into my account before. I didn't really have to put any money into my account until I got a job. This job just directly deposited my money into my account, so I never had to worry about it.

However, last week my boyfriend wrote a check out for me and I had to figure out how to put it into my account. My mom told me that  I just have to take a picture of the check and they put the money right into your account. This, of course, is more complicated than it sounds, so I looked it up on USAA's website. There, they said that you not only had to have a USAA bank account, but you also had to be qualified for a loan. For whatever reason, I'm not qualified for one, so I can't deposit this check I have sitting around into my account. I also don't live near a USAA branch location so I can't just ask a teller to do it for me. I am really annoyed.

If USAA didn't have this silly rule and they had more branches open, it would be a great bank. Oh well, I'll just have to find another bank that will let me do simple tasks such as cashing a check.

Poor Customer Service
- Soldier - Wednesday, January 26, 2011 - 10:10 AM

This Bank advertises it is for the Military Service Members and their Families.  Understanding the Military work round the clock and family needs are a 24 hour a day seven day a week requirement around the world when you call this bank you get a computer, automated call distribution system.  Understand this bank doe provide a good online service so when you call the bank you want to talk to a human not a computer.  No instructions are provided for you to opt out of the ACD.  Generally when I call the bank I want a human not an ACD, it takes several minutes and I have experienced up to 15 minutes just to get through the ACD and then wait in cue for a bank staff member.  Imagine you are a Soldier and need to call the bank you have maybe 15 minutes to conduct your business and get back to duty because the bank is closed when you get off duty.  Explain your excuse to your leader why you have to take so much time to get your business accomplished.  I submit the bank does not focus on Military Service Members and their Families it just says it does.  I called to have a check terminated.  After about 10 minutes I was able to speak to a human.  Next, I was referred to another human and again explained my purpose.  I was told the bank could not cancel my check or place a stop payment on the check for at least 24 hours and then they could not grantee the stop payment would take effect.  I asked to speak to a supervisor and received the same message.  What good is a bank if it cannot stop payment on a check quickly and accurately?

Very Happy With USAA
- astronomeralex - Monday, March 19, 2012 - 10:03 PM

My wife and I really like our checking account with USAA. We've moved a few times in the past year and their customer service over the phone has been great. Free checks for life, and rebates on atm fees is also fantastic. If you don't need money from a check in a hurry, depositing by mail works well.

Overall, we've been very happy with USAA and will continue to bank with them for a long time.

Usaa Bank The "Do's And Donts"
- spikejoker911 - Wednesday, November 16, 2011 - 5:47 PM

Like any bank you hafta be very careful with investing your money into a company. Especially a bank. I would recommend not getting any insurance through these guys and deffinately not not opening any credit cards. Also be sure to avoid over-draft fees. This company has higher interest then Bank of America, and thats saying a lot.

USAA Bank--Fantastic 7 Year Deal For Big Investors
- tomlawler - Friday, July 2, 2010 - 4:03 PM

I just made a "super jumbo" CD (defined as over $175k) at USAA for a 3.79 rate/3.86 yield.  Smaller investors can still get a solid 3.55% yield.  I like that a bank will give a bonus for larger deposits.  On our $200K CD, the extra .30% means $600  more per year--not too shabby.  The application on line takes just 5 minutes as they promise, and that includes the time to link USAA to my local bank.  The transfer went smoothly.

Their phone personnel are awesome.  I had a lot of questions and they were very patient in explaining everything to me.  My only criticism is the website itelf, which is part of the reason I had to call in the first place.  The site is too congested IMO, making it difficult to find what you need.  For example, it takes about three clicks to get to the CD rates page--and the "view rates" tab is in small letters to the far right of the page.   This is only reason I couldn't give them the full 5 stars, but the rate itself more than makes up for the slight inconvenience.

No Protections In Place To Prevent Fraud
- wertin593 - Monday, October 22, 2012 - 11:19 PM

Incompetent...never received checks I ordered--they were sent without the ability to track.  I was told I chose that method--no I did not, was never offered any options, just assumed that check order would be handled securely. What do I do?  Asked to stop payment on lost checks and was told payment could not be stopped on checks that are electronically submitted--what checks aren't electroniclally submitted these days?  I was told I could close the account and open another one.  All of this because of someones incompetence.  If USAA bank can't handle a check order securely how would they be handling any other banking transaction?  

I'll NEVER Bank With Anyone Else But USAA! LOVE This Bank!
- sonicescape - Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - 8:52 PM

This bank is incredible. I feel that the previous reviews are a bit whiny and that this has become an uncontrolled forum for venting.

I've been with USAA for 3 years now and am absolutely in love. Their people are capable, professional, and personable. I've ALWAYS gotten all questions answered and problems solved on the FIRST call. Their online banking is absolutely second-to-none. You slide your debit card and it's IMMEDIATELY visible on the iPhone or Android app, no matter where in the world you are.

They charge just 1% on all international transactions, meaning that they aren't making any money on the transaction, just covering their own costs. This was confirmed by a good friend of mine who works for a completely different bank. Wells Fargo, Chase and BofA all charge 2% and sometimes additional fees to use their cards or make ATM withdrawals overseas. 

I've never experienced a lenghty hold time when calling USAA either. If you check other forums online, you'll see how incredibly content their customers are. 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/usaa-fede...san-antoni), Best Bank in an independent review (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/usaa-bank-earns-top-spot-in-customer-experience-report-comparing-160-large-us-brands-2012-01-27), Best Bank on Simple.com (https://www.simple.com/blog/Banking/the-best-bank-in-the-us/), and the list goes on and on and on....

Main reasons I'm in love:

-Online banking is easy, secure, accurate, instant, and feature-rich.
-Friendly, professional people by phone who get things done correctly the first time, every time.
-Deposit-at-Mobile is THE best product in the industry. No holds or restrictions like the big banks (Chase): take a photo of both sides of the check, submit it on your iPhone or Android, and the funds are IMMEDIATELY available in your account. Amazing. Makes me want to ask friends for checks instead of cash, just so I can use this feature!
-Text alerts are customizable and extremely helpful
-Website is able to handle 99% of my questions, concerns, or banking needs - including changing my PIN number INSTANTLY.

This bank is absolutely worth your time to try out. If you're not satisfied, you're not capable of being satisfied by ANY bank. They are simply THE BEST.

USAA Phone App Is Crapp
- Kat - Wednesday, June 20, 2012 - 3:39 PM

Attempted to deposit two checks on a Saturday, one 9150, one 750.

Opened the first check envelope for 9150 and deposited with no problem.  Confirmed receipt.

THEN, opened the second check envelope for 750 and the app could NOT accept the picture.  Tried 10 times.

Tried again on Monday and could not get the check deposited.

Call them to discuss and the agent seemed unaware that you can even deposit your money by phone app.

Told me to call their web services.

Today, USAA took $8400 out of my account, claiming that the picture they had for the 9150 deposit was a $750 check.  Of course, that was impossible from my end.  They ****ed up the image files.

Did they call and tell me they took my bank balance?  No.  Did they e-mail?  No.  Did they text?  No.  They sent a letter by mail.  If I had not been checking my account, I would not have known for a week that they had taken that money out of my account.

USAA constantly calls and e-mails and texts for any little thing.  But not for this.

THEY got their image files fouled up.  Talking with "executive" resolution specialist was like talking with a corporate attorney.  Her message to me:  YOU ****ed up.

If you use this phone app for deposits, they tell you to destroy your checks.  DON'T DO IT.  I fortunately saved my 9150 check, but I had already deposited the 750 check with my local bank.  Now USAA is going to claim those funds.

It is a toss up to see who will actually get that money and who will charge me $40 for a returned check.

 

You CANNOT get ANY customer care at USAA.  This is the THIRD major **** up by them this year.  Their insurance adjustors have NO CLUE about what they are doing and tried to process a claim on a car I don't even own and then on a car that had never been in an accident.

Their "resolution specialists" are taught only to take a company line and get you off the phone.

 

Great Bank, Excellent Services
- leprasmurf - Friday, June 1, 2012 - 8:47 AM

I love USAA, and can't recommend it enough.  I have had nothing but fantastic customer service (approximately 8-10 calls), and I love the unified interface.  I especially love the fact that just because I have a joint account with someone, not all of my accounts are exposed.  The security of the web interface is what I'd expect of a bank, and the UI is very sleek.  I love this bank.

Great Customer Service, Non-Competitive Savings And Long Term CD Rates
- kcfield - Saturday, December 8, 2012 - 7:05 PM

USAA still has wonderful customer service, but no longer has competitive long term CD and saving rates, especially in comparison to other military affiliated institutions like Pen Fed, and institutions local to them like SACU. While I cannot post individual senior management email addresses, as per the policy of this site, their general senior management contact email, for those USAA members who want to express their concern and recommendations is EXECUTIVECOMMUNICATIONS@usaa.com  

Ridiculous Funds Unavailable
- EducatedOne - Monday, November 5, 2012 - 4:43 PM

If you have lots of money and don't need it available, this might be okay.  But when you sign up for their links and they have direct access to account information regarding your "outside" account, why should your money be unavailable for almost a week?  On the first day of the month, I posted a transfer from my credit union to USAA.  On the second day of the month, the transfer was made by my credit union.  Yet the funds are not available at USAA until the seventh day of the month.  I won't make that mistake again.  Closing this account soon.

Customer Service: In Training
- andersonj56 - Thursday, October 25, 2012 - 5:37 PM

 

I've been a USAA member for 18 years and until a year ago I thought USAA was the best financial institution anywhere.  But I've had to call customer service six times in the last year to correct errors they've made.  The last experience was the worst.  They had incorrectly shown my bank account as overdrawn and posted a $400 charge to my credit card for the overdraft.  After 30 minutes on the phone with the checking section my balance was corrected, but I had to speak with the credit card section to get the overdraft reversed.  The credit card customer service representative was completely inept and so I asked to speak with a supervisor.  At that time I was connected to a member of the executive resolution department.  She indicated that the overdraft would be reversed and the $400 would be taken from my checking account and credited back to my credit card account.  Well, 3 days later, the $400 was taken out of the checking account, but unfortunately never showed up as a credit on my Visa card.  Five days after the original phone call, the same member of the executive resolution department said she would research it and get back to me.  All told, I spent over 1 hour on the phone; and this was just one instance.

 

After all this I asked the executive resolution member why customer service has dropped off so much.  She informed me that USAA has doubled its membership in the last couple years and will need a little time to get the new customer service representatives trained.  Well, since I'm unwilling to serve as an experimental subject for the training of USAA personnel, I'll be closing my accounts.

Meh, Nothing Special
- bully72 - Sunday, September 18, 2011 - 12:32 AM

So I have USAA through my dad for the insurance on both home and auto. That's what you want if you can get it. We figured the bank would be super as well. We have checking and a credit card through the bank end, and, well, meh. What do you really want from an online bank? They honor checks, provide ATM cards, oh, and they rebate fees other ATMs charge. That's kinda cool, but not the real reason for staying. The real reason is that I have no desire to put up with changing accounts if I don't have to. BUT, I've never worried about FDIC taking it over, and generally never had a problem.

Deceptive Bank
- jricher - Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - 2:38 PM

I attempted to refinance a loan and after telling them time and time again of issues which I identified they would not fix the errors. They even went as far as to tell me it was alright to let my homeowners insurance lapse. When the loan didn't go through I was assessed something called 'Forced Insurance" by the orginal mortgage holder. In the end it was evident they were just attempting to push the loan through regardless of the issues which I brought up. They were deceptive and yes, they straight out lied in an attempt to get me to sign the paperwork. They have refused since to even publish a similar review to this one on their site.

Violation Of Trust, Poor Ethics, And Bad Business Behavior By A Formerly Trusted Company
- AZ_Athlete - Saturday, January 12, 2013 - 10:58 AM

USAA is a large insurance company who claims to serve our nations active and former military and their families. They have had a good reputation in the past however they have adopted the same business practices that have corrupted many other companies. I have been with this company since I was 16 years old which is nearly 30 years ago. Recently I received the harassing phone call of the "you owe us money and we will not stop calling you until you pay us" phone calls that everyone seems to receive despite their credit standings or their diligence to pay on time. I have both home and vehicle insurance with USAA. Without notification USAA raised the rates on my home insurance and took the funding out of the payments made to my auto insurance. They then told me I had until the end of the month to pay a hundreds of dollars or my auto insurance would be cancelled. This is extortion since they know that it is illegal to drive a vehicle without insurance. USAA bank is associated with USAA and therefore receives the worst possible rating due to this practice. I recommend that USAA be avoided since this is a substantial violation of customer trust in what a company can do with their customers’ accounts and how they extort their customers by placing them in jeopardy of the law.