Customer for Life
Written: Oct 16 '07
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great rates, great offerings, great customer service.
Cons: Homeowner's Insurance process was cumbersome and I ultimately didn't complete.
The Bottom Line: I totally recommend this bank to anyone who qualifies.
|
|
|
| sprint_sucks's Full Review: USAA |
I think at one time I probably would have sworn that I'd never leave Wells Fargo. I ended up making the switch to USAA in Sept. 2006, not for anything Wells Fargo did, but for what USAA did and what it did better than Wells Fargo. I had been growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of branches and ATMs in the new state I had just moved to and when I became eligible for a 403(b) at my company, USAA was one of the choices. My first credit card 15 years ago was a USAA credit card my dad co-signed with me on. And growing up, my car insurance was through USAA while I lived with my parents. (My dad was in the Navy.)
So in researching the 403(b), the customer service agents did a great job of explaining stuff as well as telling me about the other services they offered. (They still had a record for me from the credit card so I was eligible for an account with them -- you have to be in the military or a military dependent. I had explored military service at one point in my life, but ended up not serving. Long story.)
CHECKING AND SAVINGS
I ended up opening a checking and savings account. The account comes with basic plain boring checks for free as well as an ATM card with Mastercard (you can opt for a non-Mastercard pure ATM if you want it). Both pay decent interest. Not as good as ING, but far better than your average generic bank like Wells Fargo.
BRANCHES
The bank does not have any branches. This is fine because they have excellent customer service over the phone and internet and a very novel way of depositing checks. (Slight drawback - no method of depositing cash.)
ATM
Every ATM is a USAA ATM. USAA does not charge any fees for using ATMs and they refund any fees charged by the ATM machine, up to a generous per-month amount. (I've never come close to the limit.) Once a month they just deposit the amount of any fees you've paid back into your checking account.
WEBSITE
Their website is phenomenal. It puts all of your accounts and services right at your fingertip and you can do just about anything with it.
The coolest thing you can do with the website is make deposits. (You will need a scanner.) If someone's written you a check, you just click on "Deposit@Home" and it walks you through a few screens where it instructs you on how to specifically endorse the check. Then it scans the check, front and back and within seconds, the money is in your account. You can go back at any time and view the check online.
You can also use the website for free bill pay as well as transferring funds. I'm buying a house from my dad, so I have it set up once a month to do an electronic transfer of my mortgage payment from my account to his account at another bank. I had to complete a form and have him sign it and then mail it in and a few days later his account showed up as an available "transfer to" option. (Another section of the form we didn't fill out would actually allow for bi-directional transfers... assumedly his bank would also have to approve that/have paperwork to complete.)
BILL PAY
I really like their bill pay. You schedule the payment for the day you want it to arrive. So I'm always able to schedule payments for the day the bill is due. I've never had a problem with a check arriving late. Some are electronic transfers, but other ones cause a printed check to be dispatched by postal mail. Scans of those printed checks show up in your account register. I use Bill Pay for everything including making contributions at church. We rarely ever write checks by hand anymore.
MASTERCARD
They have a Mastercard. I got one because at one point they were giving early access to the Deposit@Home to people who had a Mastercard. (Now Deposit@Home is available to everyone.) It doesn't offer anything special. Maybe cash back or something. I prefer my two usual cards, one gives me Disney Dollars (Chase), the other Hilton Honors Points (Citibank) so I don't use the USAA Mastercard much.
QUICKEN/MONEY
All account activity is downloaded directly into Microsoft Money. That's pretty standard these days for just about any decent bank. I'm not sure if you can set it up to pay bills directly from Quicken or Money. I don't think you can.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
I've dealt with Customer Service on a number of occasions and I have nothing but praise. Everyone is courteous, professional, knowledgeable and helpful. They know their jobs and are empowered to actually help you. They are also well versed in the products and will try to subtlety sell you products at times. Via email, they respond very quickly.
INSURANCE
Feeling restless and tired of paying so many bills, I began exploring whether or not USAA could serve more of my financial needs. I started by doing an auto quote. The process was quick and painless. I did get stuck at one point and had to call in for help. I saved my quote and the guy on the other end was able to call it up, view it and help me with my questions. In the end, he helped me get it done and still gave me the online discount. The proof of insurance arrived in my email as a PDF almost immediately. I saved quite a bit of money.
I did not have the same luck with Homeowner's Insurance. Without local agents, they rely on the applicant to do more of the legwork (I have no idea how far away the nearest hydrant is). In the end, my best effort to complete the form (with several calls and emails to customer service) yielded a quote so much higher that it would have more than negated the savings I got from changing my auto insurance. So, Liberty lost my auto insurance business but retained my homeowner's insurance. And I wasn't able to simplify my finances.
BROKERAGE
USAA also offers brokerage services. I don't currently have a brokerage account. I had one at Datek but I liquidated it when I bought the house. If I opened a new one, I probably would open it at USAA.
IRAs, 401(k)s and 403(b)s
The funny thing? I missed open enrollment and haven't yet set up my 403(b).
BOTTOM LINE
USAA is an awesome bank.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
sprint_sucks
|
|
Location: Seattle, Wash.
Reviews written: 108
Trusted by: 26 members
About Me:
Crikey.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.