USAA you've served me well!
Written: Jul 31 '01 (Updated Aug 07 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Awesome banking services, friendly customer service, online banking
Cons: Have to mail in deposits
The Bottom Line: We would recommend USAA to anyone in the market for banking services and to military for insurance.
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| kaysi's Full Review: USAA |
My husband and I have used USAA for all our banking and insurance needs for the past 5 years. Unfortunately people with no military affiliation may only use USAA’s banking services, not the insurance. USAA offers a wide variety of services, and so far I have been completely satisfied with all that I have tried. Although I have yet to try them all, USAA offers the following services (plus some I didn’t think to mention I’m sure):
· Savings and checking accounts
· Consumer, Home, Home Equity, and auto loans
· Credit Cards
· Online banking
· Full-range investment services
· Tax help
· IRA help
· Auto, property, life, and health insurance
· Annuities
· Car buying help
· The USAA Education Foundation
· Online shopping (their own catalog of a variety of items)
· Internet connection
· Special offers for USAA members from companies such as Avis, Hertz, Sprint, and Teleflora
I will focus mainly on their banking services as that is what I know the most about. USAA is a Federal Savings Bank. Their deposit accounts offer:
· FDIC Insurance
· No monthly service fees
· Ten free ATM withdrawals a month with each additional withdrawal costing $1.00
· Rebates for ten ATM withdrawals per statement cycle from other banks’ machines up to $1.50 each
· A free “Check and Cash” card, like a debit card except you can use it wherever they accept Mastercard. It has cash back, which is .5% of total credit purchases made with the card. It is handy to keep it with your check register as the money comes directly out of your checking account.
· Free 24-hour account information by either a toll-free number or online.
· Free funds transfers
· Free overdraft protection
· A Web BillPay service that costs $4.95 per month, and is well worth it! I haven’t written a check or mailed a bill since I started using it 2 years ago. You just program all your bills into their system, then go in whenever you want to pay a certain bill, or you can program it to pay that bill every month for you.
I use their Four Star Checking which features all of the above plus no minimum balance requirement, direct deposit, and interest on balances over $1000.
I also use their Bonus Savings account. Your money is easily accessible and the account can be started with a minimum of $50. If you maintain an average daily balance (ADB) of at least $1000 for a full 6 month bonus period (either Jan 1 – Jun 30 or Jul 1 – Dec 31) you earn a bonus of .5% on top of the regular interest.
USAA also offers a savings account for younger bankers called First Start Savings account. It requires only a $1.00 initial deposit. On top of the regular interest rate, there is a bonus interest of .25% for ADB under $1000 and .5% for ADB above $1000 for the bonus period as in the Bonus Savings. It also offers a no fee ATM card. This account is available to ages 20 and under only.
One thing about USAA that I can see being a problem for some is that deposits must be mailed in. This isn’t a problem for us since all of our deposits are made electronically.
For military, USAA also offers Insurance. The best way to find out if their insurance is for you is to get a free quote from them. We found they were much more affordable and not to mention customer friendly than any other insurance companies we’ve tried. They also have great payment plans.
One of the services USAA provides is their Auto Financing. We are looking forward to using this the next time we buy a car because we can get ahold of USAA before shopping and get a credit decision beforehand on how much we can spend. They also send you what they call a Sight Draft to use to pay the dealer just like a check on the spot. Plus once you've figured out which car you like you can have USAA negotiate the price for you if you don't like to do that part. Why would you trust them to do it for you...aren't they going to want you to get a higher priced vehicle...No, not necessarily. They want you to come back to them and buy another car next time through them, so it is in their best interest to get you the best deal possible. Also with your car loan you receive Total Loss Protection so that if your car is ever stolen or totaled you won't have to pay the difference between the loan balance and the insurance settlement after your deductible.
Overall, USAA has great services and excellent customer service. I emailed them with a question and had a NON-generic email back with a detailed answer within 9 hours.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
kaysi
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Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Canadian born, married to an American, living in Germany.
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