Why I Love, Love, LOVE My Bank: USAA
Written: Dec 22 '07 (Updated Feb 26 '08)
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Pros: Excellent service, highly convenient, doesn't cost me a cent.
Cons: Unfortunately, if you're not already a customer, chances are you're not eligible.
The Bottom Line: I can't even imagine better service or more convenient banking. I'm a very happy customer.
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| lyagushka's Full Review: USAA |
How do you feel about your bank? I love mine.
Not everyone is eligible for USAA's services. But if you are eligible, you'd be crazy not to use them. There's a misconception out there about eligibility for USAA membership. Many people seem to think that only military officers can use USAA's many services. To begin with, officers and enlisted personnel are equally eligible. Additionally, not only have I never been an officer, I've never even been in the military. Like many others, I'm eligible because my father is a member. Even though I didn't become a member until long after he left the service, as the child of a member, I'm eligible for life. And I'm grateful for it. This is a fantastic benefit that service members can pass along to their children.
Ignorant of the benefits of banking with USAA, I resentfully continued as a customer of Bank of America and Wells Fargo for about 17 years. I look back on that time with regret for the frustration and shabby treatment I put up with. My parents had never banked with USAA, so I didn't know that I could either. When I realized that another option was available, I switched without a backward glance and I'm never going back. Here's what USAA offers me just as a banking customer:
Totally free banking
My checks are free. I use only the most basic kind of check, no carbon copies or fancy design. If I wanted these bonus features, I'd have to pay something. But I don't use checks all that much, and I'm happy to save my pennies. USAA prints and mails my checks to me at absolutely no cost. They haven't even grumbled when I've moved twice in one year, requiring new checkbooks to be printed with my updated address.
I have never incurred a fee of any kind with either my checking or savings accounts with USAA. My checking account earns a tiny bit of interest at the very modest balance of just $200. Savings accounts with $10,000 or more can earn 4.83% interest (as of this writing) at USAA. I have free overdraft protection between my checking and savings accounts.
Because all of USAA's local branches are in the San Antonio area, I deposit my checks with free postage paid envelopes. If I chose to, I could even "deposit" my checks by faxing them into USAA, following that up by mailing the physical check as a confirmation. I've never used the fax deposit service, but it's nice to know that I could if I were running my finances close to the bone and really needed to have money credited to my account sooner. When my supply of the deposit envelopes gets low, I request more with a few simple clicks when I'm logged in to my USAA account online.
Free ATM usage
Since USAA has no branches and no ATM's outside of Texas, you might think this would impinge on their banking customers nationwide who might need to use an ATM. It doesn't. On the rare occasions I need cash, I simply use any ATM that's convenient, and USAA reimburses me for up to $10 in ATM fees per month. Imagine that: my bank absorbs the penalty that another bank would assess me for accessing my own money. Since I need to withdraw cash on average less than once per month, this has never been problematic for me.
Great online interface
Checking my balance, moving money around, and paying bills online is a snap with USAA. The security is excellent. I need to enter one password to see my overall balances in each account, and a second password to get to a finer level of detail in each account or do anything like pay a bill or transfer funds. For good measure, occasionally a personal question which I entered the answers for when I set up the account pops up. I need to answer these questions about every six weeks or so.
When I'm logged into USAA, all of my accounts are easily accessible and it's easy to navigate from one to another. That means I can look at three bank accounts, a credit card, our home owner's insurance, and multiple auto insurance coverages. I love this convenience.
Free online bill pay
I hope by now that most banks are offering this service for free. But I'm sure someone out there is still paying for it. USAA is strictly an online bank for the majority of its banking customers. So it goes without saying that with USAA this service is free, fast, and reliable. I can arrange for fixed automatic monthly payments, or have my variable utility bills paid directly from my accounts, without a thought or postage on my part. One-time payments are equally easy to arrange.
Outstanding customer service
I mean really excellent. USAA's motto is "We know what it means to serve" and they deliver on this with military reliability. No interminable phone menu option mazes. No long holds on the phone. No employees who can't answer questions because they haven't had any real training. No incomprehensible accents from off-shore employees. When my call is transferred from one department to another within USAA, I'm told about it in advance and asked if I consent. The hold time during such a transfer is a matter of seconds. And when I reach the new department, the person I speak with already knows who I am, knows I've cleared the security questions, knows why I'm calling, and already has my information pulled up on their computer terminal. Without exception, every question or concern I've brought to USAA has been answered by the first employee I've spoken to in the correct department. My time is never wasted or taken for granted by USAA. They constantly remind me what a mockery other organizations make of "customer service."
They don't take advantage of the float with my money.
When USAA gets my deposit checks or online transfers, they clear and are credited to my accounts quickly. I've never noticed any delay that can be attributed to USAA when it comes to money getting into my accounts. I never feel like USAA is sponging off of me. In fact, the bank as a whole is non-profit. How they pay for it all while charging me nothing is beyond me, but I'll take it.
The only local banking service I need that USAA cannot provide is a safe deposit box. Since this is something I rarely access, it doesn't figure much into my evaluation of USAA as a bank. I have one fairly near my home that suits me just fine. And since safe deposit boxes are inherently not an on-line function, it's no big deal to me that it's not integrated with the rest of my banking business.
To sum up, USAA gives me everything I want from a bank. I feel my money is secure and easy to manage, despite the lack of a local branch. I don't have to pay any ridiculous fees or penalties just for the privilege of accessing my own money. Courteous, professional, and highly competent customer service agents are available to me around the clock. I earn a tidy interest rate on my high balance savings account and I have never paid USAA one single US penny for any banking service they have provided to me. I trust USAA as I've trusted no other financial company. I plan to bank with them for the rest of my life. If you are eligible, you too should be banking with them.
Recommended:
Yes
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