Great Company
Written: Mar 06 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Multiple account types available and easily accessed
Cons: Relies on on-line banking
The Bottom Line: Good customer service and ease of account management make USAA a positive experience.
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| gbodge's Full Review: USAA |
I first was introduced to USAA as an insurance company. I was living in Massachusetts at the time where insurance rates are set by the commonwealth with no price competition among companies. USAA was able to circumvent the commonwealth’s laws by automatically entering customers into a funds distribution account allowing a dividend check to be sent to customers annually, essentially lowering the cost of the insurance.
After my positive experience with the auto insurance, I used USAA for renter’s insurance and eventually used it for my banking. When I bought my house, I got a USAA mortgage, but was not able to get the homeowner’s insurance through USAA because of the layers of shingles on the house.
Currently, USAA offers checking, savings, credit card, CD, and brokerage accounts; mortgage and auto loans; and auto, home owners, rental, and life insurance. One of the key benefits of using USAA for the majority of my banking and insurance is that all of the accounts are conveniently linked through the USAA web site. Since USAA was established to service military members, the web site has been developed as the main interface for customers to access banking products and all of the services are available on the same accounts page, making it easy to track several different accounts at one site.
The web site allows banking customers to check balances and transactions, order checks, deposit slips, and pre-paid envelopes for mailing in deposits, and the ability to make deposits by scanning checks into the web site. This last feature is particularly useful as it allows immediate deposits into an account instead of waiting for a check to be mailed to USAA and deposited at the home branch. The website also allows users to make free payments to creditors on line, eliminating the need to spend money for postage to mail checks. The checking account provides a small interest rate, and the interest rate on the savings account varies based on the average daily balance in the account. The interest rates for the savings accounts are competitive with other institutions.
Since the accounts are linked, transferring funds between them is easily done on line. It is also particularly easy to pay insurance and mortgage bills, with the payments showing as same day transactions.
Every time that I have had to contact customer service, it has been quick and the representatives have been very helpful. After I was married, it was a simple matter to add my wife onto the accounts by calling the customer service representatives.
The only major complaint that I have is that, since the majority of the transactions are done on line, we have had to open a checking account at a local bank in order to handle cash transactions. This has been a minor inconvenience given the fact that we would have to do the same thing if we did not have a USAA account.
Overall, my USAA experiences have been very positive, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
gbodge
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Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 2 members
About Me:
Enjoy travel, reading history and biographies, and watching movies.
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