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USAA cease and desist

8,760 Views | 44 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by O'Doyle Rules
Truman2001
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The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates federal banks, found USAA Federal Savings Bank engaged in "unsafe or unsound banking practices."

https://www.expressnews.com/business/local/article/Bank-regulators-take-action-against-USAA-Bank-13620457.php

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.expressnews.com/business/local/amp/Bank-regulators-take-action-against-USAA-Bank-13620457.php
aTm_bomb
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Paywall... Can't read.
deadbq03
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And also this settlement to banking customers:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.al.com/news/2019/01/usaa-banking-settlement-66000-customers-to-split-12-million.html%3foutputType=amp

Banking is the last product of theirs I still use. Hopefully they get it straightened out, but I have a feeling the way things are going with them, I'll be looking for a new bank sooner rather than later. They were a much better company before they relaxed their standards to the point where you can merely shake your family tree and if a veteran falls out, you can buy their products. Obviously that was a symptom of a greater issue...

They kinda remind me of the TMF... they built a loyal customer base, but are abusing that loyalty to milk every dollar they can. My father and father in law are still reluctant to leave them despite the evidence I've provided that shows how much better my rates were when I jumped to Amica (which is also top-notch in claims satisfaction like USAA, and returns dividends like USAA). My home insurance rate was cut by more than half. Their auto rates used to be untouchable, now they're not competitive either.

Brand loyalty is a beast when you mix it with patriotism. I don't have a problem with entities trying to make money... but I do hate it when they tug hard on some very strong emotional strings in order to do it. And with both USAA and TMF - even though profits don't go to shareholders, they certainly go to paying higher salaries in their bloated bureaucracies, and they're definitely not as concerned about providing quality to their members as they are about improving their bottom line and growing bigger and bigger.
Martin Q. Blank
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USAA has been going down hill for years...including their insurance.
94chem
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I got rid of everything I had. Auto, homeowners, whole life, mutual funds...they just weren't as good as other companies.

One thing I remember that was really cool was that they had a special deal with Alamo where you could rent a car if you were under 25. In college I was the only person who could rent cars.
Wrighty
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My experience with USAA has always been excellent.
dead zip 01
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I am like some of the people described in the above post who put all of my insurance eggs in the USAA basket years ago when they were by far the best option for me.

I have heard similar stories recently about getting better deals elsewhere but haven't shopped around any. What kind of savings are you guys seeing by switching from USAA percentage wise?

I currently have auto, homeowners, term life and a credit card through them.

Thanks,
Duncan Idaho
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Ironically they have simultaneously destroyed their reputation and coasted by on their reputation.

I had a checking account with them 20 years ago. 10 years after I closed it (while remaining a customer for car and home insurance) I decided to open the account again. About 6 weeks after I opened the account I noticed that $100 had gone missing.

So I call them up and ask them about it.
Usaa"You had some fees from that checking account you closed 10 years ago."
Me:" ok. Can you provide some documentation about that?"
Usaa: " no sorry that was over 10 years ago, and our document retention policy says we won't keep records that old"
Me: "ok. I am on the bench this week, so let me raise some hell"

After getting the director of compliance on the phone by social engineer in my way to his secretary's direct extension, I finally got him to get my money back.

So yeah....1980's usaa when they were true to their mission, one of the greatest companies in history. Post 2000 USAA when the CEO decided that he wasn't running a fraternal organization that was there to serve a very limited and select customer base with a very targeted protfolio of products but was instead the CEO of the next Goldman, yeah **** that company.
94chem
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I still have a term life policy with USAA. I went to Goosehead for auto and home. Goosehead got me with Consumers County Mutual for my home and car. They paid NADA value for my 13 year old minivan after Harvey, no questions asked.

USAA Investco is nothing special - just another company hawking mutual funds.

They do always treat me with respect and they have very responsive customer service, but so do other places.
deadbq03
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I just bought a house. USAA quote was $3200. Amica quote was $1700. The big reason? USAA's minimum coverages are stupid. They wanted coverage well above the value of the home. They also required something in the neighborhood of like half the home value for personal property coverage.... as if I use a Porsche for my coffee table or something. It's madness.

Meanwhile, Amica actually sent a real person to inspect and appraise my home and meet my dog to determine he's not a viscous killer. They actually lowered coverage amounts based on what the inspector saw, but even their initial amounts were a huge savings. Auto for me was 10-20% higher with USAA. Can't remember exactly because I stopped paying attention after the home quote.

It's also gotten worse recently. 4 years ago when I bought a home, I switched to Farmers (out of laziness... didn't want to shop around) for a better home quote. At that time, USAA had a better auto quote than Farmers, but Farmers killed it on the home-auto combination. This time, when I shopped around, I discovered that USAA auto was now worse than Farmers (And then I found Amica and switched to them).
deadbq03
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Wrighty said:

My experience with USAA has always been excellent.
USAA consistently scores high on claims satisfaction ratings. But you're probably paying close to double on your home for that benefit.
Ag92NGranbury
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I use their 1.5% payback visa... has been pretty darn good so far... but it does require a bank account
Whoop Delecto
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ktownag08
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I pulled every dollar and switched all products away from them a few years back after they assigned fault to my wife for an auto "accident" that had eyewitnesses state she did nothing wrong to the police. There wasn't any damage or payout or anything. After that stellar customer service experience, we dropped them within a few days. Ended up saving a ton too.

I do keep $100 in a checking account just to keep things alive in case they ever stop sucking. I don't have my hopes up, but maybe one day...
claym711
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USAA is straight up garbage.
insulator_king
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Yeah, USAA foundered a lot when they attempted to open up membership to virtually all vets.

The do have good customer service for regular stuff, but their rates are pretty bad on savings and CD's.
Ag92NGranbury
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any upper limits?
Whoop Delecto
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LCE
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No problems w USAA. Maybe people w multiple claims have a problem
LOYAL AG
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deadbq03 said:

I just bought a house. USAA quote was $3200. Amica quote was $1700. The big reason? USAA's minimum coverages are stupid. They wanted coverage well above the value of the home. They also required something in the neighborhood of like half the home value for personal property coverage.... as if I use a Porsche for my coffee table or something. It's madness.

Meanwhile, Amica actually sent a real person to inspect and appraise my home and meet my dog to determine he's not a viscous killer. They actually lowered coverage amounts based on what the inspector saw, but even their initial amounts were a huge savings. Auto for me was 10-20% higher with USAA. Can't remember exactly because I stopped paying attention after the home quote.

It's also gotten worse recently. 4 years ago when I bought a home, I switched to Farmers (out of laziness... didn't want to shop around) for a better home quote. At that time, USAA had a better auto quote than Farmers, but Farmers killed it on the home-auto combination. This time, when I shopped around, I discovered that USAA auto was now worse than Farmers (And then I found Amica and switched to them).
Did you ask why? If you're buying an older home then odds are they are basing their valuation on the cost of a total rebuild versus what you paid for the house. God forbid you have a total loss the value you paid today has no bearing on what it's going to take to get that house rebuilt. I don't know your circumstances but it would suck to get a quote for a complete rebuild and find out you're only covered for 60% of that. My sister is going through exactly this right now. USAA has been their best quote but that valuation frustrated her until I told her what it would cost to build a house of that size today.


LOYAL AG
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I shopped car insurance a couple of years ago and Geico was cheaper until I got into the details of things like accident forgiveness. I had one and soon to be two teenage drivers at that time and felt like that was pretty important to have and Geico didn't. Fast forward to now and my 20 year old son will go on his own policy in December and my daughter is about to go to college where she won't have a car and I'll probably shop around some. My dad left 10-12 years ago over how a home claim was handled and hasn't looked back.
aggiepaintrain
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just have a claim against one of their insured and you will never ever want to do business with these slime balls.
FJB
Aggie71013
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USAA seems to be a YMMV situation. I recently purchased a home and shopped insurance. Goosehead couldn't beat my USAA auto quote even when combining with homeowners. One of our cars flooded last year and USAA was faster to come appraise then other companies our neighbors used. Also paid a fair price when they totaled it. For homeowners, they were a few hundred more expensive then Goodhead's lowest quote, but felt comfortable staying for the marginal cost difference. Also love my 2.5% cashback Visa. Will be moving to a high interest savings account at some point as all big bank savings rates are garbage.
rodan85
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permabull
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62strat
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I've never had issues with them in almost 20 years now. Had a few vehicle total losses, they paid absolute top dollar. Had a home claim once and it went great. I've reached out to other home insurance companies for quotes, and they are never close to USAA's price. Just saying what I pay for auto insurance to coworkers or friends gets a gasp from them in disbelief.

There is value in a situation like getting in a wreck, immediately calling USAA, and they literally take care of everything. A tow truck is on its way, a rental car has been reserved (it's literally like another $1/mo. to have a truck or large suv category.. a no brainer), and they find a shop near my home or work to have the work done. I get a direct number to my dedicated claims person and have direct email communication through my usaa portal. In my experience, my rate has never gone up, even with a pair of total losses and several other smaller repairs.









deadbq03 said:

I just bought a house. USAA quote was $3200. Amica quote was $1700. The big reason? USAA's minimum coverages are stupid. They wanted coverage well above the value of the home. They also required something in the neighborhood of like half the home value for personal property coverage.... as if I use a Porsche for my coffee table or something. It's madness.

Meanwhile, Amica actually sent a real person to inspect and appraise my home and meet my dog to determine he's not a viscous killer. They actually lowered coverage amounts based on what the inspector saw, but even their initial amounts were a huge savings. Auto for me was 10-20% higher with USAA. Can't remember exactly because I stopped paying attention after the home quote.



Regarding the 'rebuild' cost of your home.. I had a good conversation with my agent about this, because I too was curious why it was more than I thought it should have been. The answer is clear; if your house is totaled, it's a good chance it was from a natural disaster. In other words, outside of your house catching on fire, if your house is totaled or needs major repairs, it is likely many other houses in your do as well. You know what that does? It raises the cost to rebuild the house. Labor and materials both spike in times like this.


I pay $1300 a year for home insurance; 4000 sf home valued at $500k.



deadbq03
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Those rates are fantastic. If I lived outside of TX or FL, I'd probably still be using USAA. I used them when I lived in CA, and even in a wildfire-prone area my rates were better than in TX. They're simply not competive in those two states. I've heard it from multiple sources in the company.

Regarding rebuild... if I ever had a total loss, I'd probably take the money and run, which is yet another good reason to pay your house off since some lenders will force you to rebuild. Until I own land, there's really no point in a rebuild... suburbia is the same everywhere.
LOYAL AG
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I live in CS. A few months ago my then 16 YO daughter and her 18 YO best friend went to Austin for a concert. The friend drove and left her lights on when they got there so the girls came back to a dead battery. I really know nobody in Austin and it was 11 pm on a Wednesday night and the concert was at a club type of place, not like at the Erwin Center or something like that. So they called me scared and I told the friend to call her parents to see if they had AAA then call back. The answer was no so I called USAA and they called my daughter, got their location, sent pop a lock to jump start the car, then called them back to make sure it was taken care of and they were headed home safely. Then they said it was covered by my tow coverage and there would be no charge. That kind of peace of mind where it's taken care of is why it'll be hard to ever leave USAA.
Aggie95
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I've received multiple quotes over the years for auto and home insurance and haven't had one come close to USAA yet.
khkman22
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deadbq03 said:

Regarding rebuild... if I ever had a total loss, I'd probably take the money and run, which is yet another good reason to pay your house off since some lenders will force you to rebuild. Until I own land, there's really no point in a rebuild... suburbia is the same everywhere.
How is that possible? You pay the balance of the mortgage, they have no say in what you do with property you now own. I assume the insurance would pay the balance of the mortgage just like auto insurance pays the lender before giving you the balance of the check.
deadbq03
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khkman22 said:

deadbq03 said:

Regarding rebuild... if I ever had a total loss, I'd probably take the money and run, which is yet another good reason to pay your house off since some lenders will force you to rebuild. Until I own land, there's really no point in a rebuild... suburbia is the same everywhere.
How is that possible? You pay the balance of the mortgage, they have no say in what you do with property you now own. I assume the insurance would pay the balance of the mortgage just like auto insurance pays the lender before giving you the balance of the check.
I could be way wrong, but I thought the money went into escrow and you had to work it out with your lender as to how it gets dispersed... and evidently some lenders require rebuild.
LOYAL AG
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deadbq03 said:


Regarding rebuild... if I ever had a total loss, I'd probably take the money and run, which is yet another good reason to pay your house off since some lenders will force you to rebuild. Until I own land, there's really no point in a rebuild... suburbia is the same everywhere.


If you live suburbia this isn't going to work out well at all. You're going to have a slab on a "probably" deed restricted lot and your neighbors aren't going to take kindly to a burned out hull or charred slab sitting vacant. You can't just dump and run. This isn't like totaling a car where the insurance company owns it.
redag06
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You aren't getting good quotes then.
Corps_Ag12
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Aggie95 said:

I've received multiple quotes over the years for auto and home insurance and haven't had one come close to USAA yet.

This, no one can touch my USAA rates. I let State Farm try a few weeks ago for auto insurance and the quote for the 3 vehicles with full coverage was $150 higher than what I pay USAA each month.
deadbq03
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Good point. I spent too much time in CA where state law protects your right to chose to move on.
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