Credit card companies love to advertise all the perks of being a cardholder — rewards points, cash back, airline miles, etc. — but card issuers have historically hidden the not-as-good stuff in the fine print of card applications. A new study finds that banks are doing a better job of making things more transparent — but not about everything. [More]
usaa
Study: Credit Card Applications Becoming More User Friendly, But Still Lack Valuable Informaton
By 8.5.14
USAA No Longer Offering Bank Accounts To Everyone
By 10.3.13 — Updated: 10.4.13
Sad news, Consumerists. There was a brief, shining period beginning in 2009 when anyone, not just people affiliated with the military, could get checking and savings accounts from the almost-universally-beloved USAA. Now that dream is over. [More]
Without An Address, FedEx Still Tracks Me Down In Tokyo
By 5.9.13 — Updated: 1.9.14
Jeff is an American who currently lives and works in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo is a dense and baffling city, and his bank, USAA, created a huge problem when they sent him a check using FedEx but sort of forgot to include his street address. In a city of millions and in a neighborhood of 300,000, FedEx’s challenge was to find one foreign dude. They could have just sent the envelope back to USAA. Instead, they accepted the challenge and got the package to Jeff before the original delivery estimate was up. [More]
USAA Knows There's A Bug In Online System, Waits For Me To Find It
By 5.2.11
It’s so funny how math works! In the case of Consumerist reader Sam, he got a glimpse of the delightful ways math can be manipulated when comparing his USAA online money manager balance with the bank’s internal ledger. At one point, his balance was thousands of dollars different between the two. [More]
The 8 Least Evil Banks In America
By 1.27.11
Banks that aren’t evil? Really? CNN Money rounded up eight American banks that might not be consumer paradises, but offer free checking, no ATM fees, and comparatively high interest rates for savings accounts. [More]
USAA And Mastercard Turn Celebrity Librarian Into Unwitting Consumer Scofflaw
By 9.10.10 — Updated: 9.8.16
K.G. writes that she used her Mastercard to pay for a car rental from Avis. The card issuer, Consumerist darling USAA, assured her that the card provided insurance coverage for rental cars. Good to know! Except for how the insurance claim was denied, possibly because she used a coupon for the car rental. No one is entirely sure. The bill went straight to a collection agency without ever giving K.G. an opportunity to, um, actually pay it. Now she’s being penalized for ducking a bill she was never sent, and still can’t get a straight answer out of any of the companies involved. [More]
Magical USAA Check-Depositing Smartphone App Now Available For Android
By 2.24.10
Do you envy iPhone users’ ability to deposit checks in their USAA accounts by snapping a picture and using a fancy secure app? Now, check-zapping abilities have been granted to phones using Google’s Android mobile operating system. [More]
Pay Off $50k In Debt On A $20k Salary In 10 Steps And 5 Years
By 12.4.09
This 30-year old receptionist and single mother of 3 climbed out of a $50,000 debt hole in 5 years using these 10 steps. [More]
USAA Expands Membership To All Vets
By 11.6.09
Perennial Consumerist favorite banker and insurance company USAA announced yesterday that they’re expanding eligible membership to all honorably discharged vets, regardless of dates or lengths of service.
USAA Online Checking & Savings Open For Non-Military
By 9.28.09
If you’ve heard us rave about USAA’s stellar financial services but grown sad when you learned that it’s only available for military-members and their family, have heart: you can get still get access to some of their services like banking and checking.
USAA: Opt-Out Of Mandatory Binding Arbitration By Closing Your Account
By 8.28.09
The “credit union on steroids” has gone to mandatory binding arbitration for all disputes, removing customers’ ability to successfully sue them if things go wrong. Previously, USAA had arbitration as an option, but allowed members to opt out. Now, if you want to opt out of arbitration, you’ll have to close your accounts.
USAA: Deposit Your Checks With An iPhone!
By 8.10.09
The friendliest bank in the world, USAA, will soon let customers instantaneously deposit checks through its iPhone application. Here’s how it works: you snap a picture of the front and back of your check, and send the picture to USAA. That’s it.
5/3 Increases Overdraft Fees By $2
By 4.7.09
It was a beautiful thing. And then I paid in cash. Scan of the 5/3 fee increase notice inside.
Update: USAA Posts Notice On Website Regarding Technical Issues
By 10.1.08
Last week we raised the ire of plenty of USAA fans by posting a story about a woman’s IRA that went missing for nearly a day. We were as surprised as many of you that she’d received such poor customer service from the first CSR she spoke with, considering USAA’s usually stellar reputation. But the next day someone from USAA contacted Travis and his wife to find out what went wrong. Here’s Travis’ update.
USAA Temporarily Deletes 14k Roth IRA, But Won't Explain Why
By 9.24.08
USAA just pulled a huge mindf#@k on Travis and his wife, and now he wants to talk to someone high enough up the chain to find out what went wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. His wife “went online yesterday to check on some transactions and discovered her IRA balance was $0. Six hours prior to that, her balance was $14,000.” When she tried to find out what had happened, the first CSR she spoke with told her she had no IRA account, and the second CSR told her to refresh her browser. Yeah, you know how these newfangled browswers are always wiping out retirement accounts.
USAA Lays Smackdown On Shady Enterprise Rental
By 5.22.08
USAA is like a unicorn in a pack of walruses: a financial services company that truly cares about its customers and really helps them out. Not as some kind of lucky exception, but as a matter of policy. Reader “Mary Marsala With Fries'” story, about how USAA opened up several cans of whoop-ass on an Enterprise facility that was trying to screw her over on charges, is yet further proof.
Caliber Collision Center Damages Car Brought In For Repair
By 4.19.08
Sean’s car had a blowout over the Easter weekend, and he had it towed to Caliber Collision Center for repair.
Switched To Fee-Free ATM Withdrawals
By 3.17.08
I’m sick of paying ATM fees so I just finished switching to my USAA debit card for my cash money needs. They refund up to $15 of ATM fees per month and don’t charge you any fees for using other people’s ATMs. I’m still keeping my WaMu account but I took my WaMu debit card out of my wallet and just funded my USAA account with some money. Not that I have a problem but I think this will also help reduce petty cash spending. Plus, by using cash more often that means I’m getting more change, and all my coin change goes into my piggy bank (60% full at the moment, looking forward to the day I take it to the Commerce Bank “Penny Arcade” coin-counting machine). With the specter of a recession giving us all wet willies, are you making any changes to your personal finance system?
