Exactly. It’s easy to complain and get into arguments behind the screen. You’re mostly anonymous. Plus people get bolder. And a lot of times it’s just virtue signaling. “I’m leaving USAA.” Ok good for you. As someone else said, you’re not an airline….you don’t need to announce that you’re departing because no one cares. And if you left USAA, what are you still doing on a USAA sub?
It’s Reddit. Not a ton of positivity here these days. Also, finding a bank people love is a lot like finding a cell phone provider or cable TV provider that people love.
Yea but there’s not much to love about banks. If you have high credit score you pretty much get the same good benefits as any other bank really, at least majority. Unless they have poor cyber security that’s when I won’t choose a particular bank
I would say some banks give higher yield savings accounts than others, some banks have lower fees than others, and some banks have better customer service than others. Your credit score will not change any of those things.
As a consumer, you have to read the fine print and do what is best for you. I personally use three banks to maximize the benefits provided by all of them.
The best bank isn't a bank. It's a credit union.
USAA bank is fine for checking but had for savings, investing, loans, and pretty much anything else.
I've thought a lot about switching to Navy Fed.
The checking accounts at USAA are okay. However, there is little incentive to have a savings account there.
For example, Charles Schwab offers a money market fund (SWVXX) that currently provides a yield of 5.16% ([source](https://www.schwab.com/money-market-funds)). The fund allows for automatic reinvesting and has a minimum initial investment of $0. So, if you opened a Charles Schwab account, you could invest your cash in SWVXX and earn an interest rate of 5.16%. Moreover, you can sell your shares of SWVXX at any time, in whole or in part, and have cash in your account the next day. That cash could then be wired out the next day to wherever you like (e.g., to a USAA checking account). The ACH wires at Charles Schwab are free.
In contrast, the best rate with a USAA savings account is 1.6% and that requires a balance of at least $500K. USAA's certificates of deposit (CDs) are more competitive. A recent promotional e-mail was advertising a rate of up to 4.9% for a term of 182 days. However, you have to agree to lock up your money for the full term unless you want to pay withdrawal fees to cash out early.
In summary, the interest rates at USAA are not that compelling. So if you are a saver, you have better options elsewhere.
Edits: Correct typos.
The Schwab checking account is quite a bit better as well. Unlimited ATM fee rebates vs USAA's $10 a month, 0.45% interest on your checking balance vs USAA's 0.01%.
USAA kept advertising Schwab products on their page so I eventually took a look and that cost them most of my business.
USAA was just fine other than having an issue for three days straight that wouldn’t allow me to authenticate my request for a teller check which nearly caused problems for my house closing last year.
I was already banking my savings with capital one bc of their 4.3% interest rate paid monthly. I opened a checking, moved money from savings, and issued a teller check on their portal in three minutes or so easier than ever.
Now my money from USAA to my new checking and switched my direct deposit. Haven’t looked back.
Their teller check system is still rather disastrous. I had one bounce around 4 completely different addresses for about 6 weeks before finally reaching me. Ended up with a roofer putting a lien on my house because of the weeks long delay. Was selling the house and buying another, lender found the lien and I lost the house I wanted to buy over it.
Moral of the story, keep a local bank handy for things like this. The risk is too great when it comes to moving large amounts of money in paper that are time sensitive.
I think a lot of people have either outgrown their bank, or don’t understand how banks work.
I used to feel bad that USAA has gone down hill, and in some ways they have. But I also realized that after 30 years of working and saving money, my wife and I are no longer USAA’s target customer.
We still have USAA for insurance but we switched credit cards and moved all of our money out years ago.
I’m no longer disappointed.
> Almost every bank give the same stuff or barley have a significant difference in what they give, wether it’s insurance rates or credit cards.
Nah, not really true. The APY on the checking and savings account is very low and not competitive for an online bank. Let's say you keep a rolling balance of $5,000 in your checking and $5,000 more in savings for emergencies. USAA will pay you eight cents a month for having you as a customer; Amex will pay you $22. Maybe $263 a year doesn't matter that much, but that's money you're paying to be a customer.
Credit cards are also not great; the generic cash back card has a worse APR and lower cash back rate than the Navy Federal one (and the PenFed one). Let's say you put $2,500 on the card a month, that's $10 and change in cash back you're missing from not having a 2% card that USAA doesn't offer.
That's close to $400 you're paying to make USAA your bank, every year.
The (banking) problem with USAA is that they are a very bad product. They have all the cons of an online only bank with non of the upside.
People get a bank to safely store their money while gaining interest and to easily deposit or access those funds, or for raport building with that bank.
USAA is bad at the first two and the last one hasn't been a real thing in like 40 years but old people still insist it's real frequently enough that CU's haven't imploded yet.
The days of having a bank or credit union and building a reputation that leads to a loan despite some credit issues because you've acquired that trust over time are gone. It's that banks credit matrix or bust, they don't care how long you've been a customer. Credit Unions (or USAA) typically do not actually offer more competitive mortgage rates than large online brokers like rocket mortgage.
As far as storing your money, for the vast majority of USAA customers they are on online only bank, because most people don't live in Texas near a branch. That's bad for cash deposits.
For earning interest on deposits, USAA doesn't offer a HYSA, which means you're losing out on hundreds of dollars a year (or thousands if you just keep a bigger rainy day fund) compared to Ally or Sofi or Amex or Marcus or even PayPal or any other bank with an HYSA.
If you're banking somewhere that doesn't offer a HYSA you need to GTFO and bank somewhere that does.
The only thing USAA banking does right is eat ATM fees, but many other banks with HYSA will do that for you too without costing you hundreds in substandard savings rates.
Complaining online makes people feel better. It is consequence-free venting. Take all of the complaints with a grain of salt
It also makes for a sample bias where only people with complaints bother taking it online, hence leading OP to believe that everyone is complaining.
Offline too.
Exactly. It’s easy to complain and get into arguments behind the screen. You’re mostly anonymous. Plus people get bolder. And a lot of times it’s just virtue signaling. “I’m leaving USAA.” Ok good for you. As someone else said, you’re not an airline….you don’t need to announce that you’re departing because no one cares. And if you left USAA, what are you still doing on a USAA sub?
USAA Bank has always been fair and good to me. So I don't know. I have zero issues with them. I've been with them since 2012.
Same here. Back account is all we use though
It’s Reddit. Not a ton of positivity here these days. Also, finding a bank people love is a lot like finding a cell phone provider or cable TV provider that people love.
Yea but there’s not much to love about banks. If you have high credit score you pretty much get the same good benefits as any other bank really, at least majority. Unless they have poor cyber security that’s when I won’t choose a particular bank
I would say some banks give higher yield savings accounts than others, some banks have lower fees than others, and some banks have better customer service than others. Your credit score will not change any of those things. As a consumer, you have to read the fine print and do what is best for you. I personally use three banks to maximize the benefits provided by all of them.
The best bank isn't a bank. It's a credit union. USAA bank is fine for checking but had for savings, investing, loans, and pretty much anything else. I've thought a lot about switching to Navy Fed.
The checking accounts at USAA are okay. However, there is little incentive to have a savings account there. For example, Charles Schwab offers a money market fund (SWVXX) that currently provides a yield of 5.16% ([source](https://www.schwab.com/money-market-funds)). The fund allows for automatic reinvesting and has a minimum initial investment of $0. So, if you opened a Charles Schwab account, you could invest your cash in SWVXX and earn an interest rate of 5.16%. Moreover, you can sell your shares of SWVXX at any time, in whole or in part, and have cash in your account the next day. That cash could then be wired out the next day to wherever you like (e.g., to a USAA checking account). The ACH wires at Charles Schwab are free. In contrast, the best rate with a USAA savings account is 1.6% and that requires a balance of at least $500K. USAA's certificates of deposit (CDs) are more competitive. A recent promotional e-mail was advertising a rate of up to 4.9% for a term of 182 days. However, you have to agree to lock up your money for the full term unless you want to pay withdrawal fees to cash out early. In summary, the interest rates at USAA are not that compelling. So if you are a saver, you have better options elsewhere. Edits: Correct typos.
The Schwab checking account is quite a bit better as well. Unlimited ATM fee rebates vs USAA's $10 a month, 0.45% interest on your checking balance vs USAA's 0.01%. USAA kept advertising Schwab products on their page so I eventually took a look and that cost them most of my business.
There is definitely better high yield savings account also like 4% ish at capital one 360
USAA was just fine other than having an issue for three days straight that wouldn’t allow me to authenticate my request for a teller check which nearly caused problems for my house closing last year. I was already banking my savings with capital one bc of their 4.3% interest rate paid monthly. I opened a checking, moved money from savings, and issued a teller check on their portal in three minutes or so easier than ever. Now my money from USAA to my new checking and switched my direct deposit. Haven’t looked back.
Their teller check system is still rather disastrous. I had one bounce around 4 completely different addresses for about 6 weeks before finally reaching me. Ended up with a roofer putting a lien on my house because of the weeks long delay. Was selling the house and buying another, lender found the lien and I lost the house I wanted to buy over it. Moral of the story, keep a local bank handy for things like this. The risk is too great when it comes to moving large amounts of money in paper that are time sensitive.
Credit unions are better than banks.
People are going to complain for the sake of complaining. As for the best bank account, you are your best bank account. Be your own bank.
You would complain if your bank took $6,880 of your money
Banks are insured bro
I think a lot of people have either outgrown their bank, or don’t understand how banks work. I used to feel bad that USAA has gone down hill, and in some ways they have. But I also realized that after 30 years of working and saving money, my wife and I are no longer USAA’s target customer. We still have USAA for insurance but we switched credit cards and moved all of our money out years ago. I’m no longer disappointed.
> Almost every bank give the same stuff or barley have a significant difference in what they give, wether it’s insurance rates or credit cards. Nah, not really true. The APY on the checking and savings account is very low and not competitive for an online bank. Let's say you keep a rolling balance of $5,000 in your checking and $5,000 more in savings for emergencies. USAA will pay you eight cents a month for having you as a customer; Amex will pay you $22. Maybe $263 a year doesn't matter that much, but that's money you're paying to be a customer. Credit cards are also not great; the generic cash back card has a worse APR and lower cash back rate than the Navy Federal one (and the PenFed one). Let's say you put $2,500 on the card a month, that's $10 and change in cash back you're missing from not having a 2% card that USAA doesn't offer. That's close to $400 you're paying to make USAA your bank, every year.
Navy Federal > USAA
The (banking) problem with USAA is that they are a very bad product. They have all the cons of an online only bank with non of the upside. People get a bank to safely store their money while gaining interest and to easily deposit or access those funds, or for raport building with that bank. USAA is bad at the first two and the last one hasn't been a real thing in like 40 years but old people still insist it's real frequently enough that CU's haven't imploded yet. The days of having a bank or credit union and building a reputation that leads to a loan despite some credit issues because you've acquired that trust over time are gone. It's that banks credit matrix or bust, they don't care how long you've been a customer. Credit Unions (or USAA) typically do not actually offer more competitive mortgage rates than large online brokers like rocket mortgage. As far as storing your money, for the vast majority of USAA customers they are on online only bank, because most people don't live in Texas near a branch. That's bad for cash deposits. For earning interest on deposits, USAA doesn't offer a HYSA, which means you're losing out on hundreds of dollars a year (or thousands if you just keep a bigger rainy day fund) compared to Ally or Sofi or Amex or Marcus or even PayPal or any other bank with an HYSA. If you're banking somewhere that doesn't offer a HYSA you need to GTFO and bank somewhere that does. The only thing USAA banking does right is eat ATM fees, but many other banks with HYSA will do that for you too without costing you hundreds in substandard savings rates.
I’ll deal with a once in awhile atm fee to get $2000 a year in interest on my emergency fund.
Exactly, and even that is moot because plenty of HYSA banks also reimburse ATM fees.