Armed Forces Bank , the Air Academy Federal Credit Union or my current bank

jl123 said:
My Rating of USAA After 39 Years

Insurance: A+; no one better for products, price, service especially if on active duty

Banking: A- if on active duty; B- if not. Online banking and bill pay is fine, but cumbersome compared to alternatives. Like most banks, CD's/Money Markets not competitive compared to Schwab, TD Ameritrade, etc.

Investments: C+ prior to deal with Schwab (remains to be seen after deal); Investment world has changed dramatically and many players can't keep up with changes in pricing and technology.

Customer Service: A-; No one understands military customers like USAA. This has been tested by their rapid growth in recent years. I had one bad experience with a banking product and could not get out of the customer service loop to talk to someone in management, but after 39 years I still trust USAA more than any other financial services company.
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^Mirrors my experience. Only thing I will add is that their mortgage lending/service has never been very competitive. So, that is the only part of my financial life that I haven't used them for. Overall, I am a very pleased 36 year USAA member.
 
A hack for better USAA customer service - call back and get a different rep if you get unsatisfactory service.

The longer tenured reps are excellent. They have hired many new reps in the last few years and the newer ones are inconsistent and seem less well trained.
 
One more thing to add. If opening a USAA account, when they ask for copies of anything make sure you send them front and "back" copies. Even if there is nothing on the back. It will just save you some hassle when opening an account when you think you sent them everything and your application shows that they need more information (ie. the back). Our sons use USAA and are very satisfied.
 
Thank you everyone for your advice and experiences!! My DS will open an account with USAA eventually, but at this moment we will stick to his civilian bank joint account and his AFA account even though we wanted to open with USAA after all the rave reviews. I sincerely appreciate all the knowledge and experience!!

My DS is a minor. We have ZERO military therefore no USAA existing members. DS opened an account through his portal, in order to have an account for cadet pay etc. set up under DS's name, as the required, sole owner of the account.
-upon SAF advice we called in to USAA, we were connected with a young man who explained to us, that because we have no military, we would be unable to set up the account, even as a joint account...because he is not 18 yet.
-upon advice from SAF member, who said that the adult name would drop off, the USAA rep said that we could set up a profile, however, DS would need to call in to set up a checking account after his 18th birthday regardless if we set up a profile or not.
-the benefits of USAA also apply ONLY "downward" children and/or spouse and although we(parents) can be listed as beneficiaries to life insurance, and other products they offer, we do not qualify for many of their products ourselves because we lack military relations.
-our objective was set up an account with USAA and get rid of the civilian checking account.
-so for those who have zero military relations and a minor aged appointee we are out of luck with USAA until our DS or DD becomes 18.

Thank you again everyone!
 
I must say, this is my son's last step before the appointment kit is completed, and I am not in my happy spot. His application got stalled, and he has got to call tomorrow.
 
Dad_2024 said:
I'm a big fan of USAA for all the same reasons already provided. I still keep a credit union account from when DW and I were young and I was stationed (um, sentenced?😉) at Ft.Polk. One comment to add is many credit unions participate in something called the Credit Union Co-op shared branch program. It allows you to walk into any member branch and get service. I'm able to make deposits and withdrawals to that account at a local credit union ATM. It's very convenient. If the credit union at USAFA is a member of the Co-op, you would be able to handle deposits and such at local co-op credit union ATM.
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Concur. USAA has been with me since college. My father was in the Foreign Service. Our DD is part of USAFA class of 2024 and she’s signed up with them. More than highly recommended. They’re amazing. Please take advantage.
 
Quick question: Can we apply for an Armed Forces Bank account before accepting the appointment or only after?
 
Our family has no military history so our daughter had to show documentation that she had been accepted into the USAFA before she could establish an account with USAA. She did that around May before basic started.
 
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