USAA

Actually, USAA offers the Amex card through their website so if you apply for the card through the USAA website, there is no annual fee charged so nothing to be reimbursed. After you log on, click on “Our Products”, “Banking” and then “Credit Cards”. No fee and qualifies for cash and points rewards.
 
USAA has gone crazy digital (09-09-2016). Closed their only 2 offices in San Diego! Having tons of issues and cannot get anything done (simple access is an issue & takes forever to get a person on phone with new story each time called!). Any recommendations for car insurance or other services?
 
Inquiring_Parent said:
USAA has gone crazy digital (09-09-2016). Closed their only 2 offices in San Diego! Having tons of issues and cannot get anything done (simple access is an issue & takes forever to get a person on phone with new story each time called!). Any recommendations for car insurance or other services?
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Closing offices and handling everything online or by phone is common to almost all insurance companies now. Low-cost insurers such as Geico and Progressive paved the way, catering to all the consumers shopping based solely on price. Traditional insurance companies that once differentiated themselves by their service were unable to compete and were forced to cut costs. USAA may have been somewhat insulated from this competition due to their military niche market, but is not immune to it. Companies that still have agents promote them as a local connection, but claims and other services are usually handled in centralized centers. It's why I am no longer employed in the Property & Casualty insurance industry.

As to your question, I've always heard great reviews of USAA's service, but if you want to shop around I suggest an independent insurance agent. They are not bound to any one company, so they tend to be more of an advocate for their clients, they can shop for you based on price AND service, and if you are unhappy with a company you can switch to another one without changing agents.
 
I've had USAA for 35 years and have never set foot in a USAA office or met with a USAA rep in person. Very few problems and overall excellent service, but as with any company level of service may vary with amount of business you give them.
 
jl123 said:
I've had USAA for 35 years and have never set foot in a USAA office or met with a USAA rep in person. Very few problems and overall excellent service, but as with any company level of service may vary with amount of business you give them.
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Agreed, have a very close friend in the insurance business and they can't touch the rates. Any issues we have had have been resolved quickly and when I started, it was only 1 car so my impression has always been they do a good job quickly..
 
Just got my USAA renter's renewal. $45 off for no claims, 25% discount is nothing to sneeze at!
 
A good thing about USAA is that you can set up monthly allotments to a mutual fund. This will help your DS because the money goes in and automatically out, so it forces the monthly investment.
 
I like USAA for insurance and banking. However, like all other banks their mutual fund expenses are much higher than Schwab, Vanguard, etc, even for index funds and the minimums on their better funds are $3,000+. For example they have an S&P 500 Index fund with a .15% expense ratio with a minimum of $100,000 and another with a .25% expense ratio with $3,000 minimum. Schwab's is .03% with $1 minimum.

They do have some good fixed income mutual funds, but again the minimums are $3k.
 
Pima said:
The big perk faith USAA is @ Dec when you get your subscribers check back. Falcon is probably like Bullet and I, the check last year was close to 400 if I remember correctly. If the stock market holds and we don't have a bad hurricane season this year, I am betting the check will be even nicer.
~ Hurricanes impact the payout because many subscribers live in hurricane prone areas....think of military bases in Fl, NC, SC, TX and VA. Those homes get damaged by hurricanes like Katrina, Floyd, Andrews, etc., and they have to pay out, which reduces their bottom line.
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What is a subscriber check?
 
Since USAA is a credit union it's profits come back to its customers. So every year I get check back from USAA. It's amount varies based upon many factors, but investments, savings, etc.
 
Chockstock said:
What is a subscriber check?
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It's sort of like a dividend to stockholders, but is legally considered a return of premium.

As member owned company every USAA member has a subscriber account and USAA allocates a portion of profits to each member's account based on subscriber account balance and amount of auto and property insurance premiums paid that year.

When profits are good the board of directors authorizes a distribution and each member gets paid an amount from the account - that is the subscriber check.
 
It's the Subscriber Savings Account or SSA.

From the USAA website:

https://www.usaa.com/inet/wc/faq_Enterprise_Money_?akredirect=true

A good descriptive article, not from primary source:
http://themilitarywallet.com/usaa-subscriber-savings-account-insurance-policy/
***Note, the age of the article makes the eligibility paragraph inaccurate.

USAA, the property and casualty company part of it, is a mutual company - its members insure each other. In 1922, some Army officers frustrated with challenges in getting insurance for the unique military lifestyle, formed it. The USAA Bank is a separate company in the family, as is the life insurance company. The P&C company charges its members premiums based on underwriting calculations and estimated probable payouts for loss and damage claimed by its members. It pays out money for claims, it sets aside money for a rainy day (years of multiple hurricanes and other catastrophes that exceed predictions), it pays its employees and other operations costs, and shares out leftover cash with its members. Grossly oversimplified, but that's the gist.
 
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AROTC-dad, My daughters are looking to purchase car insurance (& renters). But, they have had sooo much trouble just getting membership. Downloads resent with different people on the phone saying different things. Cannot get a consistent answer any time they are called. Went smooth as silk for other needs at NFCU when we were able to talk with one person.
Ended up with Geico. Simple process even though online.
 
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