redsox9547 said:They aren't receptive to PENFED anymore...Just bought a car they said no way, and a house closes next week, no way again...They don't match rates anymore....In April they matched a car rate, they won't anymore though...

I'm refi'ing both my cars with USAA and they matched Navy Federal's rate for me on Monday.

OmOd said:EricGo said:USAA has an efficient and fast bill-pay service, that is a pleasure to use. In conjunction with the above safety mechanism for overdrafts, I am pretty comfortable that my BT's, credit cards, and bills can go on autopilot for months if need be without havoc.

I believe USAA's overdraft protection only applies to paper checks.I'm reasonably sure that is not the case, but a call to USAA should clear the matter up.

Dave, a tiny suggestion for a wonderful summary OP --

Move the line in the OP describing overnight deposits through UPS to the Checking account area from it's current place in the Misc category. This is such a useful service it would be a shame if overlooked.

Alternatively, especially since this is for FWf folk, perhaps a category labeled 'Moving Money Around' might be appropriate, and could include ACH, overdrafts, Bill pay, deposits and withdrawls.

Incidentally, a 3rd party collects the UPS overnight checks and performs the initial data entry for USAA. I only know this because I called them up the other day to warn them I was planning to send a personal check for 22K, and was told to expect an *automatic* TWO WEEK hold on the funds; and that after the funds were deposited, could then perhaps be cleared for use earlier by calling and requesting, but no guarantees. The CSR was under the impression the auto-lonng-hold would happen on any check over 10K, and possibly over 5K. The aforementioned 3rd party servicer of this deposit route makes it impossible to modify how large checks are handled.

Cheers, and props to GoCowboy for nurturing this most excellent thread until now.

Mikesphar, no doubt similar holds exist at some banks. The practical difference here is that you cannot negotiate the hold prior to deposit using the UPS overnight service. UPS told me they collect deposits for a number of banks, and forward them all to the 3rd party servicer in one envelope. I think it reasonable to assume this servicer is unwilling to set different thresholds for each bank, so beyond any thoughts of asking USAA to treat a single transaction uniquely, I think it safe to presume USAA has little say in the matter for all deposits sent them this way.

from my experience, usaa LOVES people that carry a balance and are profitable for them. They absolutely love them, so it makes snese to me that if you haven't used your card in a while, that they will bend over backwards to try to get you to use it.

They have given me CLI's generally with no pull like 5x in a row, they are great.

I think your situation is quite atypical. I haven't had to use the overdraft protection in awhile, but I've probably had at least 10 overdrafts over the past 5 years where by the money was automatically transferred from my savings account. Sometimes I even used it intentionally when the savings rates were higher than they are now.

The only problem I've ever had was when I accidentally scheduled two identical transfers from savings to checking one day apart. My savings account WAS the backup for the checking account, but not vice versa. I would have thought they would have just cancelled the second transfer, but they put it through and I got dinged an overdraft fee for the extra transfer from the savings account. To fix it, all I had to do was call in an explain my mistake, and they didn't hesitate to reverse my transfer as well as the overdraft fee. Otherwise, in 10 years I've never had a problem with ANY of USAA's services, and counting banking, brokerage and insurance I have about 10 accounts/policies with them.

I did choose an alternative lender for my current mortgage as they couldn't provide a 100% financing option that mirrored an offer from the lender I actually ended up going with, but otherwise they've also always been able to match any loan rate I've been looking to beat.

zski1 said:On a completely unrelated topic, has anyone used USAA's auto loan price negotiation service? From what I understand, you tell them the car you want, and they negotiate with the dealer for you. It doesn't look like you even have to finance with them. Anyone have experience with this service and were you satisfied with the price you got?

Thanks
-z


Though the data point is very historical in nature, my dad used the service back in early 1990s and was happy. As I recall it was a good to very good price but not great. If you are a talented negotiator you can probably do better. If on the other hand, like my dad, you hate to negotiate then USAA did (at least over a decade ago) do pretty well. One other thing my dad quit using them because at one point you did have to finance through USAA and he could do better with his credit union. So he quit using them. Maybe the rules have changed back again.

EricGo said:Regarding overdraft protection,
I was under the impression that only one account can be designated a back-up account.

My information on it is easily a year old, so apologies if out of date.I have received much conflicting info about this over the past year also. My impression is that they've made some changes as their systems have been upgraded. If anyone has more recent, reliable info, by all means please post.

Has any non-military members (pre-June 30th deadline) had any trouble opening new banking products with USAA? I would like to open a money-market account, but I have been reading mixed reviews on other sites. Is there still that much mis-communication? Has there been any word on further changes or restrictions being put on non-military members?

One more rate increase:

USAA Savings and First Start Savings
$0 - $999 2.95%
$1,000 - $4,999 3.75%
$5,000 - $9,999 3.85%
$10,000 - $24,999 4.00%
>$25,000 4.25%
APYs apply for deposits received by 09/07/2006

Performance First Savings
$0 - $9,999 2.22%
$10,000 - $24,999 4.83%
$25,000 - $49,999 5.10%
>$50,000 5.20%
APY applies for deposits received by 09/07/2006