edgycj said: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?

I have added USAA Investments with no problem. I dont believe there is gong to be anymore changes at this point. I have heard a rumor that at one point all current members will have access to all products since new change to enrollment process. But when and if that will happen is yet to be seen.

edgycj said:Is there still that much mis-communication?Yes.

Great bank, but they really bungled the June 30th transition.

That said, I moved my direct deposits to them in July and couldn't be happier.

hc130radio said:DaveHanson said:

PLEASE NOTE: USSA SAVINGS BANK IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING NEW MEMBERS FROM THE GENERAL PUBLIC. As of June 30, 2006, one must either be elligible for their property and casualty insurance programs via their military service, prior service, or familiy connection to same; OR they must be an existing USAA Savings Bank customer.




This is good news. Thanks for the awesome thread!

Yes, this is an awesome thread...but...what's good news about USAA Savings Bank no longer accepting members from the general public?

inthecity said:Very Odd. I got a 1% debit card rebate. I thought it was suppose to be 0.5%. Anyone know if they changed it to 1% or did USAA made a mistake.

Did you just recently open an account? I think they are running a promotion giving 1% back for new accounts for a fixed amount of time, but I couldn't find any details on their website. Maybe that's because I already have an account....

zski1 said:inthecity said:Very Odd. I got a 1% debit card rebate. I thought it was suppose to be 0.5%. Anyone know if they changed it to 1% or did USAA made a mistake.

Did you just recently open an account? I think they are running a promotion giving 1% back for new accounts for a fixed amount of time, but I couldn't find any details on their website. Maybe that's because I already have an account....

I opened it in early June 06. Everything online and materials they sent me said 0.5% Cash Back.

Does anyone know how long this 1% is good for?

hotcitygirl said:inthecity said:

I opened it in early June 06. Everything online and materials they sent me said 0.5% Cash Back.

Does anyone know how long this 1% is good for?

Good for the first 6 months, also extra 1% interest for savings account.

Thanks hotcitygirl

All online special promotions are no longer available to non millitary affil. Has any one else had a diff experience?

[Q= said:edgycj]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?

I was able to open a preformace savings account without any problem and switch my checking account to AMA checking account that sweeps all cash in my checking account into a CA tax-free MMF. I did these changes like 3 weeks ago. I was also able to get 1% bonus for 6 months on the preformace savings account when I accepted a rewards debit card.

Now I had to call and open all accounts over the phone as there system would not let me open anything online because I am not in military. They also faxed me some forms to sign and fax back to them process was painless to be honest. Rep was super nice and helpfull too. Sure would be nice to be able to get USAA car insurance as I understand they are much cheaper than anyone else.</blockquote>

sbsake said:What do you think of the AMA account? What options for money market do you have for the sweep ? I was thinking abt getting but benn holding back ..... any input would be great

It not bad. Nice thing about AMA account is as long as you got any marginable assets they wont place any holds on any of your deposits as they will use your securities as collateral. Citi and BOA do the same thing for me on my accounts with them. But no other banks online or offline has this option. Everyone else places a 10 day hold for all ACH transfers to clear which is a joke considering ACH debit will only get completed if you have the funds in the account that is being debited. So the banks know the funds are good.

You can choose from following funds :
USAA Money Market Fund.
USAA Tax Exempt Money Market Fund.
USAA California Money Market Fund. (California residents only)
USAA New York Money Market Fund. (New York residents only)
USAA Virginia Money Market Fund. (Virginia residents only)
USAA Florida Tax-Free Money Market Fund. (Florida residents only)

I picked USAA California Money Market Fund I will be honest it pays a higher interest rate than my Citibank Private bank sweeps account which require a much larger balance to avoid fees. USAA curenntly paying 2.98% tax-free vs Citi paying 2.81% tax-free. Only thing Citibank and most other banks have over USAA is they offer more sweep options like US Treasury Reserve sweep and more state sweeps than USAA. Citi also lets you set a percentage to sweep into each MMF for example I personally have 50% going into US Treasury Reserve and 50% going into CA tax-free Sweep. Just so I can get a blended rate and not worry about which is paying a higher rate this week. USAA has no such option I was told. You can only pick 1 fund and 100% is sweept into that one fund.

Balance require for this account is $5K total between all assets in the brokerage account which includes AMA cash balance and all stocks, bonds and mutual funds holdings including any and all balances in your IRA's so it really not hard to avoid the monthly service fee. Only bad thing is they will not count any balances held in FDIC accounts towards that $5K balance requirement. IE any balance in your preformace savings wont count towards the $5K balance requirement.

It comes with all normal USAA benfits like free wallet checks, ATM rebates, free web bill pay, Quicken/Money download etc. Only thing I dont like about the account is USAA does not care if you have $5K or $500K they treat everyone same. They wont waive anything above the standard benfits even if you maintain a large balance as they don't offer private banking or even "Mini Private Banks Accounts" AKA Citigold, HSBC Premier Checking or BOA Premier Banking. So they wont waive fed funds wires, computer checks, Quicken bill pay Service fee's , stop payments etc like all the above "Mini Private Banks Accounts" do as long as you meet the min balance requirements.

I am pretty sure that zski1 is refering to the USAA Select Program, they have a tab for it.

Here is the link to the:

Screen Shot

Let me know what you think?