Dont get me wrong. USAA for a basiscally a no balance requirement interest checking account is a good deal. There no balance requirement interest checking pays 0.75% higher than most B&M banks. And gives you free wallet checks for life, free 2 way ACH transfers, Free web bill pay, and ATM rebates. I cant think of any other no balance requirement interest checking account at any bank with the all above benfits.

And there AMA Sweep account checking account with a $5000 balance requirements to waive $5 monthly service fee pays a higher interest rate than BOA MRA($50K to avid $25 monthly service fee.), Citibank Citigold Sweep ($100K to waive $25 monthly service fee), and Citi Private Bank SB FMA($1MM to waive $125 Annual fee + $25 monthly fee)

But if you maintain large balances the extra benfits BOA or Citibank give you are and can be worthwhile. Like You can buy VRDN from BOA and Citi and not from USAA. VRDN pay more than any MMF as all MMF funds have VRDN as underlying securities. BOA and Citi will waive Quicken Bill Pay fee for larger account holders, They waive fed wires fees, Citi waives Annual fee of decent credit cards, BOA gives you $5 stock trades, Free Safty deposit boxes, Free laser checks, instant cash on all deposits etc.

If you park $500K with BOA or Citi they dont tell you your special let me recommend our finannal planner who will pitch loaded funds as a account benfit. There benfits will be to waive fees for services you would otherwise pay for.

Personally things I get waived at Citibank that USAA laughed at me when I asked if I moved over $1MM to them if they would consider waiving.

1. Voucher Laser checks (deluxe charges $88.99 for 250 checks Citi will order me as many boxes as I ask for and they dont complain about it either.)
2. Increase my ATM limit of $15 worth of rebates per month and raise Cash limit from $500 to $2K/$1K on weekends to $2K a day (btw my Citi private bank card allows me to withdraw $5K a day every day including sat and sunday and rebates all ATM fees no matter how much they are Citigold accounts rebates 5 ATM charges a month has $4K limit per day)
3.Find a way to rebate Quicken Bill Pay Service.
4.Free Fed wires (personally I do maybe 2-4 a year I told USAA they said no Citibank never said a word no do they limit how many they waive)
5.Cashier Checks (I was willing to front the money as I need them to bid on forclosed Property I said I wanted like of $5K(4), $10K(2) and $25K(3) and $100K(10). They said no $2.50 per check no matter what. Citibank does it without crying or complaining about it. Sometimes I dont buy anything just redeposit the checks back into my account)

Stuff like this pisses me off about USAA. Like I said if you dont have a lot of money you not going to find a better deal anywhere else honestly. Problem is if you do have money you can do much better banking with just about anyone else.

I have AMA account incase I need to write a check or pay bill with funds in my Preformace savings account which I will be honest is IMO one of the highest yeild savings account anywhere.

dolmar said:They give you free Finicial advice ie they try to sell you loaded mutual funds and stuff.

They sell someone else's loaded mutual funds? That doesn't sound very characteristc. USAA itself has only no-load funds, as far as I know.

dolmar said:

USAA Fund Marketplace®


A variety of fund families are available in the USAA Fund Marketplace, which may be purchased and held through a USAA brokerage account. If you currently have a mutual fund with a participating fund company, you may consolidate accounts by transferring the assets to your USAA account. All you need to do is complete an account transfer form.

The fee structure is as follows:
NTF = No Transaction Fee
TF = Transaction Fee
L = Load
M = Mixed

If you got an account look how many loaded fund families they offer. Yes non of the USAA inhouse funds have loads but they sell all the loaded funds just like any other brokerage hosue. What do you think they going to pitch to you? Loaded funds where the FP makes commsion on or No load funds where he makes nothing?

USAA's FP's, including the ones in the USAA Select program, dont' work on commission, but on salary. That's what it says on the page describing USAA Select.

-z

Whats this fetish with ATM rebates. How many times are you folks attacking the ATM machine a month?

You know, you can take out 500 , 1000, 2000 , and actually hold it as CASH. Yes CASH. Tht means when you need CASH you dont have to amble up to an at machine and sweat bullets about the fee rebate.

I'd have to say anyone that routinely uses the ATM for cash more than 5 times a month needs to get it together.

jdopple said:Whats this fetish with ATM rebates. How many times are you folks attacking the ATM machine a month?

You know, you can take out 500 , 1000, 2000 , and actually hold it as CASH. Yes CASH. Tht means when you need CASH you dont have to amble up to an at machine and sweat bullets about the fee rebate.

I'd have to say anyone that routinely uses the ATM for cash more than 5 times a month needs to get it together.

I prefer to carry less cash in my wallet, in case it gets lost or stolen....and if i need some quick cash, you can't beat the convenience of an atm card that has generous rebates, offering the flexibility of not having to seek out your home bank's branches...instead, being able to use the closest atm to you (including non-bank atms which are usually the most convenient of all).... If the debit/atm card gets lost or stolen, the bank will make good on the money....if you have a big stack of cash in your wallet, it's your loss....

And why would you want to keep huge amounts of cash in your residence, either? What if you have a break-in to the apartment or home? I'm retired now...but i used to work for the NYPD (Civilian not Officer), so i guess i have a different "mind set" then you do, having delt frequently with victims of lost and stolen stuff (including cash)......

dolmar said:Ted2002 said:For a checking account, are funds available when they show up on the website? I made a large deposit, and it shows up as a completed transaction, but do I need to call to verify availability?No USAA puts 3-10 bussiness day holds on all deposit based on the amount.Yes, if you want to know about availability - just use the phone banking and it will tell you how much of your balance is available. Even though the website will show all your money to be available, usaa still places holds on funds, so you have to call to know exactly.

I sent $6k-14K via quickpost and funds show up nxt day in my USAA Checking account. They are usually sent by quickpost. I have experienced no delays with the funds ...

zski1 said:Dude, I see your point either way, but pick one side of the argument or the other. At first, it seemed like you would be against having a FP be compensated based on comission, and now you say it's better for them to be paid on commission. Which side are you on?

Personally, if I had a ton of cash I'd rather have someone on my side whose interests are directly in line with mine, i.e. they get paid if my assets rise, they don't if they fall, but I digress.....

LMAO it would be nice if they got paid the way you think but in reality they dont.Any no good FP will accept your terms either I bet. You goto any Good full service brokerage house and ask for FP to help you this is way there fees work. And most of the very good FP at these brokerage houses wont take a client with less than say $1MM in investable assets either.

Say I deposit $1MM on Jan 1 at Smith Barney. Broker charges me 2% a year management fee. And if they pick loaded fund they make more commision too as then they get a commisson from the fund too. That management fee is based on the value of my portfolio on Jan 1, April 1, July 1, and Oct 1. If you deposit the money any other day fee will prorated till the next quater.

So on Jan 1 my fee would be $5000 then on April 1 my profolio is worth $900K his fee would be $4500 for this quater. So I lost $100K but his fee only drop $500 get it? He still got paid even tho I lost money.

Now If I was a FP which way do you think I want to get paid? On commision or straight salary? All the good ones want to be paid on commision as they will make a lot more over salary.

No I dont like FP either way. I dont use them. I dont investment in stock market at all. I dont buy Mutual funds or stocks. I only buy AAA insured Muni Bonds or US Goverment issues. I am not taking a side. I said most FP on salary are not very good ones because most of the better ones work on commsion because they will make more money.

I said I prefer bank to waive fees for me on services I would otherwise pay for rather than giving me a mediocre FP for free. I goto to a bank because I want a Bank account not a mediocre FP. If I wanted a FP I would open a brokerage account and not a bank account.

So I see no real benfit to have large balances with USAA as they dont extend any more benfits to large balance deposits like pretty much every other bank in America does. While I understand most people in the military dont have large balances and there is main customer base dont tell me that if on the off chance I do have large balance giving me a free mediocre FP is a benfit. As more than likely if I have a large balance then I know what a brokerage house is and can find myself a good FP.

Thank you

Update on the holds for deposits. I mailed in (USPS not UPS) a >$5000 deposit on Monday. It showed up in my account online this morning. I called tonight and was told that there is no hold; it is all currently available.

So either the hold constraints are a bit relaxed, or they vary from account to account.

-Ted

Just some additional information on how USAA abruptly closed my account and bounced all my checks, refusing to give any explanation:
I just got a new copy of my credit report and I noticed that USAA did a soft-pull just before they closed my account. Like many here, I play the BT game. So it seems like this is a case of adverse action.

Caveat Emptor