As a preface, I turned to USAA after my local bank... I don't have words to describe it... Failed. A very long story that ends with in response to my questions about closing costs, ...Look I'm trying to get to the lake. Do you want to sign it or not? This was the branch manager.

I'm a first time home buyer in my 40's. Military. Back to school at 30. I heard about USAA through my parents but did not qualify until just recently. No problem with my credit.

First, USAA need more information and more verification. Loop after loop, hoop after hoop. It's been about 6 months and I don't want to recall to many specifics. Horrible.

Big picture; The closing date was moved multiple times. On at least 5 occasions, the date was extended because they needed more verification for VA (like you do on the first phone call) or their inaction led to the delay. Some of the time I could get my rep to level with me and say that they were at fault. Most of the time they were quick to place the blame on my Realtor, the seller, the seller's Realtor, myself, etc. I caught them in a lot of lies which includes today and why I'm posting (venting). How many times did I have to arrange and rearrange moving details? How many times did I have to call my landlord saying that it didn't go through again and the family that wants to move into his rental, that moved from out of state, had to live in a hotel until USAA could get the act together. I ended up moving the majority of the house myself because I had no idea when we would actually close.

Questions about closing costs. Seems such a simple topic yet, just like my local bank, I got misinformation, blame, inaction, different numbers, never a straight answer and passed on to the next person with no answers every time with numbers that never added up. I am engineer. I enjoy math. It should make sense.

Closing; The last attempt at finally closing, (how many time did we have to amend/rewrite the contract?) We told USAA how about Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday of that week (that is actually in the contract!). We closed on the Wednesday, but, USAA would not release the money pending further VA verification (stuff that had been taken care of long ago). I had to call them persistently to get it done by Friday otherwise it may have taken a week or more because again they forgot to do something. I thought it was never was going to end and I was right.

Like today, I found the only way I could get them to do anything was to keep calling back until I got someone that would actually help me because supervisors have a 24 to 48 response time. Today, I gave up and asked to speak with someone about lodging a complaint and the customer service person was wonderful and actually fixed my problem (kind of) after trying for 2 hours. This is usually about the time it takes me to resolve these post mortgage issues.

Escrow; Again numbers changing, I found one helpful rep in this area just recently. Insurance, insured for more than 4 times what I am buying it for. Double billing which they quickly fixed. It really feels like they do these 'mistakes' on purpose because most people can't understand what they are doing, including myself.

So, today; November, I received a letter from USAA saying that my property was not split before the end of the year so I would need to pay the property tax myself. I received a similar letter from my title company. So, I called USAA it seemed like everything was good. They were reimbursing the prepaid amount that was for property taxes. That they would cut me a check for 1, 500 and some change. I paid the title company my share expecting a check and ... No check. Thanks for the early X-mas present. Called them early January, they have no idea what I'm talking about. Call back, call back, call back until someone does understand, but, no numbers now. They could not tell me the figure they said before. They said the only thing they could do for me is to audit the escrow account. Fine, how many days do you need. They need 5, I gave them 20. Today. No audit was done! Supervisor please. 24 to 48 response time? Unacceptable. There's nothing I can do for you. I'd like to file a complaint... So, I have this customer service person that fixes my problem (kind of) and told me the truth. The November number was arbitrary, no idea where it came from. The procedure is for the account to be audited. The notes on their system for November asked for the audit. She went on to say that they need the estimated property tax number from the local assessor before they could do the audit. I was never informed of this, ever. So, she told me to call up my assessor and get the number and fax it to her supervisor. And now the crushing blow. I call my assessor. She asks the sellers name. She immediately knows the property because a person (she even remembered her name) from USAA called them earlier to get the information I was in search of (a name which I had wrote down from the six or so people at USAA I spoke with today). USAA had a tax number they were using and it was that exact number to the penny. Are they playing games. I am really dumbfounded by all of this. Oh, she went on to say that there is a letter in the mail requesting that I obtain that information in order to be able to the audit. This kind of stuff is the norm. There is more stuff that has happened, like the insurance adjuster comes out 2 days after I move in. Really, USAA.

I am trying to move away from them, somehow.