USAA: POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE, Just another big bank.

I was a member of USAA for 7 years. I had a car loan, credit card, and checking account with them. I also had all my bills set on auto-payment through my USAA accounts. In June I lost my job. I immediately called USAA to notify them of my situation and loss of income in an effort to head off any financial problems. They deferred my car loan for 2 months, and were not really interested in my job loss.
Over the next 3 months, my accounts became past due and USAA began to call me and harass me wanting their money. Telling me “You took the money, so now you have to pay it!!” I repeatedly called and tried to negotiate and work out an arrangement. USAA wasn’t interested. They did not care that I had no income, they just wanted their money.
I finally found work, but my income was 25% of what it once was. Again, I contacted USAA and tried to work out a payment plan or to refinance my debts at a lower payment. And again they were not interested. Instead they transferred me around the corporation and twice to collection departments that said “You owe us, give us our money” At this point I was not even 60 days past due!!!
It seems to me that USAA would rather use their collections agents, repo a vehicle, destroy my credit, and receive zero dollars than refinance an existing loan that would make them more money!!! Their collections people were not interested in helping at all. They yelled at me, tried to intimidate me, and were rather impolite. USAA was very unprofessional and has proven to be just another big bank. They could care less about its investors, members, and their financial situations. Not only would I caution everyone I meet to avoid them at all costs, but should I go back on active duty, I vow that no USAA representative will ever set foot on my post nor speak with my troops. Soldiers, servants of our great nation, their families, and people deserve better than USAA!!!

John Krum
Former USAA Member

Spetember 22, 2010

Not srue this is a complaint so much as just passing on some information. I was not scammed by USAA, however ...

As a reservist, I was refered to this company by word of mouth. I was told they have great rates, customer service, etc.

At first, I submitted for an auto insurance quote. I have three vehicles, three drivers. USAA came back with a quote of almost $4, 000 per year. I currently pay $2, 000 per year. Then I submitted a quote for homeowners insurance - USAA was $300 per year higher. If Shelter Insurance is in your area, I suggest you check them out.

Then, I submitted a quote to refinance my home. Even though they used a quote with a percentage rate 1.5 percent less than my current, the monthly payment was $300 a month more than my current. And the total loan value was more than my original 4 years ago.

If this is what USAA members call value, I think they should shop around.

If it sounds to good to be true ...

I wrote this email below to USAA ([email protected]) and never got any reply at all! If you're considering signing up with USAA, try sending this email and see if you get any response. That will give you an idea of their customer service. They promised to reply if we send to that email address. Here's the promise: http://twitter.com/USAA


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Dear USAA,


I signed up for USAA banking account (savings and checking) on June
9th 2010, and I paid the $50. It has been 3 months now and I am still
not allowed to use my account. I was told there is "investigation" on
my account.

I do not mind at all if there is an investigation, but three months is
unreasonably long. At least let me know how the "investigation" is
progressing. What result are they waiting for? What step is slowing
them down?

Or, refund my money. Isn't my request perfectly reasonable?


Thanks again,

Bob

I was a member of USAA for 15 years. In 2005 my mother had chemotherapy which led to huge medical bills and financial troubles. In 2007 I applied for a USAA checking account. In addition to being denied a checking account, USAA cancelled my online access to my auto insurance and labeled me a "security risk". Due to a derogatory financial report that USAA solicits from a 3rd party company, I was no longer able to acess the USAA website, auto insurance increased, and a simple checking account application was denied.

This is the most ridiculous business practice I have ever heard of. USAA valued its customers at one time, but now this company is reorganized to maximize profits by mimicking the same unscrupulous business practices that led to the collapse of the banking industry. Read the complaints people, notice the trends. USAA is under new leadership. Leadership that views all of its loyal customers as fat turkeys long past due for their holiday slaughter. In the next ten years this company will follow a pattern seen far to often in businesses; increased financial success leads to abandonment of ethics over time. The tail is now wagging the dog in USAA folks.

First I am a USAA customer and have been since 1986. I utilize their insurance, banking and even have a small IRA with them. They have been a great customer and I plan on continuing to use their services.

I do have a concern about how they calculate interest. For me it would have meant about 9 extra cents. But for others it is amounting to hundreds of dollars a month.

On February 23rd of 2010, a cash advance was made to my account, my fault, I had an automatic bill hit my account and I was over drawn until a normal paycheck hit the account the next day. USAA did an automatic $100 cash advance from my credit card. This was the ONLY interest balance on the account. I made a payment towards that advance within 1 hour after midnight on the 24th of February, 2010.

With the new law which, I believe went into effect on the 21st or 22nd of February, the $100 payment I made should have been applied to the $100 advance. When the statement ran on about the 4th of March, there was a daily balance subject to interest of about $19, which worked out to about 11 days of the $100.

I complained, said my interest should have been about 4 cents or so. The 1st level responder was very wrong. Said that the new law did not apply to cash advances. I was contacted by a male 2nd level responder. He kind of understood. I had included the math to back up my claim that they were charging interest incorrectly. He gave me the interest back and assured me that my $100 would be correctly applied to the balance. I asked him to make sure it was applied on the 24th of February, he said he would do that for me.

April statement arrived and of course there was an interest charge. The $100 was not applied to the balance as of 24 February.

I sent a detailed email again laying out the math and how I believe they, USAA, are incorrectly applying the interest. Angie, a representative, called me. She wanted to "talk" I asked her if she had read my emails regarding this. She had not read them. So I had to wait on the phone while she read the emails. It was nice that they called me, but what is the point if a customer has to explain to a 3rd person after writing to explain this.

She seemed to understand my logic and agreed that she thought they had calculated the interest incorrectly. She agreed to remove the interest and call me on the 4th of April.

So, today she called me. There was no interest on my account. But, Angie, said that USAA did caculate the interest correctly in February. She seemed to infer that the "proprietary calculations that are not shared with USAA customers" were correct. That she could not share them with me, but that the interest was calculated correctly.

I asked to talk with the next level. She said that she, Angie, was the highest level I could talk to. That USAA had done the calculations correctly.

I believe that USAA is incorrectly applying interest charges to cash advances. There are probably thousands of customers paying too much interest and USAA is not following the new banking laws.