7 ms·

This is precisely why I have USAA as my bank. I was originally going to get a Wells Fargo account, but that changed when I decided to go to uni in Florida - be

by younata 15y ago

This is precisely why I have USAA as my bank. I was originally going to get a Wells Fargo account, but that changed when I decided to go to uni in Florida - before the wachovia merger happened. My father decided that not being able to keep tabs on my account was a dealbreaker, so I ended up getting a USAA account. Worked out for the best, because USAA has some of the best customer service in the industry.

ww520 15y ago
Is there an easy way to get into USAA for non-military people?
- dkokelley 15y ago
  USAA banking is available to everyone. Some nicer services (deposit by phone, insurance) are for service members only. For what it's worth, my brother (Air Force) sold me on USAA after he signed up with them. I worked at Wells Fargo at the time, so I had the best accounts. I'm happy I made the switch. Also, their web interface and iOS apps are excellent. By far the best I've seen.
  - chris11 15y ago
    Their customer service is amazing too. I've never had a bad experience with them.
  - eru 15y ago
    How does deposit by phone work?
    - nhangen 15y ago
      It's amazing. I started a new job and their paycheck provider screwed up, so I wound up with paper checks. I couldn't afford the delay in mailing them to USAA, so I tried the app deposit method. Take a pic of front, take one of back (after writing a few lines 'deposit only' yada, yada), and it was deposited instantly.
    - wccrawford 15y ago
      Take a picture, send it in. (I think it requires a special app.)
    - sector 15y ago
      There's an app that has you take a photo of the front and back of the check, and they accept that for deposit.
    - stonemetal 15y ago
      You enter the details of the check, how much it is for and the like. You take a picture of the front and back of the check. That is it. They must do some sort of OCR on the image you upload because it usually takes me more than one try before it will accept most of the checks I have tried.
    - jm4 15y ago
      Like others have said, there is an app. Prior to the app (and still available), you would scan both sides of the check and email the images. They also have a deal with UPS that allows you to go to a UPS store where they swipe your ATM card, scan the check and process the deposit. It's free. I believe the UPS method is the only one available to USAA bank customers that are not eligible for the insurance products. It's not too bad. There are a lot of UPS stores and their hours are at least as good as most banks.
      - eru 15y ago
        Oh, thanks. I only realized that he was talking about checks. When I read `deposit', I only thought `deposit cash' due to my upbringing.
  - tibbon 15y ago
    Wait, really? I was under the notion that the banking was service only. I'm in!
john_horton 15y ago
Strongly second that---USAA is fantastic.
Confusion 15y ago
You're going to uni, but your father keeps tabs on your account? I don't know whether it's you or him, but really, you should both be able to trust you to take good financial care of yourself. It's an ability everyone needs and that you can't learn early enough.
- caw 15y ago
  I wouldn't say that's completely unheard of when I went to college. If he's watching it because he doesn't trust you to manage your own money that's one thing, but there are other reasons for being able to manage an account. For instance, if the father wasn't a custodial on the account he can't deposit money in the event he needs it. My parents would have to mail me a check or pay a $25 bank transfer fee because they bank elsewhere. With student privacy laws, the father can't directly see school bills. Those have to go to the student, even if the parents are paying. My school also had a student account where you could pay for food, vending, and laundry. This is a separate account that requires replenishing, so the guys I knew would sometimes call their folks asking them to deposit some money for expenditures (freshman/sophomore year, everyone pretty much had some side income by then).
  - randallsquared 15y ago
    For instance, if the father wasn't a custodial on the account he can't deposit money in the event he needs it. When did that start? I've deposited money many times into other people's accounts without problems; you don't even have to show ID -- just fill out a deposit slip with their account number and hand over cash.
    - dodedo 15y ago
      In person? Not sure about that, but I know that recently I tried to set up payments between BofA and WellsFargo and I wasn't able to do automatic or online transfers of amounts over $1000. When I was younger I had a joint custodial account with my father, for a similar purpose, though it wasn't my primary checking account. It's much, much easier to move money between two accounts you control.
rdtsc 15y ago
I would also recommend Charles Schwab. If you open an investment account with them, and keep at least $1500 in there, you get a nice checking account -- refunds ATM fees, free rental car insurance, good customer service.

by younata 15y ago

ww520 15y ago

Is there an easy way to get into USAA for non-military people?

dkokelley 15y ago
USAA banking is available to everyone. Some nicer services (deposit by phone, insurance) are for service members only. For what it's worth, my brother (Air Force) sold me on USAA after he signed up with them. I worked at Wells Fargo at the time, so I had the best accounts. I'm happy I made the switch. Also, their web interface and iOS apps are excellent. By far the best I've seen.
- chris11 15y ago
  Their customer service is amazing too. I've never had a bad experience with them.
- eru 15y ago
  How does deposit by phone work?
  - nhangen 15y ago
    It's amazing. I started a new job and their paycheck provider screwed up, so I wound up with paper checks. I couldn't afford the delay in mailing them to USAA, so I tried the app deposit method. Take a pic of front, take one of back (after writing a few lines 'deposit only' yada, yada), and it was deposited instantly.
  - wccrawford 15y ago
    Take a picture, send it in. (I think it requires a special app.)
  - sector 15y ago
    There's an app that has you take a photo of the front and back of the check, and they accept that for deposit.
  - stonemetal 15y ago
    You enter the details of the check, how much it is for and the like. You take a picture of the front and back of the check. That is it. They must do some sort of OCR on the image you upload because it usually takes me more than one try before it will accept most of the checks I have tried.
  - jm4 15y ago
    Like others have said, there is an app. Prior to the app (and still available), you would scan both sides of the check and email the images. They also have a deal with UPS that allows you to go to a UPS store where they swipe your ATM card, scan the check and process the deposit. It's free. I believe the UPS method is the only one available to USAA bank customers that are not eligible for the insurance products. It's not too bad. There are a lot of UPS stores and their hours are at least as good as most banks.
    - eru 15y ago
      Oh, thanks. I only realized that he was talking about checks. When I read `deposit', I only thought `deposit cash' due to my upbringing.
- tibbon 15y ago
  Wait, really? I was under the notion that the banking was service only. I'm in!

john_horton 15y ago

Strongly second that---USAA is fantastic.

Confusion 15y ago

You're going to uni, but your father keeps tabs on your account? I don't know whether it's you or him, but really, you should both be able to trust you to take good financial care of yourself. It's an ability everyone needs and that you can't learn early enough.

caw 15y ago
I wouldn't say that's completely unheard of when I went to college. If he's watching it because he doesn't trust you to manage your own money that's one thing, but there are other reasons for being able to manage an account. For instance, if the father wasn't a custodial on the account he can't deposit money in the event he needs it. My parents would have to mail me a check or pay a $25 bank transfer fee because they bank elsewhere. With student privacy laws, the father can't directly see school bills. Those have to go to the student, even if the parents are paying. My school also had a student account where you could pay for food, vending, and laundry. This is a separate account that requires replenishing, so the guys I knew would sometimes call their folks asking them to deposit some money for expenditures (freshman/sophomore year, everyone pretty much had some side income by then).
- randallsquared 15y ago
  For instance, if the father wasn't a custodial on the account he can't deposit money in the event he needs it. When did that start? I've deposited money many times into other people's accounts without problems; you don't even have to show ID -- just fill out a deposit slip with their account number and hand over cash.
  - dodedo 15y ago
    In person? Not sure about that, but I know that recently I tried to set up payments between BofA and WellsFargo and I wasn't able to do automatic or online transfers of amounts over $1000. When I was younger I had a joint custodial account with my father, for a similar purpose, though it wasn't my primary checking account. It's much, much easier to move money between two accounts you control.

rdtsc 15y ago

I would also recommend Charles Schwab. If you open an investment account with them, and keep at least $1500 in there, you get a nice checking account -- refunds ATM fees, free rental car insurance, good customer service.