that’s the first I’ve heard of someone not satisfied with them. My family has had USAA for a long time and they have been nothing but good for us.
I used to have USAA. From 1998 to 2008. When I went disabled, I was retired at 50% of my pay and was unable to work. It took me a couple years to get the finances sorted out. This was prior to the Veterans Protections Act that protected disabled vets from financial disaster. In my case, I had a lot of bills and a paltry income that I couldn't fix as I was laid up in hospital for a long time.
I had both my car loan and insurance through USAA during this period. I called and spoke to a representative and said, "Here's my situation... disabled, fixed income, etc... I have enough money on-hand right now to pay you either the car note or the insurance. I can pay the other in 2 weeks." The advisor stated that I should pay the insurance so I didn't have a coverage lapse and that it would be fine to pay the car note a couple weeks late. "Great, I'll do that, thanks."
Well, 2 days later, I get a notification that my car was missing from my neighbor. I had her call it in as stolen because I didn't authorize anyone to drive my car (I had the only set of keys with her). When she called, she was notified that the police were pre-warned that the car was being repossessed. Sometime the next day I got USAA on the phone and asked what the deal was as I had spoken with them just a couple days ago and made a deal on the payment. Long story short, they denied ever making a deal for almost a month until they finally changed their mind and said, "Oh yes, there is a note on your account that we overlooked. But this doesn't change the status of your vehicle."
Now, the STATUS OF MY VEHICLE was that I owed, get this, a sum total of $884 to pay off the loan. I Was 3 payments out from paying off the car. I was 30 days late on a $304 payment, however. So, they repo'd my 10-year old Mustang worth about 10 grand for a past due amount of $304. Then, once they realized their error, they said I needed to pay the back due balance to get it back. I assumed this was going to be $304, which I was prepared to pay anyway. However, they tacked on $2,900 in towing/recovery fees and $1,100 in storage fees as they towed it from NW FL to TAMPA and wanted me to pay it all back. For added insult, they said I'd have to come to Tampa to pick up the car.
I remember it plain as day. I took a selfie of myself laid up in a VA hospital bed with all the wires and tubes and sh*t and said, "Does it look like I'm able to come to Tampa to get my car?"
The USAA rep responded, "You'll need to pay an extra $820 for delivery back to your home address. The total you will need to remit is $4,918. Would you like to pay cash or credit card?"
I told them F'k it, keep the car and I canceled my insurance as well. As an aside, I ended up having to declare bankruptcy about 3 months later on $3,100 of debt as I had absolutely no way to repay anything. It was such a sobering and sad state of affairs back then. USAA didn't help me one bit, and retrospectively, caused the majority of that unpayable debt and loan charge offs that ruined my credit for years.
