USAA

USAA is the acronym for the banking and insurance company, United Services Automobile Association, or as it is often misinterpreted, United States Automobile Association; USAA is a fortune 500 financial services company that offers banking, investing, and insurance to members, former members, and families of the United States Military.

The company was founded in 1922 by a group of US Army officers to self insure each other when they were unable to secure auto insurance due to a perception, a perception that they were a high-risk group. Since then, USAA has opened its doors to all members of the US military, retirees, and family members. USAA provides insurance auto quotes online as well as the option to open a free checking account online, life insurance, renter’s insurance, homeowner’s insurance, money market accounts as well as various other investment accounts, financial planning, and a variety of other products and services.

USAA in my opinion offers the best checking accounts. USAA banking is pretty much done entirely online through their checking online. I began using USAA’s free bank checking online about 3 years ago. I had been married for just over 2 years and I was attempting to consolidate debt that I had into one bill in order to make my banking easier and bill pay easier. I was with Bank of America at the time and I went to them about a consolidation loan. The loan officer told me to get the payoffs of every bill I wanted to consolidate and bring them back and we would get it taken care of. I did that but became very busy and I kind of just let it go and forgot about it for about 3 months or so. Then, I decided to attempt it again and pulled all of the loan payoffs and took them to my local Bank of America branch. They told me at that point, they did not do consolidation loans… I was angry and went straight home. Going off the word of a fellow soldier, I got USAA’s number and gave them a call. I asked about the consolidation loan and they said they could definitely do it; they didn’t even run a credit check and didn’t ask for payoffs. I immediately opened a new checking account and they offered to do a direct deposit for me saying that it would take about 24 hours to deposit. Well, about 4 hours later, the money was already in the account. I immediately called and paid off all loans associated with the consolidation and the rest is history. The interest rate was lower and my new checking account offered cash back rewards and interest… You cannot beat that combination!

I then looked into USAA’s auto insurance policies. USAA auto insurance was nearly $125 cheaper than any other place I went to outdoing State Farm, All State, Geico, Progressive, and Nationwide Insurance companies. While I was checking into insurance, I decided to check out their property insurance coverage and low and behold, it was way cheaper property insurance coverage than anywhere else I checked out. I have since moved and now rent and I still use USAA for my renters insurance. Getting the insurance auto quotes and other insurance quotes are so easy with USAA and the customer service is superb. I would and do recommend USAA to anyone; too bad it is only for active military, retired military, former military, and families because if not, I believe USAA would be the Microsoft of banking and insurance.

Currently, Robert G Davis heads the company after his appointment on February 9, 1999 and the story can be read here.

If you are past or current military or a family member, you should definitely give USAA a try whether it is just obtaining insurance auto quotes or looking for the best free checking account online or you are going to purchase a homeowners insurance plan. Give USAA a try today. Don’t just take my word for it… Check out what others are saying.

William Cobb
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"What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"