SACU or USAA??? (Dallas, San Antonio, Anton: insurance, crime, credit card)

[CLR210]

We've banked with SACU for years and the experience has been good but we are considering a move to USAA because they offer more services than SACU which would allow us to consolidate several services and have a one stop shop. An added plus is there is a branch around the corner from our house so it's more convenient also. What has your experience been with USAA?? Thanks for your help

[majormadmax]

Have had USAA for 35+ years now, I still think they are the best although sometimes they have they "issues" just like every other company...

[Paka]

We are members of both SSFCU and USAA. SSFCU remains our 1st choice, so if an option, you might want to consider that.

[Me007gold]

Had SSFCU, went to USAA, now I am back with SSFCU. Ive had issues with USAA and depositing cash in the ATM, it always got worked out, however it took time that I didn't have access to my money.


USAA bank dose have some fantastic benefits, they don't charge you to take money out of other ATMs, and they will refunded you up to $15.00 a month charged by other banks. They also don't charge to use debt at some locations which SSFCU dose

[heimerswt]

I was with SSFCU for years, then worked for them for years, then opened up an RBFCU account because I could. RBFCU beats SSFCU in every way except for number of branches and branch hours. But that is even less of an issue now because of the checks I am able to deposit through their iPhone app. (which SSFCU still doesn't have...)

[Hedgehog_Mom]

We tried RBFCU and SSFCU before we ended up with USAA. I have used USAA for 12 or 14 years now and been happy with the service.

We had a problem with identity theft 5 years ago and USAA was not wonderfully helpful with that, but I don't think any bank is. Identity theft is the one crime where you really have to scramble to prove yourself innocent.

[CLR210]

Thanks for the replies. I was wondering how USAA handles identity theft or if your account is compromised. Last year, the hubs somehow dropped his debit card at a gas station. Within 30 minutes, SACU called him asking if he'd used his card at several places we never shopped before. Sure enough, someone found his card and went on a shopping spree. Luckily, SACU was watching out for us and immediately shut the card down and refunded every penny stolen from our account, issued new cards and all within 2 days. We still do not know how the thief figured out our pin though. They also will call us if any suspicious charges are made to ensure they are ours i.e. the time I was on a plane and just had a hankering for a bloody mary resulted in a phone call to the hubs. I wonder if USAA or others keep sch a protective eye on their members???? We've not dealt with anyone else in decades so we don't know if this is normal service or not. Is it??

[sapphire]

I use SSFCU and USAA. We're no longer in San Antonio so having "Deposit @ Home" with USAA is a great benefit. I'm not sure why SSFCU is so behind the times on that. SSFCU is ultra-hypervigilant about debit card abuse. I tried to use an ATM here in Dallas a few weeks ago and got a message that said "Communication Error" but the money was still taken out of my account even though I hadn't received any. After using my SSFCU card, I tried my USAA card....same result. Notified both institutions, USAA credited me immediately, SSFCU took several days and then cancelled my card. ??? Sent me a new one and told me my card had been compromised. My USAA card was not compromised at that ATM, only the SSFCU one was? OK. I mean, I know they are just trying to be protective but it is annoying at times. My son used his SSFCU card online months ago and they sent us a letter stating it had been compromised as well and they were sending a new card....still waiting. After 15 back-and-forth e-mails with them, I've given up and transferred his money out. Also, we have a credit card through SSFCU and the second you use it online or out of town they start calling you.

I'm just being lazy by not closing out SSFCU entirely but all our bills are paid with that account. I'd have to expend some effort getting our direct deposits changed and all the rest of it.

[Hedgehog_Mom]

In our case, the identity theft was because of a stolen check. The person who stole it from the night drop box (we had paid our rent) printed checks, got my husband's driver's license number somewhere and made an id with that number, and did a decent job of forging his signature. The only way we got anyone to believe it wasn't my husband writing the checks is that the guy writing them was a tall, thin redhead which my husband definitely is not.

I don't know how USAA handles issues with debit cards, I haven't had any problems with mine. I know there's a limit to how much cash you can get out of an atm in a day, but you can call them if you're having an emergency and need to get more. They ask you a bunch of security questions and then they set it so you can get out the amount of cash you need even in the middle of the night (for bail because of the ID theft, it was horrible).

[bianca324]

I also have a few problems with ssfcu, as when I went to get my drivers license, I could not use my card to pay because they said that ssfcu had a firewall issue with them so they cant accept payments submitted through them. I am also a student and work full time, so when I have my one day off a week, I do all of my errands and I always have to call ssfcu and wait forever to get them to set my swipe limit higher, as you can only use your card 15 times in one day. This sucks during holiday shopping as the wait to speak to them is sometimes up to 20 minutes and they cannot reset the swipe limit at a branch. I also have sacu which I have had for over 15 years and they have always provided great service only wish they had more locations and atm locations. But I also have usaa insurance and was thinking of closing down both bank accounts and getting usaa as well.