So long Emigrant Direct, it’s been nice.

I began pulling all my money out of Emigrant Direct and Dollar Savings Direct (effectively one in the same).  I rode the eroding interest rates down hill, although their current rates are still slightly better than I can get just about anywhere else.

The real deterrent was the fact that I couldn’t add my new USAA Savings account as an approved funding account without filling out paper work and sending in a voided check.

In my opinion there is no reason for this.  I was able to set up my Bank of America funding account electronically with no hassles other than waiting for verification of the account.  To require paper forms and a voided check for additional accounts seems illogical and unnecessary.

So I’ve pulled all the money out of both accounts and will dump it back into my USAA savings.  From there I may move it around to take advantage of increasing interest rates in the future, or may buy some short term CD’s.

Banking Dollar Savings Direct, Emigrant Direct, savings, USAA

So I’ve decided to move all my banking to USAA from Bank of America.  The fact that the big BOA still needs money from good old Uncle Sam doesn’t instill confidence in this customer.

So I set up a checking account and several different savings accounts at USAA to replicate the banking structure I had at BoA, and signed up for their USAA World Mastercard as well with the Total Rewards program.  My existing card is held through Citi, who happens to also need another boatload of cash to continue its business.  Since I don’t keep a balance on any of my cards, there’s really nothing to transfer, and I just need to change all of my automatic payments over to the new card.

I’ll probably continue to keep the Citi card active just in case, but I don’t anticipate using it.

No more going to the bank for me!

The other cool thing about USAA banking is the Deposit@Home feature, where you simply scan your deposits directly from your scanner via a Java applet on the website.  The funds are deposited directly to your account and are available immediately.  Kind of cool, and despite the a slight hiccup at first with the Java program, the system works pretty well.

The rewards program is a little different.

As for the rewards program with the Total Rewards card, there are a few differences compared to my Citi Dividend Platinum card.  The first being that you earn one point for every dollar you spend on the card, and one point for every two dollars you spend on your USAA debit card.  You can redeem these points for merchandise, gift cards, charitable contributions, or my favorite, cold hard cash.

With the Citi card, we had a limit of $300 in dividends per year, and by charging all our utilities to that card, plus everyday purchases, we achieved that $300 limit fairly quickly.

The USAA Total Rewards card doesn’t have such a limit, however the program isn’t quite as lucrative as the Citi program.  The Total Rewards program breaks down the rewards in a tiered fashion where you get more cash back the more you spend.  For instance, the first 20,000 points only returns you 0.83% in cash, but after that, you earn 1% cash back.  So the key is to wait until you have accrued more than 20,000 points to redeem for cash back.

Banking, Credit Cards, Finance, Rewards Programs Banking, Rewards Programs, USAA

I’ve always been under the impression that USAA was an insurance company, even though I’ve been bombarded with literature that says otherwise.  I hold my car insurance, primary residence insurance, and now even my rental property insurance is held with USAA, as they’ve been the low-cost provider for all of those.

Yesterday though, I noticed a coworker paid his lunch bill with a USAA branded credit card, and further discussion revealed that he does all of his banking with USAA as well.

Naturally, one would question how you deposit a check to a bank with no physical presence.  And why would you want to incur ATM fees while being forced to use a competitors ATM?  And how do they stack up to my existing bank, Bank of America?

Scan your deposits in… from home.

I’ve noticed over the past several years that the only reason I go to Bank of America is to deposit checks, and make the occasional cash withdrawal.  Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I set foot in the bank itself.  So naturally, I had to wonder how one would go about making a deposit to a purely online bank that is more convenient than driving down the street.  The answer lies in my desktop scanner.

With USAA’s Deposit@Home system, you simply log in to your account and scan in the check to be deposited using your own scanner.  The deposit is immediately credited to your account, and you simply void the check after completing the deposit.

Pretty cool if you ask me.

ATM fees are reimbursed.

Assuming a USAA banking customer would have to absorb the ATM fees of a local bank, since USAA doesn’t have a system of their own ATM’s would only be partially correct.  Yes, you’ll incur some ATM fees, but those fees are actually reimbursed by USAA for the first 10 ATM withdrawals per month, up to a total of $15.   So you can use the most convenient ATM without worrying about the $2.00 transaction fee you’re slapped with.

Some other perks?

USAA offers free checks, interest for checking accounts, credit and debit card rewards programs (with no annual fee), free online bill pay, and no monthly service fees.  They also offer a host of savings options, certificate of deposit (CD) options, and some cool banking options for kids (like a prepaid cash card with parental control).

So where’s the drawback?

At this point the only drawback I’ve found is that they don’t have a physical presence, which should be obvious.  But this one drawback does mean that you won’t have access to a safety deposit box with USAA banking.

Currently, we receive a free safety deposit box at Bank of America since we have a number of accounts with them.  Switching to USAA exclusively would eliminate that option, and we’d need to pay for a safety deposit box.

Beyond that, the issue of convenience has been solved.

I’ll investigate further, but I like what I see.

Banking, Saving Bank of America, banking options, bill pay, online banking, savings, USAA