This is GREAT news for anyone who’s ever wanted to join USAA :) Consumerist “broke the news” on Monday (although one of my favorite twitterati, @AskJune_USAA, says it’s been around for a while?), and I checked out their site and indeed it’s true! The stars have aligned and USAA is now open to the general public.
Non-Military folks don’t get access to *everything* they have, but pretty damn close. It would be enough for me to change over if I was unhappy w/ my current getup! Here’s a list of everything via their Become A Member link (at the bottom under “Other Individuals”):
USAA’s investment products, most bank deposit products, life insurance, and shopping and discounts are available to other individuals. While auto and property insurance policies are not available due to membership eligibility requirements, we can still help. USAA’s General Agency has a 20-year relationship with Progressive insurance.
The following products are available to other individuals:
Product Availability Insurance
- Life insurance
- Auto insurance not available through USAA. Please call 1-888-870-8096.
- Property insurance not available through USAA.
Banking
- Checking
- Teen Checking
- Savings
- College Checking
- Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
- CD IRAs
- Youth Savings
- Prepaid Card
Investments All products Shopping and Discounts All products
I can’t tell you how excited I am for this! Seriously, It’s like getting asked out by Megan Fox (only dorkier). If you’ve ever wanted to join, or know of anyone who does, now’s the time baby! Get ready for awesome rates, plenty of options, free* atm withdrawals!, and the most important: Excellent customer service. I’ve probably called them at least 100 times before, if not more, and only once was I surprised with bad service. I’m telling you, they rule. And I’m not getting paid to say that (though that would be nice! haha…).
There really is a reason I have 15 accounts with USAA – they know how to rock the business. We have our savings (2), checkings (2), roths (2), money market, credit cards (2), heloc, insurances, etc, and I’ll continue using them for as long as they’ll let me ;) But ask around and learn for yourself. If anyone reading uses USAA, what do you think of them? Are you happy?
Whether you use USAA or not, just know that it’s now an option. That’s really the point of me expressing my undying love for them here. If you’re completely satisfied with what you’ve got, great! Leave it alone and be happy. If not, might be worth checking out?
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PS: Major thanks to donkee for the heads up on this!
*USAA does not charge a fee for the first 10 ATM withdrawals and refunds up to $15 in other banks’ ATM usage fees each month. A 1% foreign transaction fee applies to withdrawals outside the United States.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
My wife and I are very intereted in filing applications for term life insurance with USAA. I called a few minutes into your customer service department to ask this question and was told that non military people are not able to participate in USAA insurance products but your web site says they are. Please let me know if non military are eligiable for life insurance products through USAA. Thanks much.
Hmmm…well I’m not affiliated with USAA but I guess if they said you can’t you can’t :( I know that there are certain products not available to non-military folks (as that breakdown shows) but they would know more of the details…sorry!
We LOVE USAA! We’ve used them for years because I was prior military. And, the insurance rates are great. We do our homeowner’s and car through them. I’m glad that opening will lead to non-military to enjoy the same benefits.
Left Pentagon Federal to join USAA. I am the daughter of a Viet Nam vet and work on a contract basis for the DoD. Please consider opening up the full range of benefits for families like PenFed does! So far I am loving banking at USAA!!!
I’m a big fan of USAA even though I’m non-military. Have been a banking customer of USAA since 1992. I’ve always coveted the property and casualty insurance but have never been eligible, so I’m with State Farm. I’ve noticed that USAA has gone back and forth on non-military members and what they are and are not eligible for. Seems like once a decade they switch. Oh well, I’m happy with USAA nonetheless!