I will take paying off your home mortgage over 40 points any day....but I have and noticed no drop in my FICA score...
USAA itemized discounts on homeowner's insurance and cringe worthy not best rate for credit usage?
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
I’m not with USAA for the rates. I’m with USAA for the stellar service. Both home and auto claims were always handled well. And the vendors (roofer, auto shop, rental company, etc) always spoke highly of USAA which says a lot in my book.
I didn't see where the dinged you for a lower score?
Anyway, yes I noticed this when I signed up for the "free" credit monitoring at Bank of Unamerica. The balance on each statement is considered a carried balance. Now whenever I log in for any reason I simply pay the balance in full, so when I get the actual bill its tiny, sometimes negative.
And yes the entire credit score thing is a bit of a scam. Of course insurance is as well, so not surprising they got together on this.
Anyway, yes I noticed this when I signed up for the "free" credit monitoring at Bank of Unamerica. The balance on each statement is considered a carried balance. Now whenever I log in for any reason I simply pay the balance in full, so when I get the actual bill its tiny, sometimes negative.
And yes the entire credit score thing is a bit of a scam. Of course insurance is as well, so not surprising they got together on this.
Part of why I moved my insurance business elsewhere was poor service. Came back two years ago. Just had my first homeowner’s claim, ever, in over 35 years of home ownership.
The service was poor. I ask them to call my cell phone - they call the home number (as an airline pilot, that’s not likely to be successful). I want to ask a question, I go to voicemail. It takes me 3 minutes of phone menu purgatory to get to the voice mail in the first place. My voicemails don’t get returned. I had to keep calling them, going through the phone menu, to finally get the representative if I wanted a question answered. They would call the house, leave me a voicemail, and then fail to answer when I called back.
They asked me to use some software to measure the kitchen. Software didn’t work, so, I took 15 detailed photos of the area showing a measuring tape. A week later they tell me that the photos are not acceptable and blame me for delaying the process.
They would only pay for the damage repair company to repair the oak floor in one big block, I asked if they were OK with me doing the repair (I installed the floors 12 years ago) so that I could feather the new wood in with the old, and not leave a big ugly cut line perpendicular to the wood direction in the middle of the floor. I did it, and it looks like new, but they pushed back against me doing the repair - they wanted to pay the company more to do much lower quality work.
After the hardwood floor repair was complete, they asked again for pictures of the damage. I had sent those two months ago. They told me they needed better pictures, I asked if they were going to pay for me to rip up the floor I just installed, so that I could get photos that met their requirements. They repeated that they needed better pictures of the subfloor. The damage company had uploaded over 50 photos, and I uploaded over a dozen. Still didn’t satisfy them. Eventually, a supervisor said that they existing 50+ photos of the 25 square feet of damage would be acceptable.
There is more, but you get the idea.
Horrible service. Just awful.
I like their banking products, but the insurance? Good luck getting through to a person, getting a person to understand the situation, and having them be reasonable.
Sorry you went through all that. My experience hasn’t been the same. In fact the Toyota is in the shop right now with minor body damage. It was easy and so far no hassles. Claim was straightforward, picked up the rental, dropped off the vehicle, work was approved and in progress the same week. Expecting everything to be finished up in a week or so. Accident forgiveness so no issues with our rates going up. Exact same positive experience when the vehicle before it was totaled. For the home we had the roof replaced several years ago that was also was a good experience. Maybe it varies based on region.
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
In 2002 I had a significant issue with USAA.
I was working in Afghanistan after 911. This is before I was using autopay. I received my USAA auto insurance bill in Afghanistan. I sent the payment from Afghanistan using USPS. About four months later, I received a letter from USAA saying my policy was cancelled for non-payment. I checked my bank, USAA had cashed the check, but the check was cashed a few days after the policy was cancelled for non-payment.
I reached out to USAA, and explained the mail was slow out of Afghanistan, and I had no idea the payment to USAA was delayed- but they had cashed the check for the payment. USAA stated they could care less that my policy was cancelled, and if I wanted to reinstate my policy it would be at a significantly higher rate, as I was "uninsured", I had let my policy lapse.
Like others, I moved to GEICO. In 2015, I moved back to USAA. But I never will forget USAA's true heart- and it isn't about caring for its members.
I was working in Afghanistan after 911. This is before I was using autopay. I received my USAA auto insurance bill in Afghanistan. I sent the payment from Afghanistan using USPS. About four months later, I received a letter from USAA saying my policy was cancelled for non-payment. I checked my bank, USAA had cashed the check, but the check was cashed a few days after the policy was cancelled for non-payment.
I reached out to USAA, and explained the mail was slow out of Afghanistan, and I had no idea the payment to USAA was delayed- but they had cashed the check for the payment. USAA stated they could care less that my policy was cancelled, and if I wanted to reinstate my policy it would be at a significantly higher rate, as I was "uninsured", I had let my policy lapse.
Like others, I moved to GEICO. In 2015, I moved back to USAA. But I never will forget USAA's true heart- and it isn't about caring for its members.
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JHZR2
Staff member
My wife hadn’t had USAA since college. This past year we went over. It was the best rate for us in NJ.
Someone recently told me that they jumped from USAA to State Farm, so I may look at them next when renewal time comes around.
They say it’s easy but it’s still a pain to swap. I think the company I liked the most was New Jersey Manufacturers and Travellers. I know NJM has expanded quite a bit to other states, so who knows. The one time we had a claim for auto and had to use travellers (we werent at fault but it was technically a hit and run until they prosecuted), they made it easy. No issues using a proper non-referral shop that does things right with OE parts.
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I left them when I found out policies written on family members were placed in a different pool
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Our car was a total loss in May. We were told a comp claim does not affect rates. We got a renewal and I see the rates on the 2 cars left went up in unequal percentages, but high 1.x%. That’s claim activity we were cut a check. But MA Auto kept their word. Also the agent canceled the coverage as soon as the loss claim was paid out. By the time I got around to it, I calculated they saved me $19. So I cannot complain about MA Auto.
The weird thing was they gave us a UPS Next Day Air shipping label, to send the title to Copart with. 16 hours after I sent it, tracking showed delivered. Copart told MA Auto they never got it (can’t make this up, really).
That delayed payment by one day, no more. Apparently MA Auto requests a duplicate not us.
Maybe I’m a fool but I never joined USAA. But I am a fan of NavyFed.
The weird thing was they gave us a UPS Next Day Air shipping label, to send the title to Copart with. 16 hours after I sent it, tracking showed delivered. Copart told MA Auto they never got it (can’t make this up, really).
That delayed payment by one day, no more. Apparently MA Auto requests a duplicate not us.
Maybe I’m a fool but I never joined USAA. But I am a fan of NavyFed.
Once you started seeing ads for them everywhere, I knew it was over as USAA being anything special.USAA hit an inflection point a decade or so ago, when they decided to expand their membership from officers to all military. They were founded by Army Officers, and the expansion of membership completely changed the the demographics*, and risks, and therefor claims experience, causing USAA to dramatically raise their rates.
They are not the company they once were.
*19 year old soldiers, sailors, airman and marines make very different choices than middle age officers. USAA will loan them the money for a car like new Hellcat, and I see cars like that on base, often. Underage drinking, high performance car - what could go wrong?
But they still give good service, you can get a human on the phone, and they have always validated the trust we place in them. You just don't get that at a bargain price anymore.
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I've always been leery of insurance, figured they won't be there when needed. The ads with super bowl winning qbs and taylor swift's fiance are all fake. Well, when we experienced a total loss in May, I have to admit, my experience was quite the opposite from what I expected. Copart even lost the title which was UPS Next Day Air'd to them and signed for. MA Auto said not your problem, we will handle. It delayed payment by 1 day. Also, in conversing, I found out dash cam and Garmin covered. When I mentioned a trailer hitch, they said it was missed and instantly added $150. Can't complain. Last thing, agent proactively removed the vehicle once the claim was paid. Sooner than I thought of it saving me $19. My thing is it matters if the process flows correctly, from the front end which is often a web page or app. Here? It does. The only thing--there is no way to return a call to the extension the rep leaves in a voicemail. Also, my wife hasn't logged in, in 5 or 6 years, and had no idea how to do so. Her signature was needed as she was listed on the title with me. Got around it.
That sounds eerily similar to my dealings with the VA. Utter incompetence.