topic Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance in Credit Cards

please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:20:39 GMT

This afternoon I was at usaa.com exploring the online checking account options. Through reading other discussions, I know about how you can go online to do a credit card cash advance from your USAA credit card to your USAA checking account without any cash advance fees.

But I was unaware of a few things.

1) The website showed that I can also make an online request for a cash advance from any Mastercard or Visa into my USAA checking account ?
My other credit cards charge a 3% cash advance fee for when I go to an ATM and make a cash advance cash withdrawal. If I were to make an online USAA request to do a cash advance from any MC or Visa into my USAA checking acc't, will my credit card company still assess that 3% cash advance fee ?

2) The website also showed that I can make an online "debit card cash advance" request from any debit card into my USAA checking account. I've never heard of a "debit card cash advance". How is this method of transferring money from one checking acc't to another checking acc't different than moving money through an ACH "push" or "pull" ? When is one of these two methods of moving money from one checking acc't to another checking acc't better than the other ?

3) I read on here that there's a downside to online cash advance at usaa.com -- There is a limit of 8 CAs per rolling 30 day period, as well as a $2500 max per day and $5000 per rolling 30 day period for online requests. The system can't tell the difference between a debit card and a credit card on USAA's end. So doing 8 debit card cash advances in one month would prevent you from doing any further cash advances that same month such as not only a (USAA?) credit card cash advance but also a cash advance for checking acc't overdraft protection from your USAA credit card ? e.g., If you write a check for $5k which gets overdraft protected you've just wiped your CA online request ability for the next 30 days ?

( link to a previous discussion on this board )

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 11-16-2008 09:20 PM

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 06:34:24 GMT

I just typed a really long response and myfico ate it!

Ok, let me see if I can start over.

The post you linked to was one of mine. To update that some, I will add here that I was charged an 'out of network' ATM network fee of $5 from Chase for using my DEBIT card. Since it does state this: Fees and interest may apply. Refer to your card's terms and conditions- Then I would proceed with caution since you could be hit with cash advance fee's if you use a CREDIT card.

I'm still a newbie with them (almost 1 year) and I am still uncertain of everything that I can do with their services. Maybe Hauling or one of the other USAA member's will respond who use them and understand. I will say that USAA is very timely in answering any secure messages sent from your account if you want to ask them questions that way. They even provided links so I didn't have to hunt for them. Give them a call or send them a message and I am sure they can explain any additional fee's and instructions. Mine have since been deleted from my account or I would have posted the response here for how I could actually do this with my Chase account to DD's teen checking.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

haulingthescoreup — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:21:07 GMT

stef37 wrote:

...I'm still a newbie with them (almost 1 year) and I am still uncertain of everything that I can do with their services. Maybe Hauling or one of the other USAA member's will respond who use them and understand. I will say that USAA is very timely in answering any secure messages sent from your account if you want to ask them questions that way. They even provided links so I didn't have to hunt for them. Give them a call or send them a message and I am sure they can explain any additional fee's and instructions. Mine have since been deleted from my account or I would have posted the response here for how I could actually do this with my Chase account to DD's teen checking.

* ducks this one, big time *

Sorry, MM, I'm clueless on this. I never do cash advances as such.

I do have my MC tied to checking as overdraft protection, and the two times I've used it, there hasn't been a fee, but that isn't close enough to the situation you're describing.

I'd go with stef and this, and give them a call. I've always found their CSR's to be knowledgeable and wonderfully patient. (Thank goodness.)

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:30:12 GMT

For me that was an isolated incident. I do not like having to do cash advances and I was not even aware of the fact that I could do what I did with USAA until I posted about it here and sent the secure email while I was in a panic.

It certainly helped at the time and I have not needed to move any money like that since then. Hopefully I will be better prepared if sending DD off on the next trip.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:52:32 GMT

Thank you both for replying. Like stef37 said, there are a lot of hidden features at USAA. When I have a chance, I'll contact them for further information about cash advances.

When I go online to my credit card's website and request a payment to be taken out of my USAA checking account, USAA codes that as an 'ACH withdrawal'. The process seems from start to finish seems to take at least 24 hours. After re-reading stef37's experience with the debit card cash advance from her Chase debit card, by comparison this debit card cash advance is somehow a faster way of moving money than an ACH withdrawal.

A USAA agent had told me that another way to move money is to call USAA and give the agent the debit card number for the checking account that you're taking money out of in order to put into your USAA checking account. I think the agent said that the money is then instantly available. Maybe this is also a debit card cash advance ?

I also want to find out from USAA more about why a person (like in stef37's case) may incur a $ 5 fee. Maybe Chase considered this as the equivalent of using your Chase debit card at a non-Chase branded ATM ?

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:59:09 GMT

MojaveMoon wrote:

I also want to find out from USAA more about why a person (like in stef37's case) may incur a $ 5 fee. Maybe Chase considered this as the equivalent of using your Chase debit card at a non-Chase branded ATM ?

I believe this to be the case. I know I am charged a fee if I use my debit card at a non-chase ATM, so I can see that.

If you use the deposit@home feature with USAA, any checks you scan into them are made immediately available into your USAA account and there is no charge. I did a BT check from Chase for 5k and the full amount was available instantly.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:17:27 GMT

I was re-reading what you said in the other topic (link), and there was a sentence that caught my eye:
"I was able to take a cash advance from my chase debit card and deposit directly into her account."

There was a discussion about this on another board. I would post the link here but the site is considered by this board as a credit repair site. The short answer is that some banks use a company called CashEdge to handle the bank to bank (interbank) cash transfers using the ACH system. In that discussion, some people reported that their ability to do a bank to bank transfer service was suspended permanently because the transfer of money was done between two accounts where the names on both accounts were not the same -- this happened even when the money was being transferred between husband and wife.

On another board which also is considered a credit repair site here, one of the members detailed a really horrible ordeal that she went through with USAA. USAA took an approach of shoot first and don't bother asking questions later -- they froze all her accounts and her funds and then shortly afterwards informed her that her accounts were being terminated. After appealing and appealing, she finally could escalate this to a higher-up who worked with her to resolve this.

"Anyway, I get a call today around 6pm from a woman who is a fraud and anti money laundering investigator. I guess this is VERY serious now. Anywho, she finally tells me what is going on. Basically the problem stems from Wachovia, DH's bank. I'm not sure who initiated contact between the two banks but apparently someone got suspicious of all the cash advances. I'm not on DH's accounts at Wachovia and he is not on my accounts at USAA. So it looks like the transactions might be "unauthorized." Anywho, she says that if DH contacts her directly, even though she can't talk to him about my account, and tells her that the transactions are authorized by him then she will unfreeze my accounts."

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 11-19-2008 04:17 AM

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:21:49 GMT

My name is also on DD's account as she is still a minor. So, I don't know if that would factor in. It's even possible I deposited into my USAA checking and moved to her's. I don't recall exactly if I did, but could go back and look to be certain.

USAA did freeze my accounts because I have a new social. My military ID had not been updated to the new number and it took about a month of sending documents from SSA to them and getting my info updated at the base before they would allow me access again. It kinda ticked me off at the time, but I can understand.

If anyone is wondering, USAA does verify info with the DOD. When I opened my account, I opened it under the new number, but my accounts had the old one listed and I NEVER gave them that number to use, as SSA said it would be fraud for me to ever use it again.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:29:37 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
If you use the deposit@home feature with USAA, any checks you scan into them are made immediately available into your USAA account and there is no charge. I did a BT check from Chase for 5k and the full amount was available instantly.

Wow! I didn't know that could be done. I'll definitely have to make a mental note of that. The Deposit@home sounds great, but I've been on the fence on buying a scanner because scanning checks for deposit@home is for now the only use I'd have for the scanner.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:35:02 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
My name is also on DD's account as she is still a minor. So, I don't know if that would factor in. It's even possible I deposited into my USAA checking and moved to her's. I don't recall exactly if I did, but could go back and look to be certain.

I'd have to go back and re-read the discussion, but I think it was said that as long as the transfer is being done with a name that is on the accounts of both parties then there's no problem. I just didn't want you down the road to have a repeat of what happened to the other person.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:38:18 GMT

I had to get a CC with USAA to be able to use this feature. I certainly didn't need another new account, but it comes in handy.

I bought an epson all-n-one. I spent about 99 on it and should have saved my money. Now I need to go purchase a new one since the paper jammed and I can no longer get any of the functions to work until it is cleared. (The paper jams up if I don't feed less than 4 sheets at a time in it, grrrrr)

Be sure you do some investigating when purchasing one of those things. I did some homework, but undoubtedly, not enough!

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 16:10:12 GMT

With USAA, it depends on whether what you're doing counts as a transfer or not.

If I move money from my account into my kids' accounts, or vice versa, or if I pull money from my HELOC or make a payment to it, it's instant. The new balance shows as soon as I click through the transaction screen. If I make a payment to a CC, it takes a day or so for my balance to be lowered and for the payment to post. Same when I'm moving money to or from my Roth. I *think* that moving money to and from my MMF is instant, but I start getting tangled up on that. (I accumulate money in the MMF until I buy another CD.)

There are times that I've just had to call and have them hold my hand and walk me through the whole process.

Re: please explain USAA's cash advance options such as a debit card cash advance

Anonymous — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:13:53 GMT

Same here. If I move money between my accounts (savings, checking or DD's checking) those are instant.

If I pay my CC or my auto loan or car insurance that I have with USAA it takes a few days for those to show up.

The only thing that was instant is the deposit at home and USAA account transfer's. If I pushed money from Chase to USAA, that also took a couple of days to show up. (Plus chase charges a $4 fee to do so)

And of course the cash advance was instant, but I still would only do it in an emergency situation. I guess in the current credit climate it looks bad to be doing cash advances and could possibly get an account closed down depending on the lender.