USAA checking account: supposedly, no ATM surcharge fee at these particular ATMs ...

[MojaveMoon]

I was talking to USAA today, and I learned a few things.

As you might already know, USAA will refund to you $ 15.00 in ATM surcharge fees. But with some ATMs charging $ 2.50 to $ 3.00, you might reach $ 15.00 in no time at all.

The agent today said that USAA now has an arrangement where there's no surcharge fee when you use your USAA atm/debit card at ...

- PNC Bank ATMs
- Key Bank ATMs
- ATMs owned by Cardtronics

Regarding Cardtronics, she said that you can find a list of ATMs owned by Cardtronics by going to their website:
http://www.cardtronics.com/about/atmlocator.asp

In my area, e.g., there are Cardtronics ATMs inside certain Target stores, EXXONMOBIL and Valero gas stations, and CVS stores.

I haven't yet made any withdrawals at these places, so I can't personally verify the accuracy of this information. If this turns out to be true, there is one small catch. The other rule about ATM withdrawals is that after the first ten withdrawals during a cycle, each additional ATM withdrawal during that same cycle will be assessed a $ 2.00 "ATM service fee" by USAA. I had thought the fee was $ 1.00, but she said it is $ 2.00.

I also learned that you can not use USAA's deposit@home service to scan money orders. All this time, whenever I want to deposit cash into my USAA account, I have to mail in my money order. It sometimes takes up to ten days for my deposits to post to my account; so I had been hoping that I was going to be able to use deposit@home for money orders to save time. She said that deposit@home will only work with personal or 3rd party checks.

She also said that you don't need a fancy scanner. The minimum requirement is that the scanner be capable of scanning at least at 200dpi. She also said that if any customer runs into any problems with trying to set up/use deposit@home service that the customers are welcome to call USAA tech support people for help. She shared that she's been using without any problems a Lexmark brand scanner/printer that she bought in 2007 at Best Buy for $ 39.95

I asked her about USAA allowing its members to use certain ATM networks to make ATM deposits. She said that that has been one of the most requested features by USAA members. However, at this time there are no plans to add this feature. She suggested going to USAA's website and send an internal email if any customers have any feedback about anything such as any features that they'd like to see; she promised that USAA takes feedback very seriously.

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 01-27-2009 07:01 PM

[Anonymous]

Wow!  when I opened the account I was told I was not eligible for the scanning from home option, but I am now.  Is USAA adapting to the times?

Message Edited by FaircreditguyFL on 01-28-2009 01:17 PM

[MojaveMoon]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Wow!  when I opened the account I was told I was not eligible for the scanning from home option, but I am now.  Is USAA adapting to the times?

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I think that there is at least one .. maybe two requirement(s):

- you have to have a checking *and* credit card account

- you have to be eligible for USAA's auto insurance but you don't have to have it


I had a USAA credit card for about a year before I applied for the checking account, and I'm also eligible for USAA's auto insurance. After I was approved for the checking account, I was told that I was immediately eligible for the deposit@home service.

Message Edited by MojaveMoon on 01-28-2009 05:07 PM

[Anonymous]

I have had auto insurance with USAA for 2-3 years.  I opened a checking account about a year ago, but was declined for a credit card with them, so I couldn't have the "deposit from home" check scanning thingy.  I called 3 months ago to close the checking, telling them it was worthless.... having to deposit into another account and then transfer funds to the USAA account.  They immediately approved me for the deposit from home,feature without having a USAA credit card.  The checking is still open, but I don't use it.  Moral of the story: Rules are made to be broken.  I'm sure they're pleased to be sitting on my $26.13 checking balance.