Any reason to keep Navy Fed, USAA banking?

[snake020]

I got residency in ?? and am soon to be an expat. Looking to consolidate and shed bank accounts that aren't adding value. I mostly got Navy Fed because they had great deals for mortgages and car loans, but I'm not going to get either one of those again in the states. Same for USAA on their banking side. Any other reason I might be missing to keep them around?

 

[IRfly]

You do probably want to keep a US bank (checking) account. If those are your only two, pick one to keep open.

 

[insanebikerboy]

If you have any banking that needs to be done in the US, you’ll need a US bank, and vice Versa for Aus. If you are gonna go full expat and not have anything in the US, you could get by with dropping both banks.

I’m living in the UK and I had to open a British bank account to pay rent, utilities, etc, and I still have USAA. Since I’m here on PCS they waive foreign transaction fees but in your case they may not.

The other question, where will your paycheck come from, an Australian bank or US bank? That may also drive your decision.

 

[snake020]

If you have any banking that needs to be done in the US, you’ll need a US bank, and vice Versa for Aus. If you are gonna go full expat and not have anything in the US, you could get by with dropping both banks.

I’m living in the UK and I had to open a British bank account to pay rent, utilities, etc, and I still have USAA. Since I’m here on PCS they waive foreign transaction fees but in your case they may not.

The other question, where will your paycheck come from, an Australian bank or US bank? That may also drive your decision.

This isn't about ditching US banking entirely; my primary US bank offers the combination of things I use (e.g. self directed investing with no fees for equity/ETFs/mutual funds, easy wire transfers, no foreign transaction fees) under one roof that USAA and Navy Fed don't.

I'm just making sure there's no benefit I'm missing from Navy Fed/USAA should I get rid of their banking products. I see their strengths being generous financing terms. Navy Fed offered a decent CD once, but that's not a product I regularly use either.

 

[Deleted member 24525]

USAA has gone downhill over the last 6-8 years. Today I don’t think I would recommend them for anything anymore.
Their auto insurance is significantly higher than progressive and Geico. Their homeowners is significantly higher than Armed Forces Insurance, their Brokerage is outsourced to Schwab starting next month, and their mortgage loans are also outsourced (and it is terrible by the way).
Great, you get no ATM fees. IMHO not worth the crap that USAA has become. And it’s too bad because they used to be phenomenal.

I would keep a small account with NFCU (100 bucks maybe) -you never know when being a part of a credit union will help you sometime down the road...and they require an account for any of their mortgage products (their mortgage company is one of the best I’ve worked with)

 

[Notanaviator]

I’ve dealt with USAA for a long time, and they’ve always been fine, but for pure financial needs that are near zero cost, Schwab has everything I’ve needed and great customer service.

 

[bubblehead]

What @Nasty Flyer said. I would keep your NFCU account open just to keep it open. Leave $20 or whatever the minimum is in the account and sign up for paperless.

 

[Brett327]

USAA has gone downhill over the last 6-8 years. Today I don’t think I would recommend them for anything anymore.
Their auto insurance is significantly higher than progressive and Geico. Their homeowners is significantly higher than Armed Forces Insurance, their Brokerage is outsourced to Schwab starting next month, and their mortgage loans are also outsourced (and it is terrible by the way).
Great, you get no ATM fees. IMHO not worth the crap that USAA has become. And it’s too bad because they used to be phenomenal.

I would keep a small account with NFCU (100 bucks maybe) -you never know when being a part of a credit union will help you sometime down the road...and they require an account for any of their mortgage products (their mortgage company is one of the best I’ve worked with)

What do you really need out of any bank these days besides convenient access? I won’t argue for their insurance/mortgage/investment services, but for simple banking, I find their website, phone app and customer service to be very good.

 

[taxi1]

When I've had need to exercise the insurance side of USAA they've been very responsive, even up until this year.

 

[BigRed389]

I got residency in ?? and am soon to be an expat. Looking to consolidate and shed bank accounts that aren't adding value. I mostly got Navy Fed because they had great deals for mortgages and car loans, but I'm not going to get either one of those again in the states. Same for USAA on their banking side. Any other reason I might be missing to keep them around?

They don't add value for overseas living. Other than basic banking (where DFAS deposits my paycheck) they just don't provide any real usable service in AUS. And like you, I have another bank that covers all the financial services I need, including no-fee wire transfers to my AUS bank so I cn pay rent/utilities.

Do check on impact of changing to an overseas address for investment accounts. Many will put your investment accounts on hold for switching to a foreign address. My IRA was good, stocks, nope.

USAA was kind enough to change it for all my accounts....then froze my investment portfolio a few months later.

 

[snake020]

USAA was kind enough to change it for all my accounts....then froze my investment portfolio a few months later.

Yikes. Was that with an APO box address, or hard international? My current bank insisted on adding "Australia" after my DPO address even though I told them not to and tried to correct it after the fact, but I never had any issues like that.

 

[cfam]

That was the case with me for an international street address (made the mistake of changing all of my accounts to my German street address). Changing it to my DPO fixed the issue, USAA treats it like a normal US address.

 

[Pags]

What do you really need out of any bank these days besides convenient access? I won’t argue for their insurance/mortgage/investment services, but for simple banking, I find their website, phone app and customer service to be very good.

Yeah, I've been fine USAA's services. I can add/remove cars easily and their banking has continued to be no hassle. I've started using NFCU more by virtue of living in area with multiple physical branches (I sold a car for cash and needed a way to deposit it) and their loan products. Besides that I don't see a big benefit to switching to a different local bank. I have a water/fire proof safe in the basement as well which is more convenient than a safe deposit box.

I've stayed with USAA insurance mostly out of laziness and they've also been easy and no issues. The times I've needed to get a car fixed they've made it easy. They were also very good to a former coworker when his house burnt down. Sent him a check rikki tik.

 

[Waveoff]

Car insurance is always a toss in my opinion. Every year or so I double check my needs with quotes with all the major players and USAA has so far been the one to go with for me.

 

[wiseguy04]

Car insurance is always a toss in my opinion. Every year or so I double check my needs with quotes with all the major players and USAA has so far been the one to go with for me.

Same. If you only own cars or trucks, USAA’s rates are hard to beat. But if you add in motorcycles, RVs, or boats, other providers tend to be lower, from my experience. YMMV