What options are out there that a veteran once got with USAA?
The advantage of USAA was that it was owned by it members, its operations were low cost, and its primary products were insurance (auto, home, life) where servicemen were having difficulty with industry practices at the time which were not well suited to support people who were frequently moving and often deployed overseas.
Today due to technology low cost commercial insurers (Geico, Progressive) have the capability of providing insurance products similar to USAA and servicing customers who move frequently or are located overseas so the competitive advantage with respect to the insurance product has disappeared. With respect to banking and investment products, USAA never had a product superiority or service advantage, they were simply add-on products developed to sell more to the existing membership.
Today it no longer has a cost advantage versus competitive options for most insurance products. Its one remaining advantage seems to be “one stop shopping” for a variety of financial products. Before I retired there were definitely advantages to having my insurance and financial relationship with one company. Now that I’m retired, and have time to manage multiple relationships, that advantage of USAA has gone away. In fact, with lower income in retirement, I will spend more time managing my accounts to realize cost savings. Now that I have time to shop, I have learned USAA doesn’t always have the lowest cost, best product for a particular need, or the best service.
The only advantage I can think of today with USAA is its reputation for fast and efficient claim service. I’ve had only two auto claims and both were handled fast and efficiently. I also had one homeowner’s claim (leak water damage) a few years ago. The disaster recovery contractor USAA sent out to deal with the damage had some issues but I was able to work out the problems in a few days. USAA paid the claim with no problem. Based on my experience, and the company’s reputation, USAA generally does not hassle or nickel and dime on claims.
For auto insurance Geico and Progressive are cost and service competitive in many states. The same with homeowner’s insurance. There are a number of internet based low cost term life insurance companies. An independent insurance agent can often help find good low cost life insurance policies with smaller companies.
As to banking, I’ve found local banks and credit unions are very cost competitive with USAA Bank.
As to investments, Vanguard provides mutual funds with much lower fees than USAA as well as higher performing funds. Some of the Blackrock and Fidelity index mutual funds are also low fee (others are not, read the fine print). I moved most of my investments to Vanguard and found the fees and service better than at USAA.
I still have my auto insurance at USAA and some of my life insurance policies. I am giving serious consideration to moving my auto policies to Progressive. The life policies are cost prohibitive to move due to my age.