USAA--HPSP

[deleted918727]

Hi! I have seen multiple times on here that as HPSP students we are eligible for USAA membership. What commissioning status are we supposed to put? Both representatives I talked to did not know what the HPSP scholarship was and thought it was ROTC. When I clicked on the reserves option, it wanted a start and end date. Since I am still in the reserves, this obviously didn't apply. Please help! I am about to lose my health and car insurance and just purchased some really great deals through USAA. I don't want everything to fall through because I couldn't figure out what commissioning I was supposed to be.

Thanks for your help!

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[watermelon master]

You don't even need to be military to be eligible for an USAA membership. Just go and sign up on their website.

 

[Oo Cipher oO]

You don't even need to be military to be eligible for an USAA membership. Just go and sign up on their website.

These are the requirements for USAA membership

• Active, retired and honorably separated officers and enlisted personnel of the U.S. military.
• Officer candidates in commissioning programs (Academy, ROTC, OCS/OTS).
• Adult children (18+) of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy.
• Widows and widowers of USAA members who have or had a USAA auto or property insurance policy.

While is is technically correct you don’t need to be a military member to join USAA you do have to be a qualified family memeber.

OP, once you commission you can call USAA and open an account. I first joined USAA a month after I commissioned just before medical school started. Since it seems that they are confused you need to make clear you are commissioned in the inactive reserves while in medical school. If they don’t know see if you can escalate with their boss. You definitely qualify for memebership.

 

[SouthernGent]

You qualify, just talk with someone who understands what HSPS is. USAA is awesome on the customer service front and should be able to get you through. I would recommend finding another bank that has local branches as well though in case you ever want to deposit cash or need to do something in person. USAAs office is in San Antonio and there are no local branches which can make things interesting sometimes.

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

You qualify, just talk with someone who understands what HSPS is. USAA is awesome on the customer service front and should be able to get you through. I would recommend finding another bank that has local branches as well though in case you ever want to deposit cash or need to do something in person. USAAs office is in San Antonio and there are no local branches which can make things interesting sometimes.

There are some local branches, but they're just on post/base. I searched where I could make a cash deposit recently and saw I could at Ft. Carson. So I think there might be some smaller branches but you have to be able to get on post/base to access it.

 

[Raney Schauer]

I think you're eligible as soon as you complete walking-around-in-uncomfortable-clothing school.

 

[mehc012]

You qualify, just talk with someone who understands what HSPS is. USAA is awesome on the customer service front and should be able to get you through. I would recommend finding another bank that has local branches as well though in case you ever want to deposit cash or need to do something in person. USAAs office is in San Antonio and there are no local branches which can make things interesting sometimes.

You know, I've always said the same thing, and I keep meaning to do this, but it's actually never come up in the 10+ years I've been a USAA member. These days hardly anyone gives me cash, and when they do and it's an excessive amount, I just give it to someone who likes cash or can deposit it and they Venmo me the same amount. I always figure I'll start a bank account with the cash in hand if I ever find myself in a situation where I actually need to do so and can't find an easy way around it.

I agree on the customer service front entirely, too...legitimately have put off my USAA calls until I'm having a bad day and need a pick-me-up before. They're the best phone service you'll ever encounter.

 

[Raney Schauer]

You qualify, just talk with someone who understands what HSPS is. USAA is awesome on the customer service front and should be able to get you through. I would recommend finding another bank that has local branches as well though in case you ever want to deposit cash or need to do something in person. USAAs office is in San Antonio and there are no local branches which can make things interesting sometimes.

Just make sure you use it. As a Navy Fed user since boot (20+ years ago) I followed this recommendation and found that I never used the account. The bank (Compass in this case) closed the checking account and credit card due to disuse which did appear on my credit report for 7 years.

A-holes.

 

[mehc012]

Just make sure you use it. As a Navy Fed user since boot (20+ years ago) I followed this recommendation and found that I never used the account. The bank (Compass in this case) closed the checking account and credit card due to disuse which did appear on my credit report for 7 years.

A-holes.

Same happened to my mother, only her bank got bought out by a company that charged an annual checking acct fee, drained the token cash she'd left in the account, and tried to ding her for not paying the next year's fee. She used it when I was young, but once online banking became such a thing, she just never needed to again and let it go unused. Yet another reason why I'll hold off on actually getting one until the day someone buys my car off me, in cash, and I somehow can't find any family/friends willing to Venmo me and deposit it for me. Hasn't happened yet, and when it does, I doubt any bank will give me too much flak for showing up with a bunch of cash and going "Hi, I'd like to open a checking account, please!" I can't foresee it ever being an emergent situation where I need to deposit a large sum of paper money with no time to open an account, so I see no reason to do so NOW and not when the issue actually arises (if it ever does).

 

[colbgw02]

to add another voice, i've used usaa exclusively for banking since middle school and i've never really missed having a local branch.

 

[Raney Schauer]

Same happened to my mother, only her bank got bought out by a company that charged an annual checking acct fee, drained the token cash she'd left in the account, and tried to ding her for not paying the next year's fee. She used it when I was young, but once online banking became such a thing, she just never needed to again and let it go unused. Yet another reason why I'll hold off on actually getting one until the day someone buys my car off me, in cash, and I somehow can't find any family/friends willing to Venmo me and deposit it for me. Hasn't happened yet, and when it does, I doubt any bank will give me too much flak for showing up with a bunch of cash and going "Hi, I'd like to open a checking account, please!" I can't foresee it ever being an emergent situation where I need to deposit a large sum of paper money with no time to open an account, so I see no reason to do so NOW and not when the issue actually arises (if it ever does).

They have to report any deposits over 10 large aka one stack of high society...

 

[mehc012]

They have to report any deposits over 10 large aka one stack of high society...

If I ever get 10k cash dropped into my lap, I don't think I'll be too fussed about the details of figuring out how to deposit it. Besides, who ever said that you'd have to deposit it all in one go?

 

[DocVapor]

If I ever get 10k cash dropped into my lap, I don't think I'll be too fussed about the details of figuring out how to deposit it. Besides, who ever said that you'd have to deposit it all in one go?

Best way to deal with having a stack of cash like that is to walk into a car dealership waving it around. You'll drive away in something nice.

Realistically, I've used USAA since high school without a local account anywhere and never had a problem. When I met my wife she was freaked out by it but it really didn't take long for me to get her to drop all her old local bank accounts too.

If for some reason we do get handed some cash, we generally just hang onto it and use it for groceries or dinner or something like that. Just need to remember that when you're doing your budget and tracking your spending.

 

[Raney Schauer]

If I ever get 10k cash dropped into my lap, I don't think I'll be too fussed about the details of figuring out how to deposit it. Besides, who ever said that you'd have to deposit it all in one go?

I just didn't want to pass ups on the opportunity to use "stack of high society".